Bike Tour Guides

A native of upstate New York and retired Army helicopter pilot, Mark came to Wilderness Voyageurs in 2020 with six years of bike tour guiding experience. Following his military service, Mark bounced around the U.S. teaching high school, working as a personal trainer and running coach, and fixing bikes at the local bike store as a mechanic. When he’s not leading tours, Mark enjoys training for triathlons and traveling with his wife.

Nic has always been a professional guide — first on rivers, then rock climbing, hiking, mountain biking and road cycling. She has over 20,000 touring miles in the saddle (38 states plus Canada) on short trips, long trips & six times across the country. She’s also been a writer almost as long, focused on outdoor adventure & fitness and author of five guidebooks. When she’s not on the bike, Nic performs tour manager duties from her dog sits in Santa Fe or from the road in her camper van.

Jesse comes from a long career of outdoor guiding and management! He joined team Wilderness Voyageurs in 2021 as a guide and tour manager!

Jason is from the Washington, D.C. area and currently lives in Arlington, VA with his wife and two teenage daughters. His background is in culinary work, and he was a pastry chef for a number of years before opening his own chocolate shop. He recently sold the chocolate business after 16 years and is now shifting gears (pun intended) career-wise. He currently works part-time at a local bike shop, does a little bit of freelance cooking and will be guiding a variety of tours for Wilderness Voyageurs! He is active in the outdoors, mainly with cycling (road, gravel, and mountain) but he also loves backcountry skiing, hiking, flyfishing, cooking, and watching Nats baseball.

Heidi lives in Columbus Ohio with her partner Jeff and best good dog Rocky. She has three grown children and two grandkids. She is an avid cyclist, certified mountain bike instructor and racer. She also runs her own mountain bike instruction business providing individual lessons, clinics and camps. When not guiding or managing tours for Wilderness Voyageurs she enjoys playing with the grands, travel, gardening, cooking, painting and of course riding bikes!

Paul lives in Elmira, NY where he’s owned a bicycle shop for nearly 40 years. He’s a lifelong cyclist with a passion for touring and helping others on tour. He’s led tours and managed mobile mechanical support for tours large and small for over a decade. The Finger Lakes and Erie Canal areas of New York State are his backyard. Living in the area, knowing the roads around the Lakes, and traveling the Canal for so many years makes him a bit of an expert on the area. Ask him anything, if he doesn’t know the answer he’ll make up something good!

P.A. hails from the great state of PA. currently living in her hometown of Pittsburgh. Being outdoors is her passion – she is a self-proclaimed “Outdoor Adventure Specialist” for all seasons. An accomplished skier, she spent many winters as a trainer for the National Ski Patrol and discovered her love for teaching and is now a ski instructor at a regional resort. She also plans ski trips for groups because she loves to travel. When learning to ride her first two-wheel bike she remembers being covered with bruises and road rash for an entire summer. Biking has become her go-to fair weather activity along with paddleboarding. At just 5’2”, what she lacks in height she makes up for in energy and enthusiasm for sharing the outdoors with others. Her employment video for WV was on the benefits of smiling and she looks forward to sharing the bikeways and smiles with you on your next bike trip! Happy Trails!

Rich and his family live in Lancaster County, PA – his photo shows some of the rolling hills of this agriculturally focused area! After graduating from Penn State, Rich listened to the logical part of his brain (really his wallet) and went into a technology career. However, his heart has always been with being outdoors and active- triathlons, skiing, mountain biking, kayaking, traveling, and motorcycling are all activities Rich loves. Additionally, he now teaches scuba diving, is starting an apiary, does trail runs with his dog, and guides bicycle tours for Wilderness Voyageurs.

Rachel is a native of Tuscaloosa, Alabama but has spent much of her life exploring the mountains of Colorado and California on bikes, in a kayak, and on skis! She now lives in Friendsville, Maryland.

Gary Smith remembers his first 10-speed Flamboyant Lime Schwinn Varsity bike a long time ago. Many bikes later and bike adventures in over 28 states and 5 continents, Gary now enjoys more biking time as a retired Pennsylvania State Park employee. Decades of inquisitiveness have filled his head with history, trivia and some very dry humor. He can help you enjoy your bike exploration adventure! Gary also travels domestically and internationally by faster conveyances as a volunteer bone marrow courier for the National Marrow Donor Program (Be The Match). He donated his marrow in 2000 and his recipient in Sydney, Australia is now 21 years+ leukemia free.

James remembers building tree houses next to a BMX track as a youth in High Ridge, MO, but can’t seem to recall growing up.  After a journalism degree landed him in logistics, and a teaching certification landed him coaching tennis; he has come full-circle to rehabbing old houses and riding bikes, and you can’t slap the smile off of his face. A bicycle advocate who has a preternatural sense to wander, has no tolerance for boredom and wasn’t born to follow.  It’s easy to see why he loves being a bicycle tour guide.

Steve is a semi retired physical therapist who enjoys being outdoors. Along with tandem biking with his wife, you’ll find him paddle boarding on the river or hiking in the woods. He and his wife, who raised their children in Virginia, just recently moved to southern New Jersey to be closer to parents.

Teri fell in love with cycling 26 years ago when she bought her first road bike. But after discovering self-contained bicycle travel and rail trails, she knew she’d bike forever. She’s an artist, and cycle travel allows her to take time to meditate on her work while seeing the world in a whole new way – with the added bonus of staying fit!

Montana started selling chips in the Wilderness Voyageurs store in 2009, and now takes care of our fleet of tour bikes. Most winters he rides self-supported bike tours with his wife Colleen, where they’ve cruised around Vietnam, Mexico, the mountain west, Laos, and New Zealand. His main passions are riding his mountain bike off large rocks, sunshine, garishly printed shirts, fixing his Jeep, metal work and holding his fuzzy yellow cat upside down. He also enjoys a cocktail or three.

Rob joined Wilderness Voyageurs in 2022 bringing with him four years of experience leading bike tours in Central America When he is not riding his bike you might run into him on the ski slopes where he works as a ski patroller. Originally from Rochester NY, he has made his home in Atenas, Costa Rica, Asheville NC, and Bethel Maine. Rob has also worked as a paramedic and a high school Spanish teacher. He enjoys playing his saxophone, paddling rivers and lakes and traveling. Rob has two sons, Henry, at college in Charleston SC, and Nico who lives and works in Manhattan.

Dave’s childhood interest in tearing apart bicycles and lawnmowers to make them run better led him to a career in Mechanical Engineering, designing and developing machines. His adventurous spirit has led him on many bicycle touring adventures including several international trips and a recent trek cross-country USA. Dave also enjoys skiing, running, tennis, kayaking, backpacking,  and restoring his 160 year old farmhouse. Dave’s friendly attitude will help you enjoy life-in-the-moment with his natural curiosity about his surroundings.

Josh is a valuable guide here at Wilderness Voyageurs. Josh received his Bachelor and Master degrees in Parks and Recreational Resource Management and Environmental Education at Slippery Rock University. He served as Assistant Director for SRU Outdoor Adventures for two years, guides the Lower Yough, Upper Yough, and Cheat Rivers, and is one of our expert kayakers. He’s also put in guiding time on the Rio Grande in Texas, various rivers in Maine, and two seasons in Costa Rica on the Pacuare River. Josh also loves riding his mountain bike and can name ANY bird you see or hear.

Chuck Branchman is from the cool (literally) little town of Frostburg, Maryland. He lives right on the GAP and loves to show guests around his stomping grounds. On top of that, he enjoys traveling around to other locations and guiding tours across the United States. Chuck is very passionate about biking and loves to introduce new folks into this sport and help guests have blast while on tour with him! Apart from biking, he’s also an avid hiker so he’d love to chat all things biking and hiking with anyone. He’s married with 3 adult children, who he adores. “Let’s have a blast on tour together with tons of laughs, peddling and, of course, eating some awesome food!”

Jim has been a bike guide with Wilderness Voyageurs since 2021 and has guided over 40 trips where almost all have been on the GAP and/or C&O. He has always had an interest in bikes and used his experience, and the experience of both his fellow guides and guests, to complete his life long bucket list to cycle across the country in 2023. When he is not cycling, he enjoys being a ski instructor, woodworking and spending as much time with his 3 children as they will allow!

Philip’s first cycling job was during middle-school delivering newspapers. During college and throughout his career as a software engineer, Philip continued to cycle for fun and exercise. He went on numerous self-supported bike trips with friends and later with family and new “bicycling friends” on guided tours. Traveling by bicycle became a favorite way to travel off the beaten path at a perfect pace. It became a lifelong pastime and passion. As a devoted fan of vacationing by bicycle, Philip is thrilled to share this passion with Wilderness Voyageurs guests to provide fun and memorable vacations.

Born and raised in Massachusetts, near the Maine border, Jeff has now lived in Charlottesville, Virginia for the past 10 years. His professional career has been centered on hospitality; the art of helping people feel fantastic! A past wine sommelier at fancy-pants restaurants, Jeff is now spending more time in the vineyards, and less time behind the bar. He has always been active in the outdoors, from building a 6-month mountain climbing and community service adventure from Argentina to Alaska, to recent trips like cycling the Mickelson Trail with his mom. These days, he spends a great deal of his off-tour time with his wife (Jamee) and two young girls, Lily (5) and Penny (3), cycling down to the James River beaches or hiking up in Shenandoah National Park.

Jody has a love for all things outdoors. She remembers getting her first 10 speed as a child for Christmas and has been biking ever since. You will find her
biking on the GAP throughout the summer. She also has a passion for hiking, skiing, sailing and kayaking. In the winter she is a Ski Patroller at Seven
Springs Mountain Resort. She and her husband spend winters and summers in the Pennsylvania mountains and spring and fall in St. Petersburg Florida. Jody loves meeting new people and sharing biking experiences with others.

Born and raised in Cincinnati, OH, TJ learned that a bicycle represented freedom and adventure when his father took him on his first “bikepacking” adventure at eight years old. From then on, he’s always looked to plan the next adventure or challenge. After raising his kids and completing a career as a process engineer, TJ “retired in his forties to relive his twenties” Now, living nomadically with his partner (Terri), he finds great pleasure in hiking, biking, disc golf, food, drink, paddling, and campfires with friends all over the North American continent. Be careful about asking him about his last or next adventure because he might not shut up…

James has laid roots in Atlanta, GA where he lives with his partner, Alison, plus their dog, cat, and a couple turtles. Following college at Georgia Tech where he studied Computer Engineering, James spent 15 years at a great job in IT consulting. A relative newcomer to the sport of cycling, James only caught the bug in 2010. While living in the DC area for a few years he met his first cycling love: the Great Allegheny Passage plus C&O Canal trails. In 2016, James embarked on an “epitaph-worthy” bike trip from Seattle to Boston, made possible by tremendously supportive and generous family and employers. James is looking forward to bonding over bicycle tourism with Wilderness Voyageurs’s guests.

Jeremy has always liked adventure/travel… and it started when he was born in England. After moving back to the states, he lived most of his childhood in Alabama, where he enjoyed playing sports, camping and riding bikes. After high school he had the opportunity to move to Germany…so off he went! He worked as a Fitness Specialist with the United States Army in Frankfurt Germany as well as coached basketball, volleyball and baseball at the Frankfurt International School. Jeremy has been a certified personal trainer and group exercise instructor since 1984. Jeremy loves to compete and has competed in many ½ marathons, 10K’s, 5K’s, Triathlons and Duathlons. Upon returning to the U.S. with his wife Diane, they created Fitness Partners…a small boutique fitness studio, which they continue to run together.

Raised in Texas, schooled in Washington, escaped to Arizona for more vitD. Returned to Texas to take advantage of my family staying home during covid. Returned to Washington to ski instruct and bike guide, but it was still too rainy so again moved away to Utah and California to continue ski instructing and bike guiding. I spend most of my time either on a bike or on skis, but I also love climbing, backpacking, cooking, reading, karaoke, dancing, cats, drinking water, traveling, and making my siblings come on adventures with me.