2005 Adventure Cycling "Northern Tier" Bicycle Tour, Conclusion

Conclusion

This was my first Adventure Cycling tour. I found it to be about as I expected. Compared to touring on my own:

Advantages

Disadvantages

The scenery on this tour tended to be concentrated at the beginning and end. I suppose to some extent that's inevitable in a coast-to-coast tour, but it sure seemed like we had an awful lot of miles in the middle with nothing to look at but grass. I believe the Adventure Cycling Trans-Am and Southern routes are probably a bit more scenic. (I'm basing this partly on my own 1996 tour which was roughly similar to the Trans-Am.)

We started with 16 riders, 13 men and 3 women. We ended with 9 riders, 6 men and 3 women. All of the women made it but over half the men dropped out.

Would I do it again? No. I think next time I'll do the Southern route. :-) Seriously, I'd like to do another Adventure Cycling tour. But there are so many places in the world that I haven't ridden my bicycle through yet -- the AC tours will just have to get on the waiting list. I will say that, for someone new to self-supported touring, they are an excellent low-stress way to get your feet wet (sometimes literally :-).

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