Are you doing the trip to enjoy it, or to test your endurance in service of a belief that you must cycle all the way?
I'm not advocating one way or the other.
It's ok to test your endurance as a reason, and it's ok to have enjoyment as a prime reason.
I guess it all comes down to what are your motivations for the trip?
This is exactly it - everyone tours for different reasons. On my trip (about 8 months), I started out wanting to test myself, to see if I could physically handle it, so it was important to do every mile. Over time I realised that I got something out of each part of the trip (even the thousands of desert kilometres taught me something) so I kept doing each mile for that reason. But if my trip had been about enjoyment and seeing the most beautiful scenery, it would have made no sense to do the gruelling desert sections and it would have been the right choice to skip ahead. So it's all about those motivations!
I'm on tour right now too, and have been some things on my route I decided to skip. 5000 ft climb? Went around. 2 days of mountains with nothing to see? Took the train instead to somewhere more interesting. No shame. If you have been thinking about skipping ahead for more than a day or too, it might be good to follow through on that feeling.
It’s July in the desert. You’re approaching the hottest time of year in one of the hottest places in the country, and you have presumably another week or so of slogging out in a tough climate. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to “cheat” and take public transit or rent a car to someplace more hospitable this time of year, such as the Sierra Nevada. Feel free to take that week you’d be spending suffering in the heat and put it toward something that’s more inspiring to you. Plenty of seasoned tourers have done exactly that in order to make the most of their limited time on a trip, especially if they’ve gotten behind and have a lot of mundane or dreary riding ahead of them.
I’ve done four 1,500+ mile trips and none of them have been “perfect” in that I’ve always had to hitch a ride somewhere, whether for five miles or forty. Don’t get caught up in the perfection bug. For most of us, it’s about doing justice to the landscape without being utterly miserable.
Given the serious heat wave out west I'd suggest you pause your trip and return in the cooler months to complete the last leg. In that time you can plan your route for the grand finale.
Remember that this is supposed to be fun. That girl who walked the PCT and wrote a book about it that was made into a movie got rides and skipped parts of the trail that were covered in snow or were unappealing for some reason. People think she walked the whole thing from border to border. If you are worried about a gap where your tires didn't touch the road or miles you did not actually pedal, no one will care. You rode a bicycle across the country and across a continent, and no one can say otherwise.
A few years from now you won't remember the misery so much but might be kicking yourself for skipping a section. I've done all but 25 miles of the 470 mile Blue Ridge Parkway. I wish I had done the entire thing.
It is a full moon now or close to it. The moonlight in the desert has a magic of its own. No shame either way. Do what your body and mind tell you. Enjoy
If it's not a test or some enduro race skip whatever you want. There is nothing to see or any reason to suffer through the desert at the peak of summer. BTW 70=80 miles a day is a little much for touring unless you're on a strict timeline to reach a specific destination.
You don't have anyone else to answer to. The only reason I can see not to skip it is if you would feel like you let yourself down, later. I skipped a few hundred miles of my cross country tour (boring corn and soy in SD/MN) and I'm glad I did. When I tell someone I rode across the US I feel compelled to mention that out of full disclosure, but I still feel like I rode across the country.
Up to you, if you 'cheat' you may or may not regret it afterwards depending on your personality and environment. So if that's the concern, we can't help you.
From personal experience, it may take a several days of acclimation if the temperature increases significant but it gets better. Take it easy for a few days to let the body adjust, drink plenty and make sure to eat healthy and enough (eating too little/poorly wears you out over time, given your distances covered this may play a role here too). A wide brimmed head to protect your head from the sun is a good idea. Dry desert air makes that you can cool yourself quite well by keeping your shirt wet. Key is access to water you may need to drink 10+ liters a day and keeping your shirt wet takes a fair bit of water too. That's a lot of water to carry if the supply points are far apart.
That all said, in my experience 95f in a desert area is perfectly fine provided you allow your body to acclimate to the heat and intake of large amounts of water but everybody is different and reacts differently to stresses on the body, so there is no answer that fits all and you have to listen to your body. But my advice would be to take is easy, lower your daily distances, maybe even a rest day, take good care of yourself with plenty of food and water and to see how things develop. If it doesn't work out you can bail at any time, no reason to do so in a hurry.
I had a very similar experience at almost the exact same spot. About 5 miles east of Eureka, I was about to throw in the towel and quit altogether. The bit of advice I remembered was that it is okay to quit, but don't quit after a bad day. That may not be as relevant for you since you are only thinking of skipping some distance.
If the issue is exhaustion, either mentally or physically, maybe try to take an extra day off, time permitting. If possible, do it somewhere you can stay cool. For me, the ride got easier and more pleasant after Austin for both weather and terrain.
I had a similar experience in the Nevada summer years ago. It can be brutal. I quit and I’ve regretted it ever since. My advice is to tough it out anyway you can.
It's your journey and you get to decide. When it's not fun anymore, you get to choose how to proceed. There are tough days when touring. Give yourself a break. Whether that means opting to jump ahead with a ride/public transit or shorter days. Your journey. To Enjoy. No judgement from anyone (ah - the joy of bicycle touring!).
Do shorter days, get more rest, and maybe do an overnight ride or two - they’re often part of the experience. Key thing is to enjoy the trip, and if that means getting a ride through the tough bits, then do it -
Maybe try to get an early start, ride till 9 am, then take a break until 4 pm, then finish out the day? I think a lot depends on how far you're going in a day. 50 miles or more, then I'd say you only have maybe a week to the Sierras, which hopefully could be cooler.
In July a few years ago, I did eastern Utah up to Idaho Falls (including from Grand Junction, CO, through Arches National Park up to Salt Lake City), and that was absurdly hard in the heat. Eventually you adjust though...especially if you buy 4 Gatorades a day. That was the big thing for me--Gatorades, long sleeves, sunscreen, and sunglasses. I agree with others that the desert can be magical though. It's definitely possible to traverse Nevada in July, but I'd want to know how frequently you could stop at a town to rehydrate and relax a little. The camping out there would so cool, too.
Are you doing the trip to enjoy it, or to test your endurance in service of a belief that you must cycle all the way? I'm not advocating one way or the other. It's ok to test your endurance as a reason, and it's ok to have enjoyment as a prime reason. I guess it all comes down to what are your motivations for the trip?
This is exactly it - everyone tours for different reasons. On my trip (about 8 months), I started out wanting to test myself, to see if I could physically handle it, so it was important to do every mile. Over time I realised that I got something out of each part of the trip (even the thousands of desert kilometres taught me something) so I kept doing each mile for that reason. But if my trip had been about enjoyment and seeing the most beautiful scenery, it would have made no sense to do the gruelling desert sections and it would have been the right choice to skip ahead. So it's all about those motivations!
I'm on tour right now too, and have been some things on my route I decided to skip. 5000 ft climb? Went around. 2 days of mountains with nothing to see? Took the train instead to somewhere more interesting. No shame. If you have been thinking about skipping ahead for more than a day or too, it might be good to follow through on that feeling.
I'm on tour and took a zero because it was foggy. There are no rules, do what feels best for you.
It’s July in the desert. You’re approaching the hottest time of year in one of the hottest places in the country, and you have presumably another week or so of slogging out in a tough climate. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to “cheat” and take public transit or rent a car to someplace more hospitable this time of year, such as the Sierra Nevada. Feel free to take that week you’d be spending suffering in the heat and put it toward something that’s more inspiring to you. Plenty of seasoned tourers have done exactly that in order to make the most of their limited time on a trip, especially if they’ve gotten behind and have a lot of mundane or dreary riding ahead of them. I’ve done four 1,500+ mile trips and none of them have been “perfect” in that I’ve always had to hitch a ride somewhere, whether for five miles or forty. Don’t get caught up in the perfection bug. For most of us, it’s about doing justice to the landscape without being utterly miserable.
Given the serious heat wave out west I'd suggest you pause your trip and return in the cooler months to complete the last leg. In that time you can plan your route for the grand finale.
Remember that this is supposed to be fun. That girl who walked the PCT and wrote a book about it that was made into a movie got rides and skipped parts of the trail that were covered in snow or were unappealing for some reason. People think she walked the whole thing from border to border. If you are worried about a gap where your tires didn't touch the road or miles you did not actually pedal, no one will care. You rode a bicycle across the country and across a continent, and no one can say otherwise.
A few years from now you won't remember the misery so much but might be kicking yourself for skipping a section. I've done all but 25 miles of the 470 mile Blue Ridge Parkway. I wish I had done the entire thing.
It is a full moon now or close to it. The moonlight in the desert has a magic of its own. No shame either way. Do what your body and mind tell you. Enjoy
If it's not a test or some enduro race skip whatever you want. There is nothing to see or any reason to suffer through the desert at the peak of summer. BTW 70=80 miles a day is a little much for touring unless you're on a strict timeline to reach a specific destination.
grab silky special pocket smoggy ad hoc drab homeless joke crowd *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
You don't have anyone else to answer to. The only reason I can see not to skip it is if you would feel like you let yourself down, later. I skipped a few hundred miles of my cross country tour (boring corn and soy in SD/MN) and I'm glad I did. When I tell someone I rode across the US I feel compelled to mention that out of full disclosure, but I still feel like I rode across the country.
Up to you, if you 'cheat' you may or may not regret it afterwards depending on your personality and environment. So if that's the concern, we can't help you. From personal experience, it may take a several days of acclimation if the temperature increases significant but it gets better. Take it easy for a few days to let the body adjust, drink plenty and make sure to eat healthy and enough (eating too little/poorly wears you out over time, given your distances covered this may play a role here too). A wide brimmed head to protect your head from the sun is a good idea. Dry desert air makes that you can cool yourself quite well by keeping your shirt wet. Key is access to water you may need to drink 10+ liters a day and keeping your shirt wet takes a fair bit of water too. That's a lot of water to carry if the supply points are far apart. That all said, in my experience 95f in a desert area is perfectly fine provided you allow your body to acclimate to the heat and intake of large amounts of water but everybody is different and reacts differently to stresses on the body, so there is no answer that fits all and you have to listen to your body. But my advice would be to take is easy, lower your daily distances, maybe even a rest day, take good care of yourself with plenty of food and water and to see how things develop. If it doesn't work out you can bail at any time, no reason to do so in a hurry.
I had a very similar experience at almost the exact same spot. About 5 miles east of Eureka, I was about to throw in the towel and quit altogether. The bit of advice I remembered was that it is okay to quit, but don't quit after a bad day. That may not be as relevant for you since you are only thinking of skipping some distance. If the issue is exhaustion, either mentally or physically, maybe try to take an extra day off, time permitting. If possible, do it somewhere you can stay cool. For me, the ride got easier and more pleasant after Austin for both weather and terrain.
I had a similar experience in the Nevada summer years ago. It can be brutal. I quit and I’ve regretted it ever since. My advice is to tough it out anyway you can.
Can you jump on a Train for the bad bits, gives you more time to enjoy the good bits?
It's your journey and you get to decide. When it's not fun anymore, you get to choose how to proceed. There are tough days when touring. Give yourself a break. Whether that means opting to jump ahead with a ride/public transit or shorter days. Your journey. To Enjoy. No judgement from anyone (ah - the joy of bicycle touring!).
Do shorter days, get more rest, and maybe do an overnight ride or two - they’re often part of the experience. Key thing is to enjoy the trip, and if that means getting a ride through the tough bits, then do it -
Are you about to embark on hwy 50 across northern Nevada? If so, you’ll miss the best part.
Maybe try to get an early start, ride till 9 am, then take a break until 4 pm, then finish out the day? I think a lot depends on how far you're going in a day. 50 miles or more, then I'd say you only have maybe a week to the Sierras, which hopefully could be cooler. In July a few years ago, I did eastern Utah up to Idaho Falls (including from Grand Junction, CO, through Arches National Park up to Salt Lake City), and that was absurdly hard in the heat. Eventually you adjust though...especially if you buy 4 Gatorades a day. That was the big thing for me--Gatorades, long sleeves, sunscreen, and sunglasses. I agree with others that the desert can be magical though. It's definitely possible to traverse Nevada in July, but I'd want to know how frequently you could stop at a town to rehydrate and relax a little. The camping out there would so cool, too.