See, it's all relative - I spend quite a bit more. I don't understand how you even just eat for that little!

I think I can spend as little as $10 a day sometimes. I could buy a box of granola bars and eat most of those in the morning. Have a sandwich for lunch and dinner. As long as I have supermarkets handy, I can eat for cheap. I could find hotdog stands and such in other towns and spend a few bucks on that meal. Somedays I might slurge a little. I know somedays I'll probably spend more like $20. But I will try to be a minimalist as much as possible.

A lot of people have been skeptical of my pace. But I'm actually training to do a double and triple century this year, and I think I understand better than anyone that a lot of the "suffering" that takes place on a bike is psychological.

I can not "+1" this enough. Save as much as you can afford to save, and plan for more time than you'll need. There will be nothing stopping you from being as frugal as possible, or from shooting for 500 miles per day, if that's what you want to do. But the extra time and extra money will give you options you wouldn't have otherwise, when "the best laid plans" fall apart, which they so often do.

I will likely plan for 60 days. I think that's more than enough considering my projected pace. Realistically I believe I will finish in 40-45 days.

I hate to say this, since I consider myself one of the more encouraging members of the touring forums, but I don't think that you realize the cumulative affect that fatigue will play on a long term tour. Even if you do regular fast centuries and even doubles and triples you won't know how your body will react to weeks and months of touring. There's a lot to do.

You ride all day, you have to set up camp, you have to find food, do laundry occasionally. There's bad weather, noisy nights, hills, bad roads, head/cross winds, you name it. You won't have your nice soft bed and regular lifestyle to retreat back into in order to recover.

One day, you're bound to wake up and feel like death. Everyones reserves have limits. You're liable to want a nice motel and a couple of days off, and that's when your time schedule and financial planning takes a tumble.

Not saying don't do it, just saying don't talk too loud until you've done it. Have some extra cash saved just in case, and don't set a date for the finish.

I see no stove. I am cheap so I know where you are coming from. Make all the gear that you can. Being cheap means hauling food and cooking it yourself. Start practicing now.

Cheap cooking gear: walmart grease pot (8.00) homemade alcohol stove (free) fuel bottle (I use a fiji water bottle). Backup plan (esbit tablets)

Camping gear, a large percentage of your weight is going to be a sleeping bag and tent. Go Cheap, I use a fleece sleeping bag less than 7.00(swedish army surplus, sportsmans guide) and a single person tent that I got from a seconds store. Use aluminum gutter spikes for tent stakes they are cheap strong and light. If you had to spend money, a light tent is where it should go. Your other option is hammock (Grand Trunk is about 20.00) people love or hate them, I have never tried one but I am interested.

I always have a stocking cap and a large trash bag. I dry my own fruit and make my own beef jerky. Food dehydrator 5.00 at consignment shop.

I got all these ideas from ultralight backpacking websites.

Good luck,

Craig

Two pairs of shorts or bibs is plenty.

Ditto for the jerseys

One tech tee shirt is enough.

One pair of zip off leg pants is better that two pairs of cargo shorts.

Three pairs of socks is enough.

Skip the sweat shirt and take a thin pile shirt.

Leave any clothing item that is cotton home.

Expect that it might be at or below freezing at some point and take leg warmers and a wind breaker.

Skip the spare chain. Take a chain breaker and a couple quick links.

Skip the spare tire.

Three spare tubes is enough, but add patch kit.

Straps work better than bungee cord IMO.

Lots of truth here. I consider myself to be a pretty fit cyclist and swimmer, and sometimes I forget that my body needs more rest than what I want to give it. I like pushing myself physically and mentally, but it's always a challenge to figure out what's enough and what's too much. It's a fine line that tends to move around a lot with lots of variables such as how much cycling, diet, sleep, weather, illness, other activities, family, work, and an endless variety of other concerns.

I rode the Southern Tier last year (journal). Before I did it, I planned on averaging 100 miles/day. I discovered that would be unrealistic before I even started, during my shakedown tour. In the end, I averaged 83 miles per riding day (with a 4-day hiatus in the middle), and I feel pretty good about that. I was looking for a physical challenge and I got one.

One of my personal rules was "don't ride in the dark," and I broke that only once (on my longest day). Depending on the time of year you ride, your target distance, and your average speed, you may find yourself racing the sunset from the minute you wake up, which is mentally fatiguing and takes a lot of the fun out of your day's ride. I spent a lot of my nights in hotels. Obviously it's possible to make camp and prepare dinner in the dark—or strike camp and make breakfast before dawn—but that's something to keep in mind. If I had been camping more, I would have shortened a lot of my longer days. On the other hand, since I was mostly riding between town that had hotels or WS hosts, I had less flexibility in daily distance, so I had some days that were shorter than I might have chosen otherwise, and some that were longer. If I had been able to ride 83 miles every day, it would have been a doddle.

I haven't studied the TA map in detail, but if it's anything like the ST, there will be large chunks of country where you won't see grocery stores at all—the best you'll do is glorified convenience stores. That will limit your food options.

For your cargo: I recommend 2 sets of on-bike clothes, 2 sets of off-bike clothes, and warm layers (wool base layer, jacket, tights). Skip the spare chain, bring a few spare links and spare master link. Bring patch kits (multiple). Consider bringing body glide. Bring some paracord or light rope. Wind a few yards of gorilla tape around your pump. Add some zip ties. Tent, sleeping bag, and sleeping pad are where you can save the most weight if you are willing to spend the money.

You might well do that. I know someone who did the TransAm (roughly) in 44 days, and he was 59 years old. If I were to do it, I'd plan for 3 months. There's more to it than just riding to me. To do it in 6 weeks I'd have to get up early (UGH), skip my leisurely mornings sipping coffee and reading (UGH), skip side trips to places that might interest me along the way (UGH), and, well, basically, skip much of it that makes it fun for me. But to each his/her own.

One more suggestion - you might reconsider putting all your gear over the rear wheel. It will make your front wheel too light and squirrely. You'll get a better (and probably safer) ride with the weight distributed more.

No, that is for one...me. The ACA unsupported tours cost right around $4,600 now. Granted some of the cost goes to the guide. This is where I modeled my budget from...if it's too much that's okay with me. But for me it will be in the ball park.

My trip covers just over 100 days. With Amtrak ticket included, I'm looking at an average of just under $40 a day. Over the long haul, I'll be watching my spending.

Of those 100 days, 48 are planned free or hosted lodging days. Absolutly no stealth camping planned.

The budget I set for my upcoming pacific coast tour in a few month is $500. Im planning on taking roughly 20-25 days to go from vancouver to san francisco. I carry everything with me and stealth camp as much as possible. Sometimes I couchsurf. But I carry breakfast and lunch with me (usually dry milk and granola, pbj's, etc), and eat dinner at a local food place (usually fast food ), and grab a few beers. Thats only about $10-$15 a day, and you'd be suprised how many free/nearly free campgrounds there are. You can tour as cheap as you want to really, I know people that tour and stay in hotels every night, thats not the type of touring I like, the point of touring on a bike for me is to get away from that kind of stuff.

You're definitely going to want to tone down the pace though. At first I was really optimistic and thought I could do 70-80 mile days, but thats not fun. Its easily possible, but you dont want to spend 10 hours on a bike. Sit back, relax, and take in the scenery now and again.

I'm a randonneuring who has done a lot more than double and triple centuries.

In 2004 I was in good shape and quite experienced doing long distance rides. I had completed 1200K randonnees in 2002 and 2003, and had completed a 1000K randonnee in August 2004. In late September, I stared a 90 day tour of Australia. My cycling partner had the idea that we would ride 100 km a day, every day for three weeks, then we'd take a couple days off and ride the Great Southern Randonnee (1200K), then take a couple days off and finish by riding 100 km a day every day for the rest of the tour. I was in shape and thought it would be quite possible.

About 10 days in, I rented a car for three days. By the end of the 90 days I had firmly come to the conclusion that a 1200K randonnee was easier than trying to ride 100 km a day for anything more than about a week. A long distance ride like a 1200K, or a double or triple century ends and you can rest. Cycling day after day after day after day after day after day .... doesn't end. And it is extremely tiring.


This is why I suggest you take a week off and do a hub-and-spoke tour in your local area. If you can't afford to pay for accommodation now, use your home as the hub and ride 10 hours a day in different directions, in a variety of terrain, in a variety of weather, with a loaded bicycle. You'll get a much better idea of 1) how much you really spend on food, and 2) how your body feels doing that day after day.

Like already mentioned... a few shorter tours will serve you well. Even if you only go for the weekend. It will really help you realize what you do and don't need. And besides, it's fun. While I did tour down the Pacific Coast this past summer I also did tours less than 4 days and 2 less than 10 days. I enjoyed them all.

I was also a guy who passed people all the way down the coast... never had a single person pass me while riding and I still averaged only 70 miles a day. Most touring cyclist soon realize that more than 70 miles can suck the life/fun right out of a tour. Granted, flatter country you will ride further and may ride 100 miles many days... there will also be those days where you are doing 5000 feet of elevation gain so 100 miles isn't really possible unless you spend a ton of time in the saddle. And besides.... it's about the journey and not the destination.

my2cents

Some good advice and perspectives have already been offered in the previous comments.

I do not consider food costs to be part of the trip cost since I would be spending almost as much at home anyway. My additional trip reserves cover transportation to and from the starting and ending points when needed; R&R hostel or motel costs if needed; spare parts and any mechanical or medical breakdown costs.

I cook very basic food in camp or at home most of the time rather than eat at restaurants. Brown rice or quinoa, steamed vegetables, beans or lentils and chicken or fish and little or no processed or prepared food reduces costs considerably. It only requires a little more time buying and preparing the food and additional fuel expense. I have managed to survive well on tours for many decades eating this way. On many tours I find that trip costs for food was less than those at home.

Given enough resources you can spend as much as you want on a tour. I prefer to use money carefully since money not spent on one tour can fund the next one. In this case, less is more.

Obviously your "out-of-pocket" food expense is out of someone else's pocket. Not a problem if that works for you. If you pay your own...how you do that? I'm curious.

As you can see from the responses so far, people tour for all sorts of reasons. You can't really determine how much it'll cost until you determine what you expect out of the trip.

Some people get a big charge out of touring with the least, lightest, or most minimal gear possible. Others attempt extreme frugality. At another end of the spectrum you have the credit card tourers who don't even need to carry a tent or a stove. Most people figure out what's important for themselves and design a tour to meet that need.

My fondest memories of my bike tours are always of the people I've met along the way. Ironically, I've found I meet and talk to more people while I'm touring solo, so that's the way I choose to go. In order to have a chance to relax and talk to people, I tend toward organized campgrounds, local diner breakfasts, and an occasional motel room tossed in to escape weather, mosquitoes, or lack of camping options. And, ice cream! I never pass an ice cream stand on tour without stopping. Those of us that struggle a bit with our weight get precious few opportunities to eat all the diner food and ice cream we want and still lose weight while burning massive calories on a bike tour. That's the way I plan my tours and it works well for me. I figure on spending $40-$50 (US) per day. It fits my budget and, hey, I'm on vacation! I want to enjoy it.

Figure out what floats your boat and your budget limits. Find a way to meet both of those constraints, even if it means shortening your trip. Don't be one of those miserable souls that suffers through an entire tour just to say you did it. Plan something you can enjoy and have the time of your life.

For the original poster, try at least one tour of at least five days, as soon as you can make it work. Try for the distances you'd like to ride when you're on the big tour. Take the gear and food you'd take on your 2012 tour. Camp the way you're planning to camp in 2012. And take a notebook. Each day, write down some detailed notes about your day's ride. Where did you ride? How far? How fast? What slowed you down? How did you feel? While you're thinking about those things, think about whether you were bored or lonely while you were riding or while you were stopped.

Touring by bike is one of the most wonderful experiences possible on two wheels. Your 2012 tour sounds like a lot of fun. For this year, however, take the time to prepare yourself physically, financially, mentally, emotionally and psychologically. If you haven't done a bike tour before, it's going to be a new experience. What you do now will determine how much enjoyment you'll get when you're on the big tour.

Good luck.

I never did this. Did you? The OP is in his twenties. He should go for it and ENJOY......or not (in the unlikely event that happens).

Here again your inexperience is showing. You plan to ride 100 miles a day (or 10 hours a day ... which is actually probably more like 100 km a day) on a box of granola bars, and a couple sandwiches a day.

I've been fine eating that little on really short tours, but on my 90 day tour, about 2 weeks into the tour I had very little energy and was desparately craving meat. Two nights in a row we happened to be in a situation where we were given large servings of meat by other campers who were horrified how little food we had. What a difference!! From then on we ate ... A LOT! I was eating anywhere between about half again as much and twice as much as I do when I'm not on tour. And I was losing weight.

So whatever your normal daily food budget is ... double it.

And double it not only because you may eat twice as much, but also because your food sources are likely going to be small grocery stores out in the middle of nowhere who charge 25% to 50% more than what you might find in your supermarket in the city. If you get into a touristy area, you may be paying twice as much for your can of beans and loaf of bread.

If you have the time to shop around a bit, you may get some good deals ... but you're planning to spend all day long cycling, so you'll end up shopping wherever there's a food source.

There has been some great advice posted in this thread, but I want to add a big "+1" to this one. Seriously, it's one thing to go out and ride a century (or even a double) and come home to a warm bed, but you're going to find things to be quite a bit different on tour. You'll be carrying a lot more equipment, and be setting up camp wherever you can find it, you'll soon learn the value of shortening a day and making sure you scope out your campsite *before* it gets dark. You'll have days where that campsite you saw on your map either doesn't exist or has been closed down and replaced with a big "No Camping" sign, meaning you'll have to ride another 30-odd km to a campsite (yes, this has happened to me more than once). And you want to ride 100 miles a day on top of all this?

Seriously, I'd suggest doing a tour somewhere for at least a few days just to get a feel for doing all that stuff, and learning how much it will all cost, of course. The other thing is to make sure you can access additional funds above and beyond what you budgeted on tour, in case of emergencies or other problems. Several times I have encountered unseasonal weather on tours which has made me spend more money than I intended. In Western Australia in 2009 it was unseasonally cold and wet, and a few times I decided to spring for more formal accommodation because I was sick of camping in it. Then in Japan last year I copped an unseasonal heatwave (interrupted only by a typhoon) which led to me spending more on drinks and ice creams than I had planned.

Again, I'm not trying to stop you, but I do think you need to do some more planning and some more touring before undertaking something like this.

Everyone on this forum is so nice and patient, this topic has been covered so often. That said, there has been so many good points in this thread that I can't really expand on it much, but I'll try.

A tour will cost as much as you want it to cost maybe more. Truth.

You've already been ripped on for the packing list, and when I first read it one of my first thoughts was the clothing. 6 pairs of socks? Seriously? Take 2-3 pairs of good wool cycling/hiking socks. My strategy is usually to take one see of layers for off the bike for the temps I expect to encounter. On top of that I'll take two cycling shorts, two tops (one merino and one polyester jersey), and that is it. My long tights are in my set of layers for off the bike that double as bike tights. Similarly a lot of my off bike clothes can be layered up for on the bike if I need them. As someone pointed out wash one pari of shorts each night, andlet them dry out overnight and the next day while you wear the clean ones. Will they always dry out? No, but wearing the same shorts two days in a row won't kill you.

I've met guys eating very cheap food, begging for free bread at subway restaurants, and it wored for them, you can do that stuff when you are young. They sure did thank me when I gave them some tomato paste to mix in their dry pasta however. I mean come on, how much is a tin of tomato paste? $0.50? Problem with that is that you won't use the whole thing in one meal, and it's difficult to save. In the same vain I'd like to know how you will make sandwiches cheaply. you will buy the meat, which never comes in small enough packages, and it is difficult to store properly. That means waste. IMO if you really want to go cheap them you need a stove. Sure, you can get by without one, but for anything over two weeks give me a stove.

Anyway, you seem pretty convicted to do the things the way you want to do them, so do it. You'll learn along the way, and have a blast while doing it.

Broken record ---- do some short tours first! Learn what works and what doesn't

Here is a trip budgeting tool created in MS Excel that someone posted at CGOAB.

HTH

Maybe-- I did an 1100 mile tour in 10 days with the longest day at 139 miles. I took the tubular wheelset off my PX10 and put on my training wheels (clinchers), changed the freewheel to my mountain cluster 15-24 and took off. It was 40 years ago, I was in racing shape and I couldn't tell you any thing about the route. I felt good about it, but I wouldn't say it was a "blast". My motivation was not to smell any roses. On our last major trip, my wife and I, averaged 50 miles a day for 74 days. The flowers smelled pretty darn good! Actually, we were a couple of folks Kayadiver passed on the Pacific Coast last summer.

PS. The first ride was pre-computer days with the milage calculated off a state road map, so there is some margin of error

You can tour on anything and you are your only limitation. Have fun!

The clothing thing is interesting. The simple fact is that at some stage, you will have to stop and do laundry. That is, if you are camo-camping and haven't got access to facilities such as laundry and shower at a campground.

Irrespective of your dream, the drudgery of life still goes on. In your time and distance budget, you have to factor in shopping for food, stopping to pee and crap, scope out a suitable and safe camo-campsite (already alluded to), wash yourself and your clothes to stay healthy, service your bicycle, stopping and talking to people along the way who want to know what you are doing, and working out actually where you are on the map!

It all takes time, and when you're six hours into a ride and have ridden a quarter of your daily distance, you start to get nervy. That will affect your judgment and your interaction with other road users and people like those behind the counters at shops.

And if you actually do get sick along the way, you don't have much option but to stop and recover. How are you going to feel about losing time with that?

I've been hardcore, too. Riding 300km days to get to long-distance events, and I can brag about them later. But I've never set out on an extended tour of the length your are talking about with the intention of big distances each day.

I'd like to think you can get all the way through with 100-mile days, but if I was a betting man, I would lay short odds that you wouldn't last beyond three weeks at that pace.

Another thing to consider in your financial budget concerns your home expenses. Do you have to pay rent, and will you continue to do so while you are away? What about computer and internet expenses? Phone expenses? Health insurance? Do you have a vehicle with registration/licence that falls due while you are absent?

You might not have some or all of these expenses, but they still need to be factored in.

And one last thing (I didn't look at the packing list, so you might have them)... condoms. Mind you, you are intent on setting a cracking pace, but you never know what might happen along the way.