This is a record of my crossing of the Southern Tier, a transcontinental route plotted by the Adventure Cycling Association that runs from San Diego CA to Saint Augustine FL.
I had 35 days of riding, with a 4-day layover in Austin. I covered a little over 2900 miles, averaging about 83 miles per day, with a total of 13 century+ days along the way. You can view my postings for each day by clicking the appropriate number in the menu above.
Why did you do this?
I wanted to do this for a long time. When I was a teenager, my father told me about a friend of his who had done a transcontinental ride, and I think that planted the seed. I’ve always been fascinated by the Race Across America. But at some level, the question is unanswerable—either you get it or you don’t.
About ten years ago, I resolved to do the ride. Then a lot of stuff in my life changed, and I forgot about that goal. Around the beginning of the year, something reminded me of it, and I realized I still wanted to do it. I mentioned it to Gwen—she just said “you’re not getting any younger.” That did it. I’ve been working my way towards doing this since that day.
Where did you ride?
The route runs roughly parallel to I-10, but stays off major highways for the most part.
How long? How high? How much? How hot?
I’ve created an infographic (pdf) showing my route along with some other other metrics.
Daily ride reports
Following is a list of the ride reports that I posted at the end of each day, but there are a bunch of short posts and photos I posted along the way if you navigate around.
- Day 1: San Diego to Lakeside
- Day 2: Lakeside to Ocotillo
- Day 3: Ocotillo to Brawley
- Day 4: Brawley to Blythe
- Day 5: Blythe to Salome
- Day 6: Salome to Phoenix
- Day 7: Phoenix to Superior
- Day 8: Superior to Globe
- Day 9: Globe to Safford
- Day 10: Safford AZ to Cliff NM
- Day 11: Cliff to Silver City
- Day 12: Silver City to Hatch
- Day 13: Hatch NM to El Paso TX
- Day 14: El Paso to Sierra Blanca
- Day 15: Sierra Blanca to McDonald Observatory
- Day 16: McDonald Observatory to Alpine
- Day 17: Alpine to Sanderson
- Day 18: Sanderson to Comstock
- Day 19: Comstock to Camp Wood
- Day 20: Camp Wood to Kerrville
- Day 21: Austin to Burton
- Day 22: Burton to Coldspring
- Day 23: Coldspring to near Kirbyville
- Day 24: near Kirbyville TX to Mamou LA
- Day 25: Mamou to Simmesport
- Day 26: Simmesport to near Jackson
- Day 27: near Jackson LA to Poplarville MS
- Day 28: Poplarville MS to Bayou La Batre AL
- Day 29: Bayou La Batre AL to Pensacola FL
- Day 30: Pensacola to Bonifay
- Day 31: Bonifay to Tallahassee
- Day 32: Tallahassee to Madison
- Day 33: Madison to Gainesville
- Day 34: Gainesville to Palatka
- Day 35: Palatka to St. Augustine
Really nice graphic. Helps me understand when miles are hard and when they are not so hard. Good planning tool.
Thank you for a very thorough evaluation of your Southern Teir ride, I have bookmarked your information for my ride Sept 2017.
I will use my Tour Easy recumbent to ride with Bike the US for MS.
I have a few questions since this my first tour. I ride about 120 miles per week, but am apprehensive about the climbs in the first 1/3 of the ride.
Did you train on hills? If so how many miles per day did you train?