This blog is about me, Wouter, cycling the Trans America Trail from East to West from beginning of June 2014 until end of August 2014.
Why?
The idea of cycling a long, preferably coast to coast route in the US has been in my mind for quite some years. Basically since cycling from the Netherlands to Rome (Italy) with two of my friends during the summer of 2009. I liked doing long distance cycling so much, that the thought of doing a longer route has been in the back of my mind ever since.
Why the US?
1) The scenery should be astonishing and vary a lot.
2) It is a Western country, so they will have (practically) all the things I am used to in the Netherlands, including bike shops which have components that fit on my bike.
3) The people are extremely friendly and helpful (as far as I experienced)
4) The people speak English, making communication so much easier
The route
The Trans America Trail is the oldest route mapped by the Adventure Cycling Association. As far as I can judge it is also one of the most cycled routes. This means that there are detailed maps available of the entire route, you are likely to encounter fellow cyclists on the route and there are many services and lodgings especially for cyclists along the route. Another reason for taking this route is that it allows me to visit a friend in Boulder, CO along the way.
Initially I planned to take the Trans America Trail untill Boulder (close to Pueblo) and then change to the Western Express towards San Fransisco. However on the crazyguyonabike forum I got the information the this means that I will encounter high temperatures in the Utah and Nevada and in addition that there is a large risk of forest fires in California this year, meaninig parts of the route could be closed down.
I have tickets from Seattle back to Amsterdam, so the main plan is to cycle the total Trans America Trail to either Astoria / Florence or directly to Seattle. Only if I find a companion for the Utah and Nevada dessert and have the indication that the California forest fires are not too bad before leaving Boulder, I might consider taking the Western Express instead. I estimate the chance for that to be less than 20%.
