4 months Prudhoe Bay to Tierra-del-Fuego - Best time of year?
 

Planning on doing the length of the Americas (West coast / Andes), and would like to start this Aug/Sep, which apparently is the latest I'll manage the northern end. Can't get away any earlier.

Am I picking a reasonable time of year overall? Start/Finish seems OK, although perhaps a July start would have been better. I'm more unsure about Central America and the north of SA.

I've tried to work it out by picking various places en-route on Weather.com, but I'm more confused now than when I started! Or maybe I'm being lazy.

best time
 

Well with a route that long you will not be able to get a best time. If you wanted best time Alaska right now would be awesome. I think the sun travels faster than you can on a bike as at the other end of TDF Jan. seems to be the best time.

As for Tierra del Fuego you shouldn't go there later than around Feb. March might be getting cold out there already. Nov to Feb is usually ok.

Hope this helps.

Thanks guys,

My concern really is more with Central America and the Andes. I suppose rain and/or poor visibility are my main concerns. I remember riding through the Pyrenees once and only seeing a few yards in front of me - a bit pointless!

So doing say Central America in October and the Andes in November wouldn't be too bad?

your ride
 

To do the trip you suggest, late August early September in Alaska would be the best time to start (I worked on the north slope of Alaska for 2 years, we saw snow every month of the year- not blizzard snow, but flurries- this is the land of perma-frost). You'll have few problems in Central America in October-November (though October is the tail-end of hurricane season, reference Mitch). It's a nice time to be there. As you know, you'll be riding out of the North American fall and into the South American spring. This would put you in TDF in December/January, the peak season. As I said, this would be a great time to do this ride. Now I'll open my big mouth. If you're out to rack up miles and conquer the western hemisphere, you're all set. I spent 8 months riding from Colorado to Argentina- and don't feel like I spent enough time. In the end, it's "whatever turns your goat loose!" We're all different, and we're all right. If you can "only" get 4 months off and want to blast through the America's to say you did it, then you are 100% right. If I had 4 months to head south, I'd probably spend them in Mexico-and maybe parts of Central America. If you want to say you did the ride, you're on the right track. If you want to experience the ride, I'd slow it down a bit. If you're shipping your bike to the America's, you can always ship it to one continent and ship home from the same continent. Four months in South America would be fantastic! Enjoy the planning- it's a huge part of the fun. Enjoy your ride, D.

Congrats on your new voyage! I look foreward to starting the next leg of my America's trip in latr Dec. I have to agree with Hook on this one, you have an aweful lot of land to cover in four months! Last season i spent two months travelling through Mexico, and i still missed out on the Yucatan! This year i'm. reserving 10 weeks to finish Mex and all C.America...it still feels rushed. I left my bike in Mex. to save some time and money, and will probably do the same in Panama or CostaRica. To each their own, but you may find that once on the road the pace may be troublesom for such a long journey. Personally, i like to ride every second day, my ass gets too sore otherwise ;)

Thanks hook and Mr Ron.

Glad to hear you think the time of year is good, if not the length! I can't really get more time away than that (although I might try!).

I know I'm going to be a bit rushed, but to be honest I always tend to cover a lot of ground/miles. I did 6000 miles from UK to Nouadibhou and back (on the Morroccan/Mauritanian border) in a fortnight, which was my best trip ever to date. People say that I can't have seen anything, which isn't true! I just won't have seen _everything_ though. When covering so much ground, it's hard to believe you were in such-and-such a place only one week ago, and my 2-week adventure consequently seems a hell of a lot longer.

The way I think is this - given that I'm never going to see the world in detail, I'd rather have a quick look at a lot of it, than a long look at a bit of it. Providing the riding doesn't become a chore of course. I think Kevin & Julia Sanders did their World Record trip (same route) in under 35 days. Now that is rushing! And I think McGregor/Boorman's LWR trip was about 20k miles and 3.5 months (not sure if they considered that too fast, but I suspect riding conditions on mine would be better on average than theirs).

I've just come back from the UK HUBB meeting on Sunday, and can't believe I didn't get answers to my questions there - there were plently of trans-Americas adventurers on hand, but a lot of talks and a very nice day's trail-riding seemed to fill the weekend up.

4 months?!?
 

There is never a good time for such a hurried trip, because it is a waste of time and fuel. Sorry.

...wow, that came out of left field! Like i said, to each their own. Personally, my body can't handle too many miles every day and i end up needing another holliday to recover from the last one ;) I'm curious, what are you riding? Also, look me up when passing through Vancouver, i have parking and a great couch.

Yeah, I like to instigate a little just to make a point. I will be traveling through Vancouver soon so we can argue about it over some beers if you want. :)

Riding a F650 GSD with too much stuff on it.

Trust a lawyer to want to drag things out!!! (Sorry!)

I'm sure a more leisurely pace would be nice, but more time is difficult. I very much doubt it'll be a "waste of time and fuel" though. I'm not booking any return journeys before I go, so I'll see how I get along - if I find the pace is not to my liking I'll slow down - but generally I find it quite satisfying eating up miles.

Anyway, it does look like I'm starting at the optimum time. Maybe when my kids have left home and I'm no longer working I'll do it (or parts) again more slowly!

Do it your way and have a blast!

Thanks, I've no doubt whatsoever that I will!

Not to be litigious, but I just don't consider speeding through countries traveling. Wouldn't you rather have time to hang out with new friends. I am seeing a lot of riders just stopping at some great towns and then blast out the next day because they have to be somewhere by a certain time. For me I have been camping on the beach in Homer, Alaska eating freshly caught salmon and Halibut given to me by some locals and I find free firewood at my tent site everyday. :))

Of course there's no "right" or "wrong" way to pace a trip, but I guess there's nothing wrong with a discussion!

But I have noticed (since starting this thread and proposing 4 months) that Kevin and Julia Sanders, who have done this more times than most, allow 20 weeks on their organised trips (not that I would wish to be anything but independent).

Their website's here if anyone's interested:

http://www.globebusters.co.uk/expedi...xpedition.html

Different strokes for different folks .

It seems to me there are two kinds of travellers .
Those to whom riding the motorcycle is the main element and they want to experience the roads and landscapes as they pass through .
The other kind are more gregarious and want to experience the people and cultures and to them the motorcycle is merely a conveyance .

They ask two kinds of questions ;
What bike should I buy to take to S America [ or wherever] ?
or
I want to take my --[insert bike model here ]-- to S America which roads will I have trouble on or should I avoid in March /Sept / December ?

As far as I can see both types of travellers are correct and shouldn't criticise one another .

Me ? I want to find a girder forked 500cc Norton and take it to S America -
- and why not ?

Best of luck Ian C !

Dodger

Dodger, I had been thinking the same...

My main pleasures are The Motorcycle, the Landscape (I particularly enjoy the more remote/barren areas), the Freedom, and also the challenge/achievment aspect. That's not of course to say I would like to travel through a world of no people, or even just of people of the same background as myself! It's just my primary motivation.

Come on now
 

People are usually going to do what they want regardless of the answers they get on a website. I just think we need to try to encourage people to slow down and smell the roses. 4 months Prudue Bay - TDF seems like nothing more than an effort to do something about which one can brag.

Not really. If I wanted to brag, I'd have a serious go at the 35-day world record for the trip.

My problem is lack of time - both away from my family, and hibernating my business for a short enough time so's I can re-awaken it on my return. If it wasn't for these two factors, I could quite happily take 8, 12 or many more months for the trip (I'd probably do a lot more miles then though!). Given 4 months, I'd rather spend them over a large geographical area than a small one - providing, as I said before, that the trip does not start to become an effort - if it does, my itinerary will certainly change.

BklynDakar, if you have 8 months or whatever to do this, I'm envious - and good luck to you - maybe I'll just about have enough time to stop for us to have a beer when I catch you up! What's your ETA at TDF? And where are you now?

Having said that, as unfortunately I need a US visa, I may have to amend my starting point significantly if rumours I have heard recently about current processing times prove correct - up to 16 weeks, which from the date of my application would make it too late for Prudhoe Bay anyway. I applied last month, but the only official estimate I have had from London's US Embassy is between 5 days and 16 weeks - a little vague to say the least!

If you only have four months and Prudoe to TDF is on your list of things to do then go for it!

I just did a trip to Prudoe covering 9000km in 11 days on my KLR. Had to go back to work on the 12 day. Had a fantastic time and met some great people. I really enjoyed the long days and the riding.

Not everyone has the luxury or the ability to take extended leave from work or family. Do what you can in what time you have!

Or on second thought maybe you stay at home and finish up on your yard work and make sure you're in line for that next promotion at work.

Have a great trip!:thumbup1:

If someone has been saving for years to do a motorcycle trip and dreamed of going to TDF but could only get off 4 months, I would still encourage the person to go a shorter distance and try to enjoy themselves and the people they will meet. I mean why is it a big deal to go to Prudue Bay or TdF?

Is that not what you're doing? Whereabouts are you now?

I personally don't think there's anything wrong with setting oneself a small challenge. Why do people climb mountains, compete in races, or row across the Atlantic?

To be honest, I've listened to some of the replies here (and opinions elsewhere), and am giving some thought to starting in LA or similar, reducing my trip by about a third. I need to make a decision in the next week or two. I guess my desire to cross Alaska/Canada/US now is because it's a fairly big deal to actually ship my bike from the UK, whereas if I was in the US I probably wouldn't consider the whole Prudhoe/TDF in one trip.

If I start in LA this time, I could come back another (next?) year and do a more extensive US tour, including maybe Alaska and BC. What a hard life I do have with all these difficult decisions!!!

time of year
 

This fellow asked what time of year we thought would be best to do this trip- his trip. I opened my mouth and offered some extra (personal) thoughts. If I were given the choice of riding from AK to TDF in 4 months, or or doing no ride at all, I'd take the AK-TDF ride 100%! H.