Riding The T.A.T. (Trans America Trail)

Readers Ride: The Trans America Trail.

Micko O’Byrne had a really epic ride – solo across the USA. We know – the pics are not great, he was solo after all, but what a flippen adventure!

The Trans America Trail is a 5,000+mile (8,000Km) trail stretching from Point Hatteras on the Atlantic Coast of North Carolina across to Port Orford in Oregon on the Pacific comprising mainly back roads, forest tracks and dirt roads across America. There are a couple of options for what is more single-track style of riding but none of it is really very technical.

It is spoken of as the ultimate “Off road Adventure Ride” in the USA and as I was going to the US to visit my stepson who lives near the start and my son who lives near the finish, I thought that I might as well give it a go. It was also a 70th birthday present to myself.

My plan was a simple one, to fly in, purchase a new bike for the ride and sell it a month or two later once I hit the West Coast. It seemed pretty straight forward but turned out to be more complicated than I imagined.

The TAT was originally pieced together by Sam Correro who developed Roll charts and maps for this backroad cross-country epic. Later, a guy called GPKevin modified it a bit and offered a plug and play GPS track for almost the same route.

As with most things in America, and particularly politics, if you are a fan of one guy it seems that you are obliged to hate the other one. There is a LOT of bashing on various sites with each side vilifying the other, though I must say most of it seems to come from Sam’s fans. Not him personally, but his fan base is VERY loyal.

From my point of view, they now both offer a GPS service that you can purchase which will give you a coast to coast ride with some slight variation of route along the way. I chose Kevin’s track simply because when I wrote to both of them Sam took a while to respond while Kevin got back to me with a cheery reply immediately. I was very happy with his routing and I am sure that Sam’s tracks are equally as good.

I decided after reading many reviews and recommendations on sites that a bigger bike could prove to be difficult in the Rocky Mountain passes and initially looked for a Suzuki DRZ400, a bike that I have ridden on several trips in the deserts of Australia and the jungles of Indonesia and Borneo. I approached several dealers in the North Carolina region near the start, and their very fancy websites mostly reply with robots that text you standard answers, and this unfortunately turned out to be a TOTAL waste of time. In spite of several requests, to several shops, to please contact me by email, I never received a reply from a single one. So much for the land of enterprise, obviously nobody wanted to deal with a cash buyer wanting to purchase a bike, luggage, helmet and GPS for the trip.

Next, I tried Facebook and some online sites for private sellers, but found that most DRZ’s in America are converted to the Super Motard versions which was not what I wanted at all. I widened my search to various models in the mid-range size and attempted to buy at least three different machines all of which were sold before I had organised the transfer of funds in spite of agreements by each seller to hold them for me. This was beginning to be a lot more difficult than I thought.

Eventually I located a seller in Ohio with a Suzuki DR650 loaded with most of the extras I wanted, bigger tank, sump guard. Bark busters, screen etc, and Bill the seller turned out to be a great guy. He threw in a load of spares including fuel and oil filters and spare heavy-duty tubes, and for the cost of the fuel he transported it on a trailer to my stepson Pete’s in Charlotte.

Happy days.

He also had a set of soft luggage for a very reasonable price and Pete sorted me a helmet and new GPS from Amazon and I was good to go. For ease we registered and insured it in Pete’s name and simply added me to the policy.

Departing from Charlotte I had to backtrack to the actual start located on the Outer Banks of the Carolina Coast and this was a much longer first day than I had anticipated. The summer weather brought short intense rainstorms and I got caught in a few. Once it stops raining the air is incredibly hot and steamy and after putting my wet weather gear on and off a few times in the sweltering heat, I just gave up and rode through the squalls, got wet and soon dried out in the warm sun.

I also found out that the DR650 has the hardest seat of any motorcycle that I have ever ridden. An Air Hawk inflatable cushion seat soon assisted with this issue.

Departing Port Hatteras in the predawn darkness in order to make the first of two early ferries back to the mainland was a bit of a lonely start. I caught the first ferry just as the sun was rising and dashed across Green Island to reach the second from Ocracoke which would take me back to the mainland. Unfortunately, it was broken down, and this delayed me quite a few hours so I knew that I would only make it back to Charlotte much later than I had planned. It was a hot steamy day with several intense rain showers that made for tricky riding conditions and I finally arrived back in Charlotte around 9pm, which was a long day.

These two shakedown days convinced me that I was overpacked, so I kept my tools and spares and chucked out most of my extra clothing to lighten the load. As I had planned to stay in motels there was no need for camping equipment and I figured that I could wash out my T-shirt, socks and undies each night and even if they were still a bit damp the next morning, they would dry out soon enough. This proved to be a very sensible idea. I took one pair of shorts and a golf shirt to head out to dinner in the evenings and a pair of jeans and one other reasonable shirt just in case I needed something smarter. These last two items were never needed. Should I have required anything else, I reasoned that Walmart is never far away.

So, every day I wore my T-shirt with South Africa proudly emblazoned across the front in rainbow colours looking a bit like the side of a taxi, hoping that it might be a conversation starter. Only one person noticed this the whole way across, and he was a guy I met over lunch on the day I ended the ride. I think he only noticed because he was a Johnny Clegg fan.

The first few days were a series of twists and turns on paved back roads through steamy and sometimes swampy countryside. It was all incredibly green and lush, but the constant right angle turns every few miles meant that the average speed remained low and not as much distance as I hoped was achieved. However, the abundance of good little roadside shacks selling fried chicken[MO1] made for pleasant lunch stops. This delightful food choice soon dried up and I became used to being offered the only options of burgers, tacos, and pizza. Now I enjoy all of these, but I was not looking forward to having just these choices as meals for the next few weeks, but this seemed to become my reality. In truth it became a real chore to find anything other than fast food on the whole trip and was one of the only low points of the whole experience.

No charming padstalle graced the byways with home-made pies or koeksisters to entice you to stay a while.

I enjoyed the Southern States with the countryside bursting with summer greenery and it was very easy to simply follow the track on my GPS. Kevin’s route offers three options, Blue which is the main track, Green, some short detours for bigger/heavier bikes and Red for more challenging riding. I tried to ride as many red sections as possible and often found them easier than some of the blue. One day I took a green section through some forest in the Ozarks which was unexpectedly washed out by recent rains and would have been a challenge on a heavier bike, but it was a very short section of this particular green route.

Mostly the blue route was the way to go and generally easy to follow until I got to some burnt out forest in Oregon where it was very easy to ride past a turn. Because there were often various track options and I was forced to backtrack after a few hundred metres to find the correct track. Not a real issue but the sort of thing that the Americans seemed to get upset about. I think that they expect a turn-by-turn direction to follow right across the continent. There does not seem to be much adventure in that in my mind. Usually, the adventure starts when things don’t go according to plan.

I carried enough hand tools for most small jobs and a small 12v compressor as well as a couple of spare tubes and the tyre irons. Fortunately, apart from chain adjustments and a couple of oil changes they were never required. I reasoned that the trail is never that far from a major town and you can get almost anything on Amazon and it is usually shipped the same day.

The DR650 never missed a beat and started the first tap of the button each and every day. It is an old design, a bit like me, but ultimately reliable which is what you want for a long trip like this. Light enough to toss around on the dirt with still enough grunt to get the job done. Every conceivable bike you can think of has done this trip so if you are thinking of going just ride whatever bike you are happy on.

Riding the Blue Ridge Mountains was a treat and a lot of the trail passes through spectacular forests with the odd diversion to ride “The Tail of the Dragon ”, an 11 mile section of sublime tar with 318 curves and a Mecca for sports bikes and Harleys. It was a bit of fun.

Pushing on I diverted to Nashville for a weekend of music and caught up with some friends then headed south to rejoin the trail west. I crossed the mighty Mississippi River and entered Arkansas where the farms and feedlots seemed to grow in size, and I finally left the rain showers behind.

Oklahoma was hot, and the dry winds sucked the moisture right out of you. Feeling a bit like a piece of old biltong I tackled the long straight flat road across this state. I had heard horror stories of the impassable mud in these parts and there had been rain a few days before I hit these sections, so I was a bit apprehensive. But hey this is America, the graders had already been out and the roads were near perfect gravel with just a few sections of loose soil on top to catch your front wheel and give you a moment or two of excitement. Many Americans avoid this section as they find the long straights too boring but for me it was great. Coming from Australia and having done quite a few Karoo rides I was loving the heat, the open skies, and the long straights. I wound the Suzuki out and had a ton of fun.

The Rocky Mountains of Colorado started appearing on the horizon and I pulled up at the Spanish Peaks RV park near Trinidad, a great place establishing themselves as a halfway stop for TAT riders with a bar and Grill as well as a workshop and a selection of spares. I stayed for a couple of days and had new tyres, chain and sprockets fitted by the very helpful crew at Topar Racing.

With all the tar roads in the Eastern section I was glad that I started out on the tyres that came with the bike. They were reasonably good 50/50 types with good tread and handled the variety of terrain fairly well. I swapped to a much more aggressive tread here in Colorado as there were a lot more dirt roads, and they were great in the mountain passes where traction was needed to overcome the loose gravel and hard rock surfaces.

The west lived up to its name with spectacular scenery and I soon came to the more notorious passes near Lake City.

This is a charming little town full of 4WD’s and “side by side” buggies driven by testosterone fuelled teenagers racing everywhere as though their very lives depended on it tearing the trail surface up, and exposing large rocky outcrops, or teams of senior citizens riding in long slow convoys like wagon trains of old.

Either group are happy to nudge a lone motorcyclist off the edge of very steep cliffs without a second thought. Dodging these maniacs, I climbed up to around 13,000 feet elevation on some passes enjoying the ride and the views. These passes have fierce reputations but I managed them all without a single fall and thought that none were as difficult as Sani Pass on a rainy day.

Descending into Utah, I avoided the temptation to collect a few extra wives, which seems to be the custom out here. Passing through the spectacular canyons was delightful and there were a couple of sections of loose sandy track to keep you on your toes. I then pushed on into the cattle country of Nevada where I enjoyed some of the best riding of the trip. Sections of jeep track traversed the open country crossing bigger ranches, and the wide-open skies stretched like a big blue umbrella overhead.

All too soon I hit the hills of Oregon and encountered several sections of badly fire damaged forest where black sooty dust rose up and clung to everything. Eventually this passed and the evergreens crowded the roads again.

On my 22nd riding day I dropped down onto the coast and took the short track down onto the beach at Port Orford before adjourning to “The Crazy Norwegian” for the obligatory fish and chip final lunch.

It was a fun trip taking 28 days total and I had elected to do a solo trip because it worked in with my travel plans. I did ask a few mates but for various reasons no one could make it. I was quite happy on my own but having someone to chat over dinner to at night and to assist if something does go wrong is possibly a better option.

It is a great ride if you want to see rural America, but in my mind, it was not the ‘’Adventure Trip” that I had been led to believe.

The riding was mostly very easy gravel, and in retrospect I would have chosen a bigger bike for 95% of the ride, both for comfort and slightly higher speed where you are required to take to the highways for sections. Admittedly there were a few sections where I may have struggled on my GSA1200, but these were only short and could have been done with caution.

Did I enjoy it? ABSOLUTELY! But would I go again? Probably not.

Southern Africa has so many Adventure riding options that it is hard for many other places in the world to compete. I did a ride with 10 mates from Cape Town to Durban early this year 95% on dirt roads including the Swartberg Pass and the Baviaanskloof among many others, and it was as good or better, as anything on the TAT and certainly had a few more technical sections. We are really spoiled for choice here.

From Oregon I “slabbed” it down the tar road to San Francisco where my son lives, passing through the beautiful redwood forests along the way. This was mainly due to time limitations as there are off road options available here. I then flew back to South Africa. I shipped the bike back to North Carolina where I thought it might be easier to sell to someone else who wants a trail ready bike to do the same trip.