Member Profile: Cory Benson

Check out Cory’s website: bikerumor.com

Where are you from?
I am from a small city near Washington, D.C. called Frederick, Maryland. It’s the first city outside
Washington, D.C. that’s not a suburb.
What’s a fun or interesting fact about where you’re from?
The region is very closely tied to Chesapeake Bay and seafood and it’s basically the only thing I miss from growing up: fresh crabs, oysters…

What do you do?
I am a cycling journalist. I report on new bikes, test them, and travel around Europe riding and reporting about new bikes.

What are you currently working on that you’re most excited about?
I am looking forward to riding in new places with friends I meet a few times a year. The next project is called “Rapha Prestige Bohemia” and is a team competition along the German/Czech border. The region is called “Saxon Switzerland” [on the German side] and across the border [on the Czech side] it’s “Bohemian Switzerland”.

Why did you choose to work from Prague?
I married a Czech woman in the USA, it was a good opportunity to return to Czech Republic.
It’s good to work in a lower stress environment. Having kids and raising them is easier and more
relaxed here.
 
Why did you choose to work from a coworking space?
I am not productive at home. I need peer pressure to be motivated. I also needed a place to bring
professional meetings. When I started to work in Locus I had a very different job, I was an architect so
I needed a more professional environment both to attract and maintain developer client relationships.
 
Why did you choose Locus in particular?
The location was a big deal. I started in the former Locus location and I really needed a professional environment and it worked well for the needs I had at that time.
What describes the kind of location-independent work you do?
I work for a company based in the US and I manage a group of remote freelancers in Europe. I am a remote manager. I am definitely based in Prague but I travel out of Prague 30 or 40 times a year both for work and for fun.
Before you joined a coworking space, what were the biggest challenges of doing that kind of work?
One is trying to strike a balance between work and play. Traveling is tiring, I need to recover but don’t
have time for it. Work traveling can be very entertaining but time consuming. Before joining a coworking
space, the biggest challenge was separating the work and play: riding a bike for fun or riding a bike as a job.
 
How have you overcome those challenges?
By separating work and home physically. Commuting to the office by bike gives me the chance to move
away from the home life and be ready for the work day.
 
What is the main benefit you’ve gotten working from Locus (not already mentioned above)?
Having a place that is reliable. Here, I don’t have to worry about it when I come back from traveling
or from the weekend. I can just come to Locus, sit down, and start working.
What’s the best thing about living and working in Prague from the perspective of being a location-independent professional?
It’s a city which is central in Europe and it’s really easy to drive to the Alps or Belgium. The airport is
good and it takes me few hours by plane to go anywhere in Europe, which is good for my work. I can
get on my bike and be completely out of the city within half an hour, Prague ends relatively quickly.
 
Any other interesting projects you’re working on that you haven’t mentioned already?
I have an upcoming trip to Mallorca, then a road trip to Switzerland, then I’ll be in Tenerife in November.
These are all work trips.
 
What is a fun fact about you?
I don’t have only one job: I was a stonemason first, now I am a journalist, I am also a licensed architect. I was the first green building LEED accredited professional in the Czech Republic and I teach building technologies at International Architecture University in Prague.