Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Wiesen.
Hi Laura, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I am a life long cyclist who loves bikes of all kinds. I began riding ebikes after complications from multiple hip replacement surgeries impaired my ability to power my road bike by pedaling alone. The pedal assist feature of an ebike allows me to ride every day, enjoying the beautiful hilly countryside around Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, and breathe in the clean air of Leelanau County.
I love riding with small groups and showing people the wonderful trails, backroads, vistas, lakes, hidden gems, and varying landscapes in and around the national park. I want to expose others to the benefits and joys of riding with pedal assist and exploring the rolling countryside of northern Michigan.
I started this business late last summer after leading dozens of people on ebike tours in the area just for fun. My hope is that Backroad Adventures will grow slowly over the next few years, eventually providing me with a fun side gig after I retire from teaching high school.
Many people have yet to try an ebike and just can’t imagine how fun it is. Especially an ebike that has been modified for maximum comfort and provides enough e-assist to help them up big hills. Ebikes allow riders who may have issues with their shoulders, necks, wrists, or backs to ride without pain or discomfort. Additionally, not everyone is able to ride a pedal bike or they struggle to keep up with the group, and ebikes can level the playing field.
Backroad Adventures caters to small groups and adult riders only and I am the only guide. I intend to customize each tour for the riders involved and make every ride unique and memorable.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Backroad Adventures will officially launch next spring, when the snow melts and I obtain a Commercial Use Authorization from the national park. This will allow us to ride on the roads in and around the park, on the lovely Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail, and throughout Leelanau County.
My daughter, Carly, helped me create a business card, brochures, and a website. We have more information, photos, and testimonials to add but you can check it out at bikebackroadadventures.com. Everything else is in place and we are ready to ride. Let the adventures begin!
Riders can bring their own ebikes or use one of mine for a reasonable use fee. My van is able to haul five ebikes to wherever we decide to start our ride. Additionally, they can rent an ebike from the Cyclery, a local bike rental shop in nearby Glen Arbor.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’ve been a high school teacher for 29 years, starting first at The Leelanau School, and spending the next 24 years at Glen Lake High School in Maple City, MI, where I currently teach. I initially taught all high school math at Glen Lake for about 17 years, then taught a few business classes after a colleague retired, and eventually was asked to teach Foods and Nutrition. I love my teaching job, the daily challenges and joys of working with teenagers, and working with the amazing staff of Glen Lake Schools.
Additionally, I’ve been tutoring math for 35 years and it’s absolutely one of my favorite things to do. I tutor every morning before school at Glen Lake and do private math tutoring after school, on weekends, and in the summer.
I also work part time (April – November) for the Glen Lake Association on the Water Quality Committee. We are in a boat on the lake, collecting data, analyzing historical trends, monitoring for invasive species, looking after the health of the lakes, and educating the public on our Discovery Boat tours throughout the summer. Love this job, too.
Leaving the world of education and the excitement of teaching when I retire will be hard, but it’ll be much easier to let that go once Backroad Adventures is up and running and I have a new venture to pour myself into. I want something meaningful to do after retirement and believe tutoring, working on the lake, and leading bike tours will be a wonderful combination. It’ll result in a healthy and interesting work life balance for me while also being of service to others. I also intend to volunteer for a few local non-profit organizations in the area when I retire and have a more flexible schedule.
Teaching is great training for being a tour guide, talking with new people, and keeping everyone safe, not to mention all of the logistics that go into organizing an ebike tour. I’m blessed with excellent health, am detail oriented, centered, and well balanced, and live in a stunning part of the country. My goal is to share a slice of good living through healthy outdoor activities with other people as we cruise the backroads and trails of the county.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I was a bright, curious, creative, and physically active young person. Always a person of perpetual motion, I feel best when I’m moving or fully engaged in some activity or challenge. I loved to create, compete, read, explore, and learn new things. Coming from a family of eight kids, I learned the importance of working collaboratively and getting along with many different personality types. My dad bought a tavern when I was in high school, and I started working there cooking, waiting tables, and bartending when I was 14 years old. Living in a resort community by the national park, we all worked hard and developed a good business sense and work ethic.
I loved sports of all kinds when I was young and eventually focused on and excelled at basketball. I earned a full ride athletic scholarship to Northwestern University and played in the Big Ten on the women’s varsity basketball team for 4 years. A quiet but confident leader, I served as captain of the team in my senior year and gave it my all on the court every day, whether in a game or at practice. I continued playing basketball competitively after college, both in women’s and men’s leagues.
Basketball was serious business in high school and at Northwestern, but tennis was my fun sport. I played on the varsity boys team for four years in high school, as Title VIIII was still slowly being implemented at schools around the country. I continued playing tennis for fun, in leagues, and in tournaments for many years until I injured my back.
My overall mobility was limited because of this back injury and I couldn’t play tennis or basketball for 15 years. But then I had major back surgery in Germany, where they replaced two of my desiccated discs with titanium artificial discs and it changed my life. Within a few years, I was able to play tennis again and regained my mobility.
Six years later, I was back in Germany, having double hip replacement surgery. This time, not such a success story. Improper implant placement left me unable to walk with severe mobility limitations. I spent the next three years in a wheel chair and learned how to navigate the world as a “handicapped person”. It was a real eye opener and forced me to dig deep, keep my spirits up, and find new ways of getting around. I spent the next three years using a knee roller and a collection of other wheeled devices to get around, working full time as a teacher all the while. Needless, to say it was a learning experience.
Thankfully I’m very adaptable and resourceful and figured out how to live with very few steps, even designing my own unique and original mobility device. After six challenging years, I found a fabulous and talented orthopedic surgeon who was willing to take on my complicated case and agreed to help me. He did two new hip replacement surgeries, both within a week of each other. He cut out the old hips implants and put in new, longer implants, corrected the angle issues due to my hip dysplasia, and gave me back my life.
Back in a wheelchair, but this time for only a few months, then crutches, then more wheels, but by fall I was back on my feet, walking the halls of my school without the use of any mobility devices. A few years after that, I started playing pickleball and riding an ebike. Slowly and steadily I’ve regained my mobility, and despite a lot of nerve and muscle damage, I’m lucky to be able to ride everyday and play pickleball a few times a week. Although, this was an extremely challenging time of my life, it was also transformative. I learned how to be resilient and stay positive. I became more aware of the assistive equipment and structures in our world that are put in place to help people with mobility limitations. And I became much more compassionate and understanding of the many challenges other people are dealing with, day in and day out.
Sitting out from the activities I loved, first for 15 years before back surgery, and then sitting out another 7 years between and after 4 hip replacement surgeries, also made me better appreciate the importance of good health, mobility, and maintaining social connections. I am devoted to healthy eating, enjoying outdoor activities, and staying connected with others in and outside of work. All of this led me to start my new ebike tour guide business, Backroad Adventures, taking people out into the fresh air and beautiful places, all while getting a little pain-free exercise, and having fun adventures with others.
Pricing:
- $75 per hour for the first person
- $25 per hour for every additional person
- $30 bike use fee
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bikebackroadadventures.com
