Thus far my training still consists of the roughly 100 miles I do per week commuting to work. There are going to be some DAYS I need to go 100 miles, so this is obviously not an acceptable regiment forever. I still have to do a 60 mile ride, an 80 mile ride, a 100 mile ride, and a ride up Mount Lemmon, along with a vastly increased mileage workload. I'm aware I need to do these things. I really am.
If I sound slightly defensive, rest assured it's merely because I'm a whiny oversensitive little bitch. Also, this thing is getting super expensive. When the idea to do this first entered my head, I bought a copy of "The Essential Touring Cyclist" for reference, and in the chapter where it talks about the commitment level needed to do this, it broke down a cross-country tour into three budget classes. Equipment, food, logistics, all of it. The cheapskate budget was about 2,000, the mid-level was 3,000, and the high end was about 5,000.
I've been keeping a tab on how much this trip is going to cost me when all is said and done, out of curiosity mostly to see how close I could keep to that budget. I'm like a 5th level blackbelt at sniffing out deals and finding the best price for stuff, so it should've been pretty easy. A quick rundown of the $$$ I've spent on this so far*.
- Bike: 600 dollars
- Rear rack: 35 dollars
- Rear Panniers: 50 dollars
- Fenders: 40 dollars
- Front Rack: 30 dollars
- Front Panniers: 100 dollars
- Tent: 120 Dollars
- Sleeping Bag: 135 Dollars
- Water Bottles (Steel): 35 Dollars. THIRTY FIVE DOLLARS!!!
- GPS: 110 Dollars
- CO2 Pump: 20 dollars
- Leg Warmers: 40 Dollars
- Waterproof Jacket: 30 Dollars
- Zip-Off Pants: 30 Dollars
- Bike Computer: 20 Dollars
- NiMH Batteries and Charger: 30 Dollars
- Headlamp: 35 Dollars
- Cycling Gloves: 20 Dollars
~ 1450 Dollars
That might not seem like an outrageous amount of money, but remember I get paid about as well as people who smash rocks with other rocks, so blowing 1500 dollars on this so early is a bit of a surprise. Whoever said this is doable for 3 grand was clearly alternating between smoking Salvia and huffing model airplane glue. Doing it for 2K, on that note, would involve either giving handjobs for sandwiches along the way, or sorcery of some kind.
It might seem like most of the expenses associated with this have already been incurred, but the bike gets a lot more expensive (the base model is 600 clams, there's a LOT of stuff I'm tweaking that ups the cost considerably that I'll get into in a later post), there's a few random other items I need, and there's the food, lodging, and plane ticket home to still figure in. which will be the far bigger expenses. As of right now, I don't see any way to get out of this for less than $5,000, and I cut some pretty big corners (getting a ride to San Diego to save a plane ticket, E-baying a lot of stuff, etc...)
Also please let me know if you like the site layout better now. It's still a work in progress. At least I dropped the weird Sesame Street stuff, right?
* Although it's prefaced with some unabashed whining, the main reason I'm posting this list isn't to bitch and moan about how expensive it is to take two months off work and have fun touring around the country. I'm mostly keeping a running tab because, unlike most people who've done something like this, I'm neither a spoiled college kid whose Mommy and Daddy pay for their living expenses while they're off gallivanting around the country, nor am I some mid-40's professional who has advanced up the ladder far enough to the point they don't really need to watch their expenses anymore.
In summary: I'm actively cutting any expenses possible (without compromising to any extremes), and since most people who do a cross-continent tour don't do that, a list like this is fairly unique and others who read this and are planning their own tour might find it interesting.
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