The Pedalshift Project 2023 Social Distancing Tour Takeaways

My five takeaways from social distance bike touring in the age of coronavirus and what I can figure out is the near term future for bike touring in 2020.

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Tour Journal: Social Distancing on the C&O Towpath

This was a no-contact, self-supported, self-contained ride of the C&O that didn’t stick to plan, had a low point or two, and if I’m being honest probably won’t end up on my list of all time tours… but I have to wonder if it won’t be amongst the most memorable.

Check out Pedalshift 199 for the initial plan (spoiler: I did not stick to it), Pedalshift 200 for Day 1, and Pedalshift 201 for Day 2, and Pedalshift 202 for Day 3.

5 Takeaways

Expectations are hard to shake

Bike touring is more mental than physical

I like familiar tours but I’m missing new routes

I think backcountry rules are pretty easy to add on to a typical tour mindset

More and more I’m liking less and less mileage per day

What’s next for the rest of spring?

I think bike touring can happen, maybe soon? Maybe not.

My personal choice: zero or very low contact touring until conditions change. At the moment, with campgrounds closed on the C&O and (I think?) the GAP, I’m on touring pause. For now.

I’m also not planning a tour just yet. I assume the first one available will be a C&O or GAP tour, but who knows?

I’m also intrigued with the possibility of getting a more backcountry bike and (finally) doing some bikepacking. But that’s all TBD.

For the pod? I’ll confess… after 203 episodes I am finally out of things to talk about (for the moment). Just so happens though, that I have a bunch of audio journals I haven’t shared yet… so I think for the near future… until things get a little more figured out, we’re going to replay those here with some 2020 commentary from me laid on top.

Adventure is taking a bit of a pause, but if you’re anything like me, it’s on the mind!

As always we like to close out the show with a special shoutout to the Pedalshift Society! Because of support from listeners like you, Pedalshift is a weekly bicycle touring podcast with a global community, expanding into live shows and covering new tours like The Kessel Run and The Missing Link bike tours! If you like what you hear, you can support the show for 5 bucks, 2 bucks or even a buck a month. And there’s one-shot and annual options if you’re not into the small monthly thing. Check it all out at pedalshift.net/society.

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Music

You’ve been hearing about Jason Kent and his music for many fine episodes. Sunfields’ latest album may be their best yet. Go get it.