I’m Steve, the Director of CycleCities.Tours and Co-Founder of Cycle.Vacations
I started Cycle Cities because I’m a passionate traveller.
At 19, I left my home town of Newcastle, Australia, and took off travelling. I fell in love with San Francisco, Vegas and LA. At 23 I moved to London for the first time, unbeknownst to me at the time that it would become my home for the longer term.
Access to Europe was a big thing for me. My first weekend break was Munich, and there I saw a large group taking a bike tour around the city centre. I put that idea on my list. Soon after I was cruising around on a bike, following a guide.
Citybreaks and Europe trips abounded on the following years. Amsterdam, Warsaw, Paris, Madrid, Rome, Zagreb, Sarajevo. You name it, if it’s a big city in Europe, I’ve been there.
In 2009 I got a job as a Tour Guide at the London Bicycle Tour Company. I learn't what it’s like to be a customer, and a guide. I moved into the business/sales side of London Bicycle Tour Company, and focussed on growing and managing the business as the second in charge below the owner, Rob Graham.
I started Cycle-cities.com with Rob a year later, as I had always been interested in territorial ‘travel’ alliances. Airlines have partner airlines in different destinations to help cross sell flights. Some tour operators had branches in different cities so that a happy traveller could go from city to city and continue to experience tours from the same company. I thought city bike tours could use this wider presence.
In 2015 I organised the first annual ‘Powwow’ or ‘Symposium’ for Cycle Cities partner companies to attend. These conferences connected us all as a stronger network and continue to be successful. See ccsymposium.com for more info.
At Cycle Cities you'll find the world’s best bike tours - and we are proud to bring them to you!
Steve Kopandy