Jason Andelman – Bike Tour Guide Feature
The Sweet Life of a Bike Tour Guide
Jason is a Chocolatier by trade (a title arguably cooler than Astronaut or Olympic Trampolinist) and the mastermind behind Artisan Confections in Arlington, VA. As an entrepreneur and small business owner Jason knows a thing or two about hard work and organization, and he’s brought all that expertise to his work as a guide and tour manager here at Wilderness Voyageurs.
Our tour managers are the organizers and the “keepers” of these bike tours. They create the itineraries, book lodging, select exceptional restaurants for the tour, and set the guides up for success. Jason has gone above and beyond with his duties and co-leads the food project and books travel for our guides so they can get to where they need to be.
Jason’s work on the food project is a natural step from his experience in the culinary world. He, along with follow tour manager Lori Liskovec, create the menus for the trailside lunches, provide food safety and prep training to all the guides, and maintain the excellent quality of our on-the-road meals throughout the season.
We sat down with Jason to ask him a little bit more about his role here at Wilderness Voyageurs and some of his favorite memories as a guide. You can watch the full interview here.
Interview with Tour Manager Jason Andelman
What’s your role here at Wilderness Voyageurs?
I’m a Tour Manager, Guide, and I work on the food program here at Wilderness Voyageurs. I help create menus and meal plans for all the guides. Just giving them instruction and all that stuff for our trailside lunches.
I also manage our tours; anything from Pittsburgh to DC. I manage all those tours that are sort of our, you know, bread and butter. So I manage all those tours and help with getting guides to where they need to be.
Throughout the season I do a lot of buying of plane tickets, helping coordinate hotel rooms, that kind of thing. And then I guide roughly 8 to 10 trips a year mainly out west like Colorado and South Dakota and then some trips locally here on the GAP and the C&O.
What goes into making meals for a bike tour?
People are biking during today and we want them to have a nice, healthy, great lunch when they get into a lunch stop. Most of our lunches are prepared trail side. So we work out of a trailer, we have Yeti coolers in there and set up a nice lunch.
So really we try to serve something that’s maybe a little different than what they would normally eat on a bike trip. A healthy, hearty, nice mix of protein and lots of vegetables. We want to give people a nice variety. We receive dietary restrictions in advance so we can tailor menus if people have a nut allergy or if they don’t eat meat or anything like that.
Your favorite tour to guide?
I would say definitely Colorado. I love being out there. The riding’s great, beautiful scenery, hotels are all great, and good food out there.
Where do you like to ride when you’re not working?
I like trying out new places. When I’m at home in the D.C. area I ride a lot on the road and ride into the city. I got into mountain biking more so I try to hit local mountain biking trails when I can. My wife and I like to go on multi-day trips, mainly abroad, just to see some new stuff.
Favorite tour memory?
We were riding in South Dakota and we had a group of four. I was riding sweep that day and the group was having a little trouble, it was the most intense day of riding of the tour through Custer State Park.
At the beginning of the day they planned on getting into the van halfway through the ride but when we got to the halfway point I asked, “You guys want to keep going?” Three quarters of the way through I told them they could still get in the van if they wanted but they wanted to push through to the end of the ride. I encouraged them to keep riding and to finish strong and they were definitely tired but I could tell they wanted to finish riding the whole route.
Just that feeling when we got to the lodging that afternoon and they were spent but they were so excited that they were able to ride the whole day and accomplish that. It was really fulfilling and I’m sure the beer tasted a lot better when we got in.
Any advice for a first-time bike tourer?
We’re really out there to take care of people and just show people a good time. Yeah, we’re doing it on bikes. And traveling by bikes is amazing. You get to see amazing stuff that you wouldn’t see from a car. But it’s just the connections that you make with the guests. And just ensuring that they are out there having a good time.
And that’s what I like about the job is I get to meet people from all over and everyone’s got a story. You just start talking to them and you hear some really interesting stuff from people that come from all over the country. As a guide you really just get to make those connections with the people.
Wilderness Voyageurs operates Inn to Inn Bicycling Vacations
If you want to experience the sights, sounds, culture, and geography of a place, what better way than from the saddle of your bike?
All Wilderness Voyageurs tours are fully supported with a SAG vehicle and include beautiful routes through stunning landscape, excellent food and accommodations, top rate equipment, and dedicated and enthusiastic guides.
Give our wonderful reservations staff a call to book your next bike tour vacation. (800) 272-4141