Conference noted::bicycle

    Toronto's on the coast?
    
    Are you camping?
    
    ed

    	John Lee,
    
    	This note's for you.
    
    	Scott

    I suggest that you get in touch with BIKECENTENNIAL, PO Box 8308,
    Missoula, MT 59807.  They are the folks that put together the original
    coast-to-coast trip in 1976, and have been refining coast-to-coast maps
    ever since.  A membership costs $22, and with it you get a copy of "The
    Cyclists Yellow Pages" which is a 111 page compendium of resources,
    maps, bike shops, books, major events, hostels -- about everything you
    need to know (including policies of international air carriers!).
    They also publish a beautiful series of maps at a scale
    of 1 inch = 6.4 km, covering crossings of the US in the north
    (including a bit of the Canadian Rockies), center (including
    Yellowstone and the Colorado Rockies) and south (crossing Texas and
    passing within 15 miles of my home (and y'all are welcome for the
    night.))
    
    FWIW they also have a toll-free number (800)933-1116.

    HI,
    
    I have cycled cross-country twice.  The first time I followed a
    northern-central-northern-coastal route using mainly the Bikecentennial
    maps.  I did the trek by myself, but let me tell you dude, there are
    tons of cyclists on the Transamerica Bikecentennial route.  My course
    was NH, VT, NY, OHIO, IND, ILL, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming,
    Idaho, Oregon, CA.  I hit the west coast at Oregon, and cruised the coast
    to San Diego... Simply awesome ride.  You can camp most places, but
    states like Kansas only have city parks.  They'll let u camp in the parks 
    for free, and you only have to pay a buck to shower in the locker room of
    the city pools....   If you get stranded, be sure to check with a
    town's local churches... Often times you can stay there with shower,
    kitchen, etc... A luxury!  Also, be sure to talk to the people in the
    towns... You'll find so much out about their lifestyles- and they'll
    probably put u up.
    
    Last summer I took 6 weeks and cycled from Seattle to NJ.  This was an
    organized event, so the route was planned out.  I definitely liked the
    central route better.  Colorade, Wyoming, Idaho are gorgeous.  I did
    take a mountain bike last summer.  If you are fat-tiring it, I suggest
    u change your tires to city slickers.  You also should invest in
    handlebar extensions made for hill climbing.  I also added Scott Aero Bars
    to my mountain bike to handle the headwinds.  I LOVED TAKING MY
    MOUNTAIN BIKE... IT WAS TOTALLY AWESOME.  I DID BREAK SPOKES EASIER
    THAN ON MY TOURING BIKE, BUT I DIDN'T GET A FLAT.  ON MY TOURING BIKE,
    I GOT TONS OF FLATS.
    
    Send me some mail, and we'll get together to chat.  I have tons of info
    for you.
    
    Best of luck, dude.  You'll have the experience of your life.
    
    -Debster at ACESMK::DESANTIS 
    
    

    
    Belatedly... yes, I have a certain perspective, as Scott says,
    on transcontinental trips.  The Bikecentennial pointer is good
    advice.  My own crossing had more support and insulation from
    local culture than is typical of touring. :-)  I did not get to
    eat the local chili, BBQ, or piroshki, for example.
    
    See also Ed Pavelka's 2-part article (April and May) in the U.S.
    publication Bicycling on the PAC (Pacific-Atlantic Crossing) tour
    he enjoyed.  That closely followed the RAAM'90 and RAAM'91 routes.
    
    -john

    You might want to cross Death Valley off your list for the summertime
    it will be so hot you really won't enjoy it.  I ride in the desert here
    which is a little cooler than Death Valley (115 degrees F vs 120+
    degrees f) I usually get my riding over by 8-9am and it still takes a
    lot out of you with plenty of water and Exceed.  If you do go to the
    Grand Canyon a good trip might be to go to the north rim rather than
    the traditional south rim.  Less people and a better view of the
    canyon.  You could go to Bryce and Zion national parks on the way to
    the north rim.  The roads are less traveled in those areas and they are
    at a higher altitude so they are cooler in summer.  From there you can
    get to Arches natl. park and Canyonlands and then head north to the
    other National parks.

    RE: -.1
    
    Death Valley was 108F yesterday and it's not even summer.
    
    I did my x-country before things started getting crowded (1981).  I
    went with one other friend and we biked about 150 miles on the
    bikecentenial route (then only 5 years old) and improvised the rest of
    the way.  Personally, I like to make up my own rules - so needless to
    say I would recomend picking your own route.
    
    I do have one piece of advice, if you go in the summer, pick a northern
    route.  My route was Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, S. Dakota, Iowa,
    Wisconsin, Michigan, Ontario, NY, Mass.  It was July and it was plenty
    hot.  My sweat disolved 3 cotton t-shirts in 6 weeks of biking - and
    people are always telling me I don't sweat much.  I can't even imagine
    doing a southern route in the summer.
    
    I guess I have another piece of advice now that I think about it -
    never count on the prevailing winds to push you west to east.  They
    might, but then again they might not.  We had headwinds all through
    South Dakota and everone told us we would be getting tailwinds.
    Psychologically we were prepared to rest after battling the Bighorns,
    and so when we had to keep our energy level up (maybe even raise it) we
    got really depressed for a about a week.  We finally fought through
    the miles and the depression, and the remaining part of the trip was
    comparatively easy, but it sure would have been nice to know that
    prevailing wind doesn't necessarily mean tail wind.
    
    
    				-d