Touring - Touring Bicyclists' Professions

I am curious about what kinds of professions the more grown up touring cyclists have. Summers off in academia seems like a bonus. Or the drug baron with big sacks of money. Just wondering...

I am curious about what kinds of professions the more grown up touring cyclists have. Summers off in academia seems like a bonus. Or the drug baron with big sacks of money. Just wondering...


Academia and self employed. I have been a gypsy scholar since 1991 and every time i get an itch to move I relocate, find a small college nearby needing adjuncts, and before ya know it i am back earning enough to survive and bank a small amount each year. I also am a stock trader for my own (modest) portfolio, and augment my income with options, dividends, occasionally capital gains (too occasional :) ),
and day trading.

Not quite a nomad, but the better half of both independence and employment.

roughstuff

I work IT for a state university and have enough seniority that I can bank vacation into respectable chunks to take long trips with.

I'm a middle-aged student ... I'm just wrapping up the 3rd year of my Bachelor of Education, and I support myself with part-time and temporary employment. Gotta love the temp world!! :D

Prior to returning to University I was an Engineering Technologist, and I was employed doing that for about 8 years ... that background helps with my temporary employment opportunities.

And the great thing about touring is that it doesn't have to cost a lot. A basic tour where you cycle from your door step up the road and back for a week or so might only cost you a couple hundred dollars.

Academia and self employed. I have been a gypsy scholar since 1991

Roughstuff weren’t you recently located in Alberta?

Me I am a student, humanitarian aid/social worker, bum, self-employed at times and unemployed at others! Do debt, no kids, no wife, no addictions, no material possessions, no car, no house, no investments, no pension, no hope of a cushy retirement - so I have to cycle for transportation, pleasure and for holidays!

Contract Database Programmer/Data Analyst, self employed. The last 12 months I haven't been able to get out for more than a week at a time, too much work, I'm trying to change that.

Academia, w/ a sabbatical coming up :-).

I'm a professional rock musician. Touring is great when you have groupies all over the country to stay with!

Speedo

Academia, w/ a sabbatical coming up :-).

Gunna tour that sabbatical?? Did you get permission from the committee?? :D

I'm a professional rock musician. Touring is great when you have groupies all over the country to stay with!

Speedo

Oh, sorry, that's my dream life...

I haven't been on a tour yet, but I'm a bike mechanic, and I'm hoping that when I do tour I might be able to get part time work by building new-half assembled bikes for piece work at bike shops along the way.

Oh, sorry, that's my dream life...

No kidding...

nah im not telling somebody might be listening

IT at a major research lab.

Oh, sorry, that's my dream life...

oh thats easy. all you have to do is smoke more pot.:crash:

I'm a teacher, but I'm hoping I've only another 45 days in the classroom. After 21 years, I think I'm ready to explore other options. I'll take the next 2 1/2 years to ride from Alaska to Argentina and then think about what I want to do when I grow up.

Self-employed. That lets me trade time for money when I need to get away.

Retired for the past 14 years. Yup, headed for Utah this summer.

Self-employed, doing writing, training, assessments, and development related to technologies for people with disabilities. As a consultant, my time is somewhat flexible, although projects tend to come in clumps. The office politics in my one-person operation are fantastic!

I am curious about what kinds of professions the more grown up touring cyclists have. Summers off in academia seems like a bonus. Or the drug baron with big sacks of money. Just wondering...

Software engineer by training and a manager of software engineers for past 15 years.

I've been fortunate enough to take longer trips off using a combination of:
(1) leave of absence breaks from work (giving lots of notice and working with my bosses)
(2) working for one company for a while and earning longer vacation times (for US, not compared
to European vacation times)
(3) working hard enough to be valuable to my company that they'll
keep a space for me when I return from those LOAs and vacations.

IT Director.

Vacation time never long enough. Long enough = present ration plus a month or two.

Retired in 2000. Before that, a self-employed professional speaker.

Ray

vagabond

Dentist --- But I never bought into the private practice deal.

I've worked in a university/State employment setting which gives me 4 weeks in the summer, 1 week in the spring and 4 weeks in the winter to ride.

Next month I get on the train with my bike and go to Missouri to do part of the KATY trail and some of Illinois North of St. Louis.

Dentist --- But I never bought into the private practice deal.
.

yah, that would be pretty expensive too.

www.dinodance.net

Registered Nurse in the Operating Room for 17 years.
Among other careers..........

".........." - "quote" ricohman...ohh..that many drug dealings huh?

Mining Engineer and winery worker and student.

art director/designer/illustrator • since '79 • employed/self-employed/unemployed

Depending on how things are going.

Electrician/ Gu'mint wrkr.

maintenance, local community college

Retired teacher. I work the odd day to raise extra cash for touring. Don't need to but helps to justify my "luxury" expenses.
Hockey

Roughstuff weren’t you recently located in Alberta?

Me I am a student, humanitarian aid/social worker, bum, self-employed at times and unemployed at others! Do debt, no kids, no wife, no addictions, no material possessions, no car, no house, no investments, no pension, no hope of a cushy retirement - so I have to cycle for transportation, pleasure and for holidays!



Yes. I was in Alberta all last summer working on a ranch as a minor ranch hand. I'd feed and water some of the horses in the morning and evening; and maybe do some other chores. In alternate summers I do that to visit other regions of the country and check our more rural/agricural lifestyles. There was a library nearby in Lethbridge which had excellent free 'net access, so I was able to trade stocks and more than offset my living expenses.

roughstuff

Software developer.

Medical Photographer, although the title means little. I take photographs of darn near anything the hospital needs photographed: patients, portraits of doctors and staff, event photos, marketing/public affairs stuff, grip and grins, you name it.

I used to be a financial journalist. Didn't really like it though, so now I'm searching for my next profession while touring. I think it'll almost certainly be self-employed to give enough freedom for future tours. Husband is an IT specialist and not worried about finding work again in the profession.

Whatever your profession though, finding the money and time for touring is easy if you're willing to live simply enough, both on and off the road. One of the main things this trip has taught us is how little we need to be happy.

I work at walmart!

Another teacher. 24 years so far and no sign of retirement in sight. 2 kids in college and I have to pay off the house first.

I teach 6th graders. At the end of the school year I need to get away. Bike touring gets me away - far away! (Not just physically, but more importantly, mentally and emotionally.)

Consulting engineer, spouse is government engineer.

I work in non-profit, which is hard because I don't get all that much vacation to work in tours. I'd have to quit to be able to do anything for more than 1 week per year.... sigh

Retired computer programmer from the early years (years that some here may never have heard of) of computer graphics.

My just-for-fun income now comes from stock photography (career earnings solidly in the three figures :) )

project manager=lots of travel to clients so lots of mini tours and evening rides in new places. i'm taking leave or quitting this summer to ride across the US. i will know in a few weeks when i inform them of my plans whether it will be a leave or quitting.

Tax preparer and home schooling mom. I work like mad during the season, but it's worth the 7-odd month vacation.

Tax preparer and home schooling mom. I work like mad during the season, but it's worth the 7-odd month vacation.

Maybe I should pursue that aspect of my educational endeavors ... I'm a certified Intermediate Tax Prepare. Or at least I was a few years ago, I'd have to take a refresher. I just took the course as a part of my Business Administration diploma, but didn't have enough interest to keep going with it.

Self-employed photographer specializing in gardens, native plants, and northwest landscapes. The problem with finding time to tour is that my down time corresponds to the crappy weather season, i.e. winter is my slow period. I'm working on figuring out how to make a tour into a pedal-powered business trip.

Maybe I should pursue that aspect of my educational endeavors ... I'm a certified Intermediate Tax Prepare. Or at least I was a few years ago, I'd have to take a refresher. I just took the course as a part of my Business Administration diploma, but didn't have enough interest to keep going with it.

I really like it. I work as many hours as I can cram in, both with a chain tax service and helping an accounting firm process routine forms for their regular clients, and volunteer at our senior services center. In return I can afford to spend the rest of the year on my family and our camping habit. I'm thinking of eventually pursuing accounting as well since it seems to fit nicely with my lifestyle, so long as I can keep a computer handy.

I really like it. I work as many hours as I can cram in, both with a chain tax service and helping an accounting firm process routine forms for their regular clients, and volunteer at our senior services center. In return I can afford to spend the rest of the year on my family and our camping habit. I'm thinking of eventually pursuing accounting as well since it seems to fit nicely with my lifestyle, so long as I can keep a computer handy.

Well, my Business Admin diploma majored in Accounting, so I've even got a bit of that background. At the time I was sort of toying with the idea of going for my CGA, because that diploma gave me my first year ... so I would only have ... 4 or 5 years after that, but I got a job when I graduated, and I didn't go that route.

My father has a friend who is an Accountant who specializes in tax prep, doing taxes for businesses, and he only works 3 or 4 months a year.

Gunna tour that sabbatical?? Did you get permission from the committee?? :D

I'm only taking a half sabbatical (Fall '08), and will be doing the west coast, from Bellingham on down.

I'm only taking a half sabbatical (Fall '08), and will be doing the west coast, from Bellingham on down.

What route are you taking from Bellingham to the coast? I'm an old Bellinghamster and have ridden the west coast myself.

I'm a marketing admin asst at a major pharma company here in NC. I doomed my touring aspirations by remarrying and having two more children, age 5 and newborn. Good thing I love being a dad, otherwise..... :-)

I'm married to a teacher, but she's switching over to a year-round school this summer. In the future, that could give us 3-week blocks if we want to take the kids on tours when they get older (already working on that plan).

I'm taking my 15 yr old on a week-long supported tour of Ohio in July, with his two high school buddies.

I'm turning 50 in four years, and I still hope to do my first TransAm ride, east to west. Just scheming now to fool work and family into letting me out of their sight for 7 weeks in a row. Give me time and I'll figure something out!

Ken

PS - Plan "B" is to get adopted by Nancy SV's family, in time for their London-Beijing ride in 2010 <grin>