Bike Life

Today's episode of Bike Life, first brought to you last year, contains great information on hosting that we want to share with you again. Whether you are hosting for the first time or resuming hosting after the pandemic, our guest Ann has some great tips for you. Now is the perfect time to take a few minutes to log into your Warmshowers' profile to update your preferences, enhance your bio, add so...

Sara has been a cycling enthusiast since childhood. She took her first long bike tour in high school, going on a 1000-mile group bike trip that changed her life. She continued her love of bike advocacy in college, and after graduation, Sara and her friends decided to bike to every state in the US. They set off on their year-long trip and became inspired to do more than just bike. To share their lo...

Katie got involved in athletics as a child. But as she got to middle school, the competitive nature of team sports began to bother her. To fulfill a school requirement, she took a walking/running class and ran her first full mile. That first mile led to her first marathon and started her journey of endurance athletics. After running her first marathon, Katie set her sights high and decided to comp...

Natalie's love of cycling started with short weekend trips when she was in college. After graduation, she wanted to try something different, making her step out of her comfort zone. In the summer of 2018, Natalie took off for a three-month, cross-country bike tour from Anacortes, WA, to Bar Harbor, ME. Natalie did not do a lot of training to prepare. She didn't buy a lot of fancy new gear; in fact...

Hollie liked riding her bike as a kid but never really thought about taking a long cycling tour. Years later, while working as a tour guide in the Yukon, a friend convinced her to take a 6-day, 360-mile cycling trip through Alaska. She was hooked! Even during adverse weather conditions and running into some unfriendly wildlife, she knew bike touring was for her. Hollie spent the next few years wor...

We are joined today by Antonio Piretti. Antonio is an Italian/Canadian musician who has just completed a 6000km musical bike tour through 16 European countries. He describes the trip as somewhat of a miracle in these "locked down" pandemic times. Antonio began planning his tour over two years ago, but many of his concerts were canceled once the pandemic hit. He did not let this deter him and inste...

We are joined today by Quintin Reich. Quintin is a cyclist and longtime Warmshowers.org host located on the Pacific Coast route. During college, Quintin worked for a bike equipment manufacturer and developed a keen interest in bike touring. In 1991, he took an extended tour through Europe and was profoundly affected by the experience. The concept of complete strangers offering help, hospitality, f...

We are joined by Harry Shepherd, a cyclist and environmental campaigner from England.  Today, Harry talks about what got him into cycling, his passion for the natural world, and an eventful journey across Europe during 2020. The trip formed part of the Team Townend Challenge , an annual cycling sportive held in the Lake District in memory of Niggy and Christian Townend, two cycling brothers w...

We are joined today by Josh Garman. Josh is a touring cyclist who lives in the U.K. and recently cycled 600 miles across England ~ with E.T. as his co-pilot! Josh is an accidental touring cyclist who started his first tour with no prior cycling experience. He had spent time in Australia as a barefoot long-distance walker but had never considered a bike tour. When Josh returned to England, he learn...

We are joined by Josiah Skeats. Josiah is a people-focused author whose 3 year journey taught him to be a slow traveler. While studying law at university, Josiah came across an article about someone who had cycled around the world. The light bulb went off, and even though he was not a cyclist, he immediately started planning a solo trip. After graduation, he set out for his grand adventure to trav...

We are joined by Mike Dits. Mike is a corn-fed Indiana Hoosier and adventurer who now lives in Colorado. He is extremely passionate about clean energy and sustainability. Mike had his first bike touring experience as a sophomore in college when he spent a summer working with a non-profit organization called Bike and Build. After touring the country helping to build homes for those in need, he knew...

We are joined by Anastasia Bouzdine. Anastasia is a 25-year-old woman on a mission to connect with humanity on a bicycle. Anastasia is an engineer, working in a male-dominated field and surrounded by men who do many sport challenges. She decided that if the men could do it, so could she. After trying a few short cycling trips, Anastasia made her first solo trip in September of 2020. She set off on...

In this episode, Andrew Lee joins the show to discuss awakening through bike touring. Andrew describes how he felt like he'd had some amazing life experiences that had led him to a spiritual awakening. He decided to have one last adventure and undertake a cycling tour across Canada to consolidate his experiences and inspire others before returning to his community to give back and make a differenc...

On the show this week Tahverlee is joined by Jérôme Pilette. Jérôme had suffered from depression for many years, despite attempts to remedy it with a healthier lifestyle. In 2017 he decided to travel from Montreal to Chile by bike to gain perspective and work on himself. Jérôme talks about the challenges he faced along the way, the difficult biking conditions, and a particularly intimidating exper...

Tahverlee is joined today by Seth Davidson, a recovering lawyer who has spent his life racing bikes since 1984 and now seeks to be a beacon for truth and introspection. In recent years Seth has concluded that there is a better life available so much so that over the coming years he seeks to spend zero time practicing law and all of his time on his bicycle supporting himself with his writing. We ta...

Adam Lineberry, who has just completed a tour riding from Seattle to key West Florida, joined the show on day 86 of his journey. Adam tells his incredible story of being saved by god after being an IV Cocaine and Opiate user then starting his own Rehab center to give his life to other people. He had no funds to get the rehab started and needed to get to Tennessee to make it work so he had no choic...

Our guests on this episode of the Bike Life podcast are Tristan Bogaard and Belen Castello, authors of the new book entitled “Bike Life.” Tristan and Belen met about 5 years ago in the Netherlands, maintained their relationship while Belen lived in London, and then about 3 years ago jumped into a touring lifestyle together, Belen having no significant biking experience to speak of. Over the past 3...

On this episode of the Bike Life podcast, Tahverlee talks with Mark, a native Hollander who has spent the past several years on the road full time. Mark has spent the last 4 and a half years cycling all over the world, calling the Netherlands home but often not knowing where he going to sleep every night until sunset. Currently, he is “stuck” in Chile where he has been since the beginning of the C...

Our guest on this episode of the Bike Life podcast is Bill Alcorn, founder of Bike Flights. In 2008, Bill and a few of his cycling friends realized that there was a gap in the market and a potential opportunity for a company providing specialized transportation services for bikes and bike parts. The next year, Bill decided to pursue the idea by working with vendors and carriers to concept the logi...

During this episode of the Bike Life Podcast, Tahverlee talks with Ken Francis, a Warmshowers user, host, volunteer, and former Board member. Ken began hosting cyclists through Warmshowers in 2013 and he has welcomed more than 250 cyclists over the years. Around that same time, he began volunteering with the foundation by reviewing new memberships for spam. He found this process very enlightening...

On this episode of the Bike Life podcast, we are joined by Ann, a frequent Warmshowers host located on the western coast of Sweden. Ann is an American who met her boyfriend in Spain and then ended up moving back with him to Sweden a few years ago. She became aware of the Warmshowers Foundation around that time and she and her boyfriend signed up to be hosts as soon as they heard about the mission...

Our guest on this episode of the Bike Life podcast is Caroline Burrows, a cycling enthusiast in Lancaster, UK. Caroline’s grandfather was really into cycling while she was growing up and she was always encouraged to ride her bike as a child and adolescent. When she was in her early 30’s, she decided to take her first ever solo tour, which she called the Tour de Family. You could say that she “caug...

On this episode of the Bike Life podcast, Tahverlee interviews Allison and Justin, founders of the Clonakilty Bike Festival in southern Ireland. Allison and Justin’s passion for biking was invigorated when they were in their late 20’s and several of their friends shared with them their love for biking and about a bike festival they had been hosting in their own town. Immediately, Justin and Alliso...

Meet Jessica Levine. Jessica and her friend Irena left home just outside of Seattle and embarked on a 3-month journey across Canada, culminating with a celebratory dip in the Atlantic ocean in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Throughout her nearly 5,000 mile journey, she learned that an open door is really just an open heart because letting people in your home is an act of courage and vulnerability.  Bu...

After the death of his father, Alex de Chantal took 6 months off work to fulfill his father’s last wish:  to have his ashes spread in his 6 favorite locations around the world – Quebec and British Columbia, Canada; Mexico; Mauritius; Thailand; British.   Alex decided to do it all by bike.  Things didn’t always go as planned, but he forged a lifetime of new memories and connections a...