Going to be tough to tell the wife that Sea Otter cost $180… though she might be more mad about the $17 service fee for the “convenience” to register online. I mean… at least it’s not a new bike. 
How much was your last race? How much is the tipping point for you into being too much?
I just did the E’Tape San Antonio (TDF sponsored) it was $150. They did close off a lot of roads and had police at every intersection. Road race stuff. I also think it was a fund raiser type event. I have not been to the Sea Otter in 9 years so I can’t really compare the 2 events
$192 for VT Grand Fondo this summer 
I really wanted to push myself to do some crazy climbing. It’s my A event but still pretty steep (in price and gradient )
I think leadville was about $500 this year and it’s still one of the toughest races to get into. It will be 4 years in a row for me, we spend at least a couple weeks there every year to get out of the Texas summer heat. At some point, I might just make the trip and skip the race, but I still enjoy the race and it’s a big challenge that motivates me to train and not get too fat. I don’t really think of it as paying $500 for the day of the race, I pay the $500 for the motivation to train hard and live well, the race is a bonus. At least that mindset helps justify it for me.
And if you want to feel better about bike race fees, just check out ironman full distance races. Or a round of golf at a nice course. Big game fishing. Amateur auto/motorcycle racing. In the grand scheme of hobbies/activities, bike racing isn’t cheap, but it’s certainly not expensive compared to some.
Thankfully, price isn’t the barrier for me anymore. Unfortunately time is though. I’m getting too old to pass up things I want to do. If I want to do something I enter. I probably spend a little over $1000USD on entries each year though.
edit: I would love to take a year off and just train and race.
Prices seem ridiculous. I paid $85 for a middle distance fondo. In schwag, I got a pair of socks, one bar, one banana and two bottles of Gatorade. The sag truck following us around was nice in case of a mechanical but I typically ride 6,000 miles per year without a sag truck. I haven’t gotten stranded yet in 40 years of road, gravel, and mountain bike riding.
Wow, some of these prices are quite eye watering!
Here it’s generally about £20-£25 for a crit (purpose built venues or town centres). Around £30 for a regular road race (rolling road closure with convoy and motorbike outriders). £50 for the premier calendar events which take over a town/city and the surrounds, fully closed roads with all the marshals, convoy, outriders etc.
Maybe it’s the difference in the types of events, but road and crit racing seems remarkably good value! Especially if you get some prize money 
A full season of racing still adds up to several hundred quid before prizes
The summer XC series (6 races) and the winter fat bike series (4 races) are each around $130
And I’ll be doing an XCM race with the same org this year at $60
So just over $300 for 13 races.
Those seem like bargains. In greater Seattle, the local mtb races in spring are ~40 each, plus reg platform fees, and that’s for a race that is just over an hour. Another series that is ~2 hour races is 75 per event. The Ring of Fire 50 miler in Bend is 175. The local bargains are weeknight road racing at 25 for 1 and another 10 for a second.
Flat out buying your way into Leadville is like $3700 with the coaching package so the upper limit can be pretty high depending on your situation.
It is more than one day though…it gives you something to work on for like 8 months so spread out its sorta understandable on a “per day” basis.
Joe
Saturday’s Crit: $50 for first race, $10 per additional
Tour of the Gila (3 stages): $190
Will not sign up for grand fondos unless for charity.
Full year of practice races for $15/year.
15 Euro a month for unlimited racing around the world…on Zwift 
Smaller organized mtb, race or gravel events around here are usually 5 to 10 Euro. The larger events cost up to 50 Euro.
$35 a race for the main series
$15 a race for the fun night races
Most of my local gravel races are under $100. Gravel Locos is more but not Lifetime event crazy more.
So Gila is better known, harder, and yet cheaper than Tour de Bloom (WA) and Baker City (OR). Although they are each 4 stages, RR, TT, crit, RR.
My regular XCO races (75-90mins) are £30-£50 an entry, with marathon events being closer to £60-80 in the UK. Whilst the exchange rate makes that sort of $60 and $100, the average income here is a chunk lower than in the US (e.g. an “Attending” surgeon might only make the equivalent of $75k in the UK).
Races are getting cancelled left right and centre this year. Road cycling already fell off a cliff. The only bike events that get subscription these days are big-billed “endurance” or “gravel” or “bikepacking” aka events selling an experience rather than competition.
The only races that are sold out in the UK are in running shoes, and honestly I’m slowly becoming a runner as well because they’re just accessible, cheap, at good times, a good community. The bike racing community in the UK can be great, but it can also be proper toxic a lot of the time.
10-20 each for road races with fully closed roads between 100-160k. Europe has advantages for sure when it comes to cycling.
More info please. Which countries, and what are the fields like in the 50+ age groups?
Our local crit series is £15 each, CX races £12. TTs are also about £12-£15. We also have a shorter midweek XC series, think they’ll also be £15 or less. Local racing is not too bad price wise. National events start biting a bit more, about £25 - £40 I think.
It’s those privately (and for profit) organised events that are really expensive, around £100.
My personal pet hate are those sportives that cost premium prices, but offer nothing but a gpx file while declaring they’re not marking the course “in the true spirit of xyz” or something like that. Er, if I want to ride open roads following a gpx route, I can do so any day of the year, and it won’t cost me anything.