TDR 2012

[aplummer]

i found a thread with most people thinking about $100 a day. anybody else have differing opinions.

[THE LONG RANGER]

hi i'm in the early stages of planning for riding in 2012 and was wondering what people roughly budget for the period they are actually riding. e.g. for food, repairs, accommodation?.

This is a hard question and the answers will vary wildly. Big expenses though are accommodation and bike repairs. Both seem to go up if the weather isn't cooperating, since you may opt to lodge indoors if the rain/snow/cats-dogs make it miserable outside. Bad weather also usually does a number on your bike. I'd budget in replacing your tires and your drivetrain AND your brake pads at least once. I think my ride was slightly atypical, but the chain was replaced 4x, brake pads at least 4x, tires replaced 3x and misc. things here and there. God bless those bike shops on route.

Bad weather also means you'll probably be taking a little longer to do the course, since sometimes the trail just isn't passable. Food's cheaper at a supermarket, but those aren't always available, so you'll be eating at a lodge/restaurant.

So get to a number and double it. And maybe double it again

I'd suggest getting your sleep kit working really well, relatively light, comfortable, warm and waterproof. That way, with a little ingenuity, you can bivvy, as much as possible and the system will pay for itself in motels you don't have to pay for. Maybe even think about getting AAA for the motels that you may have to take? But also remember motels are nice and comfortable and usually near other niceties, so they can suck up time. Remember to be disciplined in using them

There's certainly an art on budgeting on the TD and there's gives and takes, depending on what you're willing to go with and without.

To be honest, I can't grab a number on how much I spent, but I left the race completely broke and I'm still... completely broke. Not a cheap race, by far!

[BigPoppa]

The hard part about budgeting is that it varies greatly. Some days I staying in a hotel and stopped for my one daily "hot meal". Those days could be ~250. (Especially in Breck where the hotels are really expensive!) Other days I only spent ~75 on food (gas station food is expensive like crazy). 

If you need to be conservative in your calculations (i.e. you have a tight budget); I would say ~75 for a hotel every night, eight meals a day (because you WILL need that much), and lots of bike parts.

Better yet, save crap loads of money and act like it doesn't exist. I picked this up from Jill and it was definitely a huge mental edge.

[THE LONG RANGER]

Re: Food Budget

A trick that helped me greatly, when I was running out of money and there wasn't any real place to resupply was to ask the lodge (that I just budgeted and purchased an actual meal at, I'm not condoning being that cheap - respect all the resources on the route) if they had anything else for sale, other than the cookies and candy they had out. Like, bread. Sure enough, they were willing to sell me an entire loaf of some amazing bread to make sandwiches (and had peanut butter available too). Pack one of those Sea to Summit stuff sack backpacks you can use as a Sometimes-Pack for keeping a cache of food.

Much cheaper than buying 2+ meals and still get the calories you need, as well as not feeling like you deprived yourself of eating a good meal. Sit down, rest, relax with one plate, make sandwiches for the road and keep pedalin'.

 

[Foster]

If you need to be conservative in your calculations (i.e. you have a tight budget); I would say ~75 for a hotel every night, eight meals a day (because you WILL need that much), and lots of bike parts.

Do you really get a hotel every night?  That would get extremely expensive doing that.  I can see eating lots of food because you need it but a hotel every night seems excessive.

[Mental-Miles]

Hi folks,
I do not agree with the statement, that the TD is an expansive race!

It it a three week plus ... adventure-trip, great nature, great people ... the memories will last the whole life ... good investment! One can stole your bike, burn down your house, but no one can enter your brain and kick out the memories of your TD-ride ...

For most of us it is a "once in a lifetime"-ride ... ok, one thinks it is a oialt, but it may turn out to be a once in a year thing ...
However, I would sell most of my bikes for getting the 5.000 Euro to make it over to Banff, but one can not buy the four weeks of time to ride the TD. So I continue to dream about it, get my gear ready and do some bike packing out my back door ...

To me it is not a money thing to hit the start ... hey and European must add the interconti-flight to the budget ...

[BigPoppa]

Do you really get a hotel every night?  That would get extremely expensive doing that.  I can see eating lots of food because you need it but a hotel every night seems excessive.

No, I didn't hit a hotel every night. Out of my 20 days I 'hoteled' it ~9 nights. The 'formula' I gave was a way to get an average cost for the entire trip. Even though I didn't hotel it every night, those extra calculated nights of hotel cost would have off set the extra cost in food that I wasn't anticipating well enough.  (I.E. I figured ~7,000 every day and in reality I ate closer to 15,000 a day.)

(For my personal calorie need, keep in mind that I'm 6'04'', 230.)


When I do the race again, it will probably be a bit cheaper. I'll be racing for keeps and only sleeping inside if I HAVE to because of weather. Even then, I'll likely not sleep inside unless I am fearing hypothermia.(A non-likely event in the TD)

[BigPoppa]

i found a thread with most people thinking about $100 a day. anybody else have differing opinions.

$100 a day is pretty minimal....

The best thing to do is vastly overestimate the cost. That way in the heat of the race you can concentrate on eating, riding, and sleeping. Not fearing a budget was a savior for me on day three (one of my tougher days). Because I had a mound of money devoted to the race, I was able to hit the lodge at Hopewell Lake. The digs there weren't cheap but I got tons of five star food (filet mignon anybody??), a warm shower, and some laughs with fellow racers. These were all needed things for me after having the most EPIC BONK of my life.

If I had to make decisions based on cost out there.... Well, that might have been what broke the camel's back.

[wunnspeed]

Phil.... you really got me back to seriously considering it. Hmmmm.... Tentative starter here.

[sluttyduck]

I used my AAA discount where I could.
most places didn't even ask to see the card(I had the number in my phone); YMMV.

I never thought about buying just bread, but buying a sandwich(or two) to go for 2nd dinner and 1st breakfast is a great way to take so luxury with you as you pedal away from civilization.

[mcmurv]

I used my AAA discount where I could.
most places didn't even ask to see the card(I had the number in my phone); YMMV.

I never thought about buying just bread, but buying a sandwich(or two) to go for 2nd dinner and 1st breakfast is a great way to take so luxury with you as you pedal away from civilization.

I used a similar approach by when I would eat dinner somewhere, I would order usually 6 grilled ham and cheese sandwiches at a time.  I remember seeing these on the menu at my first dinner stop and I was so excited.  "Can I have 2 please, wait, 4 please!" 

 

[phil_rad]

Phil.... you really got me back to seriously considering it. Hmmmm.... Tentative starter here.

:-) Glad to hear it Mike.

[mcmurv]

In case any of you are watching: Canada, Montana and Wyoming   http://www.nwrfc.noaa.gov/snow/  Nothing extraordinary at this point, but the best is yet to come.  

Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico  http://www.cbrfc.noaa.gov/gmap/cmap2.php?con=snow

[BobM]

In case any of you are watching: Canada, Montana and Wyoming   http://www.nwrfc.noaa.gov/snow/  Nothing extraordinary at this point, but the best is yet to come. 

Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico  http://www.cbrfc.noaa.gov/gmap/cmap2.php?con=snow

I'm keeping my fingers crossed - I'm really not that interested in doing the Tour DeTour.

[mcmurv]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed - I'm really not that interested in doing the Tour DeTour.

Come on Bob, don't you want to go again.  My wife and I were just talking about coming up to Copper Mountain the next time we come up to the Upper Peninsula.  Copper was mentioned in this quarters IMBA magazine. 

[Climb On]

Thanks for all the planning info on this strand. I have a newbie question regarding seats. Is there any advantage to a hard, minimally-padded saddle on the TD? I can see the advantages of one for shorter races, but I would think that you would want all the gel you can get for a multi-week sufferfest like the TDR. In short, I guess I'm asking for an explanation of the pros and cons of soft versus hard saddles. 

[pgadola]

Buy a Brooks saddle...you'll never be sorry.

[mporembs]

Buy a Brooks saddle...you'll never be sorry.

I rode one (Swift Ti) in my TD attempt, as well as in the CTR. I don't think I'll ever ride anything else, especially on multi-day adventures.

[Christopher R. Bennett]

Anyone else thinking about NoBo? Would be interested to discuss offline travel logistics and sharing to get to Antelope Wells. Chris Bennett chris [a] lpcb.org.

[mcmurv]

Anyone else thinking about NoBo? Would be interested to discuss offline travel logistics and sharing to get to Antelope Wells. Chris Bennett chris [a] lpcb.org.

Yep, I will most likely be heading NOBO, because I need to get going around 21 May 2012.  I have a ride already planned out of Austin, TX.  That is where I live.  You are welcome to join us.