Originally Posted by
axolotl
If you look at the historic weather data for towns along the Southern Tier route, there are places in AZ & especially NM with some pretty cold average low temperatures (in the 20s) this time of year.
True, but remember that the day night differential is large so it gets pretty warm in the day time. Once the sun gets up it won't be all that bad most of the time. The problem is that days are short so he can't afford to wait around for it to warm up.
I have no idea if Ryan ever got lights. His website is asking for money for lights so I would presume not. That's going to be another major impediment if he has to stop by sundown each day.
He will have at least 10 hours of daylight. That should be enough, but it will be necessary for him to get going at first light and it will be cold then as you mentioned above.
My take on this is that this is all doable, but requires some real toughness and determination. It is a challenge, but probably not foolhardy if he plans better than he has so far. Regarding the weather, a little good luck wouldn't hurt and some bad luck could easily set the schedule back a few days.
Then again I have not ridden the ST, so I have no first hand knowledge.