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TAT Planning

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San1k

San1k

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Feb 22, 2015
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Location
Montgomery
First Name
Mike
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W
I'm looking at doing the TAT from East to West. Half the trip this in 20 and other half in 21.

As of right now I am curious how many days it takes to get from NC to CO. I plan to take 10 days. I know there are different variations of the trail but I am curious how long it took everyone to get to CO. Also any tips are appreciated.
 
you might also plead your case to the collective over on ADV.

NC to CO on dirt and back roads-that sounds great
 
I think 10 days is about right. I have not done the TAT, but like you I am planning. Are you using the Sam or Kevin routes?
 
Figure about 200 miles a day give or take 40 miles for conditions "rain" and stopping for sights (it's not a race you want to enjoy the ride). Oklahoma can be crossed in a couple of days. That's if it's dry. If the roads stay dry you can go ninety miles an hour. If it rains good luck they turn to snot and you'll fall down a lot. What bike are you going to ride and will are you planning to camp?
 
My wife and I have ridden the TAT (Sams routes) a couple of times, the NC to CO is an easy ride (great scenery but nothing really difficult!, CO to OR is a lot more challenging!) 10 days is okay if as stated the weather is reasonable and you don’t have any break downs or want to go sight seeing). if you allow 10 days you are looking at 180 to 220 miles per day, which is a longish day on dirt, usually about 7 to 9 hours riding per day. This will not allow any time to go and visit attractions in surrounding areas. We took 10 days the first time we rode it, riding every day, the second time we allowed 4 extra days for relaxing and sight seeing. Both plans work well, but be sure to carry some spare parts as minor mechanical issues (punctures, broken cables or wires) can use a lot of time to fix!! Most importantly have fun and dont be **** bent on getting to every way point each day, be prepared to be flexible with your planning, ride a bit less some days, a bit more other days. We camped for 2 days and found a hotel every third day to wash and clean up. We didn’t book anything in advance as we didn’t know where we would be at the end of each day, it’s really easy if you have a mobile phone with you, towards the end of each day, use it to search for a gas station or hotel and just turn up, we never had any trouble finding a room for the night..

remember it’s a vacation, not a race, be prepared to stop a bit and smell the roses!!

Gary
 
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Thank you all.

I plan to take 16 days off total. Some of that will be used to get to NC. I don't plan to rush it and take my time. Time to start locking in dates.
 
synthlegend said:
I think 10 days is about right. I have not done the TAT, but like you I am planning. Are you using the Sam or Kevin routes?
Click to expand...

I plan to use Sams. I'm debating using my Tiger 800 or KLX 250.
 
Take the KLX you'll have a lot more fun with it and if you have to pick it up a couple of times a day your back will thank you for taking it.
 
I think stopping at Colorado won't matter so much on which bike you take.(of course I'm only speaking from watching 100s of videos)🤣🤣🤣 Seems Carolina to Colorado not so intricate. Colorado on seems to be where things get interesting.
 
Me and a couple of buddies started the TAT in Trinidad and rode almost to Utah. An injury forced us to cancel the rest of the trip. We were all on KTM 500's and it was pretty easy. We had both Sam's and Kevins GPS tracks. We chose Kevins because of the options to do more technical single track. That part (red tracks) would have been a more of a challenge on my 1290. We stayed in hotels and it was a blast. We took the Rainbow trail which is about 80 plus miles long. I really wanted to do Utah (MOAB). Maybe this year. Black Bear pass wasn't anything like the hype. Would love to do that backwards one day.
 
"Black Bear pass wasn't anything like the hype. Would love to do that backwards one day."

I've been so tempted. Did about half way up once when one of our group kinda froze up coming down. It's gotten so crowded lately you'd have to put somebody up top with a radio to give you the go. I have radios. :trust:
 
Been a real long time, but isn't Black Bear one way?
 
I just did half in July 2019, rode from east TX to NC. Touch the Atlantic and rode to little rock AR with 2 other guys, all in 2 weeks. Thats all I could get off work. LOL!
 
It wasn't difficult at all. The step were wet but no issues there. Going "UP" would have been much more fun. Maybe going up at night would have been more fun. The views were great. We had no idea what to expect as far as time was concerned so we had a pretty good pace. I wish I would have taken more pics and knew what I was doing with video.
 
Thanks for the info. I hope to be back in that area sometime in July. Now I'm 100% in for Black Bear. YouTube and some other forums would have one to believe it's nearly impassable.
 
If you're on a big bike just give yourself some space between riders. If its wet it can intimidate you but isn't bad. Jeeps are Super slow. We actually passed 2 going down. They will hug the mountain so you have to go out on the edge to pass. If you have communication devices it helps.
Video would be the bomb to me. I'm just learning about position and time management. Pics are OK but the video would be something to pass on to your kids. We ended our Trip in Telluride because a rider tore his biceps muscle. Getting tired increases the chance you will get hurt. Hope I can talk my guys into going back and taking the TAT into MOAB. Its on the bucket list. You could spend a month there.
 
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