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Early Spring Ride

lljanssen

New member
I'm strongly considering a ride in early March (first week) and hoping to get some weather advice. I live near Minneapolis/St. Paul and plan to go to baseball spring training in Arizona. I have the option of trucking my K1200GT to Kansas City and riding from there to Tempe. I have heated gear, grips and seat. I've made the trip through KS, OK, TX, NM and AZ several times in warmer months.
I'm hoping those of you who live along the route can enlighten me on what weather I might expect. If expected temperatures are above 30-35 I should be OK if it's not raining or snowing. I realize weather is unpredictable, just asking about what's 'normal'.
Thanks in advance.
 
My advice is to try it. March weather here in the KC area is pretty unpredictable, but "bad Spring weather" usually means rain, thunderstorms and possible tornados. Seldom is it cold enough to prevent a bike ride.

Good luck.
 
My advice is to try it. March weather here in the KC area is pretty unpredictable, but "bad Spring weather" usually means rain, thunderstorms and possible tornados. Seldom is it cold enough to prevent a bike ride.

Good luck.

We lived in Topeka or Lawrence for over 20 years and I agree with Royce. The odds of decent weather are in your favor. It might rain. Snow is possible but not likely.

My advice is the same as when I was asked what was the most important thing to take for a trip to Alaska. My answer: "time". Allow an extra day or two. If the weather sucks, hole up for a day. That is now my general rule for any trip.
 
I'm strongly considering a ride in early March (first week) and hoping to get some weather advice. I live near Minneapolis/St. Paul and plan to go to baseball spring training in Arizona. I have the option of trucking my K1200GT to Kansas City and riding from there to Tempe. I have heated gear, grips and seat. I've made the trip through KS, OK, TX, NM and AZ several times in warmer months.
I'm hoping those of you who live along the route can enlighten me on what weather I might expect. If expected temperatures are above 30-35 I should be OK if it's not raining or snowing. I realize weather is unpredictable, just asking about what's 'normal'.
Thanks in advance.
Assuming you make it through Kansas Ok, you still have to deal with New Mexico and Arizona. Keep in mind that you are increasing in elevation all the way to Albuquerque (5,300 feet) and still high elevations at Flagstaff (7,000 feet) if you travel on I-40.

I like to take highway 54 south out of Santa Rosa to Vaughn, then highway 60 all the way in to Phoenix, going through Springerville, Show Low, and through the Salt River gorge. That is one way if you want to avoid I-40. But you end up on the Southeast side of Phoenix.

In 2017, end of February and beginning of March, we drove our truck to Scottsdale along a similar route to go to baseball Spring training and to see our son in Tempe. We did not encounter any weather problems on that trip, but of course I would advise coming up with alternate routes just in case of bad weather.
 
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