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? 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.   Pedalshift Society 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. Kimberly Wilson Caleb Jenkinson Cameron Lien Andrew MacGregor Michael Hart Keith Nagel Brock Dittus Thomas Skadow Marco Lo Terrance Manson Harry Telgadas Chris Barron Mark Van Raam Brad Hipwell Mr. T Nathan Poulton Stephen Dickerson Vince LoGreco Cody Floerchinger Tom Benenati Greg Braithwaite Sandy Pizzio Jeff Muster Seth Pollack Joseph Quinn Drue Porter Byron Paterson Joachim Raber Ray Jackson Jeff Frey Kenny Mikey Lisa Hart John Denkler Steve Hankel Miguel Quinones Alejandro Avilés-Reyes Keith Spangler Greg Towner Dan Gebhart, RIP Jody Dzuranin Lucas Barwick Michael Baker Brian Bechtol Reinhart Bigl Greg Middlemis Connie Moore William Gothmann Brian Benton Joan Churchill Mike Bender Rick Weinberg Billy Crafton Gary Matushak Greg L’Etoile-Lopes James Sloan Jonathan Dillard John Funk Tom Bilcze Ronald Piroli Dave Roll Brian Hafner Misha LeBlanc Ari Messinger David Gratke Todd Groesbeck Wally Estrella Sue Reinert John Leko Stephen Granata Phillip Mueller Robert Lackey Dominic Carol Jacqi McCulloch John Hickman Carl Presseault David Neves Patty Louise Terry Fitzgerald Peter Steinmetz Timothy Fitzpatrick Michael Liszewski Hank O’Donnell David Zanoni David Weil Matthew Sponseller Chad Reno Spartan Dale Carolyn Ferguson Peggy Littlefield Lauren Allansmith Eric Burns Thomas Pearl Darrin McKibben Richard Stewart Dave Fletcher Jack Smith Luke Parkinson Ryan Patterson Cyrus Farivar 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!