A friend and I plan to bike the Southern Tier route between St. Augustine, FL and San Diego, CA in February and March. We had originally planned to bike East to West (so as to use the flat east coast as our warm up), but are having second thoughts due to the trade winds. Any suggestions from past bikers of this route? Is it worth it to switch directions? Any advise is helpful!
How pesky are those trade winds?
Tue, 2014-12-09 22:31
#1
WS Member
How pesky are those trade winds?
I don't know if you already are aware of The Wind Map but it's worth seeing if for nothing other than the entertainment value.
Here's the link: http://hint.fm/wind/
The upper left corner will tell you when the data were entered and animated. You'll notice that the wind does all sorts of interesting things including blowing every possible direction. ;-)
Mark
In 2011 I encountered a rider coming the opposite direction, from the East. He stated, "Other than the wind being in my face for 3,000 miles, everything is going just peachy!"
We rode the ST from West to East in Feb/March 2011. From my journal notes we had more tail than head winds, but I also recall meeting an East to West rider in Texas who said he had had more tail than head winds up to that point. I think it's a wash, and not worth changing plans for. In case you want to see my journal with notes on the route, it's at http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/myfinecycle
I wouldn't worry too much about the wind. I've toured cross country a few times, once E to W, Then W to east. Didn't matter. At any rate once you ride for a few weeks you will be strong enough to ride against a little wind or up a steep mt. Which if you are not strong already might be a good reason to start in Fl and head west. By the way, I hated riding across TX, God awful boring.
Have fun
Once rode to St Augustine from St Martinsville, La. Mostly light head winds.
Seems winds east of the Mississippi are less predictable, west of the Mississip, more likely from SW. Feb/March...a toss up. Don't change plans re winds.