7 Tips for Bicycle Touring on a Budget
Does the thought of a bike tour, spinning for hours on the open road, make your legs tingle with excitement? Me too! But one of the biggest drawbacks of a long tour, especially for young people, is the expense. Hell, you could spend a whole trip’s worth of cash just to get your bike ready.
My intention for writing this is to make known ways you can bike long distances for little money. On my first cross-country bike tour, I only meant to join my friend, Peter, for the first couple of weeks of his cross-country tour. Yet after those two weeks ended, I was enjoying life on the road so much that I didn’t want to turn back and I ended up riding with Peter from Oregon State to New York City in three month’s time.
And with little money saved, I was on a tight budget: just $10 a day.
The majority of the cyclists I encountered on the road were so-called “credit-card cyclists.” Their bikes were newly purchased, their gear came from next season’s REI catalog, and they arranged hotel rooms every single night.
“Maybe in 10 years,” I thought, “but for now, how can I stick to my budget so I can make it across the country?” Here are seven strategies I learned:
1. Travel with a Friend
Traveling with a friend is a good deal: It’s double the opportunity for half the cost. If you prefer not to share food expenses, at the very least, you can alternate who pays the park fee.
Plus, between the two of you, I’ll bet you know a dozen people you can stay with along the way. Lucky for me, Peter had friends and family members in Wyoming and South Dakota, where we needed a break the most.
And as someone who values his alone time more than almost anything, experiencing the trip with a buddy is just more fun. Trust me.
2. Use the Warm Showers app. Look for “Food: Yes”
Food and lodging are two of the biggest expenses on the road and Warm Showers can help alleviate both. For those who don’t know, Warm Showers is a Couchsurfing-like network of people who are willing to host touring cyclists for free. Since the community is smaller than Couchsurfing and shares a common love of the bicycle, Warm Showers hosts, I found, were more caring and generous. We were fortunate to receive home-cooked dinners, breakfasts, and lunches to take with us. The key is to search for hosts who offer food— look for “Food: Yes” on the app.
You don’t have to get your feet wet in a dumpster to get free food.
Always offer to help cook and clean up. Say thanks, leave positive reviews, and send a postcard when you finish. It doesn’t seem possible to be able to sleep indoors and enjoy a meal cooked in an actual kitchen for a price cheaper than pitching a tent and warming beans on your camp stove, but it’s true with Warm Showers.
3. Don’t Use Campsites
On the topic of lodging, don’t pay to pitch your tent. Sure, your money will go towards the beautification of the park you’re sleeping in, but on your trip, leave that up to the lovely retired folk traveling in RVs. Instead, do your research ahead of time. You can legally camp in many town parks, and the bathrooms are often left open overnight. (Beware of sprinklers, though!) Try local churches too. Call to politely ask whether you can pitch your tent on their lawn. Pack enough water to brush your teeth, and use the bathroom at the nearby grocery store before it closes. It’s against many churches’ religious beliefs to turn down someone who’s seeking shelter at the inn, even if, in this case, that shelter comes in the form of your tent.
4. Make Yourself Approachable
You’ll be surprised by how much strangers are willing to help you. However, many people will dismiss you as a vagrant, or depending on how light you’ve packed, as a day rider. Make yourself approachable. Sport some kind of conversation piece, and don’t be afraid to tell people about your big trip. You and your friends may be familiar with traveling by bike, but in other parts, particularly off the common cycling routes, people will have never conceived of riding long distances on a bike. You can cause people to reconsider what’s possible for them and recall similar adventures in their own lives. You’re an inspiration to others, and supporting you can fill them with a sense of vicarious adventure. I was offered $5, an Amish hand pie, bags of food, bottled water, coffee, a hotel room, lunch at Denny’s, and thermal clothes, as well as the opportunity to hear from people whom I would not have otherwise met.
5. Adopt a Freegan Diet
Freegans are essentially dumpster divers, but you don’t have to get your feet wet in a dumpster to get free food. We had great luck simply asking grocery stores for food with cosmetic imperfections or food too close to its expiration date to sell. More often than not, the cashier would oblige and load us up with as much food as they could find. The worst thing they could say was no; in which case, we could try adding that previous grocery stores have given us food, and they might concede.
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In small-town grocery stores, keep an eye out for the bargain basket too. There aren’t enough people in town to keep every item on the shelf from going bad, so a lot of them are marked down and tossed into the basket.
Another free food source to look for is bakeries. You’ll be finishing your day’s ride around the same time bakeries close. Since baked goods are made fresh every morning, bakers will likely be ready to give away the unsold bread and pastries. These are cheap calories, and you’ll need them to compensate for the enormous amount of calories you’re burning.
6. In Big Cities, Less is More
Big cities are both enticing and expensive. Each city possesses a unique character, so it’s understandable if you want to take days off to see them all. But beware: you can blow your whole budget before lunchtime.
Spur-of-the-moment decisions are usually the most costly, so ahead of time, I suggest creating a plan of attack. Develop a prioritized list of what you want to do and compare it to what’s free. In some cases, you may make exceptions for the things you really, really want to see, like the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore.
But if something’s too expensive, it’s time to develop an attitude of gratitude. Be happy with doing less. Catch up on your journal at a local coffee shop. Pretend you live in the city. If someone asks you for directions or if you’re an artist, sit back and absorb the fact that you’re better than every tourist in town.
7. Talk to the Locals
No one knows the area better than the people who actually live there. Get advice from these people.
If you’re staying with a Warm Showers host, chances are they cycle too and know the roads around their house like the curves of their handlebars. They’ll be able to tell you the most bike-friendly way out of town and, possibly, out of the state. Tell them where you’re headed next. Perhaps they know a friend or family member down the road who isn’t signed up with Warm Showers but who’d be just as happy to host you.
Talk to other cyclists as well. In the summer, on the common cycling routes, you’ll be seeing other bike tourists every day. Of those who are biking in the opposite direction as you, ask about the road ahead. Although you can get a picture of the highlights and lowlights from reading a bike blog or zooming in on a satellite map, the most up-to-date information will come to you from people on the ground.
8. Write Your Own
Have you also completed a bike tour on a budget? Let me know what I missed!
This story has been updated and was originally published on March 10, 2016.
Comments
Great post. I do feel however that begging for food is a put off, but I do see it being an option if done in a respectful manner. I would not feel comfortable shaming someone into helping, as in mentioning the offers of a prior store. My biggest roadblock to biking the trans America trail money, and its nice to read about someone doing it on the cheap. Appreciate the article!
Some of your ideas are good.
I only have strong feelings against heading out on a trip when you can't pay for it yourself because you haven't gotten reasonable funds ready.
Live and travel simply
I traveled for 10 months on my bicycle across America and in Asia.
What was repellent to me was seeing westerners begging for money to continue their travels from poor people who have little for themselves. Westerners can usually go home and get a reasonable job while others cannot get good pay.
Travel and see the world but prepare a bit
Please!
Poor people should not be your sponsor so that you can travel and not work!
Just found your website today. I've been living in San Carlos, Sonora Mexico for the past three years and your posts have me thinking about buying a bike and touring Central and South America. Looking forward to future posts.
I am looking to find out all I can about bike tours.
Haggle on price. West Yellowstone (notoriously expensive tourist trap) lodge reduced fee 50% when we suggested sleeping on the covered porch in our tents. Still wish I had ridden on to Madison walk in campground.
Day old bagels by the half dozen, cheapest jam, oily peanut butter. Less than $4. Breakfast and lunch for $1 a day.
BLM land camp for free. Better off if you're in a group. Can be as bit creepy alone.
Stop in the local bar and hang long enough to know the bar keep. Ask if he / she has any Intel on places to pitch your tent. Works best later in the evening.
You look like a homeless person in need. Respectfully, play it for all it's worth. If you are offered anything be sure to pay it forward when ever you can. You may need that favor again one day.
Pay your way! If you can afford to. Bicyclist have a bad reputation for being cheap skates. Take offerings, and thank profusely. But be prepared to pay with a smile.
I like hot showers...who does not??
Jim's right, free camping is a great way to save money.
One of the best websites to find free camping spots is https://freecampsites.net.
We cycled 3500 miles last summer through UK, France, Spain and Portugal in just over two months on a budget of £1 a day (that's about $1.50). We managed this by wild camping and foraging for as much food as possible. Have a look at our site at www.RideAndSeek2015.com.
Hey there.
Interesting read.
One strategy I unintentionally discovered was that when you complain to a store/restaurant /motel/gas station attendant in front of other customers how expensive everything is, often times someone out of the line would buy me a sandwich or donate money, usually it would mean a 5 minute conversation with that person
How to make world's smallest rearview mirror when you wear glasses. (7 x 9 mm, weight 1 gram, costs nothing)
Mail for pictures + instructions to make:
peter.de.visser@live.nl
(The Netherlands)
I'm 51 and have used most of those suggestions. Occasionally a motel room is really needed. I look for family owned,vintage places. What I really want is a hot shower and a place to roll my bike inside.
Most of those places will cut a deal with you.....$30 is worth it once a week
Very good tips. I have been cycle and foot traveling for almost 60 years and use many of these ideas. Just be a little mindful of taking (free?) food from eateries where they have crackers, condiments and such. Remember someone has to pay for them, they are not "free." Offer a small amount. Most times they say it is ok. Two German young men stayed with me in Phoenix, AZ for a while. They were traveling around the world on an open ended journey. They were only spending $5.00 a day. Even watching them shop I could not believe it was possible. $10 to 15 a day is very possible.
That's impressive. I never paid to camp but I spent a small fortune on food during my ride. It seemed like lots of gas stations I'd pass through in small towns would mark up like crazy on food. I was also on a 25 year old aluminum frame 12 speed not able to carry very much so I pretty much had to stop to resupply bc I wasn't able to carry much and I've always had a huge appetite as it was with out riding 100 miles a day. My staple food towards the end once I started tp have to watch my budget ended up being avocados and I would stock up on free crackers and hot sauce packets. I also lucked out with running into super generous people who would give me food or offer to buy me a beer. I also went through Townes who didn't welcome me at all, and wouldn't let me camp anywhere so I'd have to sneak behind billboards and. Set up my tent or hide my bike and sleep under picnic tables in parks and wake up before dawn so nobody would notice me haha, it was way funnier then it sounds! And one of my best nights was I found a guy who ran a homeless shelter in Iowa on warm showers and ended up staying there. Opened my eyes to a way of life I would have never experienced...I learned more about life and what's really important on my bike tour then I ever imagined. Can't wait for my next one. Thanks for the post! Hopefully I can do my next one even cheaper!
Nice job on these tips Jim... BTW, I'm a close friend and colleague of your dad. Last time I saw you in person, you were still in grade school. I was visiting friends in the NW and was married at the time, so my ex wife and son were there with me. We all met at a ball game and went to dinner afterwards. It was just you, Anne and your Dad.
All the best...
Gilbert
More stories I'd like to read - Top 5 Reasons to Ride Across the U.S.", "Top 5 Unexpected Beautiful/Interesting Places".
I don't have any tips but I'd love to read more of your writing.
On my trip cross country E to W and back, the first place we paid for camping was Yellowstone, any national forest is free to camp. Ask the local police, most times they know a place to camp. We even stayed in a jail one night, free shower! Food was pretty simple for us, peanut butter, oatmeal and something with noodles for diner. Amazingly, we average around 3-4 dollars a day, that was 1982.
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