Backroads: Tom Hale. How a desk worker became a trailblazer in active travel
How I Built This with Guy Raz
- Published
- November 10, 2025
- Duration
- 50:50
- Summary source
- description
- Last updated
- Jun 24, 2026
Discusses In his 20’s, working an office job he hated, Tom woke up in the middle of the night with a wild idea…
Summary
In his 20’s, working an office job he hated, Tom woke up in the middle of the night with a wild idea: why not take people on bike trips? No playbook. No investors. Just a sense that he could make a living doing what he loved. His first trip? Four guests riding through Death Valley, pitching their own tents. From there, Backroads scaled to hotels, while we…
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Show notes
In his 20’s, working an office job he hated, Tom woke up in the middle of the night with a wild idea: why not take people on bike trips? No playbook. No investors. Just a sense that he could make a living doing what he loved. His first trip? Four guests riding through Death Valley, pitching their own tents. From there, Backroads scaled to hotels, while weathering a bike burglary, a van rollover in the desert, 9/11, the Great Recession, and a pandemic that brought tourism to a halt. Today, Backro