Out of reach

Being 38 years old, I've been flirting with the idea of riding across the United States in 2010 to celebrate my oldness of 40. Now, I'm not so sure that's anything more than a pipe dream. I've been searching for touring companies that offer varieties of rides, from the carry your own gear type to the hotel and buffet type. The underlying factor is cost. Even the carry your own crap and cook your own crap rides are $4,000+! Of course, I don't even want to carry my own crap! If I do this, it's going to be hotels and buffets, but not to the tune of $8,000-$10,000. The thing that makes the cost even more of a challenge is the fact that I have no vacation days, being self employed. Every minute I don't work, I don't get paid. Even if My wife's clinic exceeds beyond all expectations, it's going to be a struggle with me netting a ZERO income for 5 weeks.

So it's become apparent that this cross country thing won't be happening until later on in life, barring winning the lottery (which I don't play).

One idea I've been thinking about is doing as many state championship time trials as I can fit in. Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, etc. That will account for several weekend trips, but still be fun (in an ouch sort of way) and I see what kind of results I can rack up in my first year being a 40+ rider.

Another idea is a winter training camp. Hammer (as in Gel), along with many other companies put these on in Arizona so us snowed in mid-westerners can get some consecutive non trainer rides under our belts. Probably what would be more fun is to just rent a house in Tuscon, buy a case of pasta and have 5-10 friends go out and ride for a week.

Yet another is do as many multi-day tours as possible. Goba, Rainstorm, TOSRV, etc.

Or simply fuck it and just ride wherever I please.