Our 2020 tour season, beat up by Covid-19 and greatly reduced in size, has passed here without incident. I’d like to share with you some of the lessons learned this summer, and how we’ll act and implement changes to our tour plans for the future.

Please know this is not a celebration blog post, and we have no illusions today about a victory over Covid-19. An asymptomatic guest could have spoiled all our fun. Also, the brief season could have been impacted by any of the other risks normally associated with travel and bicycle touring. These risks still exist; my job is to be aware and proactive in preventing accident, illness or injury.

In an earlier blog post we identified risk and listed conditions which needed to be present in order to tour. By the time we were cleared to tour, most of our guests had cancelled or postponed their participation to a later year. As a result, our sample size is small but the lessons carry forward and are scalable.

Our guests enjoyed a new social-distanced dining plan this past summer. We enjoyed carry-out restaurant food, or dined al fresco, or cooked our own food for almost all of the meals this summer. The purpose of this is obvious: to limit contact between our guests and the rest of the world by avoiding sitting inside enclosed restaurants. This is one trend which will continue for some time to come.

Our sag stops looked different too. Gloved & masked staff handled all food, and we required our cyclist guests to wash and sanitize their hands before getting food or snacks. The hand-washing was a renewed process. First, we asked guests to ‘wash’ their hands clean of sweat or road grime by using a disposable wet wipe.  Next, a squirt of hand sanitizer finished the process. The truth is we’ve had hand wipes and sanitizer at our sag stops for years. They’ve come to the head of the food line for obvious reasons this year.

In prior years, our plan always was to have room keys in hand and luggage distributed before any guest arrived at the hotel, and we made it about 75% of the time. This year, we made a stronger effort due to Covid. We delivered luggage at all hotels to each room before any guest arrived. The purpose, again, is to insulate our guests from hotel staff, and vice versa.

Take a road trip and you’ll notice reduced services at highway rest stops- bathrooms are open but drinking fountains are closed, perhaps access to travel service & maps is closed. Hotels no longer provide daily room freshening when you stay multiple nights, in order to limit contact between their staff and guests. Every hotel on our tour would happily provide extra towels or services, but only on request.

The foodservice industry is grappling with Covid restrictions. Many restaurants still offer only carry-out service, and those with indoor dining have reduced capacity and limited staff. Patio service at bars & brewpubs can be appealing, but cooler temps will soon make this unattractive.

There’s more, or maybe less. No more handshakes or high-fives. Hugs and kisses between family members only. Live music is usually outside.

The challenge for a tour operator is to hide these missing items and replace them with better things, better programs, better dining-all for your safety.

The outdoor sights and sounds of the Great Lakes never get old. Our open-road touring on quiet and safe roads remains unchanged. The thrill of introducing you to a new experience remains unchanged. Encouraging guests to try something new, and to lead by example, is still a thrill.

Bicycle touring is a great way to stay active and provide this excitement to you.

It’s the end of October and there’s an election in a week. It’s hard to imagine an outcome which will eliminate Covid-19 before next summer. Our ongoing safety plan will include strategy to fight the spread of illness while providing the best parts of touring for your enjoyment.

First, we’ve adjusted the calendar to cluster our tours in more limited areas: Minnesota in June, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in July. Our staff will also enjoy a 2-week break between states, so they don’t bring any infection between tours.

We’re enhancing our dining plan. Restaurants are getting better with carry-out, and at the same time we’re getting better at menu planning. We’re attacking the breakfast problem too; several towns on our routes have very limited options due to scarcity of cooks & servers. We’ve already secured upgraded lodging to help with this.

The 2021 tour calendar is posted on our website, and you can register risk-free for any tour- the deposit is only $100. We’ll freely transfer you between tours if needed, and we’ll provide a relaxed refund policy if Covid threatens the season. As always, your questions and comments are welcome, please send them at this link.

The post Plans for the future, Covid Part 4 appeared first on Bike Tour Vacations.