Originally Posted by
staehpj1
Probably as good a guess as I could make.
I wonder about the AC map sales comment though. You may be right, but it is hard to tell. On one hand I bet a lot of people buy the maps to dream and never go. On the other people improvise their own routes, share maps among a group or use second hand maps. I know we met at least one guy didn't have AC maps and I know of others who improvised their own route.
We for example were three riders sharing one map set. I wonder how it balances out between the maps shared or not needed and the maps not used.
That's why I did kind of a Card Sharks version with my guess. You come to your own best guess then adjust it to the number of the answer you think most people would give.
If we are correct, 50,000 people spead out over a 40 year span still makes it unique.
It would be interesting to compare the numbers of the group sponsored cross country cyclists (ACA, others) with the indivual tourists - Like you and the ladies.
Individual tourists would be less than half the total over the same 40 year period.