{"id":348,"date":"2012-07-10T14:08:35","date_gmt":"2012-07-10T18:08:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.wabash.edu\/littlegiants-bigresults\/?p=348"},"modified":"2025-07-08T19:32:54","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T19:32:54","slug":"riley-floyd-13-physical-activity-and-hospitality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/plastics\/2012\/07\/10\/riley-floyd-13-physical-activity-and-hospitality\/","title":{"rendered":"Riley Floyd ’13: Physical Activity and Hospitality"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Jason Bridges '98, Riley Floyd '13<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Riley Floyd \u201913 –<\/em> Last week, I rode 22 miles on a bike and ran a 5k-road race. And that was only Tuesday.<\/p>\n

My internship with Nantucket Bike Tours has been nothing if not active. I\u2019ve learned more about biking and about hospitality than I thought possible. I\u2019ve seen so much of Nantucket that the island legitimately feels like a second home.<\/p>\n

But the crux of this internship isn\u2019t about the great history, the amazing food, or the fantastic people that make this place what it is. The crux of this internship is a small business. Who knew owning your own small business could be so much fun? Jason started Nantucket Bike Tours last year. And 71 (and counting) Trip Advisor reviews later, the business is the number one tour on Nantucket\u2014thanks in no small part to the welcoming, easy going, and fun-loving atmosphere Jason and Courtney create for their customers.<\/p>\n

The business is small: there\u2019re only four of us working. Instead of having revenue projection meetings with anonymous colleagues, we gather around an iMac and talk about QuickBooks printouts. We decide, as a group, what pictures we want to appear on the website, how we want the copy to read, and what aesthetic we want to convey to site visitors. Here, there\u2019s access\u2014to understanding the workings of a small business, to friendships, and to learning more about yourself. And that access can only be found on the ground, in the thick of it\u2014not in a classroom at Wabash or even at a business school.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A good tour isn\u2019t based on how well you know the facts. It\u2019s about how you talk to people. And Jason and Courtney are experts. They\u2019ve taught Carl and I how to adapt to the different people and interests we encounter on tours. They don\u2019t like history? Skip this stop. Averse to hills? Take this route. The fun (and the challenge) of this internship is gauging people: their interests, their enthusiasm, and how well they react to your tour. This business is about people, and that\u2019s why this internship has been such an informative experience.<\/p>\n

Nantucket is an active, vibrant community. We\u2019re here to show those attributes to everyone who takes our tours. We want them to have a good time\u2014to walk away from the tours as if their friend just showed them around a familiar place. That\u2019s what makes Nantucket Bike Tours unique. Engaging with people\u2014talking to them, learning about their interests\u2014is something I\u2019ll do for the rest of my life. NBT pushed me out of my comfort zone in an industry in which I hadn\u2019t had much experience. Because of the lessons I\u2019ve learned here, the skills I\u2019ve honed, and the relationships I\u2019ve formed here, I\u2019ve grown.<\/p>\n

Did I mention I can change a flat?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Riley Floyd \u201913 – Last week, I rode 22 miles on a bike and ran a 5k-road race. And that was only Tuesday. My internship with Nantucket Bike Tours has been nothing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-internships"],"w_featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/plastics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2012\/07\/Riley-and-Jason-867x1024.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/plastics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/plastics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/plastics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/plastics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/plastics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/plastics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1011,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/plastics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348\/revisions\/1011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/plastics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/plastics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/plastics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}