We have the knowledge and experience to provide you with a unique opportunity.

Joel (1944-2008), who founded the company in 2001, led hundreds of bike tours all over New York City and beyond. He was a native New Yorker, who left the Big Apple only to pursue a degree in law at the University of Chicago. Rather than practice law, he taught Constitutional Law for decades at a highly competitive public high school in the Bronx. He even commuted to work year-round by bicycle! He had the personality and communication skills too, having been named Teacher of the Year at his school in 1995 and the top law-related educator in New York State in 1996 by a committee of the New York State Bar Association. In an article in the weekly New York Resident newspaper, he was described as “the consummate guide, part borscht-belt emcee, part social studies teacher, knowledgeable, and radiating real New York attitude and energy.”

Joel's legacy - a love of cycling and a passion for showing people the city that formed him and his ambitions - lives on through Bike the Big Apple.

Richard, a native of Brooklyn, is also a retired New York City public high school teacher. He taught Spanish and English as a Second Language. Richard’s specialty is charming his way into places that amaze the most adventurous New Yorkers. Whether it’s a bean sprout farm in Chinatown, or a clothing factory that makes sweaters for birds, Richard’s 24/7 explorations will give you a sense of this city “down to the core” of the Big Apple. Besides riding here, Richard has ridden across the US, through Europe, China, Australia, and Latin America. He has also pedaled from New York to Alaska, a total of 6,300 miles (10,000 kms). Richard teaches bike safety to New York City students and does teacher training for language teachers in the US and China, spending a couple of weeks each summer in Beijing. He recently appeared on Japanese television (NTVIC) as part of a news special, as he led the Secret Streets tour!

Jesse comes to the Big Apple from Maryland. While a student at St. Mary’s College in Maryland, he was selected to attend a soccer camp in England. He played briefly for Oldham’s youth team, but eventually came home - our gain, England's loss! Back at college, he researched the history of the bicycle as part of his history major, completing an award-winning paper entitled: “How the Bicycle ’Paved’ the Way for The Automobile Age.” He spent his college summers bike messengering, and upon graduating, moved to NYC. Here, he continued his bike messengering and his hands-on experimentation with one of the world’s most exciting and prolific inventions. He has biked throughout the United States, as well as Spain and the Dominican Republic. In the latter, as he and his girlfriend explored the countryside by bike, he amazed the locals, as gringos were expected to be seen only on motorized transportation! In a recent article in the Courier Mail of Brisbane, Australia, he was described as a “bright young guide” who “retains his enthusiasm” even though he has done tours many times before. Jesse loves exploring the ever-surprising Big Apple, while simultaneously sharing it with adventurous and curious travelers like yourself!

Pat has worked as a bike messenger for three years in Washington D.C. and New York City; his humility and curiousity turned a back-breaking job into a dream occupation. Currently he is working toward a Masters degree in English Literature. He enjoys writing and reading poetry about and throughout this diverse and intriguing city. He has toured the west of Ireland, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Long Island on extensive bicycle trips. Last summer, he and a friend towed their dog, Frita, from NYC up to the Canadian border with their bikes. It was an inspirational and eye-opening experience for the New York puppy. His bicycle, “Gibco” (a 1985 Bianchi), has logged over 30,000 miles and is well-known to hot-dog vendors and dumpling houses across Manhattan and Brooklyn. He looks forward to sharing a slice of New York City with you.

Johannes - Born in rural Austria to parents whose courtship depended in no small part on a bicycle - father’s Volkswagen beetle was still several years in the future - Johannes still recounts with a moist eye those years of childhood bliss spinning his first hand-me-down wheels. Neither countless crashes on gravel roads, nor the fact that biking on the family farm always felt uphill both ways, could sour his love for the bicycle, though this attachment could get severely tested by strong and steady headwinds, like the ones one encounters when going the wrong way on the incomparably beautiful Donauufer (Danube banks) bikeway. Johannes studied Cultural Anthropology in Vienna but in 1992 he traded the rolling hills of the Vienna Woods for a life and wife in Gotham City. On this side of the Atlantic he had to bide his time working in the office of a law firm for seven years before the doctors diagnosed restless legs; it was time to saddle up again. He signed up with BTBA in 2005 and only old age shall pry him from his handlebars ever again. When he is not cycling under the banner of BTBA, Johannes explores the Asphalt Jungle from a slightly different vantage point: as rooftop gardener from the green oases perched up high on the luxury apartment buildings where red-tailed hawks dare....

Click to see what Levi is doing here!

Levi moved to Manhattan in 2003, and has been hanging onto his rent-controlled East Village apartment for dear life ever since. Over that time period he has had 10 different roommates (11 counting his dog, Frita). His hobbies include: carpentry, problem solving, home and clothing repair, dog-grooming, basketball, watching the New York Mets, cooking extravagant meals, model fabrication, buying fish and produce in Chinatown, ironing out logistical nightmares, and of course cycling. His urban cycling is split between the laid back pace of Bike The Big Apple tours, and the frenetic cadence of a Manhattan bike messenger, a position he has held off and on for six years. As a bike messenger, Levi has developed a love for: knowing the exact location of every possible street address in Manhattan, locking and unlocking his bike very quickly, exploring for new restrooms, and being able to complete a crossword puzzle done entirely in elevators and reception areas. He spent all of 2007 applying to law schools, only to decide in 2008 that law school was not for him. This indecisiveness stemmed from his love for a good argument mixed with his extreme fear of sitting at a desk and being indoors all day. It is unclear what the future holds for Levi, but at the moment he strives to be the best New York City tour guide he can be.

Marc, a second-generation member of the Bike the Big Apple crew, has been doing rides with the company since 2002. For a few years, his time was split between bike tours and his other career as an engineer. He commuted to the office by bicycle year-round. In doing so during the winter months, he learned the often-underappreciated value of a good, thick beard. In 2008, he escaped his indoor world of engineering to focus on his passions - cycling and New York! Marc has toured extensively through rainy Flanders, the rainy Netherlands, suprisingly rainy California, and - of course - the always dry, sunny and lovely greater New York area. Less extensively, he has pedaled through the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Ottowa, and Montreal. If you're very lucky, on one of his tours, you may be exposed to another one of his passions, singing.

Come join us for a unique tour! Find out yourself why many of our customers exclaim, “Who would've thought biking in NYC would be the high point of a city visit?”