[onrhodes]

Well, I just heard this morning that gas prices could hit $3.50 by summer time. I don't know about you guys, but gas prices are definitely going to impact my travel plans for the summer.
I live in New Hampshire, and most races all year are within 2 hours of me. However that is still roughly 100-200 (roughly) miles of driving roundtrip for most races, plus entry fee, plus food, etc you're easily talking about $45-50 (on the low end) per race in just hard costs. God forbid if you wanted to do a double weekend and get a hotel. In the past, I have races 30 times a year. Do the math and that addes up pretty quick.
I drive a fairly fuel efficient vehicle too (30mpg). If you ask me, I might just be hitting the local races and doing our weekly training race at NH International Speedway.
Do you think high gas prices will affect your racing this summer? I've heard some of you midwest and Rockies region racers travel up to 4 hours to race some times.
Obviously carpooling is one answer, but that doesn't always work out.

 

[undies]

Well do the math. Assuming you get 30mpg, your average round-trip drive is 150 miles, gas cost about $2.50 last year and will be $3.50 this year. This means an extra $5 per race trip. For 30 races that's an extra $150 for the year. Is that a budget breaker?

 

[onrhodes]

Well do the math. Assuming you get 30mpg, your average round-trip drive is 150 miles, gas cost about $2.50 last year and will be $3.50 this year. This means an extra $5 per race trip. For 30 races that's an extra $150 for the year. Is that a budget breaker?

Plus commuting to work (and other driving for just daily life), plus the increased prices at the grocery store, plus the 30% increase in heating and electric bills here in the northeast. Plus ever escalating race fees. In the past, my race entries have been around $700 for the season. Which isn't too bad, but factor in all the above extra costs in my life, and racing is definitely one of the places that is going to get impacted.

 

[Joeslow2]

It affected me a bit last summer. There were definitely times I was not happy about blowing through $40 for a tank of gas for a 60 min crit. This year I think it will be a factor in my racing. I've raced once this year and last year I'd done 8 races by this time. I'm trying to race less this year for family and sanity sake, but gas prices factor in there too. Most of the races I plan on doing this year are within a 2 hour drive. Fortunately we have decent racing close by (Indiana/Kentucky).

 

[DRLski]

I know it will be impacting my racing, I don't think I'll be doing very many double hitter weekends. Probably down to one race a weekend. I've already started commuting to work when I don't have a team ride that night. 20 mile ride to work is a pretty good ride, 40 miles per day, adds up to a lot of training time. Hopefully it will making blowing all that money on gas for the races worth it. Not to mention that it seems like some of the race registration fees seems to have gone up a bit this year.

 

[sianne]

Well, I just heard this morning that gas prices could hit $3.50 by summer time. I don't know about you guys, but gas prices are definitely going to impact my travel plans for the summer.
I live in New Hampshire, and most races all year are within 2 hours of me. However that is still roughly 100-200 (roughly) miles of driving roundtrip for most races, plus entry fee, plus food, etc you're easily talking about $45-50 (on the low end) per race in just hard costs. God forbid if you wanted to do a double weekend and get a hotel. In the past, I have races 30 times a year. Do the math and that addes up pretty quick.
I drive a fairly fuel efficient vehicle too (30mpg). If you ask me, I might just be hitting the local races and doing our weekly training race at NH International Speedway.
Do you think high gas prices will affect your racing this summer? I've heard some of you midwest and Rockies region racers travel up to 4 hours to race some times.
Obviously carpooling is one answer, but that doesn't always work out.

I'm carpooling whenever possible to races and riding my bike more to work.

The world doesn't end because gas is up $1 a gallon... you just find ways to use less.

 

[biknben]

Gas prices and riding in general...

Gas prices have influenced my riding in general. I used to travel by car to join group rides that were up to 2 hours away. I rarely do that now. I try to stay local. Even then, I choose to ride to the start instead of drive.

I've been a racer for many years but am slowly moving away from it. Gas prices don't make or break the deal but regular racing does get expensive in many ways. Fuel is just part of the equation.

 

[imetis]

This is the second forum I've seen this discussion come up on today. Just be glad we are all willing to ride some times. Imagine being "stuck" driving everywhere!

Racing is a luxury, unless you're getting paid to do it. If you can afford the luxury, enjoy, if not, ride near home, organize fast group rides, and be glad you have a bike to pedal.

Mountain biking is even worse. I have to drive 20-50 miles just to get to a trail for training. That's the main reason I've switched almost completely to road riding.

 

[filtersweep]

Well, I just heard this morning that gas prices could hit $3.50 by summer time.

It is about 11.50nok per liter here in Norway (a major oil exporter, so go figure)- normally. That is $6.72 per gallon. Much of europe pays this kind of money for bensin. $3.50 is nothing.

Of course this means we will be paying $8 per gallon....

 

[big game]

The plus side of high gas prices is it keeps a lot of the idiot drivers off the road. This is worth it to me. So I got to carpool every now and then. Small price to pay for more peace and quiet.

 

[*Dude*]

It has me.....

I don't drive a fuel friendly truck so YES I have decided not to race this year.... Most of the races I want to race are at least 1.5 hours away....


Freakn' oil companies.....

 

[onrhodes]

I've been a racer for many years but am slowly moving away from it. Gas prices don't make or break the deal but regular racing does get expensive in many ways. Fuel is just part of the equation.

I would say that is part of my "problem" too. 17 years of racing/training. Last year was the first year that I didn't do any racing at all because I was working two jobs and supporting my wife while she finished up her college degree.
I'm lucky enough to live 2 miles from work so I have been walking all winter and now riding my bike every day. I save a lot on gas that way.
Last year was nice though. I did a lot of riding still, but no racing. Plus started doing some other athletic things such as hiking a lot. It took me most of the year to miss racing at all. This year I'm thinking of doing 30+ age group races instead of the Cat. III events. Plus a few more mtn bike races and giving cross a try again.

 

[undies]

Plus commuting to work (and other driving for just daily life), plus the increased prices at the grocery store, plus the 30% increase in heating and electric bills here in the northeast. Plus ever escalating race fees. In the past, my race entries have been around $700 for the season. Which isn't too bad, but factor in all the above extra costs in my life, and racing is definitely one of the places that is going to get impacted.

OK sure, but even so it sounds like increased fuel prices is only a small part of your racing budget. Based on your original numbers it sounded like you could reduce your number of races from 30 to 27 and still have the same overall racing budget.

Could you save some living expenses by bicycling on some of your errands instead of driving? Like it or not I don't think gasoline prices are going to go anywhere but up, so we might as well figure out how to wean ourselves.

 

[MR_GRUMPY]

I might cut back on "double duty" weekends. I car pool to most races, but I refuse to drive twice in a weekend.

 

[Joeslow2]

This year I'm thinking of doing 30+ age group races instead of the Cat. III events. Plus a few more mtn bike races and giving cross a try again.

Was "Cat. III" a typo? (Perhaps I/II) All the guys that race Cat 3 in my area are cat 3's, no matter what their age. At the race I did last weekend, every single one of the top 10 guys in the 30+ race were cat 1's.

 

[den bakker]

I don't drive a fuel friendly truck so YES I have decided not to race this year.... Most of the races I want to race are at least 1.5 hours away....


Freakn' oil companies.....

Did the oil companies force you to buy the truck?
If not, you might want to look in the mirror next time you start to blame people.

 

[ashpelham]

And here we go again. Another decent thread with a thoughtful poster starting it, using actual math and logistics to simply analyze the true "cost" of his hobby has devolved into a "you bought the truck, live with it" type thread.

I bet it's safe to say that a lot of people, like myself, bought the car they have now more than 2.5 years ago, when the price of fuel almost overnight went from the same old, same old price we had paid for years, to double of that.

That is significant, and any smarta$$es on this board who want to bury their heads and say it isn't can park their cars so my essential use of a car can be cheaper.

 

[den bakker]

And here we go again. Another decent thread with a thoughtful poster starting it, using actual math and logistics to simply analyze the true "cost" of his hobby has devolved into a "you bought the truck, live with it" type thread.

I bet it's safe to say that a lot of people, like myself, bought the car they have now more than 2.5 years ago, when the price of fuel almost overnight went from the same old, same old price we had paid for years, to double of that.

That is significant, and any smarta$$es on this board who want to bury their heads and say it isn't can park their cars so my essential use of a car can be cheaper.

It devolved to the "blame the oil companies", you made a bad choice in your car purchase, live with it.
back to the thread: no it has no impact for me, gas is still not the main expense.

 

[DIRT BOY]

Yep, I bouhgt my Ford Explorer when gas was $1.38 here 2 yrs ago and I was fine with it. How thought that it would hit $3.00 already here.

Whne I pay it off in 2 yrs if gas is still this high or higher, I will definatly look into a truck/car with better gas mileage.

BUT prices make you wonder. Exxon/Mobil posted the HIGHEST EVER profits for a company in the world last year @ $39.5 Billion

 

[Under ACrookedSky]

BUT prices make you wonder. Exxon/Mobil posted the HIGHEST EVER profits for a company in the world last year @ $39.5 Billion

With revenue of over $330B, XOM is not exactly making an obscene profit margin. They make a percentage of the value of the fuel they sell. As the price of oil goes up, they will make more money.

As I was sitting in freeway traffic the other day, cursing the yuppie scum who live forty miles away from work and clog the highways at rush hour, I found myself wondering what type of gas prices it would take to change people's behavior. I came to the conclusion that gas would have to go up to the 8-10 dollars a gallon range to really affect the bulk of americans.

My reasoning was that if you drive an average vehicle that gets about 25 mpg, then that is forty gallons per thousand miles. So 20,000 miles of driving per year would take 800 gallons of gas, and each dollar that gas prices go up would impose a cost of $800 dollars per year. I began to wonder what multiple of $800 would cause the middle class to feel enough pain to make a significant change like moving closer to work.

$800 dollars surely is not enough. $2400 hurts, but is bearable. At $4000, or an extra $5/gallon, people trade their Detroit made crap in and get a Japanese car that gets 35 mpg. That drops the pain level to below $3000. It is not until you add $6, $7, or $8 that the suffering would be enough to really change yuppie America. The lower classes who have low paying jobs, long commutes, and big trucks/SUVs would be in a world of hurt at $6+ per gallon, though.

As for me, I'm cheap. I just passed up buying a WRX because even though I knew it would be fun initially, I also knew that paying the extra 20 cents per gallon for premium would eventually outweigh the initial fun factor, not to mention they get SUV-like gas mileage in the first place.

Even though it may not be completely rational if you look at costs on a yearly basis, I find myself skipping some climbing, hiking, and MTBing that requires driving. It's easy when you can start road cycling from your front door.