Originally Posted by
cyccommute
Going a bit off-topic, I can help you with route planning in Colorado. I really doubt that you want to do single track across Colorado unless you are particularly masochistic. I know the state very well and can suggest a number of routes that include moderate road grades across the state as well as some better routes than those suggested by Adventure Cycling, particularly along the TransAmerica. You can either PM me or we can do it in the open forum.
I am always grateful for any advice/help I can get! In this case, though, my plans are in such a state of flux, or evolving if you will, that I am afraid that it is too early to get very specific. For example, I joined warmshowers.org (bicycle community with reciprocal hosting services) after seeing it in Apple apps. In their forum, I saw someone post about riders joining up for a trip on the Katy Trail--it runs east-west for about 240 miles over crushed limestone in Missouri. (I haven't decided whether to join the OP yet--I think that he will be leaving before I can give my students their final exam, or maybe I give them a take home that they email to me! He starts less than 30 miles from my house, and he's going from Chicago-land to Colorado by way of Route 66--Katy Trail--TransAmerica.) I also noticed another, even longer, trail across Nebraska (Cowboy Trail) but that would be way out of my way. Maybe I can find another long trail across Kansas? LOL
Who's to say whether I wear out the stock tires long before I leave?! And yesterday I showed my wife photos of the nearby Erie-Lackawanna Trail (
http://www.traillink.com/trail-photo...a-trail.aspx); she got so excited that I bought her a simple cruiser bike to get her started. Devious, ain't I? LOL