Local guide thoughts please CC Collective.

[Oldhippy]

So, since a lifestyle change living on boat and quitting the rat race I've been thinking what I can do that is enjoyable and keeps a little bit coming in. As so many of us visit various counties and go for a cycle in a new area I was wondering if there would be any enthusiasm for a local like myself for example to do guided rides of particular interests in the area. Putting aside the officialdom aspect for a moment I'm more curious to see if anyone would consider a choice of this kind. Your thoughts ladies and gentlemen please.

 

[annedonnelly]

I've no idea if it would've worked but my brother was actually employed by a cycle shop in Lancaster on the basis that he would take people on guided bike rides round the city giving them a bit of a history tour on the way. He had previously done history tours as part of his job at a museum. And is a keen cyclist.

The plan was that people would hire e-bikes from the shop or possibly use a demo bike if they were thinking of buying. I don't know if there was a plan to charge anything for the "tour" part of it. It never happened and my brother simply served in the shop while he was there. I suspect the shop owner had lots of ideas which didn't quite get off the ground and this was one of them.

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

I've thought of similar a few times...

I think toured bike/ebike guides by CP staff, around the lanes near Longeat Center Parcs would go down a storm, it's a lovely area to cycle around mostly to west of the campus.

I've sometimes had silly thoughts about could I offer a similar thing going up into the South Downs lanes, roughly in the Winchester-Milland Hill-Hedge End triangle, especially since taking ill health retirement from being a postie and being clueless about what to try as a job when I feel ready again.

I expect there's a lot of red tape and insurance hoops to jump through, even if there was some interest. But would there be enough interest to bring in a reasonable amount of pocket money?

 

[roubaixtuesday]

You see this in some continental cities - ebike tour of XXXX. I think i saw it in Budapest, maybe Prague, and definitely Amsterdam.

But, i think the market is really tourists rather than cyclists. Any cyclist will happily cycle around themselves. hence why they are often ebike rather than just "bike"

So to get a viable business, even just for pocket money, I think you really need to be somewhere where there are a lot of tourists, adequate cycling infrastructure so you're not dodging traffic, and ready access to hire bikes, probably ebikes.

In the UK? Maybe London?

Just musings.

 

[vickster]

Look on Viator and see where such a thing exists, maybe Oxford/Cambridge/London but you'd need the bikes...

Personally, I've done an e-bike tour of Nice, a bike tour around Siem-Reap, one in Guatamela at lake Atitlan and one in Myanmar (I think!). My fave was The Sound of Music bike tour on Cruisers in Salzburg which was a lot of fun with some singing

 

[Rusty Nails]

I would guess that it would be difficult to publicise and market a small business like this enough to make any money.
There are already cycle tour companies that are set up to offer this sort of service so perhaps you could contact some of them to find out if the have opportunity for casual/irregular guides.

 

[oxoman]

So, since a lifestyle change living on boat and quitting the rat race I've been thinking what I can do that is enjoyable and keeps a little bit coming in. As so many of us visit various counties and go for a cycle in a new area I was wondering if there would be any enthusiasm for a local like myself for example to do guided rides of particular interests in the area. Putting aside the officialdom aspect for a moment I'm more curious to see if anyone would consider a choice of this kind. Your thoughts ladies and gentlemen please.

Not sure whereabouts your based but what about doing baggage transfer and bikepacking type breaks. Several areas already heavily covered, but the centre of England isn't covered. Say Hull down to Northampton, several multi day route recently opened and getting popular.

 

[Oldhippy]

I was thinking mainly of solo tourer like me in a new area who had a bit of time to explore the sites of interest, decent lunches without being ripped off. I quite often get to a new place and think history stuff for example, yes the big castle but local history bits as well that only someone with a interest would be able to pass on whilst pottering about the area. I've seen a few of CC royalty put up pictures of places near me that I've thought just down the road there is this or that of interest that they might like see but not know its there.

 

[Gillstay]

Can you afford the time to try it out ? If so just go for it.

 

[All uphill]

I'd love to cycle tour in an area I don't know. Just hop on a train to somewhere new; hop off, meet guide with bikes and enjoy a few days being guided around.

I'm in!