The Pedalshift Project 291: Remote Work on Bike Tour

It used to be that a bike tour meant taking paid time off or quitting your job. Now that remote work is a reality for many of us, there’s a new option. But is a bike tour while working remotely right for you?

Pedalshift Project 291: Remote Work on Bike Tour

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Remote Work on Bike Tour

First, the cons

Is it, um, allowed?
You can’t really unplug
Don’t underestimate connectivity issues
Will you be a mediocre remote worker on a mediocre tour ?

The pros

Leveraging the new paradigm
Remote work means work from anywhere
Fewer worries about money
Go full nomad and maybe the tour pays for itself and more?
May be the difference between touring and not, or allow for a much bolder, longer tour.

My experience

I did this for my 2014 Pacific Coast tour. I was working a very modified part time schedule and largely doing it by participating in a handful of meetings on the side of the road (by phone) and doing some audio and video production in camp on my laptop. I took one zero day to do mostly work at a campground that had wifi.

Interesting element to the last part… it was a planned zero, but the consequence was I ended up parting ways with a big crew I had been camping with for about a week. That felt like a bad trade (although I found a new touring crew in a few days, as we often do).

Would I do it again? Probably, if I could arrange it so it’s a few days of no work or very limited work, and then maybe a zero with more. As others mention it is definitely different than unplugging and getting away from things, but I think it would be worth it if it’s the difference between touring and not touring, or if it means you can tackle a much bigger route. Definitely not for everyone!

Bottom Line

This seems to be unpopular amongst most touring folks. But it might be right for you?

Read more thoughts from others on remote work on bike tour on Reddit.

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 this summer’s upcoming bike tour! 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. Jason has a new track available NOW, and a new album dropping very soon AND Jason’s first solo album is now streaming on Spotify, including America, the Pedalshift theme. Go listen!