IT support by day, trail escape by weekend - anyone else surviving like this?

Posted by Conniedissolute@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 106 comments

Five years in IT support and I swear if I didn't have mountain biking I'd have lost it completely. There's something about spending 8 hours dealing with "have you tried turning it off and on again" and then hitting a proper technical descent on Saturday morning that just resets your entire brain.

Living in Malta, I'm lucky enough to have some genuinely decent trails within 20 minutes of my front door. Mistra Valley to Wardija is my go-to loop when I need to just disappear for a few hours. Started on a absolutely trashed hardtail and honestly those were some of my best rides. Finally upgraded last year but I still think back to that scraped up bike fondly.

The contrast is almost comedic. Monday to Friday: fluorescent lights, ticket queues, users who somehow deleted their own backups. Saturday morning: dust, limestone, the sound of tyres on loose rock, maybe a quick stop for photos if the light's decent. Sunday: bike maintenance, washing chain lube off my hands, dreading Monday.

Anyone else in a similar boat where the trail is basically your therapy? What's your weekend escape route that keeps you from going absolutely feral at work?

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xCutePoison@reddit

I for one spent the long easter weekend in the mountains snowboarding. Hyped for hiking, cycling and mountainbiking too for sure

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Conniedissolute@reddit (OP)

Snowboarding over Easter is proper timing — Malta's idea of a mountain is a steep hill with a church on top so I'm jealous of that one. Did you get decent conditions?

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xCutePoison@reddit

Egh, season has come to an end that weekend in the alps. Enjoyable nontheless, surfed over a pool of water on the last day.

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smokie12@reddit

M-F escapes: Gym, walk around the village (weather permitting)

Weekend: I'm a glider pilot, so by default I'm at the airfield. I keep a small RV trailer there just for sleeping.

Also, I'm a hobby gardener and do enjoy the fruits of my labor from time to time. Raspberries, Blueberries, some (small) grapes, chili peppers, and the occasional whacky tobaccy.

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Conniedissolute@reddit (OP)

Gliding is properly cool — whole different kind of technical than what I'm used to. The RV trailer setup sounds peaceful in a way my chain-lube-stained hands can't relate to.

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smokie12@reddit

Eh, it's a shitbox. Keeps me warm at night, and that's about it. But the gliding... it's the most fun I had with my pants on.

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Windows-Helper@reddit

I don't bike, but:
I have my cars (which all are old) that always need a bit of attention ('64, '69, '71, '89)
A blast to drive, no screens etc.

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Conniedissolute@reddit (OP)

Classic cars are a solid parallel actually — same hands-on reset, just with more oil changes and fewer pedal strikes.

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Windows-Helper@reddit

Yes, that expresses it very well 👍🏻

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RabidBlackSquirrel@reddit

Same. I have my aircooled 1971 Beetle convertible for long term project/fun car, 1991 Mercedes 300TE 4matic wagon for my daily driver, and 1999 Ford Ranger for weekend warrior/trails/reliable emergency rig.

Not a screen to be found, and all modules can be repaired with a soldering iron. I love it, I have no interest in modern cars. I keep these on the road at any cost (especially the Mercedes).

I get to wrench and solve problems still, but different problems and I get to put my hands on instead of everything being layers of abstraction and software.

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Windows-Helper@reddit

They also sound like fun!
Yes, that is also what I like about those.

Pretty much everything can be repaired by myself and some basic tools (also some understanding / reading the shop manuals)

I also like doing something with my hands and understand the technical side of things instead of lurking around in some useless vendor documentations...

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HayabusaJack@reddit

Which ones? I enjoy dropping the top on my 97 Mustang and heading up into the mountains. :)

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Windows-Helper@reddit

Also very nice 😁 A cabriolet in the summer is very nice 👍🏻 A Mustang would be too thirsty for me here in Germany when daily driving those cars 🤣

In the family we also have a '74 VW bug cabriolet (non original, was converted with a kit)

My cars are: Opel Rekord A '64, 2 x Opel Kadett B '69 & '71 (or sold in the US under the name Buick Kadett) and an old Seat Ibiza ('89, first generation)

All OHV engines with carburetors, choke and contact ignition.

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HayabusaJack@reddit

Hah! That's been a while and on a motorcycle. Back in the late 70's when I lived in Germany I had an Opel for a short time. :)

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rubmahbelly@reddit

I ride MB and work a lot on it. Both keeps me sane.

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_Aaronstotle@reddit

I go crazy if i don’t get out on a long bike ride on the weekends, bike commuting also helps the day feel better

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Conniedissolute@reddit (OP)

Bike commuting's the dream but Malta's drivers would have me as a hood ornament within a week so I'll stick to weekend trail escapes.

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AnDanDan@reddit

Go one step further: I LARP often. Cant have my phone with me in a fantasy setting, and the one time I went to a LARP where my phone could be an in game item I got a Teams message and got to ignore it, because I'm not me, I'm Caleb the teacher who got sucked into hell and is now trying to survive so you can fuck right off with your issue, Oscar.

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Conniedissolute@reddit (OP)

Caleb the teacher ignoring Teams messages while surviving hell is the energy I aspire to.

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MyBrainReallyHurts@reddit

Instead of hiring a gardener, I prefer to spend two hours cutting my grass every weekend.

I go camping several times a year in the warmer months.

I still work on tech while not at work, but only on things that interest me.

If I could, I would sell everything and live in a trailer down by the river.

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Conniedissolute@reddit (OP)

The trailer by the river fantasy is real — every Monday around 10am I'm mentally pricing up camper vans.

There's something to be said for physical work that has an obvious end point though. Grass is cut, done. Ticket queue? Never ending.

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shimoheihei2@reddit

It seems I'm unlike a lot of people on here, in that after 20+ years in IT, I still regularly do IT stuff of my own at home. I self host everything, and still enjoy tinkering with tech, etc.

The difference is that I work with cloud stuff which I'm not a huge fan of. It's only when I get home that I play with stuff I find more interesting like self hosting. I got into IT because I like tech, so I've always been on IRC, writing custom scripts to do stuff, playing with Linux installs, etc. that has never changed.

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Conniedissolute@reddit (OP)

Respect for keeping the spark alive after 20 years — I'm five years in and already distancing myself from anything with a command prompt on weekends. Self hosting sounds satisfying though, ngl.

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HayabusaJack@reddit

40+ years in computers and a homelab that’s larger than the environment at work (number of machines, not storage; I have 114TB of storage, work has 750TB :) ).

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shimoheihei2@reddit

It's amazing how often IT employees have better hardware at home than what their workplace allocates in their budget.

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reverendjb@reddit

Why are you waiting for the weekend? My bike is locked in the bike storage right now. Going to leave the office and head straight to the trails.

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zombie_overlord@reddit

Yes, but on jeep trails instead of bike trails.

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Malbushim@reddit

We want to return to monke

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MetalEnthusiast83@reddit

Not that specifically, but none of my hobbies involve computers

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tdic89@reddit

I used to be IT for work and IT for hobby, especially in the earlier years, but over time I found I was gravitating to my music as the hobby rather than the home lab / personal projects.

I do find some ways of using IT skills in music though, so I’ve never properly escaped 😆

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HayabusaJack@reddit

What are you doing in music? I play guitar and have an on/off band. We’ve done a few “gigs” but mainly just play in the music room or garage.

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tdic89@reddit

Nice! Yeah I was a bedroom player for years until a mate asked me to play guitar with him. We had a short lived band, but it didn’t really go anywhere and covid killed it in the end.

The drummer and I decided to do our own thing, which became a full-fledged originals band playing progressive instrumental rock/metal. I also help run a local heavy metal jam.

Both of these have effectively created a whole new social life for me, I’m very grateful!

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HayabusaJack@reddit

More popular stuff in general. I keep expanding into different songs and such but nothing original. Although I did do a parody song off of a Judas Priest song :) Check out http://llamas.schelin.org

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malikto44@reddit

Some of the absolute best bands I've known never gigged outside their garage.

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kribg@reddit

Don't turn you hobby into a job unless you want a different hobby.....

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tdic89@reddit

Completely agree. Finding a job that lets you do your hobby was fun for a while, but the fun wore off as my job got way more intensive.

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ExceptionEX@reddit

Half of California's IT can be found hiking trails on the weekends, it's almost comical how saturated it was for a while.

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datafox00@reddit

Yep can confirm, about half my team likes to go outdoors.

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Zealousideal_Fly8402@reddit

And the other half is at the gun range...?

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ExceptionEX@reddit

naah, like maybe 10% at the range.

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goingslowfast@reddit

Norway is even more wild for this.

The exodus of vest wearing tech employees to the trails right at work day end is real.

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Conniedissolute@reddit (OP)

California trails sound properly packed then — at least here in Malta I've only got to dodge like three other mad lads and some very confused tourists on rentals. Something about limestone and loose rock that just deletes the entire work week from your brain.

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Aromatic-Cash-2896@reddit

ngl gotta be the same way bro like getting out on the trails is the only vibe

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r_user_21@reddit

https://share.google/7UlhgqH6N5eP1rM2t

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OneSeaworthiness7768@reddit

I’d love to know the ratio of sysadmins versus support/techs on this sub. It often feels like more of a forum for aspirational techs who want to become sysadmins than a place for current sysadmins.

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Vindalfur@reddit

Going home after a work day to spend quality time with my dog is my "zen-place". Even though he's a 9 month old teenager now and a pain in my backside, I still love him to death and love spending time with him. Letting him meet other dogs at the dog park, or going to the wilderness and let him run around, or just a walk in the neighborhood. Just anything else than staring at a monitor.

I had a dog that passed away early 2025, so I had no dog from january - august last year and it hurt so bad. Coming home from work to an empty house... My old dog was with us for 13,5 years. 5 of them while I worked in IT (helpdesk)

I also do a little crossfit or hiit exercise classes, but after getting a puppy those have been around 2-3x a week.

Oh and knitting!

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theEvilQuesadilla@reddit

Give the pooch an extra hug for me, mate!

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Doso777@reddit

Going home after a work day to spend quality time with my dog is my "zen-place".

Spending quality time with a pet or a loved one always helps. Oxytocin is a hell of a drug.

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theEvilQuesadilla@reddit

I can thankfully mostly unwind doing just about anything but yeah, to get a proper reset, I typically do a long bike ride along the local river. It's just so nice to not worry about any technology and just focus on ignoring the exhaustion in my legs.

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entaille@reddit

I think this is a natural and happy way of living for many people - not just IT folk. we all need hobbies that we can pursue after hours, on the weekends - things to look forward to in general. it's nice to get outside and touch grass, be in nature in some way, do something creative and different etc. glad you found yours. I try to play disc golf once a week for the same reason - I love having that activity to look forward to. it actually feels really draining to miss a week.

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Atillion@reddit

25 years in IT here. For me it's music. Nobody at work knows I've made a pretty lucrative side hustle as a musician.. except the two that encountered me in the wild and timidly approached me the next monday ummm, this is weird but do you play the banjo?

My response.. I don't answer questions without a lawyer

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redyellowblue5031@reddit

Mtb, kitesurfing, hiking, really anything outdoors with friends and family.

I’m glad that part of me never left as I grew up, I just want to go play outside.

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AirCaptainDanforth@reddit

Moved to OR during the pandemic and never looked back. The trails in the PNW are amazing!

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Empath1999@reddit

I’m always on the trails too, but for hiking and rock climbing. IT by day, hiking and extreme sports on the weekend.

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HairGrowsTooFast@reddit

Cycling is what keeps me sane. Used to be mostly mountain biking, now almost exclusively gravel and exploring the city streets.

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oamo@reddit

Spring to fall I escape into fishing. Winter i mostly drink alcohol to cope. I live close to the arctic circle

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RikiWardOG@reddit

not a mtn bike - feel too old to get into it tbh wish I did when I was younger. But I do ride a motorcycle to relax my crazy adhd brain and love hiking/camping/gardening. Basically everything that involves not a screen and touching grass.

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MilkAnAlmond@reddit

I do remote systems administration from a van full time. I'm parked on top of a cliff face with a 400' drop into a canyon on one side and a view of the La Sal range on the other. Weekends-only recreation can suck it. Office life can suck it. The folks I work with who come to weekday meetings with descriptions of all the video game achievements they got over the weekend make me want to vomit.

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Master-IT-All@reddit

I'm on Vancouver Island, that's basically the weekend for half the population here. The other half is divided between hiking and boating.

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Wolfram_And_Hart@reddit

Hiking, camping, or wood working… those are your options.

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cdoublejj@reddit

it's worse these days cause GUIs and stuff is vibe coded and not "accessibility" friendly with hidden swipe gestures and anti consumer business practices and built in popups and the general over inflated push to technify everything, makes things harder as a whole.

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speaksoftly_bigstick@reddit

I have such a long (neverending?) list of things to get done, that I've finally embraced them as my way to switch gears, as it were.

The new liner for our swimming pool just got installed yesterday so the kids are super stoked to be able to swim in the backyard this year.

I trimmed our lemon tree (lemon tree thorns are no joke dude, like.. and inch or longer, absolute needles too) yesterday finally, got my T-posts and cattle panels for a fence to keep chickens out of the main yard (where the pool is).

Gonna build a free standing deck extension off the back of the existing pool deck, that has its own electrical, grill, a small rinse / bathroom / change room area and seating.

Gotta install the new pool filter this weekend.

I finished rewiring and fixing my trailer last weekend and finally got it registered / street legal. So I can now get our golf cart out and to a friend's for battery work.

Once the golf cart is out (and presumably working afterward), I can finally get to fixing my commuter car and stop driving my truck to work 70miles 3 days a week.

C'est la vie!

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Conniedissolute@reddit (OP)

Honestly that's a solid approach - leaning into the to-do list instead of fighting it sounds way healthier than what I do (staring at my own list whilst actively choosing bike over responsibilities). The pool thing is proper exciting though, kids going mad for it I imagine.

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Maro1947@reddit

I only realised lemon trees had thorns after the fact.....

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Warronius@reddit

As a citizen of Malta, do you love Gooseo?

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thaneliness@reddit

100%. I went as far to get a starlink, if it’s going to be a nice weekend I dip out early on Friday afternoon, keep the starlink rolling as I drive out of town.

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natefrogg1@reddit

It’s backcountry snow sports in the winter and trail running those same areas in the summer for me, music and my family, those are all major therapy for me. I come up with some of my best ideas out in the wilderness, I think part of it has something to do with the lessened about of radio waves and interference, like a signal to noise ratio

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google_fu_is_whatIdo@reddit

I ride. But I build too.

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ItsToxsec@reddit

I do a lot of work on cars and wood cutting/splitting in my off time (when I'm not drowning in home projects). Currently also trying to get into FPV drones and RC drifting as well

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leroywhat@reddit

Two big things: power lifting, this helps distill the rage and it only comes out through picking up heavy things. Buying cookbooks from chefs I like and making things I've never tried before. Right now I'm going through Rick Martinez's Mi Cocina. Love impressing my wife with cooking and I love trying new recipes and dishes. Especially if I make it on Sunday, I work in the office on Mondays and I can bring in delicious leftovers.

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-GenlyAI-@reddit

Is every sysadmin on here actually help desk?

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r0cksh0x@reddit

Mountain biking, road biking, working on the bikes in the garage. It’s my therapy away from the screen

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mortalwombat-@reddit

For me, it's primarily mountaineering and rock climbing. A lot of climbers are IT people (Engineers, Geologists, and Healthcare, too). Most climbers also ski and/or mountain bike as well. But yes, getting outside in any form, seems to be the unique kind of therapy we need.

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h9xq@reddit

Kayaking and riding four wheelers.

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Buddy_Kryyst@reddit

Taekwondo 3 nights a week and Mountain biking on the weekends, keep me sane. Anything that requires being fully in the moment is a fantastic escape.

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Human-Secretary-8853@reddit

I like riding a bike through the country roads I live near in warmer weather. I listen to music most consistently as a way to reset. Video games sparingly in warmer weather.

Have been experimenting with: an electric guitar, but I find the learning process too technical for now so I’ve just been playing with it by ear. HAM radio, despite what I just said about guitar. My interest in ham radio is more related to my interest in disaster preparedness than shear joy.

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19610taw3@reddit

Yep. My hobbies do NOT involve technology.

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jackfinished@reddit

For me it's hunting for about 6 months pretty heavy duty then camping with the family. Hiking/scouting in the off-season. Mostly do archery hunting but will throw in the old muzzle loader or rifle now and then.

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jenningschris@reddit

I’m not IT, just a homelabber. My bike wall and nearly full bike shop setup in the garage would be the equivalent of some of your racks, though. Plus, I live in Bentonville, AR, so I’m literally a backyard away from 100+ miles of trail.

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ThemB0ners@reddit

The IT people that have a whole network and automation stack at home too blow my mind. Fuck that shit man, I was probably only 5 years into my career where reach the point where I do not anything to do with technology outside of work.

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WanderinginWA@reddit

I took my E-Bike out on Sunday and did 12 miles in the hills. It's great.

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twolfhawk@reddit

Id love to do this, but with oncall every other week,I can only disconnect once every 2 weeks and that is for house chores..if the weather is good.

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xSecondSalt@reddit

Ideally you’re being comped that’s 26 weeks fully on where you don’t have your own life.

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twolfhawk@reddit

No comp. Salary. I used to get extra pto for it...not anymore

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xSecondSalt@reddit

Fight back. (This market sucks. Easier said than done. )

I remember that life. It’s brutal. Hang in there.

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twolfhawk@reddit

The micromanaging is making my life hell now. Add this to your ticket, make sure you update every 4 hours on EVERY ticket. Must include "next steps" even if closing

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xSecondSalt@reddit

Sounds like you’re working at my last shop. Solidarity for sure. That’s a very suffocating work environment.

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twolfhawk@reddit

My only solace is that im not getting sexually harassed daily here. Last place the owner kept calling me gay, said "you have a small penis" and the jock commentary just kept coming.

I still have nightmares.

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xSecondSalt@reddit

Thats insane and I just hope you keep it close that you are worth more than a job in the modern hellscape. So easy to let that stuff eat you alive.

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E8zPQrX7rwkd@reddit

The weather is improving so I’ll likely switch from commuting by train to commuting by motorbike. This saves me about 15-20 minutes on the way into work, but the journey home can sometimes take an extra hour or two.

Living in Switzerland, taking the long way home is rarely a bad thing.

And then, come weekend, it’ll be hiking trails and lakes. No mountain bikes for me. I’m too unfit and I feel like buying an e-bike would be cheating!

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AtarukA@reddit

E-bikes are fine if you don't use them like a motorbike.

I use an e-bike to commute to and from work, I set it to lowest assistance and it's still a workout.

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taH_pagh_taHbe@reddit

why does this read like AI

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HayabusaJack@reddit

Nowadays I consider everything AI. Videos of lost cats. Long text posts. 95% of the time I just keep scrolling.

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Doso777@reddit

Walking is my therapy. Had a cool 6 hour hike over the weekend. Good weather, lots of sunshine and walking near a stream. That kinda turns my nervous system off and again :)

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ciabattabing16@reddit

I find the frequent and unexpected violence of ice hockey a few nights a week to be what keeps me from punching my way through the org chart to a 5-10 sentence.

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HayabusaJack@reddit

The work “problem” are the people, not the tech. Management with weird and inconsistent priorities, coworkers with their own oddities, and customers who have PHDs but keep deleting critical files off their laptops.

“If it wasn’t for users, this would be fun.”

So at home, I do more tech stuff. Automation, Gitops, Kubernetes, CI/CD, Cloud, etc. Things I can’t do at work.

In addition, I also own a tabletop game store. Humorously interaction with actual customers is fun. Last night a family came in looking for a game. “What game can we get that Dad would enjoy?” And I asked Dad, “why don’t you like games?” He answered that they were too competitive so I pointed him to cooperative games like Pandemic and spent 20 minutes talking about it and the adjacent Pandemic type games. After they left, I popped out to the Steve Jackson website to order some Munchkin games.

Feral? Having a game store is preparing me to quit my day job. Not quite there yet but close. Pretty close. :D

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dat510geek@reddit

Jobs round the house, spend time with the kids, get outdoors hiking, bike riding, swimming. Anything not texh related. Your kids need non screentime too so always ensure you follow suit. Rolling around in grass with kids dog etc (and better half other times)

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a_sist@reddit

trail running and mountain biking every other day keeps me sane also 👍

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FallenLucifiel@reddit

I'm a mountain biker too, but where I am, it's only small hills and mostly XC tracks. It does help in mending the soul though, on that I agree~

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xSecondSalt@reddit

It’s why I live where I live. I’m also a mother. When I’m off the clock that’s it. Time is not a renewable resource.

The little one and I logged 400 miles last year in our local area.

We work to live not live to work.

Tho I’m still a hobbiest with a small lab environment. And a gamer.

Everything in balance.

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lesusisjord@reddit

My job is not my identity. I don’t require validation or recognition for it other than a decent paycheck every couple weeks.

I work from home and paid six figures, but am probably leaving a lot of money on the table to have a WFH job that is super flexible in a diverse company with a great culture who insists on “family first.”

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bobs143@reddit

Everyone needs to decompress in some way. Living IT every waking moment only leads to burnout.

I always encourage people to use personal time for themselves. You are more than what you do at work.