Episode 83: Bike Touring is About More Than Just Bikes – Mary Ann Thomas

Episode 83: Bike Touring is About More Than Just Bikes

Interview with Mary Ann Thomas

Sponsored by One Eleven Watches, BetterHelp, and uBiome.

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Mary Ann Thomas loves bike touring because it’s accessible, it helps her care for her body, it connects her with people she might not otherwise meet, and it has helped her express the truest parts of herself. She’s bicycled across the United States and Canada, as well as India, and is currently on a speaking tour to share her love of bike touring and her work as a queer brown travel writer with the WTF (Women Trans Femme) community.

Find the episode below, on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, GooglePlay, or wherever you stream podcasts.

Featuring: Mary Ann Thomas: Queer brown travel writer, nurse, and bike-touring enthusiast

Hosted by Gale Straub 

Subscribe to She Explores podcast via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and Google Play.

Music is by Jason Shaw, Lee Rosevere and Kai Engel via freemusicarchive.org using a CC by A license

Music is also by Great Basin

In this episode, you’ll hear:

– How bike touring helps Mary Ann feel in sync with her body
– Why bike touring is an accessible form of adventure
– About Mary Ann’s first transcontinental bike tour
– What Mary Ann learned about herself on that first long solo bike tour
– How the middle of the US was more welcoming than she expected
– The ways in which travel nursing can help facilitate an adventurous lifestyle
– Why Mary Ann wanted to bike across India
– How India surprised Mary Ann
– How Mary Ann uses social media when she’s bike touring to set up a network of safe spaces on the road
– Why women and women of color should bike tour, especially in countries with familial ties
– How Mary Ann believes you’re only as safe as you believe you are
– About the WTF Bikexplorers Summit
– About Mary Ann’s F*** Impossible Road Trip

Mary Ann, on and off a Bicycle

Links/Resources Mentioned in this Episode:

• Mary Ann Thomas: Website & Instagram
• WTF Bikexplorers Summit
• Warm Showers
• Mary Ann’s Chapbook: Asking For Elephants
• Women on the Road Gathering
• She Explores Facebook Group

Sponsor Websites & Codes

• BetterHelp: Get your first week of counseling from a licensed therapist free. Use code ‘explores’ to get started.
• One Eleven Watches: The first 20 people who buy a One Eleven Watch get an Ursa Major gift!
• UBiome: Head here for your Smart Gut test.