Episode 81- Lauren Hefferon, Ciclismo Classico
Is your passion to travel, experience more of this world, meet new people, share stories, and tell stories of other cultures? Over the years, many people have begun to explore the world on two wheels. Cycling has allowed them to see the world from different perspectives.
A bike trip is so much more than a bucket list item or a way to get some fresh air. It's an escape from the rat race, an experience that connects us with ourselves, and with the world around us. Adventure creates memories that last forever.
The difference between a nice vacation and an adventures vacation is where your travel takes you. If you're looking for a vacation that feeds your soul and strips away the stress of your everyday life. Adventure doesn't have to be limited to hiking in the mountains, cycling through Europe, or simply exploring the great outdoors.
Christine’s guest today is a Bicycle Travel Pioneer.
After graduating in anthropology from Cornell University, Lauren Hefferon studied fine arts and photography in Florence and annually cycles thousands of miles throughout the Europe and her beloved New England. She has been a professional bicycle tour guide for over 40 years and as the founder of bike tour company Ciclismo Classico, is considered a pioneer in the bicycle travel. She is a bicycle travel visionary, bike educator, advocate and supports many cycling causes, such as Rails to Trails, Bikes Belong, Pan Mass Challenge and Mass Bike.
Lauren has been a panelist at the National Bike Summit Panel on Bike Tourism, is a bike photographer, founded the annual Ciclismo Classico Bike Travel Film Festival and leads the Jingle Ride, an annual holiday event now in its 25th year that pedals, sings and jingles its way from Arlington to Boston and back. She and her bicycling passion have been featured in an array of media outlets, ranging from Inc. Magazine, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal, to Bicycling, CNN.com and Forbes. Her purpose in life is simple: to share her passion for bicycle travel, especially to those who are new to this wondrous two-wheeled activity (for life).
As a specialized boutique bicycle tour operator since 1988, Ciclismo Classico provides the most authentic, unique and exciting vacations in the adventure travel industry. Their well-crafted, award-winning educational trips in Europe, South America, New Zealand, Asia and New England are active immersions into local art, language, music, folklore and delicious cuisine. By combining legendary service and rare cultural experiences, the Ciclismo travel experience continues to energize and transform each and every guest. In 2014 Hefferon launched a new division of her company, Travel Vision Journeys, specializing in photo walking tours of South America
In our conversation, Lauren shares why she thinks bike travel is so important and what it does for you. She explains about what it means to peddle your passion and how this style of travel creates space for engagement as travelers.
Join me now for my soulful conversation with Lauren Hefferon.
In this episode, Christine and Lauren discuss:
Who Lauren is in the travel industry
How two bike tours in Tuscany in 1989 sparked a lifelong passion
Why bike travel is so important in the travel space
What bike travel does for you and your body
What does it mean to peddle your passion?
Different styles of travel and how bike travel creates space for engagement as travelers
Resources & Links Mentioned in the Episode
To learn about Lauren Hefferon and find out more about Ciclismo Classico, head over to www.ciclismoclassico.com and book your travel adventure today!
Follow Lauren on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn
Ciclismo Close to Home -- COVID pivot to domestic tours
https://ciclismoclassico.com/destinations/north-america-bike-tours/
The Ciclismo SHOW
https://ciclismoclassico.com/virtual-events/
Ciclismo Events
https://ciclismoclassico.com/community/events/
A Unique Women’s Book Club Offering Deep Connection To Self And Others
Did you know that I have a book club? Actually, it's really more than a book club. It's a book sojourn. I launched my virtual book club in 2021 and it was such a powerful and valuable experience, we decided to bring it back again this year! This is a journey meant to inspire travel, create cultural awareness and offer personal growth experiences from the comfort of your home, or wherever you may be.
In 2022, each moment we spend reading is a moment that lives in our bones, reading wakes us up. Reading transports us to another world, another experience or another perspective, reading leaves us changed forever. Imagine who you will be at the end of this sojourn. Last year, women said it was one of the most powerful experiences they had!
You can join us beginning in July for the last six months of this journey. Solo travel listeners will get a bonus call with me to welcome you to this experience, and set our attentions and begin to build new community!
Does this sound like the type of experience you've been craving?
Visit www.lotussojourns.com/womens-book-club to join this unique travel experience today.
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WE WON A BESSIE AWARD! The Bessie Awards recognize the achievements of women and gender-diverse people making an impact in the travel industry. To view the complete list of this year’s winners, visit bessieawards.org.
About the Soul Of Travel Podcast
Soul of Travel honors the passion and dedication of the people making a positive impact in tourism. In each episode, you’ll hear the story of women who are industry professionals and seasoned travelers and community leaders who know travel is more than a vacation. It is an opportunity for personal awareness and it is a vehicle for change. We are thought leaders, action takers, and heart-centered change makers.
The guests work in all sectors of the tourism industry. You'll hear from adventure-based community organizations, social impact businesses, travel photographers and videographers, tourism boards and destination marketing organizations, and transformational travel experts. They all honor the idea that travel is more than a vacation and focus on sustainable travel, eco-travel, community-based tourism, and intentional travel.
These conversations are meant to educate, inspire and create community. They are directed to new travelers and seasoned travelers, as well as industry professionals and those who are curious about a career in travel.
If you want to learn about new destinations, types of travel, or how to be more intentional or live life on purpose, join Christine Winebrenner Irick for soulful conversations with her community of fellow travelers exploring the heart, the mind, and the globe. These conversations highlight what tourism really means for the world.
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Credits. Christine Winebrenner Irick (Host, creator, editor.) Lauren Hefferon (Guest). Original music by Clark Adams. Editing and production by Rayna Booth.
Transcript
KEYWORDS
people, bicycle, travel, bike, business, cycling, passion, bike ride, love, trip, create, tour, tour guide, Italy, bicycling, world, conversation, ride
Christine Winebrenner Irick 00:08
Thank you for joining me for soulful conversations with my community of fellow travelers, exploring the heart, the mind and the globe. These conversations highlight what travel really means for the world. Soul of Travel honors the passion and dedication of the people making a positive impact in tourism. Each week, I'll be speaking to women who are tourism professionals, world travelers and leaders in their communities will explore how travel has changed them and how that has rippled out and inspired them to change the world. These conversations are as much about travel as they are about passion, and living life with purpose, chasing dreams, building businesses, and having the desire to make the world a better place. This is a community of people who no travel is more than a vacation. It is an opportunity for personal awareness, and it is a vehicle for change. We are thought leaders, action takers, and heart centered change makers I'm Christine Winebrenner Irick. And this is the Soul of Travel.
Lauren Hefferon has been a professional bicycle tour guide for over 40 years. As the founder of a bike tour company, Ciclismo Classico is considered a pioneer in the bicycle travel industry. She is a bicycle travel visionary educator and advocate and supports many cycling causes, such as rails to trails, bikes belonging to pan mass challenge and mass bike. She has been a panelist at the National Bike Summit panel on bike tourism, is a bike photographer, and founded the annual Ciclismo Classico bike travel Film Festival. She and her bicycling passion have been featured in an array of media outlets, ranging from Ink Magazine, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, to bicycling cnn.com and Forbes. Her purpose in life is simple: to share her passion for bicycle travel, especially with those who are new to this wonderous two wheeled activity. In our conversation she shares why she thinks bike travel is so important and what it does for you. She explains about what it means to peddle your passion and how this style of travel creates space for engagement as travelers. Join me now for my soulful conversation with Lauren Hefferon. Welcome to soul of travel, I am very excited today to be bringing Lauren Hefferon on to the podcast to talk about her business. And she is the CEO director and founder of ciclismo classico, and I'm doing back to back bicycle conversations, which is kind of crazy because I haven't had any anyone who has that area of focus, then all of a sudden my last two guests have been so that's really exciting for me, because the last guest was more into mountain biking. This is a little bit different. But I think talking about exploring the world from a bicycle is such a different perspective. I'm so excited to share your experience and your journey today.
03:47
Great, thank you well, thank you so much. Yeah, I've mountain bike a little bit yeah, but I have to say I'm primarily a road cyclist and I think it's because when I'm road cycling, it's it. I don't have any, like when you're mountain biking. If you pay very much attention to road biking, you can kind of definitely lose yourself a little bit.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 04:05
Yeah, I could see that contrast because I'd definitely just worry really worried about not wrecking when mountain biking is where I spend a lot of my time. As we get started. Lauren, I'd love for you to just introduce yourself to our listeners, let them know a little bit about who you are in the space of travel right now. And then we will get into the rest of your story after that.
04:27
Sure. My name is Lauren Hefferon. I'm the Director and Founder of Ciclismo Classico and we're in our 34th year and I started my company in my mid to late 20s. I probably had been percolating it for a much longer time than that as I think all the great things that we do and I started really with one tour and two tours in Tuscany two different tours in Tuscany 1989 and grew it slowly for about the first three years meaning I was the primary tour guide. I have one One employee, but by about 1995. And they're in. I did start ramping up pretty quickly. I mean, bicycle travel, as I always knew was here to stay, and I always knew was going to grow, as it did. And Italy is an amazing destination. And it just has continually grown obviously not through COVID. But the predecessor to that idea was I as I've been, I've been a cyclist my whole life. And I haven't seen my whole life because my parents when I, when I spoke with them, they just said I just always wanted to be on a bicycle. And then throughout high school, like where I lived, I grew up in Keene, New Hampshire, it was really a great hub for cycling. So I think as a young person, a bicycle was a great way for me to establish my my relationship with myself and my environment, which I did kind of unconsciously, I maybe I didn't get all my parents, I took a bike ride, or maybe I was having trouble, my friends and I took a bike ride. But bike ride, bike riding always was something that I could count on, I could always and I'm very active. And I love nature, and I love being outdoors. I always tell people, if I didn't ride a bicycle, I'd probably throw me back 300 years, and I'd probably just be a cowgirl riding across a rag ride across the country because it really satisfies something inside of me as a person, some kind of wander loss, some kind of exploit exploratory personality. And that's how I've always been, and it's a great speed for me, and it's great, I love landscapes, it really does personally satisfy me a lot. And as I began exploring things in my head, when I was younger, I did sort of make a commitment to myself and my purpose. I guess unconsciously that no matter what I did, I was going to do my job, whatever I did was going to involve cycling. So I dabbled with other things, and they didn't allow me to be outside that much. And they didn't allow me to interact with people that much. I kept coming back to cycling. And in college, I said the apology, which I think has been a great template for what I do. Because I'm a big believer in holistic thinking, I'm a big believer that sort of people are cultures and people kind of create an understanding of the world through them. And, so I studied anthropology at Cornell and I was also a bicycle store tour instructor. I kept doing lots of things that I liked to do. And that's sort of what I tell my own kids. Just dabble with what you like to do, and kind of go in the direction of what you love. And that's what I kept doing, you know, and after Cornell, I wasn't well, I was a bicycle tour instructor at Cornell and I did National Outdoor Leadership. So I started dabbling with outdoor education. And I really started. Thank God, I really love this. I love the people. I love the teaching component. I love being outside. I like sort of when you're guiding a trip that you're always on and you're always problem solving, I became very good at problem solving. And then after college, I didn't quite know what to do myself and someone recommended that I go to Italy, which is where my family's roots are from my my parents, my mother and my half my dad and I went to Italy and I applied for rotary scholarship, and I got a scholarship, which was super because it was a year scholarship. It didn't have a lot of ties to any kind of American university or anything. I really was immersed in Italian culture in many ways and I didn't have an Italian American school to attach to like I learned Italian and I'd really loved it. I really say that when I went to Italy, like my other half is in Italy. I'm definitely American born and bred but there's definitely a deep part of me that's very old, old by having an old soul. And that old soul really does come from Italy. And so living in Italy and cycling in Italy, I joined an Italian cycling club and my parents thought I was never coming home the way I was behaving because I just I really just I just loved it. I loved the landscape, everything about studying, studying painting, man, I was there for three years and I love Florence. Florence is just home away from home. And however at some point I decided not really able to launch myself here I kind of had it was pretty real that I have family at home. So I knew that something was pulling me back to establish something so I reluctantly went back to the United States. It was very hard, but pretty soon afterwards, I just of course couldn't let Italy go and I started thinking about this idea of starting a tour company. I was a tour guide. I have been a tour guide for teenagers and I've done teenage tours. In fact, the way I got myself back after that experience was I led bicycle tours from Rome to London. And so then I just said well, I worked as a tour guide for a couple of companies just once. I didn't even work very long. It wasn't long before I knew that I wanted to do it myself. So within having worked a summer out with another tour company I said well I'm going to try to do it myself. And I started that's when I started it was always been this great combination of what I love it still is in the early years I designed I studied art I didn't have a lot of visual art background my past since I love photography, I was able to very easily get into the packaging part of the tour business which is like I love kind of representing what I love through how I present it and that was a very important and I love people sales was very became very easy to me sales. But for me it was always the customer relationship that would build upon sharing my passion, hearing people's concerns, and having people on a tour. It really combined a lot of my skill sets. Running a business as a whole different thing is a great learning experience for me. I kind of immersed myself and I'm pretty much a self taught business person, I never went to business school. But I did take a lot of business classes. And I could certainly recommend to the audience all kinds of what to do and what not to do. For sure. I think after 34 years, I got plenty of those. But I think correctly that COVID really was a test of this purpose in this love that I have. And I'm still here, and I'm still driven to show people the world is actually modified. Certainly things have changed in my mind, but I'm still very driven to do what I love to do, and to share and more even more than ever to actually mentor other people and to see how else I can help transform lives through back to travel. It's definitely my purpose.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 10:41
Yeah, thank you so much for sharing all of that. I love hearing and people's journeys. And it sounds like probably really early on, you were really aware of what brought you joy, and the ability to think about that. That could be your purpose. And that could be your profession. I think a lot of times, especially when we're younger, and maybe something like cycling, we will really quickly shelve that as a hobby or just like this thing that's a part of our lives. But we don't give ourselves permission to build our life on that foundation. I love that you have that awareness. And then as you had other passions, that travel and art and language like as you started to discover those things you didn't say, Well, okay, what should I do with these like as a singular area of focus, but was really like, How can I bring all of this together and just keep bringing like more joy to my path, and then seeing how that can be shared with others. I think that's such a valuable lesson for people listening to just think about really what lights you up, I've talked about this before on the podcast, that if you're operating out of that space, and you're creating your business, in your life out of that passion, and that joy, whatever you create has just a little bit more magic and the people that are engaging with you, as your customers and travelers like feel that and they get something better for it. So I think it's so cool to see that you really just use that as your Touchstone as you navigate through.
12:23
And I want to give people in the audience credit because it's not easy. I don't think it's easy. I don't think our culture I don't think our society gives us permission to do that. I think it even now more than ever, and I feel sad for kids now, because our culture is a is a siloed culture. And even more than ever, you pick your niche, you go down, you drive down your niche, and the idea of the human humanistic studies and so forth is it came natural to me i It's almost like I use like when you create a painting or any kind of any kind of artwork, you're, you like certain colors and you try to put them together. It's like, well, I like certain things in my life. And I do some came together more naturally others I had to kind of bring together and I had the advantage of having parents that were very supportive, which is really important that I had families that were supportive, and I had enough people that said I couldn't do it that I said I was going to do and that's important, too. Like it's important to not search out everybody that is vapor, but the people that are kind of the naysayers, hear that and then say well, okay, let me be like prove prove me a little bit wrong. So there's definitely a lot of determination. And I also feel fortunate that I started at a time there was a lot of simplicity about it. We didn't have cell phones, there was a lot of just raw energy and raw talent and I technologically would I didn't have to have a lot of tech. Okay, although I have technological skill. Now. The barriers to entry, I think were easier. It was so hard that it's so hard work, but it'd be what I had to do with what people do now. It was it was kind of hard, but I think that when I started, there weren't a lot of there were a lot of travel companies, I think I was the first woman to start a bicycle touring company. That I have to say it was a great time to start. And I think also when you're young, you're just young and you don't have any. I have had nothing at stake. I had no I hadn't. It was people saying, `` Wasn't it hard starting? No, it's actually very easy to start. For me it was very easy. I just had, I didn't have any kids or house or anything I just had myself so I'd take care of myself. It's hard. I'd say it's harder. It was definitely harder though during COVID. But it's definitely harder as in my in my personal view as a company gets larger and you have more responsibility and you have more people at stake and you have employees and there's a lot there's a lot more at stake when you start when you're solo entrepreneur, you have yourself at stake which is huge, but it if you're feeling if anybody's feeling nervous to start by themselves, and they have they don't have a lot of stake is actually a very good time to start.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 14:48
Hey, listeners, it's Christine. Did you know that I have a book club? Actually, it's really more than a book club. It's a book sojourn. I launched my virtual book club in 2021 and It was such a powerful and valuable experience, we decided to bring it back again this year. This is a journey meant to inspire travel, create cultural awareness and offer personal growth experiences from the comfort of your home, or wherever you may be. In 2022. Each moment we spend reading is a moment that indoors in our bones, reading wakes us up. Reading transports us to another world, another experience or another perspective, reading leaves us changed forever. Imagine who you will be at the end of this sojourn. Last year, women said it was one of the most powerful experiences they had. You can join us beginning in July for the last six months of this journey. Solo travel listeners will get a bonus call with me to welcome you to this experience, and set our attention and begin to build a new community. Does this sound like the type of experience you've been craving? Visit Lotus sojourns.com backslash women's dash book dash club to join this unique travel experience today. Now let's hop back over to our soulful conversation. And I love thinking about that because I've been in the industry for about 20 years. So I can kind of remember, one of the first companies I worked for was like just getting a website and there was none of this, like you said, this technology that you really had to understand on top of wanting to create a travel company, you could just create it and find your travelers but you didn't. Really I think a lot of entrepreneurs in this industry and others right now it's like, okay, I have this idea. So the very first thing I need to do is build a website, get on social media, have an email funnel, do my marketing, and you haven't even created your business really yet. Whereas you got to really take your passion, fold people in and you didn't kind of have to worry about all of that part. Eventually, as you scale, you have to learn those other things. But I love talking to people in the industry that really started in the 80s and the early 90s. And it's such a different experience. Like they very much felt like they were intrepid explorers that just brought people with them and shared their passion. And you didn't you're not like what's your Insta handle? No, you just like I love to travel, I want to share this with people. And they got to do it, it felt very different at that time in space and tourism.
17:36
I think what I discovered during COVID was that it really was back to basics, because I had to cut what I was spending on getting into the audience. It is very easy. There are bells and whistles and shiny objects everywhere when you start a company. But there's everything on the sun that you can read and understand. And there's so much and I've been to a lot of conferences in which I think that the bells and shiny and shiny objects are a little bit too much of the too much. I think they'd be overwhelming to a young person. And I think that I would discover the back to basic work to lead one thing I did a lot during COVID 2020, I actually picked up the phone and just started calling customers. And you know, granted, people aren't as available as they used to be on the phone. But during COVID They were people at home or maybe we're answering the phone more but it was I realized, wow, I really enjoyed talking to people again. And I don't think that the basics are out of fashion. I think what maybe we're discovering and it might not be as apparent. But I think things are going to swing in the other direction. People are getting overwhelmed digitally. They're getting over sensitized. And I hope that by going back to basics, and picking up the phone and talking to people I don't think that ever goes out of style. And honestly, it is the right pace. If you're going to start something, particularly the tour business, which has so many details, you're better off. really better off I think starting small and growing within the realm of what you can do. Because remember, the biggest marketing of all is how well you deliver what you do. If you do a great job for 10 people, a super like excelling job for 10 people, then those 10 People will tell 10 more. And if you do a mediocre 10 for 25, then that's you're actually risking more of what you do by trying to be so big so soon. And now when I look at people that are smaller, I might feel like oh gosh, I miss those days because I actually liked there was something about the smallness that you actually are able to, you have better control over the quality control.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 19:26
Thank you for sharing that. Again. I think that's just some real good general wisdom from an entrepreneurial path, especially in this world where we can see what everybody's businesses look like in front of us and we see what their presence is today. And we see their website or their social media campaigns. And we think like that's where we have to start, which was a huge hesitancy even for me having been in the industry for a long time and knowing full well that it's not true. My brain thought that if I don't start looking like that no one is going to come. And I think that we get into that mindset where we don't realize that they didn't start there, they had to start with one trip. And like you said, they had to do it well, and they had to grow their business. And if we try to start at someone else's 10 year mark, we're just not going to succeed. And so I really love that you kind of brought that attention to that detail, because I think it's just, it's so much harder not to measure yourself against anyone else, when it's so easily available. Whereas before, if I started a business in Seattle, and you're starting your business, in Boston, or wherever, like, we're not going to know about each other for a long time, we could have almost the same business because it just didn't, it just wasn't so available to us, I think it's really great to think about that. The next thing I would love to talk to you about this came up when we first met this idea of peddling your passion, which is like really kind of building on what we were just talking about is how we bring our passion into a lot of different areas in our life. And I would love for you just to share with our listeners like what that means to you when you say that and what you're hoping to bring into people's lives through this way of thinking. Sure.
21:17
And it was recent, I have had many buy lines, the first one was transforming lives for active travel. And I had about three and then I liked this one, because what and this came from an evolution of the business. But back to the beginning again, which was when I realized that people were cycling had become an intimidating activity. When I started. I feel like I had everybody under the sun on a bike trip that nowadays would have no business on a bike. However, I'm talking about everybody, like in gym shorts, and people just they'd sign up for the pure excitement of that sounds like fun. Right? And, and I'm like, yeah, it is fun. And I'm going to keep you safe. And it was so hard. But the but the immediacy of people saying that sounds like fun was so innocent and so wonderful, which I think the way that people should approach travel, but as cycling became about like rather fancy bicycles, and although it's boomed in the right direction, and there's lots of niches and bicycling, there's commuting and everything, I realized, I realized that people are taking this too seriously, like their teeth. Like they're asking me, why don't I do the trip, and they're all concerned about whether they're able to do it or not. And then I just started thinking, I don't know exactly where it came from. But I kept thinking, well, I bike for these reasons. Like personally, I bike for a lot of reasons. But a lot of things I love photography for me, was always about like I bicycle, have my camera, take pictures, put my pictures, come home, look at my pictures, go paint my pictures. I mean, it was always like my way of experiencing a place. And then I also have a passion for people I love. I go somewhere and I'd stop and talk to people, right? And then I'd also like animals so all those things I'd say that's my pedal for passion, although it almost encompasses everything. But I started thinking well, as I saw people like I like food, but I wouldn't say I'm a big foodie, I love food. But I did notice on our trips that people loved the cooking lessons and they loved they love I saw that person that passion is food or that person's passion was I love history too. But like a lot of people love bicycle trips, because they like different trips for different reasons. They love going into Florence or they love to and they love the artwork. I just started to think that bicycle trips are something for everybody. But it's not the same thing for everybody. And so that's and that's like travel is kind of like in general, you just don't everybody really should find things that they like about travel and then continue to pursue that. So it was just my way of saying that bicycling is for everybody. And that Oh, Miguel, almost everybody. But I have to say I'm really glad it's out of 7000 plus people and I don't think there's ever been. I can't remember anybody coming back and saying I'll never do a bike trip again. Like, usually people discover often in their 50s One of the things that sold me my very first year of business was I was probably whatever 28. So I had people in their 50s. Which is kind of my core customer base, right? And they're in their late 50s. And we're talking about a woman that has never been on a bicycle. And this woman is so cute, and I'm so in touch with her today. She's in her late 80s. Her husband was a big athlete, and he was a big biker and she wasn't the one I adored the most because she had this beginner's mind. She tried it and it was a big risk for her. It was a big deal and she took a bike trip, but she's like oh my god she just every time I call those bike trips were the best thing that I ever did with my husband I ever did and for me that is more important than anything if I had any wish I would say all the fast bikers they're gonna they're gonna bike anyway and that's a passion too. By the way, pedal your passion. I like to go fasten a bike. I like to just get behind the wheel. I love the sweat I love and all that stuff and that's something that's a passion. Well, that's the competitive performance component. But the passion I'm interested in is the ones that say bicycling allows you to discover a passion that you have for just being outside or being fit or being with your husband. And this woman's passion was I love being with my husband, but she couldn't be with her husband on a bicycle because she was so intimidated. So I've that's where that goes. That's where the pedal your passion goes. It's about kind of realizing that a bicycle, in my opinion, is one of the best ways for a person to discover many parts of themselves physically. One of your passions might be I love a challenge, wherever I go, I love to get a challenge, I'd love to go up a hill. Or maybe I love going downhill. If you can see how people just think certain things about a bike trip, turn them on, or everything about your parents mind. And then when people's passions are sparked, it makes us more human, it turns us into connecting with ourselves, because our passion is about like our emotional core. That's why marketing is always about where I touch the person's likes, where I touch the person's emotions. And when you want to bite your bun, if I succeed in delivering to you and sparking one of your passions, or even even wanting, making one emerge. And I really feel like I've succeeded, if you come home and you and you say, oh my god, I'm transformed. And I've had people in their 50s. That's very, very important. It's true. And it's important, I think difference, to have a checklist of a classical trip, not every not every tour company wants to achieve that some people but that's very much our mission is is our guides want to help like where the were the connectors, where the connectors from the person and the place and we want to, or the activity and our job is to kind of make that spark
Christine Winebrenner Irick 26:41
and love that. And I love that you said that is something that sets you apart, because I definitely find myself drawn to people who look at travel as this way of engaging both with the external environment, but through getting to understand ourselves. And I think that that is a really great place for travelers to, to like to add something else to their experience. Anyone could go on a bike journey in Italy. And it could just be this nice bike journey, but like to really think about why you're there. What is your passion, like discovering something new about yourself that you can take home afterward, maybe you didn't really know that you love food preparation, because at home, you're busy and working quickly working all the time, and you order food in or then you get this moment where you discover, like the love of the way an olive oil tastes or like there's just this little thing that, like you said, might ignite this whole new part of yourself. And I love that I love that picture that you painted for us. I do think this would be a great moment to talk about how travel does create the space for inner dialogue and inner knowing and I think especially on a bicycle, because you are out there and I'm sure that you have many of your rights all day long. And so you're, you might be traveling with your husband, but what you're with yourself on that bicycle, how do you think that has created this connection for people? Or what does that look like for you on a journey?
28:15
Sure, it's very important that I want to also add you can I go by bicycle every day, right and some days I'm just more kind of like I my little route and I bike but I do on the weekends, or I just went to a client last night and she laughed because she's a really performance cyclist and I took on a ride and we stopped and we looked at the weight you know, I introduced her some my goat friends and all that and she laughed. But I think first of all, I think it's an attitude, right? If you approach everything in your life as kind of getting from one point to the other. You're no matter what you do, you're kind of not approaching life like a journey. And it's very easy, like I said, so I think again, going back to the bike as a metaphor. Why I think cycling as an activity has allowed that to happen, particularly road cycling, but maybe for some people mountain biking. Cycling is a forward motion that is linear. Its horizon is literally like Connecticut aesthetically, biofeedback, wise your body is in this kind of rhythm. When I think that our bodies are in a rhythm. It's something that ticks us. I actually call it meditation in motion like I'm not a great meditator. I know you're not supposed to be great meditator not but for me the movement on a bicycle is similar and I because I compare I've meditated and I bicycle rides on my bicycle, how they say no thoughts are wrong, but your meditative and so the thoughts are kind of when I'm pedaling, whatever happened to me in the day, sometimes I would tell people my tail starts wagging too much. I'm like a dog that wants to go for a walk, right? But there's a reason for that because we all have energy. We all have this energy and we were taught at a very young age to suppress that to go to school to sit down and all of a sudden we went from kids that in the playground, they were meditating they were playing they were discovering their inner selves by whatever they were doing. And all of a sudden, as adults, we stopped . When I think I always buy, I always say there's nothing wrong. And there's no such thing as a bad bike ride. I think more than anything consistently in my life other than eating, I've always written not because I'm obsessed, but because I know that that's my, it's my meditation. So when I'm writing, like I said, the linear motion, the kind of spinning motion, the way that the thoughts kind of fly off, they fly around, or whatever happens during the day they fly around. And then something sort of distills like, something just keeps coming back. And if I had a good interaction, bad interaction that kind of spins around and comes back, and for some reason, there's clarity, there's clarity, there's just total clarity. And, and that's, I know, that is biofeedback. So again, I think if you're, if anybody's contemplating bicycling, walking is nice, too, I find that I find the breathing part of going back to the meditation quality, like your biking, your breathing, and sometimes I'll actually try to be even more intent, intentional, okay, for the next two minutes of my bike ride, I'm just going to really tune into my pedal stroke, I'm going to tune into my breathing, I'm going to look around at the light, and that sort of that, like, let me take it let me be present, like, let me be. And that's something if actually, I think it is very easy when you exercise because we will call it exercise. But when people go out on a bike, it's like, I'm gonna go and do my workout, I'm going to keep my speed at a certain level, I'm going to get back and forth in an hour. And that's a little bit that's a slippery slope towards not really allowing that activity to perform its mental health on you like it, it becomes exercise and your any kind of activity you do, I think is always an opportunity for you to tune into your mind. And I think it's for me, it's been amazing, really, I It's really been a lifesaver. I never do. I have a gratitude list and I resist riding bicycling, but I usually do, because I say like, it's my health. It always makes me feel like I'm healthy. Like, I'm blessed because I'm healthy. I'm blessed because I can ride a bicycle. And it's something that I can do every day that says, okay, the day could have gone completely wrong. But I got outside yesterday on the first day that everything just started . Yeah, what a great morning. And then I went out and things are starting to bloom, and people are outside and it was like I came home and who can just keep me up. It keeps me connected to who I am. That's what that's what it does. interpersonally and I might kind of be an ambivert if that's my new term, but I heard it on another podcast. I'm an extrovert and I'm an introvert. Right? I just talked to a client and he wants to know whether he bought a bike trip or if he can spend time with himself. I sort of course, a walking tour, maybe not because you're walking with a group of people. But the great thing about a bike trip is you could be with a group of people, which I love. I'm a very extroverted person who is totally a spark to me. But then I just like, okay, see, and I go and I connect with landscape are those thoughts that I have to play out in my head or so it really, I think a bike bicycling is a great way to kind of connect to your, to be by yourself, or to be with other people. So it's, you know, as you can see, I love I'm pretty, I love it. I really do.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 33:13
Yeah, that's one of the things I loved when we first met is that the deep belief that you have in cycling as this experience that people need to have is very infectious. Like I just love it. I love how much you love bicycling, and it really comes across and I think that's something I really wanted to share is that they're they're just, I think we sometimes and I think culturally, as you mentioned, we just don't allow ourselves that much joy. It's like, Oh, your joy got here, you better do something like don't let anybody catch on to the fact that you're that happy because that's not that's not okay, like I think of all these kind of dystopian movies or things like that, where it's just, we're just not allowed that joy. I actually have a sticky note on my computer as I run through this cycle, where I noticed that it was starting to creep up and I shut myself down and I have a note that says I deserve joy. It doesn't cost anyone else anything. And so just like this reminder that that's really it's okay to be able to find joy and cultivate that in your life and share it with others. And
34:24
I think I think it happens too when you stop measuring and I'm writing I'm helping someone write a blog it's gonna be in Forbes magazine, and it's called slope while I'm calling it the thing the art of the art of slow traveled bicycling, I forgot what exactly what I titled it but I really made a distinction between the performance cyclists and the the traveling cyclists and I think I think that joy sometimes you can't force it, but if you pull away all the things that are removing it that are taking away so for example, the idea of exercise like I, I when I'm with my children, I try I don't even use the word exercise I just say active active and when people say how fat Ask does everybody go on a bike trip? I say, Well, when you go as you go whatever speed you like, well, there's no don't and or I would say, because cycling like anything else, any other activity has become such a measuring kind of sport. How fast do you go? How far did you go? Now? I'm kind of testing people, how many endorphins? Did you create it? Like, are you creating endorphins, or you create a B activity should be creating endorphins. And if you're smothering those endorphins, by thinking about the measurement component, which you do, which we do, so you just, I would even challenge anybody. Okay, I would like to buy another performance website. I'm going to take one ride, and I'm going to not think about how far and I'm not going to think about how fast and or maybe I'll even go with someone who's slower. So Lauren, I can't keep up with you. I'm Oh, that's silly. If you're going to bike with me, well, then we're going to ride together. That's and it is about when you read sometimes reframing just the yes choice is important. But if you even reframe how you do something, that you just reframe it, the joy can actually come as a result. So that's the result of the reframing and, and sometimes you just have to be really intentional. But my bike path, which I bike a lot on, has all kinds of little kids, and it doesn't take anything more than seeing a little kid on a bike. But I'll always say good job and, and they have that little griddle come to their face, and they love their pink bicycle and their pink helmet. And it shows that like little kids always get it, they're always getting it and we just have to continue to look towards it. I think I'm a big believer that children are always offering us as poets, poetry towards our life that we should always strive towards. And I've done it for so long like this. And I don't always not, it's not always like it happens. But more than ever, actually, I'd say more than lately up all throughout COVID I was doing these things I called serenity bike rides, and I would just go out in the morning. And since nothing was happening, and nothing was going on, and none of my events around Boston were happening. I just said, Well, I guess I'm just gonna bike all day. And I did and I have good endurance. But if you don't try to go really fast. And if you actually go under, like what you like pushing, you actually can ride all day. I think it's just I think it's an approach towards an activity, it's an approach towards towards something to not kill the activity because you want to kill yourself, you end up kind of like making it like it should be not should not be dread. And I think people have to say something potentially joyful? I'm not, I'm getting some kind of dread around it that you have to examine that if to say, why is that? And what I'm just going to be? I'm just going to do it. I'm just going to try.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 37:27
Yeah, I think that's like the most brilliant thing that came out of this conversation. Because I think about how much you love it, like I love reading. And then let's say you're taking a course and maybe it's a book you would have read anyway. But now it's a part of this course. And so then, like some dread creeps in, you're like, oh, I have to get it done on time, I have to get it done for this specific outcome and or like yoga, maybe you love yoga. So you decide to do a 30 day yoga challenge. But then what comes up is you realize, well, I don't like I don't want to be beholden to this challenge. I just want to do yoga, because I love it. Or, like there's all these different ways that I think we can take that into our life, even in our work, like maybe we really deeply love our work. But then you start over committing and you find yourself against all these deadlines, and all of a sudden you are losing that connection that you have to it. I think having that awareness and then just asking, like, Where's it coming from? What can I shift? Could I even spend one day in the office just remembering who I was when I launched my business? And like trying to rekindle that, that spark that you have?
38:37
Yes, yeah, well, yeah, we have a world with a lot of pressures in it. So it's completely understandable. It's just that you have to resist it. And I think travel is interesting too, because having been doing this for so long, in the travel business, people become like, the perfect example would be someone who is planning his beautiful trip, and then they have a nine day trip. And then they keep their schedules so tight, basically, they land already full of pressure because they didn't give themselves a buffer day. So they're investing in vacation. And then they don't give themselves a buffer day on each side. And so before you knew it, they're rushed to get to the place and there's stress and it takes them a couple of days to destress and then at the other end they have to fly in the morning to let you know that the day off and like why are you doing this to yourself? Why do you like and then that becomes and then that kind of ricochets all through the trip and all the people and and even us and then like the like it's so interesting the way people they impose a bit of a self image. Like I've they impose kind of pressure on them on the situation they just put themselves in a situation of pressure or the travel how people they sometimes I wonder are you are you on? Are you going on a trip to travel or are you going on a trip to count to kind of wrap up like things that you see and get have their schedules so tight. So so tight. I don't have time. I don't have time. I don't have a tight schedule in general. I have priorities. What do I want to get done but I'm at. I've always learned that I have to give myself enough air in what I do, enough space. And I think I do that more unconsciously. But when I think about traveling, I hope that people start giving themselves a little more breathing room and not be so much about making travel into something and then performing another thing they have to perform at another thing, they have to get perfect. Another thing, oh my gosh, it's, we post so much pressure on ourselves.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 40:23
Yeah, and I think it can go both ways. It can go on like a sightseeing tour where you're like, okay, my goal is I'm here and I'm going to see all these things. And like you said, from 7am, until 9pm, or midnight or whatever, you just have your schedule stacked so full that you're seeing all these things, but you're actually not present to any of them. So it's as if what they experienced at the end of the day doesn't even really feel like it happened, because you didn't take time to integrate it and feel it and be there. Whereas if you had chosen one thing each day, it's gonna be this like a momentous peak to each day, and you have time to be with it. And then even if your goal was to go to a beach, and just be super relaxed, then you might find yourself really frustrated that you have to relax. And if something happens, and you like you're not relaxing, then you're mad at yourself, or maybe you're drinking a lot, and then you're really tired, and you're still not relaxing. It's like the way we think about it. It's very interesting. And I do think the space of travel and what we're asking out of travel is evolving. I think it's evolving towards what you have set out to create where like, like you said, we really want to be present, we want to look at what travel is awakening within us. And we want to bring that back into our lives like it's becoming this much more I think like nurturing space, and then this is also allowing us to appreciate where we are. And then I think that will ripple out into this like gratitude towards a place, which I think will also lean into so many in the industry right now focusing on what we can do to create a better world through travel. I think this perspective shift is really like all a part of that happening.
42:13
Oh, I hope so I really do. I get that a lot of what I did existentially during COVID I had to think about was I am in the travel business. And the travel business has to say we know we're responsible as a business for the environment. And I had to say that I started bicycle tours here domestically in the United States, for a lot of reasons, the pivoting for to COVID. But then I really feel the way by design I created the trips as people, we started and at the same place because I started thinking, well, if I'm going to create anything else, I want to really eliminate vehicles and I want to utilize the bicycle as much as I can. Because I think yes, I think we have a responsibility and travel business has a very big responsibility to promote kindness for sure, as an anthropologist and apologist sending out apology, a cultural piece of appreciation and an understanding and empathy. You know, as a part of what I do the template what I learned, and that's a big responsibility. That's everybody that goes to the travel business has a responsibility towards making sure that travelers are and I for the most part, anybody I've met in my world, our world of adventure travel issues the case all my traveling colleagues are like that. But it's a responsibility to be a role model as a tour guide, being kind to the local people, smiling at the local people, whatever, it's not very complicated. But and got and tour guides go a long way. And tour owners go a long way by setting a role model about how we treat other people because my gosh, nowadays, that's all we can do, we can do a lot that is out of our control. But what we can do is to travel simply with as little fossil fuels as possible, which of course will be fly that makes things really difficult. But we have to think about the opportunities the travel gives us to be simple, and simplicity. Because again, we can't do a lot and we're in a really tough place. But we certainly can do a lot with kindness, we certainly can really try it, we have to make believe and exert just a bigger effort. I know that I have to ask myself that all the time. Because our world is such a tough place. And I think travelers have such a great opportunity to interact with other people, their fellow travelers themselves internally, like you said, and then also externally, that goes a long way to making the world, at least in the present moment, a nicer place.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 44:30
Thank you. I love that I have always thought of myself as the responsibility of being an ambassador of where I'm coming from and a guest of where I'm going to and it's just always been the way I have felt. And I like that. Thank you and before I understood what that meant. I just knew what it felt like and I would find myself in a situation where I would be like, Okay, we're not I don't feel like this is happening right. I don't think this is happening with kindness and respect. And now I'm learning With the language that's coming up about how tourism can be extracted, or how tourism is like in these different ways where things would happen. I'm, I can go back to those moments and be like, Oh, okay, I see why that felt uncomfortable. But I think the kindness that you're talking about is so important, because it really goes a long way. It goes a long way in the ripple, you leave. And it goes a long way in what comes out of the experience for you, which then I think, like we said, kind of carries forward in your life. I love that that is kind of where we're ending this conversation, because I think it's such an important message for travelers. Thanks for bringing that space. Yeah, that's great. Well, as we were in the conversation, I want to give you this space to let people know where they can find you and travel with you and look for. I know you also have some virtual events and local events and different ways people can engage with your community where, where, where would they access that information?
46:00
So yeah, my company called Ciclismo Classico, go to www.ciclismoclassico.com. We have a lot of events. We have a weekly police boat show, and we've been presenting about different destinations. And that's been really nice, because it brings us back to the way that I started, which was slideshows. I had slideshows, like my dog and pony show all over the country with slideshows. So that's great. That's every Thursday, we have a film festival we've had, we usually have three or four of them a year. This year, there's still a bit of catching up again. But that was our bicycle travel Film Festival. And on our webpage at the bottom, there's an event, you can click on the events, and you'll see all the events that we offer. Every year we do a jingle ride that's local, but that's a big holiday ride. I'm also very available. I look forward to the opportunity to speak to young business people or any age really, but anybody that is starting a business, I definitely have some strong feelings about what to do and what not to do. And I don't have a ton of time. But if someone wants to send me an email Lauren at two critical classical.com and just set up a time to talk and about anything specific, I might come back and say what specifically do you want to talk about, but I'm open to doing that for sure. We have a lot of tours coming up in Italy, we have tours, our tours are launched. They're happening in May, in June and July, all the way till the fall, we have trips also in Europe, mostly Italy. And then also next we have some some tours domestically, I'm doing day trips, I do day trips now from Boston, which I love to that's kind of I really am involved with a lot of a lot of local businesses and a lot of advocacy groups locally about cycling because because it is and if you are one of those people that has a business is promoting transformational travel or active travel and you want to have any kind of partnership or anything, I'd be happy to have a chat with people. So in general, I might be calling you on a bike ride because I'm usually pretty focused. I'm in the office, I'm working on stuff, but I'm going for a ride. And sometimes people see me on my phone chit chatting with people. But it's, it's fine because I actually am in a very good place. My mind is pretty fluid. I have no problem. But that's that. So if you hear me and a little bit of wind in the background, that's because I'm, I'm talking to you on my bicycle. But no. And if you're ever in the Boston area, just give me a call anyway. And if people have their bicycle, I'd be happy to go for a ride.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 48:10
Thank you. I love that. And I really just want to honor that you made that offer. I feel like this is something I love so deeply about this industry. And it's specifically this segment of adventure travel and educational travel that I feel like when we say that a lot of times people think oh, people said that, but they're just like saying it. And I feel like I've never met anyone who didn't deeply mean it who didn't honor that promise. It's like we really want to bring other people into this world because we'd love it so much. And it really is an open door. I appreciate
48:45
it. It's high. It's hard work to honor anybody in the travel business, because I know that it's not just the frontline, but it's like you're running a whole stage production when you're doing what you're doing in the travel business. I know I don't think anybody can stand this business very long. If they don't have those feelings. It's just very hard work. And anybody that survives in 2020 in the travel business, like any restaurant, they deserve a big giant hug and applause from anybody out there that is just holding on tight. And I think that's great, it's a great topic for conversation in the future. happy to chat with anybody about that.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 49:17
Thank you. Well, the last thing I have is a few rapid fire questions if you're willing to join me for those, and then that'll end our time. But the first question is, what is your favorite book or movie that offers you a travel escape or inspires adventure?
49:33
Oh, wow, yikes. Well, I love it. I have to say I'm so into Mary Oliver. Every morning I read a Mary Oliver poem, and I love her connectivity to nature. It resonates so much to me. So I like that I don't read a lot of fiction, and I'm a National Geographic devotee. So I read National Geographic all the time. But I'd say I love poetry. I'm very eclectic and I'm not my favorite kind of person. And I like that kind of thing. And then my favorite movie Oh, My gosh. Good question, why? Yikes. That's a good question. I might get stumped there because again, I don't watch a lot of different kinds of things. Oh, I think it's beautiful. I think of Italy. That one, I have to say that one is one of my favorites.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 50:12
Okay. What is always in your suitcase or backpack when you travel?
50:17
Well, unfortunately fall but fortunately it is. I'd say I bring a sketchbook even though it's wishful thinking, but I always say Well, let me pack my sketchbook. I have my pen. And I really try to be more intentional because I love to, I do love to draw and I love to doodle a book, I always have some kind of book, a couple of them usually. That's pretty much it.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 50:34
Depending on where I'm going. I have this moment where I grabbed my markers and like one of the meditative coloring books because I love doing it. And I'll throw it in there and I can't even tell you how many times I get back and I unpack it and it never came out and I'm like oh, why and then
50:49
I would say it was their intention was there so it's okay, I have to say at least at least you want it really something about you wants to I actually have been doing little little tiny drawings every morning like really a half an hour of playing with color because I just had to stop like wishing to do it. I had to just kind of do it. And then final feedback when you start doing stuff enough. It goes back to you.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 51:09
Yeah. Oh my goodness. That's such another good great tip out of the conversation. What has been your favorite destination? Oh, here
51:17
goes to another favorite I love and leaves my home. It leaves my home away from home and I think within Italy I love sort of Dania. I love islands. I really do love where I feel soulful is a big urban landscape and where I like it depends on my mood. But I'd say Italy. I spent a lot of time in Argentina. I love Argentina. And I love New England where I come from. I think it's a beautiful place so I like a lot of places. I like a lot of places that fulfill a lot of different parts of me.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 51:43
Yeah, I love that language again for people listening like how a place makes you feel might not be the first thing you think about when you think about a destination but I love that I also love open spaces and places that create awe like I feel like that in me is magic.
52:01
I went to Peru. I spent six weeks in Peru and I was up in the Indian mountains and some places not only you love but they literally there's something that your soul like there's something something is calling you that and that doesn't happen too often. Like I tell you about one place, the Lofoten islands of Norway. That place I cried when I arrived and I cried when I left that place. It just hit me like a ton of bricks every time it had everything. And it had everything and an amazing kaleidoscope of colors and sounds of Lofoten islands looked up. It's expensive. It was amazing.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 52:36
I wish for every traveler and I wish I could share it with them. Is that destination where you cry when you arrive and you're crying when you leave? And it's not out of anything? It's like out of magic like like you said your soul is just like I've waited my my whole life to get here and I don't want to leave and I've had that a few times and it's the Lofoten
52:58
islands and my kids were laughing at me they just told him be quiet because that was like I was having a mom moment of just like hanging by the back of the boat and just watching the island go away farther and farther away
Christine Winebrenner Irick 53:10
it's so good man these rapid fires with you are the best part. Where have you been so long to visit?
53:15
Wow, another good question inside myself. weird question but no, I've been thinking about that a lot. Where do I log in to visit? Oh gosh, I have trouble. I really have never been to places I've never been to or places like Australia and New Zealand and never been to Asia. I do love South America I mean I'm law often belong to go back to places I like when places become a home I like when I go and I want to go back and so I'm not again, checking off all the places I want to go I also think I think what I longed to do I would long to I don't know if I'd be able to but I really would love to take a very long bike trip like a very long like I often think I must go around the world on my bike are a must do another long long trip because I want that. I just want that daily adventure like all I can say. All I need to think about is just getting up and then moving all day long. That's something I longed to do in a kind of adventure I longed to do.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 54:11
I want to eat that immediately connects you to a place you've been.
54:14
Wow. Mozzarella cheese bufala mozzarella di bufala that says Southern Italy right away.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 54:23
Yeah. Who was the person that inspired or encouraged you to set out and explore the world?
54:28
Oh, I'm gonna cry like my dad. My dad is my dad.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 54:33
Yeah. And if you could take an adventure with one person fictional or real live or pass to it, it'd be
54:40
Oh, that's a good one. Wow. Well, it used to be David Letterman. He's too old now. I like to have a spirit that wouldn't be oh my god, maybe like a body rate or some fiery badass woman. Maybe that would be fun like some some Yeah, like those women of the past. So you read about him and you go oh my god, no one's maybe an artist, Frida, like Frida. I mean, like an artist like that would be great, some great artists that would just paint Pilates. Yes, someone bold, I guess it would be someone bold that would even knock me farther out of my own comfort zone. But those are, that's good. I'm gonna have to remember that one I'm gonna think about I'm gonna think about all these at a bike ride that I didn't answer appropriately.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 55:21
Yeah, you answered them all appropriately. I love that so much. I really want people to just think about how travel makes them feel and how they want travel to make them feel. I feel like this is our takeaway and life. Really, thank you so much for the
55:35
sake. Everybody out there, folks. Great question. I'm gonna think about that. Am I going to travel with I don't have to write off to write haven't write that down. But that was great. That was excellent. Well, thank you so much. I thank you so much for the opportunity to just talk about what I love and to connect with other people. Because that's really important. That's another important thing about travel. It's sort of like this distillation of goodness. And in Great thinking, and I missed that a lot. I missed that I can't. That's very important is just to be able to kind of have one conversation, sparks and spins out another one. Well, thank you so much, Christine. And thank you, everybody for joining the conversation.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 56:08
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