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.

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!   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 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.

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 Stuart Buchan 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 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 Kevan Olhausen Robert Lackey Dominic Carol Jacqi McCulloch John Hickman Carl Presseault

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.

https://soundcloud.com/sunfields