Bike Non Stop Route?
 

I was watching a you tube video of a British fellow riding the Trans American Route. He was giving up on it because of the traffic and near misses. He is talking about the Bike Non Stop Route.
Anyone familiar with it?

https://bikepacking.com/event/2026-t...point-edition/

The description above suggests that the Trans Am Bike Nonstop approach is to give a set of checkpoints to pass but the specifics of the route are up to the rider to pick.

Is he talking about one specific set of choices - either his or someone else?

Not so far. He made mention of this route as an alternative as he was quite concerned about the near misses.

Regardless of the route's name, the traffic and cycling infrastructure in North America is horrific. I would rather spend a few extra hours on a plane and cycling in a more accommodating place. Presently, in the South of France, it's been amazing, and even on a busier connector road, the drivers have been very respectful.

For the benefit of any possible newbies, this is not about ACA’s TransAm route.

Agreed, this is an endurance race where there is an incentive to pick routes that get you between the checkpoints as quickly as possible including as many hours in the saddle, the most direct routes and the quickest speeds.

That undoubtedly affects the types of roads and the time of day you are riding them...

The ACA TransAm route through VA, KY, MO & IL follows mostly bucolic, winding, secondary back roads. KS, CO, WY, MT, ID & OR involve more highway shoulder riding. The only section I found harrowing was the original E > W conclusion from Pacific City OR to Astoria OR, against the wind & on the wrong side of the road with lots of close passing RVs & logging trucks. The led trips moved the conclusion to Florence OR to eliminate that stretch.

Perhaps the British fellow got into trouble because he was winging it with his road choices between checkpoints?

Dillon to Twin Bridges, MT is very unpleasant these days. At some point east of Dillon, the shoulder disappears, and there are a good number of trucks and other speeding traffic. The couple I camped wont in Twin Bridges said there were some very close passes.

I came up with a dirt road detour around that section, although I was later scolded for riding on some private roads. There was no signage indicating such. In fact, there were normal road signs.

It is a race, so I think the point is to wing it between checkpoints. The more precise rules are here - https://rideyrbike.com/event-summary/TABNS2026 but briefly summarized are:
- Start in Astoria
- Pass through (CP1) Mitchell, Oregon (CP2) Moran, Wyoming (CP3) one of five bridges across the Mississipi in either Iowa/Missouri/Illinois
- Finish in either Yorktown or Washington DC
- Don't ride on roads where bikes are prohibited or on a specific list of banned roads or areas shown in map below
- Go as fast as you can

So you do want to wing it where it gets you faster in the race. You might also want to ride through the night, etc.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2107b1a79b.png

What’s interesting the same style races are held all over the world and in NA the lack of respect and infrastructure make it very unsafe. Australia is the same.

In this article, you will find one example in Europe, one in Australia and one in the USA - https://bicyclingaustralia.com.au/ne...-to-mike-hall/

I don't see why they ban riding across Iowa and West Virginia as shown by the red boxes https://rideyrbike.com/TABNS2026 . Certain roads I understand, but entire states? Any one know? And I am a bit confused. Can they design their own route (except for banned roads/areas) assuming they go through the check points or do they need to follow one of the suggested routes. It seems they can do personalized routes.

I don't know but am willing to guess. Here is what I've been able to understand from different web posts:
1. Bike Non Stop was a more specific route that emphasized more off road/gravel riding.
2. The TABNS checkpoint edition was introduced in 2025 to allow additional flexibility to ride either original Transamerica Trail (ending in Yorktown), Bike Non Stop (ending in DC) or something different (still ending in Yorktown or DC). In addition the checkpoint approach was introduced to allow you to find/adjust your own route as well - suggested as local roads, etc.
3. The checkpoints seem to have picked up some chatter on routing. There might be some defacto choices e.g. what did last year's winner ride - but also a chance to innovate.
4. Looking at the boxes/banned roads I see two slightly different behaviors: (a) that big box in Iowa/Minnesota combined with the mandatory bridges makes it a lot less desirable to swing north via northern Illinois/Indiana/Ohio where there might be some flat riding but also a lot of population. Easier to ban the box than go wild banning roads in Ohio (b) those boxes near West Virginia seem to funnel more towards C&O canal and Transamerica Trail for completion
5. A bit inconsistent in banning Iowa roads but my experience has been Iowa does have multiple roads - the larger ones can have a fair amount of agricultural and other traffic and not as many shoulders. On the other hand, my experience was that traffic was more friendly to bikes than other places I rode like similar roads in Ohio. So I'll chalk it up more to familiarity of the course creator with the region.

In general I think a checkpoint approach is fine. It matches how I've seen people ride ACA routes like the Southern Tier or Pacific Coast: mostly ride the route given on the maps but sometimes veer off for supplies, local alternatives, construction, etc. It also makes it easier on the organizers than a real strict policing to have folks backtrack to official route if the go off for some reason.