Mike Vermeulen wrote:
I'm curious if anyone has any feedback on whether it is still legal
to ride the shoulder of the interstate in most of the west.

I'll second the suggestion you've already received about using Adventure
Cycling maps. I rode the southern Tier in a San Jose to Jacksonville
ride in 2001 and mostly followed their route
(http://www.mvermeulen.com/oneyear/usa.htm).

Most of those western interstates are legal for bicycles. However, a
friend of mine who cycled most of the CA-TX distance on interstates had
~8 flats from the small wire beads from disintegrated truck tires. After
he switched to smaller roads, many fewer flats.

I'm open to any hints, feedback, tips, warnings, etc... as I'm a
novice at cross-country touring.

My biggest suggestion would be to make yourself a little less of a novice
by making a 3-5 day shakedown ride or two before you do the cross-country
ride. This gives you a chance to try out equipment and try out your
credit-card light preferences.

My second suggestion would be to assume you might have some days of tough
weather (cold, headwind, rain) and plan with that contingency in mind -
either by having some extra days or equipment or both...

--mev, Mike Vermeulen

Thanks for the hints. I'd thought about the Adventure Cycling Southern
Tier route, but (and there's always a "but...") I need to stay as far
south as reasonably possible due to weather concerns in February, I'll
have just enough time to make it if I average 100m a day, with two
planned rest days and a possible third contingency day, AND (drum roll
here...) I'm going to do it on a fixed gear.

Yeah, I know... fixed is nuts and most folks think it's not doable, but
I ride fixed gear all winter long for my base mile training (I race
road and track) and will often ride 300-400 miles a week on fixed
gears. I figure if I'm doing that WHILE working 40 hrs a week, then it
shouldn't be too big a stretch to do a century a day if I'm not
working. I'll do a bit of extra prep work in November/December to make
sure before biting off more than I can chew.

So, the hillier sections in Arizona, especially east of Phoenix through
New Mexico to Silver City aren't really what I'm looking for. I
suppose that the Southern Tier route from La east will work just fine.
I've just got to get from San Diego to Dallas in early February without
freezing.

Scott