Meet the Urban AdvenTours Team!
Every one of our staff members loves bikes and offers a unique perspective on bicycling in Boston and its surrounding areas. With such diverse backgrounds, they can offer a multitude of information on just about anything related to Boston or bicycles. From where to get the best pizza to recommending the best bike for your cycling needs, someone on our team can answer any question you throw at us.
Andrew P.
Chief Wheel Officer-
Thanks for stopping by our website and seeing what Urban AdvenTours is all about. As the Chief Wheel Officer of Urban AdvenTours, my goal is to get everyone riding bikes. We do it by offering quality rentals, selling and servicing bikes, and providing an awesome experience on our tours. All the guides you will ride with here are passionate cyclists, who use the bike for transportation and recreation, and love showing off our wonderful city by bicycle.
Ok, so you want a little more info on me? Waterford High School football captain, to Wesleyan University Psychology/Sociology degree, to recruiter, bartender, world traveler, accountant, marketing manager for Anheuser-Busch, to BioBus driving fool. It is nice to be doing something I sincerely believe in, providing a great work environment for my crew and a great experience for our guests.
Minno Z.
General Manager-
Minno grew up in the hills of Vermont and his favorite place to ride is Pine Hill Park, near Killington VT. You will find Minno biking, working on bikes, sailing, enjoying good food, and trying to make people laugh. He learned how to ride a bike without training wheels at the age of two. Ever since he has lived life along side his bicycles and sometimes other people. He enjoys riding fixed gear the most, but is always willing to explore new places on two wheels!
At Urban Cycles, Minno likes to boost moral, encourage others, and work as a team to make sure everyone stays on their two wheels. He hopes that throughout his life, he can help reduce climate change by spreading the bike bug!
Justin H.
Head Mechanic-
Justin moved to Boston at the age of six weeks, living on Beacon Hill until the age of six, interrupted by a year and a half in London, when he moved to the suburbs. He has lived in greater Boston ever since, with the exception of college in New York City.
He has worked as a software engineer, general contractor, fish monger and, finally, bicycle mechanic for the past seven years. He is a year-round bicycle commuter, hiker, sea kayaker and enthusiastic amateur cook.
James G.
Mechanic-
James grew up riding bikes in Northern Vermont. He has been a professional bike mechanic since 2018. He thinks back flips are cool because they are and that puppies are cute. He also is studying violin making at the North Bennett School in Boston.
His passion is mountain biking, but since moving to Boston, he is eager to learn more about the city cycle experience. You can catch James cracking a dry joke, having greasy hands, and complaining about SRAM.
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Greg is a Chicagoan by birth. After attending the Univ. of Arizona, he lived in southern CA before moving to Boston about the same time as Larry Bird. He has been biking the streets of Boston ever since. Greg’s favorite bike trips include hostelling along the Pacific coast, slickrock trail in Moab and the bike path to Madaket beach. He is actually celebrating his 50th anniversary of being off training wheels.
When not riding Greg enjoys books, music, beer and a day at the beach. After ten years as a stockbroker he spent 15 years in the bicycle business on Nantucket Island. When guiding the city tour he enjoys telling tales of the old days at Fenway Park and the Boston Garden. Greg resides in Jamaica Plain and is happy to recommend his favorite restaurants around the city.
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Born in Philadelphia, Pell has lived in Boston since 1970, commuting by bike for 54 years. He’s
really into Boston Architecture, and loves sharing his favorite buildings with visitors. Pell
recently retired from 40 years as a commercial animator, designer, and teacher. He loves
spending more time doing fewer things, like riding bikes!
And he loves sharing this great quotation from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock
Holmes:“When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous,
when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down
the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.”
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Len grew up in the Bronx, but has been happy to call Brookline home for the past 13 years. His favorite spot in Boston is the Blue Hills Reservation….so much to do, so little time. While he loves Chamber and blues music; reading non-fiction and biographies, he’s also a wild man, into rugby, basketball, road and mountain biking, backpacking, Nordic backcountry skiing and motorcycle touring.
Yep he’s into both kinds of bikes. His best vacation ever was a six week motorcycle tour through western Europe and England. Len has also traveled the world including the Galapagos, Venezuela, Monaco, Belgium, Denmark, Tanzania, Japan, Hong Kong, China and many more.
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Born and raised a few miles from Urban AdvenTours Shop just outside Boston, Bob learned at an early age that two wheels are a fun, efficient way to navigate the city. After a few decades in the corporate sales world Bob now enjoys meeting the global visitors to Boston and sharing the sites and pleasures of cycling the city. When not in the city Bob enjoys mountain and off road riding, great New England food, and travel.
Skiing when the snow falls. Favorite bike memories are riding a new “big bike” to school in 2nd grade, a few Europe cycling trips, and mountain biking New England trails. Boston trails and streets will always remain a favorite. He’ll be happy to share many of the great known and hidden food and beverage spots in and around Boston.
Gary R.
Tour Guide-
Born and raised in small-town Indiana, then off to college at Miami University (Ohio, not south Florida), Gary and his wife came to the Boston area and never went back to the Midwest. He loves New England’s contrast of historic villages, seashore, mountains and the great city of Boston and all seen from the seat of a bicycle whenever he can. He explains to all of our guests that he came to UA on a company outing several years ago and it turned into the best part time job ever as a tour guide.
Gary also volunteers as bike support for the Boston Marathon, has crisscrossed America leading youth bicycle tours and each year he and his wife explore some place in Europe by bicycle. While he loves his old-school steel touring bike, his most recent purchase is the first bike for his 3-year old granddaughter!
Austin K.
Tour Guide-
Austin grew up in Lexington, MA riding the Minuteman Trail from a young age. He has since spent time living in Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and London, and loves to explore new places by bike.
He moved back to Boston in 2012 and gets around the city on his bike as much as he can. Outside of Urban Adventours, Austin works as a freelance musician and can be seen performing at solo and dueling piano shows all over New England!
Ken A.
Tour Guide-
Now entering his seventh season as a UA Tour Guide, Ken has been cycling in and around Greater Boston for more than 25 years. He also enjoys trail running at the Walden reservation and swimming in all different locales. He likes running in Boston and has completed ten Boston Marathons among many other road races in New England and beyond. As a longtime dedicated Boston sports fan (with institutional knowledge of his teams) he enjoys sports and other trivia questions. Ken is a fan of films and enjoys seeing movies on a big screen. Ken enjoys spending nice weather times in mid-Coast Maine where outdoor activities abound. As a former marketing professional, he also prides himself on taking awesome photos.
Sabin W.
Tour Guide-
While practicing law for many years in Boston, Sabin Willett developed a deep interest in the history of Boston and Cambridge. He had long enjoyed cycling, having done bike trips in Europe, New Zealand, the Pacific Northwest, and locally, and cycling regularly with a bike club in southwestern Vermont. After retirement, he joined the guide team at Urban AdvenTours. He lives in the Back Bay with his wife.
Costa L.
Tour Guide-
Costa is a native of Cambridge and attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School. He is a graduate of Norwich University during the first ice age. Costa has spent the last 37 years in the Information Technology space as a sales person and consultant. As a n inner city youth Costa learned to ski with a Nonprofit called Youth Enrichment Services. Costa volunteered teaching for ten years. In the early 90’s Costa started teaching part time at Loon Mountain and he is still teaching part time. In 2003 Costa got turned on to the Pan Mass Challenge and he still rides every year. He participates in many other charity rides and rides around 3,000 miles a year. Costa loves to coach, teach and share his love of the City of Boston.
Jon T.
Tour Guide-
Jonathan moved to Boston as a young adult and quickly discovered that the best way to get around town was on a bike: faster and more reliable than the T (Boston’s mass transit system), and easier to dodge traffic jams and find convenient affordable parking than in a car. When asked about biking in the winter, he shrugs and says “if it’s not too cold to go skiing, it’s not too cold to ride a bike. And they clear the snow off the roads pretty quickly.”.
Jonathan discovered Urban AdvenTours while looking for a bike shop near his downtown workplace, and when it came time to consider a career change, he jumped at the chance to share his learned experience of biking in Boston and his love of Boston history and geography.
Lee N.
Tour Guide-
Lee has a thirty-year history of riding on the roads of Massachusetts. She has ridden long distances on skinny tires to raise money to fight AIDS, MS, and in support of the hunger-relief efforts of the Boston Area Gleaners.
Lee’s favorite long-distance routes include strategic stops for ice cream. Since graduating law school, Lee has been a year-round bike commuter, logging about 4,000 miles a year in almost all weather. Lee has also run five marathons (including Boston in ’13 and ’14) and completed a handful of triathlons.
Sam C.
Sales Associate-
A gravel bike enthusiast now entering his fourth season with Urban Cycles, Sam most enjoys helping the shop’s customers stay on their bikes or putting them on a new bike. He has worked different jobs within the Boston bike industry as well. He’s lived in the Boston area for 25 years and seen first-hand the improvement to Boston’s biking infrastructure. Sam recently road the rail trail from Pittsburgh, PA to Washington DC and plans to do the Empire State Trail in New York in the near future.
Winn G.
Tour Guide-
Winn hails from the Bluegrass State. She has been in Boston for over 20 years. Now a triathlon enthusiast, she is always looking to get in junk miles on any bike with green fenders. If she isn’t biking, she is practicing changing flats, swimming, running or drinking bourbon.
Enjoys encouraging people to ride safely around the city and sharing Boston facts along the way. Her favorite training ride from downtown is to Wachusett Mountain and back-106 miles.
Craig C. (Alumnus)
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As he’ll tell you on his tours, Craig hails from the small town of Temple, Maine, and moved down to Boston in 2008 to attend Boston University. He could talk about Boston all day, from the history, to the little-known facts, to the weird things that almost no one remembers anymore.
He has an innate sense of direction gained from exploring hundreds of roads and trails in the state of Massachusetts. He also enjoys homebrewing beer and riding his motorcycle.
Alex D. (Alumnus)
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A proud owner of the Cycling Merit Badge, Alex was born and raised in Concord MA, a town rich with American History and beautiful bike rides. Alex graduated from Hamilton College in 2016 with a BA in Geosciences. While in school, he ran the campus bike shop, and raced with the college cycling team. Alex also led long-distance bike tours for high-school aged youth for several summers. These tours included various week-long trips in and around New England, three-week tours from Eugene, OR to San Francisco, a cross-country tour from Charleston, SC to San Diego, and a cross-Europe tour from Amsterdam to Venice.
In 2019, Alex rode his bicycle solo from Boston to Seattle (shown above). Alex hopes to share his passions by becoming an educator in the field of Earth Sciences and Outdoor Education – all the while supporting cycling in any way possible.
Geoff T. (Alumnus)
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Geoff was born in San Francisco, but grew up in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taipei. While studying Urban Planning and Environmental Studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, Geoff started the bike club and bike shop at his university.
His love for riding bikes started at a very young age and having worked for a bike share company in Los Angeles, CA, Geoff is determined to get more people on bikes.
Lexie R. (Alumna)
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Lexie is a Massachusetts native who was first drawn to biking in an attempt to live a more environmentally sustainable lifestyle. While studying environmental science and art history at Dickinson College and spending a semester abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark, Lexie discovered that two-wheeled transportation is her favorite way to get around.
Currently, Lexie’s pursing graduate degrees in Urban Planning and Food Systems at Tufts University and spending her commute and free time exploring the roads of Greater Boston by bike. Aside from biking, Lexie’s passionate about cooking, agriculture, and art.
Mike G. (Alumnus)
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Michael grew up in the Boston suburbs, graduate from the University of Vermont in Business Administration and has lived in Ireland, Los Angeles, Maui and NYC. He has cycle-toured British Isles, Seattle to LA, Hawaii, New Zealand and Australia.
When not giving tours, repairing bicycles or giving restaurant tips, he enjoys media editing, arboretums and getting lost. His favorite ride is Haleakala (ascending and descending).
Jack F. (Alumnus)
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As a kid, Jack’s day started with a bike ride before school; delivering morning newspapers daily to more than forty homes in the area. Keeping with that morning routine as an adult, he’s enjoyed years of early morning road rides with groups large and small along the coastlines and byways of the south shore and Cape Cod. Although road riding is still a joy, mountain biking both day and night has been his thrill for the past two decades. The flow of Massasoit State Park in Taunton, MA and the technical challenges of Borderland State Park in Easton, MA are two of Jack’s favorite places to ride. Jack also enjoys trail hikes with his dogs, downhill skiing, snowmobiling, riding jet-skis, and attending live music performances.