antokelly

ok i'll proberly will never tour in america un less i win the lottery affording me to get there in the first place, but what it the best place in america to tour. the country is so so big, like why would you guy's even leave america to tour shurly you folk's have got it all ,Weather ,Scenery,Friendly peoply,good camping, great food. IM sure going from one state to the other can be so different and you have the great advantage of speaking the same langauge.so what's the story folks if your planning a tour in your own country what's the number one choice..thanks.

staehpj1

I feel very lucky to live in a country so well suited to touring.

The best place to tour here? That is tough to answer as each area has it's own charm. Also it depends on how much time you have.

Crossing the country is a good way to sample the various areas if you have the time. It you have less time, Oregon is especially nice and has the advantage of extremely varied terrain and climate. Colorado is a great area to tour if you like mountains. A ride down the Pacific coast is tough to beat if you like the seashore.

When it comes down to it every state has it's own charm and you can find great touring in any of them. I guess if I had to pick one it would be Oregon though.

maxine

This might help you decide:

https://www.adventurecycling.org/tour...trix/index.cfm

(Not that you have to go on an organized Adventure Cycling Association tour but if you click on the tour names on the leftmost column of the graph, they bring up a nice description of that particular tour, which goes a bit into the terrain, and the interesting things to see. //Click through to "Tour Details" and then "Tour Itinerary."// That might give you some ideas on what states/areas of the U.S. most appeal to you.)

bobframe

America by Bicycle is a commercial bicycle touring company that offers fully supported bicycle tours. My one experience with them (Transam North) showed them to be highly organized, very capable, if a bit rushed and controlling (you WILL load luggage between 6:00 and 6:15AM, you WILL ride to Point A, you WILL stay here, you WILL wash your hands before eating at the sag, etc.).

Their catalog shows what are probably what most folks consider the most desirable American tours:

https://www.abbike.com/Tours/

JohnyW

Hi,

my country is Germany we have 16 federal states. Knowing the language, behaviour of the people, local customs is boring.

There are about 220 states in the world. The USA is like Germany only one of them.

In America there are several nice places to tour: So far I toured a bit in Canada, Cuba, Haiti, Domenicanian Republic, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina.

In USA you have plenty of options to tour in the West and the North East. For the rest the landscape is boring (in my opion), but I know only about 15 states in the USA.

Thomas

antokelly

oh i think if ever i could afford to get over there i would most definitely tour solo.my idea of a great tour would be first of all great weather i get plenty bad weather over here, scenery would be fantastic ,lift the soul.and good roads loads campsites ,i reckon if your nice to people they'll be nice back.thanks for replys .

valygrl

I like staying home to tour, and also going away. Are you asking what the best places in the USA to tour are? Hard to answer that question, as one person's dream tour is another person's nightmare. Sometimes I see people looking for "flat, open" tours and I just shudder, but other people might not like all-mountains-all-the-time, which is my dream ride.

I like the West - Pacific Coast, Utah, Coloardo, Wyoming, Montana, Arizona - and would be interested in going to the northeast again - I liked New Jersey (I know that sounds weird) and Pennsylvania - but only sort-of - too much traffic. I would like to try New England in autumn, when the leaves are changing and the bugs are dead. I did NOT like the great plains, and I did some car travel in the southeast & Texas, and have no desire to go there by bike.

I've been lucky enough to live in California and now Colorado, and have ridden out my door in both for tours. It's also pretty easy to take a domestic flight or bus/train ride somewhere.

I've also been to Canada, New Zealand and Australia. I haven't been anywhere yet where the language isn't English - I only speak English, which is totally lame of me, and have been a bit scared to solo tour where I can't communicate well. However, the next countries on my list are France, Italy, Spain, Austria & Croatia so I'm going to have to suck it up and deal.

axolotl

There was this thread not long ago where a cyclist from Spain asked where to go:

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...light=michigan

As for your question about why would any american touring cyclists want to leave, I like to experience different cultures, different landscapes, different languages, and different foods. I speak several foreign languages to varying degrees, and that has greatly enhanced my foreign travel experience.

There are many nice areas for touring in the US, however, and I've done my fair share at home. But touring for me in the US is mainly to enjoy the landscape and frequently wide open spaces. The US, especially the western US, has some of the most amazing and beautiful scenery on the planet. Many of these places are in the outstanding national park system. Some national parks are well suited to touring, others less so.

Although there are 50 states plus Washington, DC, things are more homogeneous in the country than you might suspect. There are certain unique aspects to each state and region, but the differences are often subtle and not necessarily obvious.

nancy sv

I agree that the USA is a great place to tour! We are now in Ecuador, after having cycled south from Alaska. I have to say that the US part of our journey was certainly one of hte highlights. I've toured fairly extensively in the USA and I think my favorite part is the southwest desert in Utah, Arizona, and southern California. I love that you can pull off and camp in the desert every night and see such unique sights. I just put together a slide show of that area if you would like to see what I'm talking about.

antokelly

thank's nancy sv beautyful photos ,my daughter in law is from montana she was telling me all about how big and beautyful it is .

Wogster

I live just North of the US in Canada, and I think I can comment here, first let me don this handy fireproof suit.

Weather you can find anywhere, same for scenery, friendly people, good camping and great food. Speaking the same language can be a blessing or a curse. My Spanish is limited to being able to say I don't speak Spanish, my French is a little better, but not by much. My German is limited to a few of my dads favourite German profanities, that I learned as a kid, considering that dad passed away 32 years ago as of last week, they are a little rusty now..

This though wouldn't prevent me from touring in places where those languages or others are spoken. I just need to check some language resources, get down some basic phrases and pick up a decent guidebook.

About the US, there are differences state to state, far fewer then you would think though, US states tend to be small geographically, which leads to a good deal of overlap, I doubt you would see significant differences taking 2-3 days to cross one state, then you would driving where you can cross 5 states in one day. You would also see it more if you were flying. Television has also reduced the state to state cultural differences, which also affects other English speaking countries. I sometimes think that Canada should have adopted French as the national language, it would buffer us somewhat from the onslaught of Hollywood defined American culture.

It's funny though, sometimes doing stuff at home is more interesting. It's not uncommon where a tourist will fly half way around the world to see a site, and the 95 year old guy who has lived at the other end of the same village has never seen it.

cyclist2000

I grew up in Illlinois and it has endless miles of cornfields, charming

10 Wheels

Ride over to Indiana and look at their corn fields.

Doug64

FWIW--I believe that most of us approach bike tours differently, and for a variety of reasons. Some of us like the challenge, some of us like the social aspects, some of us do it just for "bragging "rights, and some of us just like to ride.

I would be perfectly content to only tour in the US and Canada. My wife and I have ridden across the US, as well as many other shorter tours in the US and Canada. We purposely plan our own routes to stay off the "standard" Adventure Cycling routes (except the Pacific Coast route). We only saw six other x-country bikers in 3650 miles. We are not anti-social, but there is something to be said about not knowing what is around the next corner and having the locals jaded by hoards of cyclists. We were talking about our next trip the other day, and we came to this conclusion---We could take the same route, at the same time of year, and use the same amount of time; and it would be a completely different trip!

What is boring or interesting is really a personal call. We were warned that Nebraska and Iowa would be "boring". In a car on the interstate highway maybe; on a bike, off the interstate they were great states! I'd do northern Nebraska again in a heartbeat. We did joke some in Iowa-- As we started out in the morning we'd laughingly ask each other, "is it going to be a sorghum and corn day, or is it going to be a corn and sorghum day? I also have a feeling that people who tell you a place is boring (or flat) has never ridden a bike there, or have never ridden a bike through parts of Wyoming.

We want to to an extended tour in Europe because neither of has ever been there. Again, planning our own routes, the language challenges, the physical challenges, and the unknowns of "strange and exotic" places (could be a local cafe in a small town in Nebraska) are what makes bike touring so appealing.

To me bike touring is a lot like my approach to skiing. I really don't care to much where I'm ski, as long as I'm skiing!

yeamac 

Why not start in Iowa and make it a cornfield tour?

Machka 

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” -- Mark Twain


Touring one's own local area by bicycle on day rides, weekend rides, etc. is a great way to see and discover places most "locals" don't go. I've discovered all sorts of things about the areas where I've lived that people who had lived there much longer than I didn't know about.

Touring one's own country is a great way to become familiar with the variety offered by your own country, and to gain some perspective on what your own local area has to offer.

Touring the world is a great way to broaden your horizons, to expand your knowledge, and to see your own country and your own local area from a variety of different perspectives.

While I enjoy exploring the areas where I live, and the countries where I live, I would never want to restrict my touring and travelling to just one area or just one country. There's too much of the rest of the world to see out there!!

vegenaise

trusting bf over vlv? i never!

antokelly

it's great to see other country's no doubt about that, but can you really get to know a country when you dont speak the langauge, the only thing you take in is the scenery /food ,ok im missing out on other things here i know .travelling in an english speaking country you can talk at lenght to locals about there area, you can't do that in foreign land's unless you speak the lingo.ah i just feel more comfortable when you can talk to people ,guess im stuck here.

lighthorse

antokelly,
Yours is a good question that has no answer. I believe that long tours require some kind of inspiration. You read, talk to others, search the internet for information and suddenly something sparks your interest. That spark then becomes the basis for your tour.

Certainly, the U.S. has a lot to offer tourists with varied geography and climate. And you can do some reasonably long distances across the country (whether the southern tier, the northern tier, TransAM, or any other route that you design for yourself). There are a lot of interesting places to see and a lot of open space that can be: "For the rest the landscape is boring (in my opion), but I know only about 15 states in the USA". Again, it all depends on what you want out of your tour. It isn't about what someone else thinks.

I have also enjoyed touring in Europe though have only participated in organized tours there. Good luck with your lottery winnings and your next tour.

AsanaCycles

I live in Monterey, California.

touring the west coast of the USA is pretty good.
altho I don't like to get into LA, unless I have to.

I also mountain bike
so my touring has a tendency to have some dirt sections thrown in.

BLUMEANIE

Or over to the other side to see the Missouri corn fields.

Machka 

You're in Ireland, right?

I'd love to tour Ireland!! But you're right next door to England, Scotland, and Wales where they speak English (mainly). There's lots to tour through that area. And you've got the whole of Europe right there. I do speak limited French, but I found the French people to be wonderful ... I'd start talking in French to them, and they'd start talking in English to me because they wanted to practice. I've also heard that people in places like Denmark and Sweden speak fairly fluent English.

And if you wanted to go over to North America, flights aren't that expensive anymore. They run around $1000.

But if you wanted to go into parts of Europe where they don't speak much English, what's stopping you from learning the language there? Take night classes, get a CD from the local library on learning whatever language you're interested in, or even pick up a phrase book and have a read through it.

antokelly

machka your wright of course but to be honest cycle touring as much as i love it ,isen't the be all and end all for me.i would never leave ireland to tour if we had sunshine (don't know how to add smiles) yeah england, im half thinking of heading in that direction next year weather permitting.as for the french i can only say nice things of french people ,but i couldent have a full blown conversation with one of them nor they with me .For the limited time i would spend in any foreigh country it's just not worth the bother trying to learn the lingo.

arctos

It would be no sacrifice for me to stay home and tour from my doorstep. I fortunately live in a diverse physical environment. I can bicycle and tour year round with full sunshine and rare rain or cold.
I can ride on and off pavement with the ocean and mountains for a back drop. I can start from my doorstep or jump on Amtrak to be dropped off 200 miles from home to ride back via multiple routes on or off pavement including wilderness access corridors.

Yet with all of this now familiar home territory, like all humans I too crave some change, variety or diversity of place, culture, language, terrain, weather and food. So I head to the Canadian North or Baja or Ecuador or Norway or Germany or New Zealand or Kazakstan to scratch that need for change itch.

antokelly

ah yes arctos but wait a second yourself and machka nancy sv well basically most of the folk's on this particular thread are near enough professional bike tourers (leave the money part out) you guy's are touring most of your lifes ,you need to get to other side of the planet,where as i on the other hand ,im only at this a wet day.im looking at america and canada as such hugh countrys ireland is only a dot on the landscape mind you it's a beautyful dot ,but you could proberly tour ireland in a couple weeks and see most of it.there's no doubt europe is great it's just langauge that's the big issue for me.sound's like im blameing parts of europe for not speaking english .i think i could be a lost cause i'll say that before someone else does.anyway folks thanks for chimbing in it was fun .