Originally Posted by
staehpj1
Just curious, what was your route? Was it shorter than the TA? If so allowing a bit more time might be wise on the TA...I say allow extra time if possible. You can still finish early. To me, having a firm deadline would make it hard to relax and enjoy the trip.
Hi staehpj1,
I may have been confused by the original question. I thought "t.a." just meant a generic transamerica ride, coast to coast. I presume you and the OP are referring to the route that I think was started by Bikecentennial in 1976, from Oregon to Virginia in a somewhat meandering course. We went in a particularly direct line from LA to DC passing through the southern tip of Nevada, the Grand Canyon, Four Corners, Durango CO, and on through Kansas, St. Louis, Ohio, West Virginia and Virginia. Sorry for the confusion.
On our trip we met a cyclist living in Garden City KS, who had done Bikecentennial in '76 and put us up for the night. Also unfortunately, we did have a firm deadline to be in Boston on July 1, and we originally planned to ride directly there. We realized by Colorado we weren't going fast enough, so we went to DC and took the train.
BTW have you heard of the Pacific-Atlantic Cycling Tour that crosses the US in 21 days? FYI check out the website, especially the recommended training regimen.
http://www.pactour.com/
Jim