Staff

Andrew Prescott

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. For more on the history of Urban AdvenTours, click here.

Mike Quinlan

“Q” joined Urban AdvenTours in the spring of 2012 after tiring of Boston’s legal world. Before Boston, he studied at the University of Vermont, and still loves to spend time outdoors in the wilderness.

Craig Collins

As he’ll tell you on his tours, Craig hails from the small town of Temple, Maine (as did Harvey Parker, founder of the Parker House Hotel!), and moved down to Boston in 2008 to attend Boston University. After two years, he took some time off from school to save money and gain some worldly experience, and instead stumbled right into his dream job. He could talk about Boston all day, from the history, to the little-known facts, to the distinctions and differences between each neighborhood, but usually manages to keep his tours concise. Usually.

Natalie Brady

Natalie is from Kansas City, Kansas, a far cry from the port city of Boston! Now living in the neighborhood of Jamaica Plain, Natalie has a degree in Environmental Studies and International Affairs from Northeastern University. Renowned throughout the shop for her lack of film or music knowledge, Natalie also enjoys canning her Haymarket finds, taking care of her houseplants and biking, of course.

Billy Lopez, Jr.

Bill was born and raised in the Allston-Brighton area of Boston . Encouraged by friends, family and teachers he attended classes at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts for art instruction through junior high and high school. After the age of 18 though, he made his living as a tow truck operator for six years and a painter for about the same. Health and fitness was always very important to Bill so during those years of blue collar work he attended the Massage Institute of New England and received his certification in muscular therapy. Bill has been on a bicycle ever since he was seven years of age and enjoys riding all over the streets of Boston as well as rural Massachusetts.

Sadie Lang

Sadie is from Hollis, New Hampshire, but she lives in Boston now! She’s a Northeastern grad with a degree in Environmental Science. When she’s not leading stellar tours of Boston, she works in the butterfly garden at the Museum of Science. In her spare time, she enjoys terrible pop music, making pancakes, and playing with her pet mouse Casper.

Bill Prouty

Bill has Massachusetts roots that go all the way back to the mid-1600’s when his family landed in Boston. His enthusiasm for our local history is on display with each of the tours he leads. An avid cyclist his entire life, Bill currently owns four road bikes, one of which was ridden in the 2004 Tour de France by American pro Bobby Julich for Team CSC! Recently retired from the corporate world, Bill now spends his free time riding bikes because “it’s more fun than golf and WAY better for me”!

Michaela Brady

Born and raised in Walpole, Massachusetts, Michaela spends a lot of time hanging out in Boston. A senior now at Bates College in Maine, she is working on a degree in History and Classical & Medieval Studies. After spending a semester studying in Scotland and traveling Europe, Michaela wanted to get more involved with the historical scene in her own city. She enjoys biking for fun with friends and is hoping to get more serious about it in the future.

Kate Paulsen

Kate comes from the Midwestern United States, but has spent the past few years of her life gaining worldly experience in the far reaches of the globe – Spain, France, Italy, parts of Asia, and of course, California. Now she is an aspiring actress in Boston by night, and rides bikes with us by day!

Ed Ballo

Ed knows Boston through and through. He grew up in a suburb just north of Boston, works at MIT, and rows on the Charles River daily. Perhaps the most impressive thing about Ed is that he has never owned a car! Ed rides his bike, or uses public transportation wherever he goes. Ed speaks fluent French and Italian for our international customers, and has been a tour guide with various companies for over 20 years!

Pell Osborn

Born in Philadelphia, Pell has lived in Boston since 1970 and has commuted by bike for nearly 40 years! He’s really into Boston Architecture, and sometimes eats it for breakfast. He holds degrees from Kenyon College and Lesley University and attended Harvard University for additional study in animation. Pell developed an award-winning curriculum that uses animation as a vehicle for teaching and learning. He teaches animation at MIT, the Boston Arts Academy and in the Brookline and Boston Public Schools.

Greg Lockhart

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.

Mike Sheahan

Mike joined Urban AdvenTours in 2012 to get him out of the office! Armed with his calculator watch Mike rides in the city as much as possible whether it is on his root beer colored commuter or his cyclocross bike.

Len Weiss

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 and 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.

Jesse Gubb

Jesse grew up in Newton, Massachusetts, about 10 miles from downtown Boston and now calls the North End home. After 4 years studying political science in the snowy woods of Vermont, he’s back in the Hub, eager to share his love of bikes and all things Boston. When not on tour, you might find him comparing cannoli in the North End (for professional reasons, of course), but more likely he’s still out riding. Jesse has lived in Australia, traveled to Israel, England, Canada, the Netherlands, France, Italy, New Zealand, Sweden, and Denmark, and just this summer got to explore the good old USA on a cross-country bike tour. Jesse also enjoys beards, high fives, long walks on the beach, climbing mountains, and skiing down them.

Baylor Bennett

Born and raised on a Kentucky farm, Baylor grew up riding horses and raising cattle. In 2001 he moved to Boston and took up cycling while studying at Harvard. A true cycling advocate, he gave up his car and now commutes by bike year round. Baylor is also passionate about American history and his favorite Urban AdvenTour is the Paul Revere Ride to Freedom. Currently in his 6th season with Urban AdvenTours, Baylor has given tours to CEOs, College Presidents, Celebrities, and Royalty. He is currently pursuing a degree in Industrial Design at MassArt, and living in Cambridge.

Parker Musselman

Born in Minneapolis, Parker moved to Boston in 2005 to pursue studies in political science and international relations. He soon became enamored with the simplicity of biking in a city that is, at times, choked with cars and one way streets. Coming from an automotive background, he was hooked after dismantling and reassembling his first bike, an 80′s Shogun road bike, and the stable only grew from there. From his start working the streets atop a pedicab, Parker sees himself working in or around the cycling industry for years to come. He can be seen enjoying the sun and sights of Boston, taking full advantage of our summers, and always looking for a good place to grub.

Chris Thompson

Chris has lived his whole life in Massachusetts, growing up in the small town of Blackstone (named after the original English settler of Boston!). He has lived in Boston for the past four years as he attended Emerson College. Now, after graduating with a degree in Political Communication, Chris aims to make a splash in the State House. Biking is one of his absolute passions in life along with heavy metal and cheeseburgers. His best vacation ever was two weeks in Hawaii, and he has also traveled to Toronto, England, Ireland, and Osage Beach Missouri. One day Chris would love to travel throughout Scandinavia.

Ted Schwartzberg

Ted’s hometown is Boston, MA, where he has lived for all of his 28 years. After graduating from MIT, where he recently received Masters Degrees in City Planning and in Real Estate Development, Ted enjoys spending his days as an urban planner. His interests include skiing, camping and traveling. In addition, he enjoys commuting year-round by bike to avoid having to use cars and public transportation. His favorite local spot is the Harbor Islands National Park. One of Ted’s best vacations ever was riding his bike from the Provincetown ferry, through Cape Cod, around Martha’s Vineyard Island and back on the mainland to Plymouth. In addition to Massachusetts adventures, Ted has traveled to Western and Central Europe, Scandinavia, the Middle East and, most recently, Bloomington Indiana.

Chris Jochem

Born in Washington, DC, Chris started wrenching on bikes bright and early at the age of 13. He moved to Boston six years ago, and attended both Wentworth and Suffolk universities. He’s worked at a variety of other bike shops in the city, and now the promise of convenient and delectable treats from the North End have enticed him into our area. Aside from biking, Chris enjoys going to the Symphony, seeing Operas at the Charles theater, and movies such as Titanic, Steel Magnolias, Dear John, and of course, The Notebook.

Brittany Lajoie

Brittany grew up in the tiny town of Pittsford, Vermont, but was drawn to Boston to pursue higher education. At Northeastern University, she finally settled on an International Affairs major and had the opportunity to study abroad in Cuernavaca, Mexico and Sevilla, Spain. Currently residing in Jamaica Plain, she finds herself jetting back and forth between the restaurants of Harvard, backyard barbeques in JP, cafes in Somerville, and her full time job at Boston Common Coffee, located in Downtown Crossing. An avid cyclist since youth, her other interests include agriculture and food, as well as South American culture.

Taylor Gaar

Taylor, originally hailing from the outskirts of Atlanta, GA, moved to Boston in 2010 to get his master’s in education. He liked the area so much that he decided to stick around and split his time between teaching and leading tours. Being on a bike allows him to continue a lifelong love of the outdoors, which has also led him to backpack through South America and row a raft down all 297 miles of the Grand Canyon. He has also lived in New Zealand and worked extensively with at-risk youth, and he always loves to share stories about Boston and beyond!

Alex Scott

Born right outside of the city in Westwood Massachusetts, Alex came to Boston to pursue a higher education at Northeastern University. He loves all things outdoors, but most of the time you can find him riding around the city or in the mountains of Vermont or New Hampshire. He has lived in Boston for three years and has been an active member of the Northeastern Bike team specializing in anything to do with mountain bikes. When not on his cycle, Alex loves to snowboard, trying to fix his hopeless car, traveling, or trying to find the best new place to eat.

Garrett Lynch

Garrett is a veteran member of the UA team, and has been working at Fenway Park since 2005. Garrett is full of obscure Fenway facts. Originally hailing from the Garden State he moved north to study at the Berklee College of Music. As a recent graduate of Berklee, Garrett lives by the mantra ride all day play all night. When not riding on tours you can catch Garrett on his Felt B2 but he has a special place in his heart for touring on a Specialized Globe. Garrett specializes in long distance tours for the advanced cycling enthusiasts.

Ku Yoo

Ku considers Boston to be his home, but he was born in Seoul, Korea. He’s lived in Boston since 2008 and his favorite spot may be Neptune in the North End. Another Wesleyan grad, Ku is a lawyer by trade, but he loves baseball, bicycle touring, autumn in New England, Bob Dylan, Prince (including Artist formerly known as Prince), Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, beer, old school cocktails, and hot dogs. Ku has traveled to South Korea, Japan, China, Czech Rep., Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, England, Spain, Aruba, Dominican Republic, and People’s Republic of Cambridge. He loves giving tours with Urban AdvenTours because it allows him to show people Boston the way he sees it, not just the landmarks, but also the cool alleys and side streets.

Justin Viglianti

Justin was pretty much born into bikes. Ever since he was able to grasp the handlebars he’s worked for bike shops both in Boston and his native New Jersey. When he’s not riding or wrenching he spends time running a small design practice working on bicycle transportation solutions for Boston and designing bike shop spaces for Urban AdvenTours and other bike friendly companies. Justin has a dream that one day there will be a bike in every driveway across America.

Karen Andres

Karen moved to Boston from a small town in Ohio to attend Tufts University in 2007, where she’s currently studying anthropology. It took a while to adjust from seeing endless cornfields while biking to having buses and cars whizzing past her, but she has finally grown to love riding Boston’s city streets. She spent the past semester abroad in Ghana, and has also traveled to Mexico, Egypt, and the Netherlands. When exploring Boston, or traveling to other exciting places, she enjoys cooking up new recipes and getting lost in a good book.

Tim Ennis

Tim has called Somerville home for the past 7 years. His favorite spot to ride is the Government Center Parking garage spiral ramp (don’t tell!). He has been a professional bike mechanic for several years. In addition to bikes, he is an avid snowboarder and aspiring rock star. Every summer he rents a private island for a week and camps there. He’s been to Australia, Germany, France, Switzerland, Denmark. He also lived in Quebec for a few years growing up.

Kris Ahlers

Kris is a west coaster from Seattle who arrived in Boston in 2009. When not biking to work or around town for fun, Kris, can be found outdoors mucking about in whatever adventure he comes across. Kris is a lifelong student who is currently taking 1st year Japanese for the fourth time. His favorite activity and spot in Boston, is simply hanging out along the Charles River. Kris has been to several countries and written many acclaimed, however, as of yet, unpublished travel essays.

Peter Duran

David Norcott

David was born and raised in Massachusetts. He went to college at Worcester Polytech and was fortunate enough to study abroad twice. He has been to several European countries and has ridden a bicycle in Italy and Hungary. He moved to Boston in 2005 and spends his days cycling and writing software. He can usually be found in the neighborhoods of Allston and Brighton, or eating a burrito at any of the city’s fine taquerias.

Danielle Tarloff

Front Wheel Reflector Danielle came to Boston from NJ to attend Northeastern University. She’s been here since 2004, and really likes hanging out in friends’ backyards and porches in JP and Somerville. You can also find her around some of Boston’s venues, she’ll let you know what great concert or comedy to catch. Danielle has also studied in Sevilla, Spain and traveled around Europe. She loves outdoor markets, seasonal weather, sustainable foods, and of course riding bikes.

Cole Archambault

Raised in the bustling metropolis, er, suburbs of Western Massachusetts, Cole moved to Somerville four years ago to attend Tufts University, where he was the captain of the cycling team. While he can often be found guilty of escaping the urban snarl of Boston via the Minuteman Bikeway to explore the bucolic pastures of Lexington and Concord, Cole’s favorite Boston spots to visit include the Public Gardens and Castle Island. Cole spent the spring of his junior year studying in Barcelona, Spain. Cole has traveled to Bermuda, Canada, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Morocco, and Spain.

Matt Sousa

Matt’s cycling life started off with a commute from Chelmsford MA, his hometown, to work in the Back Bay a few days a week for fun. It turned into a four to six day a week ride… year round. Having such a tie to the bike, it seemed natural to become a tour guide. He wanted to show off the beauty of the Boston Waterfront areas, beautiful stretches of bike lane paved roads, and the glorious HarborWalk that brings us to where Matt can be found after a long day of touring…the Harpoon Brewery. Now residing in Jamacia Plain, Matt can be found riding everywhere, or perhaps sipping a blend of Yerba Mate and ginger ginseng tea in Harvard Square. His goals include seeing this beautiful planet from the saddle of a bike, from sea to shining sea, with hopes of returning with many more stories.

Keith Esposito

Keith is from the small town of Ledyard in southeastern Connecticut. He came to Boston in 2007 to study International Relations and Religion at Boston University and started at Urban AdvenTours fresh off his graduation in 2011. When Keith started riding, he pinned up a map of Boston on his bedroom wall and used a red sharpie to mark all the places he’d visited. Today the map is mostly red, but perhaps Keith’s favorite place to ride is along the Esplanade on a sunny day. Keith loves argyle socks, Russia, and slam poetry. He’s traveled to 13 European countries and his favorite cities are Berlin, Geneva, and Rome.

Glen Moore

Glen was born in Vail, Colorado, with skis strapped to his feet. He grew up in the town of Dillon in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. In high school he became an avid mountain biker and backpacker and then went on to study acting at the University of Northern Colorado. After graduating he bounced around Denver for a few years to pursue acting. He came to Boston to find more acting opportunities. One of his favorite spots in Boston are the Victory Gardens in the Back Bay Fens. After having visited Italy, Canada and Mexico, he would say that his favorite vacation was Mountain Biking in Moab, Utah.

Annie Osborn

Annie grew up in Charlestown next door to the USS Constitution. A Stanford student and Scottish fiddler, she’s following in her dad Pell’s footsteps by giving tours during the summer. And by being really tall. That too.