bikenh

[QUOTE=Cyclebum;15179463]Cycle touring is a expensive way to cover territory relative to motor transport. Thus a sort of obsession on how to do it 'cheaply.' I can travel 50 miles in my car for about $5 in fuel cost. I can pedal 50 miles on the fuel in a jar of peanut butter(3000 cal/16 oz)for about the cost of the gasoline. Of course, I'm not likely to fuel myself with just peanut butter, so the cost of 3000 cals is going to be significantly higher than the cost of gasoline for equivalent mileage.

In the car, I can cover 10 times the distance in a day than I can on my bicycle. That means 10 overnight stays vs 1, with the attendant cost, unless wild/stealth camping all the time. Thus the necessity for frugality with overnighting expenditures.

Add to this all the misc cost like batteries, entry fees to whatever, bike repairs, souveniers, feel good snacks, etc.

Edit:

I look at how much less money I spend now that I have given up driving, I don't even own a car anymore. My expenses tanked like a rock when I stopped spending money needlessly on the car. 41% of my expenses from 2001-April 2010 were just for the car...car insurance, car repair, car registration and gasoline. When I went out and added in the all the extra costs because of having the freedom of going anywhere under any circumstances I knew my expenses would drop 50% the first year I gave up driving. In fact, including Jan-Apr 2010 still driving, my expense between 2009 and 2010 dropped around $2 shy of a 50% haircut. They've went up since simple because I started biking like a freak...21,200 miles last year. If I was still biking like a 'normal' person I wouldn't have half the expenses I have right now. My food expenses last year practically doubled over any of the past several years.