Congratulations, you’ve made it through the most grueling hiring process! You have learned the many, many tasks that are required to be a Trek Travel guide. You’re a mechanic, chef, entertainer, guide, GPS wiz, food and wine expert, driver, leader, cultural interpreter, magician, and so much more. Now the real work begins.

Words by Gabrielle Porter, Trek Travel Guide
 
 

 

Having just finished my first year as a Trek Travel guide, I want to help you prepare for your new reality (yes, despite what your family and friends may say, this is the “real world”). Here are ten highlights from life on the road as a first year guide.

1. Bike grease. Expect it everywhere, all the time. Literally, all the time. You will invent as many ways to hide it as you will to remove it. It will be your most consistent companion in your new life of constant movement. (If only grunge would make a style impact within the chic circles of luxury hospitality!)
 
 

 
 
2. Michelin food is delicious. It’s impeccable, beautiful, full of story and grace, true art and truly delectable. It is one of the greatest and most unique perks of the job, and all you will want is a salad by the end of the season.

3. There is no greater joy as a guide than seeing that light in the eye and expression of a guest when they connect to the region, country and trip. When something you or your co-guide says on Day 1 turns an average vacation into the experience of a lifetime.

4. The only joy that could possibly compete with the feeling above is watching a guest achieve a lifetime cycling goal. When he decides to ride a road bike for the first time. When she descends a hill rather than jumping in the van. When she crushes her first century and then some. When he summits Mount Ventoux and gives you a big hug at the top. They didn’t think they could do it. They wanted to, and absolutely could, but you helped them get there. You walked them through the details, coached them through technique, paced and supported, and were there every kilometer of the way.

5. Learn to drink wine properly, you scoundrel. It is the quickest and easiest way to impress guests with your sophistication and prove that you belong in this world as well as the one of bike grease (which will inevitably be found beneath your finger nails). It’s also a great attribute back home when trying to impress family, friends, and that special someone.
 
 

 
 
6. This is a real job. You will work hard. It is not just getting paid to ride bikes in beautiful places. The first person who must realize this is yourself, otherwise it will be a rough transition, you will not be a favorite amongst co-guides, and frankly, will not last long. So buck up, bud. You can sleep in a few weeks.

The second group of people you will need to convince of this is your friends and family. They are absolutely stoked (outdoor colloquial) for you but not exactly sure what “it is”. And lastly, you will need to convince many of your guests, especially first time travelers. Be prepared to answer this question, which will absolutely come up and has been spotted in many forms: “So this is a job?” When do you think you’ll get a real job? Wow, this is a tough job (but someone has to do it). You get paid to do this? Well, this is a nice summer activity. Or my personal favorite, “So what do your parents think about you doing this?” (probably reserved for the younger members of our team).

7. The secret is, you will not fathom this is your job and no matter how many times you respond to those questions you will have profoundly surreal moments. Sometimes they creep up slowly and last a day, other times they slam down on you like an anvil and you’ll gasp as you descend a lovely canyon or taste a new wine or see a guest fall in love with a new corner of the world. You are outside every day. You are moving your body every day. You are experiencing life while working, learning, tasting, listening, smelling and feeling each day. It is a rare and true gift.
 
 

 
 
8. You have an immense and quick ability to learn, and be assured the learning curve is steep. No matter how confident you are coming out of training, no matter how much you remember, your experienced co-guide will put in much more work than you during the first few trips. You may not realize it, but I promise it’s true. You will learn the “in the field” realities and practicalities. You will learn so much more than you could possibly absorb. Most of all, you will get good at transitioning problems and disasters with a smile on your face.

9. Mysterious ticking noises are just a fun challenge to expand your bike mechanic knowledge. No matter how many hours and obscenities it takes.

10. You work with the most fun, resourceful, talented and entertaining people on earth. Watch. Listen. Learn. Appreciate. And be honored, if not slightly confused, that you may count yourself amongst their number. You got this.
 
 

 
 

The popular adage, “It’s just like riding a bike” is often used to describe a skill you can gain, that is so intuitive and natural, you don’t even think about remembering how to do it. As a kid, I can still recall the feeling I had when my parents took the training wheels off my one-speed purple Huffy bike. Balancing on two wheels while pedaling and steering at the same time was exhilarating!  

Words by Beth White, Trek Travel Guide

 

 
 
Throughout my life, riding a bike has served many purposes for me. My first job was delivering newspapers with that same Huffy bike. I was able to sling a canvas bag (bursting with papers) over the big banana seat, allowing my to complete my route in less than an hour. It was my introduction to responsibility and earning my own money for the first time ever! Then in my high school and college years, biking became my main mode of transportation (even through all of Wisconsin’s seasonal weather changes).

As an adult, I’ve been part of various cycling advocacy groups, working to improve commuting routes so that cars and bikes can safety share the road. I believe that these efforts help to build healthy communities, from reducing traffic congestion and improving air quality to having a culture that encourages physical activity.  

But my passion for cycling grew in a recreational capacity when I was introduced to mountain biking through the Texas-based Ride Like a Girl non-profit organization, created to encourage more women to go mountain biking. The group is extremely welcoming and supportive of cyclists at all levels, from first time mountain bikers to competitive racers. Cycling not only challenged me physically and mentally outside of my day job, but also helped me create a circle of new friends.
 
 

 
 
Upon ending a 17 year relationship, I had an opportunity to really examine what I was doing with my life as well as what I wanted out of my future (I call this my “mid-life awakening”). I had spent the last twenty years of my life building successful careers in human resource management and sales while working for high-tech emerging companies. After many long hours at a desk, devoting my life to my career, I was discouraged by the frequent layoffs and lack of personal gratification for the sacrifices I was making. It took a lot of deep soul searching and a little inspiration from other risk takers in my life, but I finally decided to make my passion a way to make a living. I just had to figure out how.

Then one day, a friend gave me some advice: “With your love of travel, people and cycling, you would make an awesome cycling guide!” Honestly, being in my mid-forties, it was not a profession I had ever considered. But after speaking to friends of friends at Trek Travel, I realized that this job was a great fit for my personality and it was the perfect way for me to combine my love of cycling and travel.

Each trip I meet wonderful guests–two sisters celebrating each other’s birthdays, old friends reuniting after years apart, couples taking first vacation in years without children, parents and their daughter celebrating a college graduation, anniversaries, honeymoons and more.

Being able to guide guests through experiences of a lifetime in beautiful locations has allowed me to share my passion for cycling and travel with others. It brings out the kid in everyone. Cycling is no longer just a hobby, but now I can proudly say that it is my profession and way of life. Sometimes we all have to take personal journeys and try many things to find our true calling. But in the end, we may revert to the passions that have long been present in our lives, “Just like riding a bike.”
 
 

 
 

When I first began speaking to my now friend and then contact Jonathan Hershberger (Hershy) about becoming a guide with Trek Travel, there were many questions. Anyone of a certain varietal would seek this job under any circumstances. I, however, had a mild background in active-travel guiding and knew there could be caveats to the dream. Long hours, inconsistent work, life in a bag away from home.

Words by Gabrielle Porter, Trek Travel Guide

 

 
 
I asked Hershy about the company culture, the home office and guiding. His response? “We are, I dare-say, one big family.” I read these words and was a tad suspicious, a jaded reaction perhaps. Come on. One big family? But he really wasn’t trying to sell me anything. We had enough in common to treat each other honestly. Even if he was exaggerating, it was clear there were good people within the company and I pursued the long application process with suppressed yet lingering sarcastic suspicion.

Now, one year in, I can say with confidence that we truly are like one big family here at Trek Travel. Just like a family, not everyone gets along all the time, there are some you are closer with and others you barely know. Yet you would do any of them a favor in a minute, because they are part of the family and that’s what you do. Some things drive you crazy and sometimes you just need to get away, but they make you incredibly happy, they are fun and loving, and they are there in the very thick and the very thin.
 
 

 
 
I know our company’s family-like culture most poignantly from the co-guides I have had the great pleasure to live and work with. If you are spending all waking hours with one or the same group of people and wish to enjoy life, it is essential to get along with them. The stakes increase when the context is extremely diverse. We jump between professional situations including paper work, inner-company logistics, bike tuning, actual guiding, cooking, contract developing, and designing (to name a few). We jump between social situations like going from acquaintances to roommates in seconds; our schedules are such that we essentially dominate each other’s social lives (what little there may be) for months. We jump between personal situations, supporting each other in times of loneliness and happiness, when graduations, weddings, funerals, reunions, and births are all occurring at home. We don’t know each other from an early time but our existence with one another becomes rapidly intimate.
 
 

 
 
The best part of all this time spent together is that somehow the greatest humans on earth have found their way to populate Trek Travel. Sure there are similarities amongst us, we all have a few common passions essential to the job: cycling, traveling, interesting people, good food. But the more you interact, the more you learn the great intricacies and diversities of each person, their background, personality, humor, interests. Each has their own incredible story of the most engaging quality and it’s almost freakish that a group of people with such goodness could be collected into one entity at any one point in time.

There came a time late in this season in which the full meaning and impact of Hershy’s statement came to be truth. The night before a trip start, a dear friend of mine was murdered. It was one of those awful moments, when you get news and your legs can’t hold you. What do you do? What can you do? How do you support or even navigate being around someone who is finding out such news? Let alone if you really don’t know them beyond a few weeks or months, don’t know their context or where they come from. It doesn’t matter. The sneak-peak insider’s look into guide life that so many guests ask for is this: adventure, camaraderie and support network.
 
 

 
 
So, as this year draws to an end and we all reflect upon what 2015 brought and gave, I think back to one year ago when I was approaching Trek Travel for the first time. When I had not met the many wonderful people I now know. I think about that sentence Hershy sent me and I am grateful for its validity. For the many moments of vast laughter and jokes over pickled carrots and table wine out of porcelain cups in Puglia. For take-out Vietnamese, shivering at the base of Mount Ventoux and 16-hour chamois days, moving trailers at midnight. For dance parties in the parking lot of Chateau de Mazan and family meals on the patio, the sun setting over Provincial fields and spending night after night with the coolest ladies in the world. Who else can say they genuinely enjoy having six house mates and a tiny kitchen? For getting lost countless times amongst the never-ending Bordeaux vineyards and a co-guide that doesn’t judge you for insisting upon pulling over and napping by the side of the road before you can GPS another kilometer of the route. For late night long drives and many tolls. For warm meals and an impeccable whistling ability. For the constant invitation to visit fellows’ regions. For the great adventure of finding an open recycle center on a Saturday. For hard workers, smart people, and jokesters who can share a landscape with all our wonderful guests. When too many questions is not a thing. For Belgian brews and drizzly walks. My colleagues can fix everything, save any situation, make anyone smile, and teach and teach and teach.
 
 

 
 
I am thankful for all the laughter and productivity. And I am thankful for the best support system I could have asked for during those two weeks. For the shot of whisky Leanne immediately took with me, no questions asked, the night of. For the constant reminder Celine gave that La Vie Est Belle. For the graceful way Tara navigated working with me immediately after, despite the turbulent internal energy I had that we had to keep secret. When she stroked my hair until I fell asleep for the first time in days. For Marcia’s text and all the extra work she took on. For the moments she let me bike away, for just a bit, to breathe. For the many texts of affection and support and proper space I got from co-guides who were far away in other regions. For the office getting me home. How many companies would actually respond that quickly and with such sincere support?

So, now amongst the holidays, when many of us are home with our family and friends, I extend my gratitude and affection to the incredible humans within Trek Travel. In all its corniness, I dare-say that we are one big family.