I Am The Walrus

With a few diversions, I will be following what is called The Southern Tier on my long bicycle journey. In the biking world, the Southern Tier is a well known and popular route from the San Diego area to St. Augustine, Florida. An article in the American Cycling Association's newsletter regarding the best time of year to attempt the Southern Tier recently caught my attention:

"The Southern Tier is one of those routes that has a distinct "season" for riding due to the effect extreme weather conditions can have on a cyclist's experience. We believe it is generally best ridden early fall or spring for optimum conditions. There are three factors contributing to this advice: deserts, mountain passes, and hurricane season.

"The long desert stretch can produce high temperatures even in early May. Compounding the issue of high temperatures is also the relative lack of services, including sources of water, on this stretch. Many of the businesses — including campgrounds — are run seasonally and close during the summer months due to lack of business. You will need to pay attention to weather reports and be prepared to wait it out a day or two if need be at these times.

"And finally, hurricane season can have a detrimental effect on the route from Louisiana, to Florida, and sometimes even as far west as Navasota, Texas. The official hurricane season is typically June through November with the peak considered to be August through October.

"Based on the above factors, for spring eastbound departures, we advise leaving in early March while westbound departures could occur as early as February to be across the desert by the end of April. For fall eastbound and westbound departures, early to mid-September is a good target."

So like a slow thinking beast, I will plod on against best advice and depart on my cross country bicycle trip in late spring, risking extreme heat, hurricanes, closed campgrounds, and the like.

Oh, well. Goo goo goo joob...