CCrew

Yeah, not that easy for us unfortunately. We have a rather elaborate CMS system, and making those changes requires change control and an editor's input and a senior editors buyoff. When you pull about 1.2gb on the 95th percentile for bandwidth though those couple images are usually inconsequential. Not like a site like Ryan's sees that much traffic to cause much pain . It's more the ethics of the matter for me.... until it causes me pain I only usually worry about the top 25. But then I see 20+ mil pageviews a day too.

-R

Neil_B

Yes, but who knows how much stuff he is carrying in his panniers and on his rack? Remember, he's a first time tourer. Overpacking is the rule. So is carrying the 'wrong' stuff.

spinnaker

I did a quick Mapsource route from Deming to DC. ATA routes might be a bit longer.

robow

Spin, if you and Benge are correct and he's only got 2400 miles ahead and 38 days, that's less than 65 miles a day and assuming the young man remains healthy, that not that difficult. I don't know where they came up with the initial 3900 miles.

Anyway, it's a shame he's not coming thru farther north and he could join me in my charitable ride. You see I'm trying to raise cash so I can buy the Senate seat left open by Obama. I'm calling it,
"Biking for Blago....One Bike, One Bribe"

txvintage

Been away most of the day caging my way a 1/4 of the way across the state to watch a HS football play off game. It's good to hear he's doing ok and is still moving.

I'll call him sometime tomorrow and get my number to him. I'm much further North than his route will take him, but I can get in touch with several people if it ever became necessary. It now looks like I will be in Houston next weekend, but I don't think he will be there by then. I could at least buy the man a meal.

spinnaker

I just did another rough estimate based on his maps. I still got only 2800 miles But he is going to St. Augustine, I am not sure why he would want to swing so far south.

spinnaker

Do you mean like a guitar?

mev

Following Adventure Cycling routes should be ~2190 miles from El Paso to St Augustine + 750 miles to DC or 2940 miles.

The occasional cutoffs of Adventure Cycling route I took was 250 miles shorter from El Paso to St Augustine and it would make sense to go via Jacksonville rather than cutting further south, so I'd say roughly following this route with occasional choices would be closer to 2600 miles.

Leaving El Paso on December 17th and arriving in DC on January 19th is 34 days so we're talking just slightly more than 75 miles per day, a little more if you factor in a rest day or contingency day or two. Going a little further north might save a few more miles but also increase the number of hills you go over and increase risks of inclement weather.

Everyone is going to look at things a little differently, but if it were me, I'd keep along the rough original southern plan with an occasional cutoff and keep in mind cities with Amtrak baggage service that aren't too far away as a backup plan to go either forward or back if needed in a contingency because time runs short or other reasons.

Neil_B

The ACA maps lead to St. Augustine, I think.

Neil_B

Yes.

10 Wheels

I am going to try to meet up with him in La Grange or Huntsville.
Pleasee PM me if anyone gets some type of location on him.
Thanks.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jni20...gforobama.com/

Neil_B

Might the route this guy took be a better alternative?

https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/poorguyonabike

mev

I'm not familiar with specific roads and he ended in Abilene which is going to be in the pan handle and quite a bit colder. However, reading through report above and looking at the maps, there are probably a few ideas to borrow from. I'll also note my route is described in my journal: https://www.mvermeulen.com/oneyear/usa.htm might also have some things to choose from.

Routing and route choices is going to be a personal thing and preferences are going to differ. However, the route above used some choices that I would also do if I were time-constrained such as Ryan in:

1) Several portions of route above use US90 and US190. Those larger US highways are sometimes hit and miss. They are likely to be more direct than what Adventure Cycling prefers. Occasionally they'll be busier and every once in a while, they'll be really the wrong choice. So the trick is to blend things a bit and to ask folks along the way. When you get close, buy a state map and look at combination of the state map & adventure cycling maps. Make your choice, read what was in other trip journals and ask folks (ideally cyclists). If it really turns out bad, anticipate choosing smaller roads to get you back closer to AC routes. Often these highways such as US90 that parallel an interstate can be a good choice if major traffic stays on the interstate though you do have to watch out about road construction that occasionally redirects interstate traffic onto the alternatives. Also roads I've been on in LA, MS and AL frequently don't have much shoulder and some drivers not anticipating cyclists so one will need to be extra careful.

2) Both his route and mine had one or two awkward spots to get past: Houston and Mobile in particular. I avoided Houston in following Adventure Cycling route and he got a bit closer. Mobile on the other hand, I went south and around and he had some fun with tunnels around Mobile Bay. The Adventure Cycling route misses the entire issue by going a moderate amount further north.

So I'd still suggest he default to following a rough routing of Adventure Cycling southern tier, but occasionally make alternate and more direct choices looking at state maps. My own personal preference coming up:
= Mostly follow the adventure cycling route to Del Rio, though take US 90 from Van Horn as suggested before.
= After that, in Texas I'm less certain of choices.
= Gulf Coast, seek a compromise between Adventure Cycling and the most direct routes with special care
around Mobile and Houston.
= By Florida, US90 tends to be a good choice. Don't bother swinging too far south to St Augustine but instead
start looking to going up the Atlantic Coast. There might be wiser choices cutting across Georgia but I don't
know much there.
= Ask folks as you go along, particularly cyclists and get local info such as road construction.
The result is likely to be a somewhat more direct route that saves ~350 miles from what was posted on his web site without going completely further north and taking some more weather risks. With short hours of daylight, some spots using more direct choices such as US90/US190 will need to be extra careful and avoid riding after dark if you can.

staehpj1

Glad to hear that Ryan is doing well.

axolotl

I want to point out that the figure "750 miles" from St. Augustine to DC keeps getting thrown around. That distance originally came from a post of mine on the original thread, but I said at that time that the 750 miles distance was for the Interstate. In other words, the cycling distance would definitely be longer. Ryan seems to have taken that 750 miles distance and put it on his website, and everyone here seems to have taken it, in turn, from Ryan. This is how rumors get started! I'm not absolutely certain how far the Adventure Cycling "Atlantic Coast" distance would be, because I'm not sure of the exact route or distance they use for the Richmond, VA, to DC portion. (Perhaps someone on this forum knows.) Nevertheless, the segments from St. Augustine to Richmond alone add up to 1,020 miles according to the Adventure Cycling website. I think you would need to add at least 120 miles for their route from Richmond to DC, so conservatively, I'd put the St. Augustine to DC distance at 1,140 miles, at the very least.

Having said that, one could definitely reduce the distance for the Southern Tier + Atlantic Coast routes by not going all the way to St. Augustine, Florida. I imagine there must be a decent way to get from, say, Tallahassee heading northeast toward Savannah, that would cut off at least 200 miles from the 2 routes combined. That figure is just a guess on my part.

Another thing worth pointing out is that if Ryan was in Deming, NM yesterday afternoon, and left Phoenix on Dec. 8, that means he only biked about 320 miles in 5+ days. (Yes, he presumably got further than Deming on Dec. 13., but that would also make it 6 full days) And it sounds most likely that he went by car from San Diego to Phoenix. So in his first 12 days, he really hasn't biked that far, considering the distance he's trying to cover. Just trying to keep it real, folks.

One practical question to ponder is if you were trying to get from southern New Mexico to DC by bike in the winter, but were going to travel 1/3 of that distance by train, which part of that route would you want to do by train?

John Nelson

Ryan's website introduces this latest video with this sentence: "Here’s the latest video from Ryan showing his journey from San Diego to Arizona."

Oddly enough, however, the video shows absolutely nothing about his journey from San Diego to Arizona.

Randochap

That was my observation, as well.

mev

I've cycled up the Atlantic Coast but followed my own routing rather than the Adventure Cycling route. My distance between Jacksonville and Virginia Beach was 772 miles and Google Maps says another 208 miles from there to Washington (I went up DelMarVa instead, https://www.mvermeulen.com/bicycle.coast.html). So I agree a number over 1000 miles is probably a better estimate even if you try to optimize things some. I repeated the 750 without questioning where it came from.

I also agree with you that his pace so far is less than his pace needed to get to Washington by January 20th. He might be able to increase the pace, though I found the Texas Hill Country took some more effort and one still needs to watch the weather.

That is among the reasons why I've suggested it is useful to keep track of those cities where Amtrak has baggage service since you can try using the train if necessary as a contingency. I took Amtrak with bike from Jacksonville to LA after my 2001 trip and also took Amtrak with bike from Savannah via DC to Vermont after a segment of the ride above. Things may be a little tighter now, but the advantage was last-minute tickets weren't as expensive and you get some flexibility in routing. One way car rentals are another alternative I've used.

BengeBoy 

It's a little difficult to untangle what has happened, but I have the impression that:

- Ryan cycled his home in LA to San Diego to start the TA trail there
- At some point east of San Diego, he caught a ride to Phoenix. The info I've seen is vague on how much cycling he did from San Diego to Phoenix; there was a mention of a sore knee, etc. I had the impression that most of the distance was by car.
- And then, as we know, he got himself to Deming, NM but not clear whether he started from Phoenix or somewhere else

So maybe he's ridden 450 to 500 miles by far under his own power. A lot more than I've ridden the last two weeks!

Would be great to see him skip ahead via train to New Orleans to give himself a shot at making DC by Jan. 20.

Neil_B

We'll need to contact him again to get a better idea of his location. He was near Demming when I called him, about 11:30 AM his time (2:30 PM EST) yesterday. Anyone else wanna call Ryan? 10 Wheels? Txvintage? I'd call him again, but annoying his 'defenders' here is losing its charm.

10 Wheels

You did good by calling him.
Just try to get a defined location from him.
I will call him when he gets close. He is 9 to 12 days away.
The weather has warmed but is windy in Texas.

Neil_B

I may call him again this evening. I'm attending a performance of Handel's Messiah at a local church, and I expect to be home by 10:00 PM, which is 7:00 PM his time, I think. He should be off the road by then, since the sun is setting about 4:30 PM. Unless anyone has any objections, if Ryan is agreeable I'll set up a regular schedule to contact him and let you folks know about his progress.

Neilfein, do you want to update the map for me? I have no skill with drawing maps. I recall you liking them.

axolotl

New Mexico is in the Mountain Time zone, so it's only 2 hours behind Eastern Time.

If you call, you might want to ask him where he got in the car to go to Phoenix, and whether he has ridden all the way since Phoenix. Also, is he camping or staying indoors? Did he ever get any lights, i.e. is he riding after dark? If he doesn't have decent lights, I sure hope he's not trying to ride after dark.

10 Wheels

You have a good plan.
I don't think he needs a bunch of folks calling him.
I would like to meet up with him. Ride a bit and see what support that would aid the ride.
Tires, tubes, meals.
I wouldn't stay and don't want to slow him down any.

Ml007

Hey guys!

My name is Luke and I'm one of Ryan's old friends. Thanks for all the interest you have shown in his journey! Let me be clear: I am not authorized to speak on his behalf or anything he is doing. I haven't cleared anything I will say with him. I am not affiliated in any way (other than moral support from afar) with Ryan's adventure.

That being said, I just wanted to give you some updates I know of from being connected to Ryan on FaceBook, where he posts infrequent messages as to where he is. Since there is a lot of interest about that, I figured I'd fill you in:

On Dec. 5th, Ryan posted a message saying he was camping in Alpine, CA. Alpine is about 30 miles east outside San Diego, via Google Maps.

Just yesterday (12/13 at 8PM), Ryan posted that he had arrived in Las Cruces, NM, after riding 200 miles in 2 days. He seemed pretty happy about it!

It seems to me like he will soon be entering Texas, via El Paso.

Even though Ryan has no idea that I am on here (and I haven't even talked to him since just before he started), let me just tell you guys that Ryan is really one of the most down to earth, nice, friendly persons I have ever met, and I consider him to be one of my best friends. I know that he has rubbed some people on here the wrong way, and to be quite frank, I can see why. However, please give him a chance and continue to support his biking adventures, whether or not you agree with his methods or politics.

I'll be trying to keep updating you with any information that I get. Again, thank you for the interest in his trip and his safety - I know that he appreciates it. Have a great afternoon!