The Bike Listening Tour (Video)
Released earlier this summer, “The Bike Listening Tour” is a 15-minute video from Nate Mitka and Otso Cycles that follows Otso ambassador Andrew Mohama on a 2,500-mile solo tour from San Fransisco to Chicago, during which he investigates loneliness and isolation. Watch it here…
PUBLISHED Aug 8, 2024
Video and photos by Nate Mitka
Last summer, Otso Cycles ambassador Andrew Mohama spent 22 days pedaling 2,500 miles from San Fransisco to Chicago, crossing less-traveled rural byways and even riding what’s known as “America’s Loneliest Highway.” The tour was part of a research project at his medical school, Rush University in Chicago, and it took place right around the time the Surgeon General stated that loneliness and isolation were an epidemic that can potentially lead to increased risks for heart disease, stroke, dementia, and premature death.

Throughout his ride, Andrew interviewed more than 100 people about their experiences of loneliness and community. He sought out places off the beaten path to connect with a part of the country he’d never experienced in detail, asking each interviewee three questions and letting the conversations flow from there. Folks he spoke with include people working at gas stations and bakeries, people he encountered on the side of the road, and those he bumped into on the small-town streets.
The Bike Listening Tour is set in Nebraska and follows him on his journey as he interviews people, bikes from town to town, experiences a terrible mechanical failure, and receives incredible hospitality. Andrew’s goal with his listening tour was to get to know people in rural communities in America and understand how people experience loneliness. The video encourages the viewer to explore the ideals of community and how loneliness may impact them. Watch it above.

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