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Comment by la_yerba | Hacker News Reader

An east-to-west traverse would be the only way to trek this without disappointment, wherein the reward for surviving the un-fun and mostly flat east and lower Great Lakes, upper Appalachia excepted, and the windblown monotony of the Great Plains is the Rockies and the Pacific Northwest/Cascades, which are beyond awesome.

Do it west-to-east and you've seen everything worth seeing by Wyoming, so utterly underwhelming is everything east thereof.

I once started in Washington, D.C. and only made it to Chicago before giving up from overwhelming boredom, jumping the Amtrak (train) to Denver before continuing west.

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I think going east to west is the better choice too. Given the terrain, and amount of closeness of services on the Eastern sections — this lets the individual get in shape, for the harder, longer sections as you move West, but also dial-in their fueling and hydration systems.

> Do it west-to-east and you've seen everything worth seeing by Wyoming

The section in PA that follows a few rivers before climbing the eastern continental divide is quite lovely, and is followed by a similarly lovely section along the canal to DC.

Crossing the midwest by bike is never going to lovely, no matter what direction you choose, and west-to-east at least shifts the odds of tailwinds slightly in your favor.

Yeah, that's the area I meant by Upper Appalachia, that really gorgeous, hilly topography in (what I think was) eastern Pennsylvania.

I'm not sure sight-seeing is the only reason to bike tour.

I did the Katy trail last Fall (across the state of Missouri — about 6 days or so of camping/biking). It was punctuated with pretty limestone bluffs and the Missouri River but to be sure had stretches of farmer's fields, etc.

I still enjoyed the isolation, and then the small towns you rolled into. Turtles, camaraderie with fellow bikers, sense of accomplishment and adventure....

A lot to enjoy besides the views.

The prevailing winds are generally west-to-east across the US, so east-to-west means more headwinds than tailwinds.

Prevailing winds are a damned lie.

Source: bike toured a good chunk of the Trans America and Western Express route west to east. Most of it upwind.

Both ways.

I figure I'll start from where I live and then go some other place. Or vice versa

Well, DC to Chicago sounds like it would allow me to catch up on podcasts...

Indiana will do that to you.

I went west-to-east in the late 1980s.

My group was in, err, very good shape by the time we got to Kansas.

We crossed Indiana in less than 2 days of riding (Vincennes, IN to Cincinnati OH along Hwy. 50). It was exhilarating.

Had some friends (one friend and a friend of that friend really) who went east to west around then. We thought they were crazy for fighting the prevailing winds and the escalating terrain.

They went to Alaska, had some fun times with Canadian customs for not following directions. And they thought they took an excess of spare inner tubes and made it about halfway before needing to buy more.

My Indiana comment was more a “people from the Midwest will take any opportunity to make fun of Iowa, and if that’s not an option, make fun of Indiana or Wisconsin”

Indiana is much more interesting underground, IMO. There are lots of nice caves down around Bloomington and Bedford.

Southern Indiana has lots of hills and forested areas, including the Hoosier National forest. The Great American Rail-Trail mostly goes through the upper third of the state, however, so you miss that and are mostly in the corn belt section of the state. Its very flat and mostly farm land. Which is likely why the railways were built on that route anyways.

I personally can find flat farmland quite beautiful, but I can imagine biking through it for days might get dull.

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