MrsHJ wrote: The Great Allegheny Passage combined with the C & O canal would be a nice easterly section and picking up the Lincoln Highway for small town America sounds very nice . No one seems to enjoy the rolling hills in the east as much as I thought they would! I've also fancied the western express ( partly because I've already travelled most of the route of the Pueblo to Washington coast section) and because it sounds incredible. I do find the desert cycling a bit thought provoking though. Have you doen a blog or got a map,of your trip irp? ....From memory there were some sections of 100 miles on the western express without services - maybe it does fit into this thread then. I'd be interested to know what the optimal timing is for this route.
I'd suggest April to June west to east is too early. Three or four days east of San Francisco the Carson Pass over the Sierras is around 8'500 feet. It sometimes closes for short periods in April due to snow. Adventure Cycling suggest mid May to October for the Western Express which sounds about right. Looking at the weather at Ely Nevada the end of May looks fine. Average highs around 23C which is pleasant in the dry heat there.
https://weatherspark.com/averages/30175 ... ted-StatesOf course starting in Mid May gets you to the east coast in mid July. You will get hot and humid conditions. But I think bad weather is easier to cope with in the east because facilities are more frequent so heat can be coped with by early starts and getting off the road for a few hours mid day if you need to. You can get water several times a day if you need to.
https://weatherspark.com/averages/31267 ... ted-StatesFurther west he longest dry stretch in Utah with no water or anything else was 81 miles from Blanding to Lake Powell. The shop at lake Powell has limited opening hours. Other than that it's 125 miles from Blanding to Hanksville with no water other than Lake Powell. The water in it is slightly orange in colour from sediment. Usable if treated but not ideal.
I did my DC -San Francisco mid July - mid Sept. I got a heat wave with 100f temps in the first 2 weeks or so. Thereafter perfect shorts and T shirt weather almost every day. Going E-W has the advantage that other than rolling hills across Missouri it's flat until the Rockies so your tour fit doing the mountains. E-W your climbing to 8500 feet on day 3 or 4. Going E-W saves the most dramatic scenery for the 2nd half as well.
A mid May to mid July E-W would work as well. If Nevada was uncomfortably hot then riding early would avoid the worst of it. And late May is probably better than July in the east.
