How to Sabbatical 3: How Much Will it Cost to Bike Coast to Coast?
By Guli Fager, MPH, CFP®, Financial Advisor
One: Can I Even Afford It?
I’m old enough to remember when the packing list for Camp Catoctin recommended that campers bring old sneakers for hiking, hand-me-down tshirts, and “nothing you can’t bear to lose.” In contrast to the pricey backpacking gear on offer at REI, it was assumed that one should first attempt challenging outdoor adventures with hand me downs from kids at meeting or stuff already on hand before buying something new. More than once, I’ve bought a new piece of gear after completing whatever trip or challenge only to … never use it again. So I’ve learned that expensive gear isn’t often truly necessary but it can make things more comfortable. But for a trip of this scale, I’m trying to balance what I’ll truly need with an open mind about spending money to make it more enjoyable. Here is an overview of what I’m planning to buy and why.
I’ve already got my indoor trainer system so haven’t needed to buy anything to start biking inside. I’ve spent hundreds of hours on this thing.
The most expensive single thing I’ll need is a new bike; my racing bike is carbon, which is light and fast but transfers all “road noise” into the rider’s body at the points where you touch the bike (hands, feet, and saddle). You can handle this for one long day of riding (the bike portion of my Ironman was about 7.5 hours) but for a multi-day trip, that discomfort accumulates fast. Bikes come with seats and pedals, but they often need to be switched out to match your own body and shoes, so those are two additional items I’ll need to buy once I settle on a bike. I’m looking at the $2500-$3000 range for a steel touring bike. I won’t be carrying bags but touring bikes typically have mounts to attach front and rear panniers so if I get the urge to bike camp like my grandparents, I’ll be able to use this bike (I really doubt this will happen :)) I’m hoping to get the bike by January so I can ride it on the weekends for a few weeks before I leave.
I also need a lot more and different clothing. Triathlon cycling gear has a very thin chamois (the pad in the seat area) because you don’t want to feel like you have a wet diaper on while you’re biking after the swim. You also have to eventually run in your kit, so it can’t be too obtrusive or else it’ll cause wicked chafing. For a trip that’s bike-only, I can luxuriate in nice, thick padding but this means all new bottoms. Figuring out which company’s chamois works for your body is an important part of cycling, especially for women; once you find it, you stick with it, so I’ve budgeted for two bibs and one pair of padded shorts from Zoot (1), along with a few jerseys and shirts for sun protection and visibility on the roads.
Shoes are just as important; I’ve had 6 pairs of cycling shoes over the past 20 years, most bought on sale or used, so this is an area I’m prepared to splurge since I’ll be wearing them every day. A woman on my gravel trip this summer had these shoes from Specialized and I loved them (1); at $300, they’ll be by far the most expensive piece of clothing I have for biking, but cycling shoes can last 10+ years so I decided to go for it. Appropriate insoles are essential; cycling shoes are completely stiff so your feet will get incredibly tired if you don’t have the right type of arch support for your foot. Those are another $50.
Whoever said orange was the new pink … hasn’t tried shopping for women’s cycling gear lately.
What makes training for this trip different than my previous events is that I’ll be training all winter rather than starting a training plan in late February for a spring/summer race. I experience a lot of numbness in my hands and feet in even moderately cold temperatures, but I know that I won’t be able to tolerate exclusively indoor trainer riding all winter so cold weather gear, even though I won’t take it on the trip, is a must.
If you do a long ride on a winter day, you’ll typically go through at least 2 or 3 temperature cycles — it’s freezing when you start so you’re bundled up, but then you get warm as it gets sunnier and the temperature rises, so you need to be able to peel off items and layers so you don’t get too sweaty. If you’re out until the late afternoon when the sun starts to go down, it’ll get cold again. I have an insulated bib and jacket, and neoprene covers for my drop bars, but winter shoes are always a challenge. Cycling gear defaults to men and many unusual items aren’t made in women’s sizes at all; this is true for winter cycling shoes and I haven’t found a pair so far which will limit my ability to ride outdoors. The other items I’ll need for cold weather cycling I already have; headbands, neck gaiters, gloves, and so on.
How to Time Spending to Avoid Credit Card Balances & Budgeting for Unpaid Time Off
One of the methods I use to anticipate a series of big ticket items is to do a cash flow timeline, where I look at my bank account balance on a specific date and map out what expenses I know are coming at what times as well as when deposits come in, to forecast how much I’ll have on hand, for example, in December when I’ll need to pay the final $10,000 installment for the trip. I could charge it, but the tour company offers a 2% discount if I pay cash and since I will have some unfunded time off, I don’t want to have big credit card bills due when my incoming cash might be less than normal. I will have paid for most of the gear by December, so I’ll have the spending capacity to buy the bike and book travel in January and February without blowing up my normal bank account or putting anything on my credit card.
*One item I haven’t included above is the “single room supplement,” which I haven’t committed to. Most tours like this charge extra for you to have your own hotel room. I imagine I will probably want the privacy but I haven’t made a decision about this; it’s another $2700 or so.
The biggest wild card in planning a sabbatical is the “unfunded” time off, when I’ll still be responsible for my normal bills, but will run out of paid vacation time and need to have savings accumulated to cover these costs. I’ve reviewed my PTO balance, the rate of accrual, and projected that I’ll have about 4 weeks more time off than I have paid vacation for, so I’ve incorporated those missed paychecks in the “cost” of the trip in the budget below. My expenses are less than my income so I don’t anticipate that this will be a big hardship, but I wanted to include how much I’ll be spending from my savings in the calculations (in eMoney, you can “fund” a specific expense from a particular account to mimic this flow).
One tip I would suggest if you’re planning a sabbatical is to check with your employer about the rules for the health insurance plan — most companies’ plan rules will cover existing employees for an entire month if they are on payroll any one day during a month (and PTO counts as “working”), so figuring out how to spread out the vacation and unpaid leave so you are fully on payroll at least one day each month you’re gone should keep you covered (2). You don’t want to go on a trip like this and have health insurance lapse. For me, I’ll probably two two weeks of PTO for March and April and two weeks unpaid leave as well.
[1] References are for illustration only; no affiliation or endorsement is implied.
[2] Decisions affecting pay, taxes or benefits should be reviewed with your tax pro & HR.
This is a personal narrative for educational purposes only and isn’t individualized advice. Your situation may differ.