Single father of 2. Middle school science teacher. Part-time race director.

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Habitual line stepper.

Used to have a sports store in London and am now taking a year out to train and build a house. Basically following the mantra 'Do what you love' When the year out fund runs out; then back to work it is. Plenty of time for training, although the Germans in Northern Germany don't particularly like cyclists on the road. :) My Partner is a nutrition specialist so there is my nutrition sorted, although she does wonder why I need to be up at 6am most mornings to go swimming.

Shame is that I m quite slow generally!

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My Blog - My Tweets - My Strava
My Bikes - CF SLX, 622SLX, O-1.0, AL9.0, 4.3Disc, Slice BI, C60

I'm a pilot in the USMC and an Executive Officer in the squadron I fly in. I retire in about a year and a half and look forward to some training time! I'll only be 42 and will get another job, but priorities are going to change for sure.

I was a self employed Career Coach till 2 months ago, and had lots of time to train. Then I was recruited to be the General N
Manager of a plumbing company (I know nothing about plumbing) so now I bike commute between 1-2 hours a day and no triathlon training except for long rides on the weekend. over 1200K in June

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Cervelo R3 and Cannondale Synapse, Argon18 Electron Track Bike

I am self employed doing hoarder/house cleaner and travel agent ($0 and few benefits). The work can be hard and the pay not always so great but the freedom is glorious. I sometimes think to go back into managing houses and make a lot of money but it would take me from my weekly volunteering gig and leave very little for fitness and fun. I am not at that point yet. Fortunately my investments pay the bills and allow for travel internationally a few times a year. Some of the people I work for/with treat me VERY well with gifts and pay.
I am a bargain hunter who has spent a small fortune on fitness gear (including bikes) over the years. I have never paid full price for anything because I have more than needed. Less than $3000 per year goes towards the "lifestyle" which includes travel to events.

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DISH is how we do it.

Government Affairs and sales..... Just depends on the week.

Worked as an exercise physiologist for 12 years in the hospital doing cardiopulmonary rehab and stress testing. Switched 10 years ago to teaching, I teach AP Bio and science research now. Pursuing a PhD at the moment we'll see what's next! Teaching is great, 7:15-2:30 everyday. Awesome hours.

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Twitter: @jayasports
Web: http://www.jayasports.com

 
Dir. Business Development for a small Aerospace Co./President of Fun

4x/week Spin Instructor

Tug boat operator delivering oil barges to ports along the east coast. 2 wks on 2 wks off work schedule. I also commercial fish on my off time. Being I spend more time on a boat than on land I consider myself a sea turtle or some say pirate. I am 26yrs old and make close to $100k a yr. I am new to TRI so spent around $3k for gear this year. My off time affords me plenty of free time and the on time is great for recovery. I try to exercise as much as possible while at work but due to security measure at most docks I cannot leave the boat. 20 laps around the boat is around a mile on steel decks...hah

I work at a large bicycle shop. Im pretty poor but damn happy. The old saying, "Do what makes you happy and you will never work a day in your life."

Senior Management Consultant. Long but somewhat flexible hours, and my clients haven't complained when I limp for a week after a big race.

This hobby has been largely subsidized by my fiance, who fell in love with tri a year before me and has worked hard to get me involved. I estimate $200/month on race fees on AVERAGE (I'm doing sprint tris, foot races, and have a charity bike ride in Sept for which I have committed to raising $1k, but my fiance's 4xHIM/IMAZ fees are bigger). We definitely spend more on nutritional supplements, chews, bites, bars, etc, but I've also started cooking more healthy foods for us (probably a net savings vs. our old eating out excessively). We each got a new bike this year... that probably totaled $5k. We both belong to a tri club ($300/month? but huge discounts on the bikes) and joined a masters swim class ($60/month?). We bought a new car this year ($200 each in monthly payments for the next 5 years) to accommodate the lifestyle and spent an extra $400 on the bike rack and bars on top. $300 each on team kit. 1 extra load of laundry a week to accommodate all the fitness gear. 1 bottle of champagne for post-race fun. We flew to IMAZ to volunteer last year so he could get his spot and are flying back in Nov for 4 days for the race. The rest of our races we drive to, so gas and hotels (we try to go cheap). Add in another couple hundred for bike fits/adjustments/repairs. Ice packs, recovery tools (3 foam rollers of varying types, foot stretchers, foot roller), and compression gear. A Garmin 410 for me, then a Garmin 910 each + his bike computer, quick-release straps, add-ons for trainer riding, and mount kits for bikes. Wetsuit rentals (and we each bought a new one this year after falling in love with the DeSoto 2-piece). 2nd bike trainer after I got into it. Mats to protect the carpet. Tools to repair the bikes. Chamois cream/bodyglide/sunblock en masse. ~$150 on athlete autobiographies/books. He got a waterproof iPod for swim training, fins, buoys, snorkle/goggles. Oh, goggles. We have each gone through a couple pairs (btw, never use rubbing alcohol - it melts them). Post-swim shampoo so my hair doesn't turn green. A proper swimsuit (apparently training in a bikini is frowned upon). Waterbottles, aero bottles, and a bottle brush. 2 big plastic tubs to contain the swim gear/tools. Replacement HR monitor straps, replacement batteries for HR monitor. $80 on Orange Mud towels to protect the car seats (worth it!!) of the new car. $40 on markers/posters to cheer him on. $85 to repair a cracked iPhone screen after I dropped it moving it from training arm band to purse. Training armband for iPhone. He got new headphones (the jaybird things - he likes them). $40 on cute "bibfolios" to store our race bibs. He pays for Strava and I pay for MapMyRun (TrainingPeaks is included in our tri team fees). $6 on epic "How about a threesome?" magnet for the car. Foldy camping chairs for waiting at events. Bib waistbands. A waterbottle waistband for my longer runs. Road ID bracelets. Dare I include $15 on nail polish to match team kit? Sure. Parking fees at events. A LOT on clothes (hot weather running gear, cold weather running gear, bike tops, tri tops, bike shorts, tri shorts, bathing suits, sports bras, headbands, socks, cool wings, leg warmers, arm warmers, shrug, etc...)


Cheering eachother on as we get better, survive challenging events, and push ourselves to be better people? Priceless.



And we're getting married in September! While I'm at my bachelorette, he's doing a HIM. I'm skipping having a birthday party or asking for presents and instead asking for donations to my charity ride, as it's the same day. We missed a family event because we'd done an tri that am and took a bit of hell for that.

We spend a LOT on tri and are lucky enough to have great jobs to support the madness. There was also a high learning curve to figuring out what we like (brands of chamois cream, sunblock, nutrition and gear that fits, shoes that fit, etc). I got lucky with a lot of his hand-me-downs (sunglasses and visor that were too small, wheel with power, waterbottles).

TL;DR : Yeah, tri is quite pricey. I'm expecting our expenses to go down after this year of acquiring the basics.

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You. You make me stronger.

Triple income no kids..I build homes. Wife works in insurance. Combined we own a bunch of rental homes that we scooped up for pennies during the housing crash..

On to the spending part... There are some serious underestimators in this thread, or I just spend way more than everyone else. But, I am cheap by nature, so I have a hard time believing that.

My estimated yearly expenditures for wife and I to both compete and race.

We each have a roadie and a tri bike..Figure we replace each bike every 5 years.. $2000 per year

Bike shoes, helmuts, water bottles, chains, cassettes, tubes, tires, ext.. $400 per year

Bike clothing - 2 new kits a year, each = $500 per year

Running shorts, gloves, tops, socks = $200 year

Pro rate the computrainer suite over 5 years = $1000

Four new pair of running shoes = $500

Goggles and a speedos = $150 year

Y Membership = $1200 year

1 marathon, 2 half marathons, a couple of 10Ks = $500

3 HIM, and a few local races = $1400

Three gallons of honey, gatorade = $300

15 Hotel nights = $2000

10 tanks of gas = $750

So, for a year, wifey and I can expect to spend somewhere in the $12K range..

Glad to have (what shocked me when I added it up!) validation on the expenditures.

I think the VAST majority of our expenses were 1-time deals. That said, we are pushing all of this stuff hard. Shit breaks and wears out, is seasonal, and needs replacing. Our diets change, our needs change. Some can be shared (we take the same vitamins and eat the same Fiber One bars), some can't (I accidentally wore my fiance's bike shorts to a spin class.. that chamois was NOT made for lady bits).

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You. You make me stronger.

I think your estimates are pretty solid..

The problem with this sport is there always seem to be "one time expenses".. A new set of wheels here, an upgraded kit there, the latest and greatest TT helmut, ext..

Its an expensive hobby.. But, in reality, what hobby isn't?

I got into brewing beer for a while in order to SAVE money drinking beer.. Within a year I built myself an all electric all grain automated brewing rig.. How much money did I save on that hobby after dropping $5,000??? Oh yeah, and with all the incredibly good beer I was brewing (it really was good beer, think microbrew, not homebrew), I managed to put on 30 pounds!

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Austin Hardy -