About Us

OYB:  On Your Bike had its debut as a full service cycling tour operator in October
2007.  Since then, OYB has successfully organized trips to Spain, Italy, South Africa, and of course the French Alps and Pyrenees.  Along the way we have participated in the last 4 editions of L'Etape du Tour, the Cape Argus Challenge in Cape Town, the Quebrantahuesos in Spain, as well as numerous other Irish and European Sportives.  On Your Bike prides itself in making challenging cycle sportives accessible to all keen cyclists. 

ART: Art comes from a background of racing competitively as a Junior XC Mountain Biker. He's since tried his hand at BMX riding, Downhill Mountain Biking, Road Racing, Team Time Trialing, and Triathlon.  Art has won the Sprint Distance Triathlon National Championships, the Irish Triathlon Series, and even represented Ireland at the Duathlon World Championships in Rimini, Italy.  Art now focuses on road-racing and has completed the An Post Ras twice.  He had a great Ras in 2012 finishing 6th best amateur overall and taking the overall B prize in the process.

Art has also been known to cycle the West coast of Ireland towing a trailer for his surfboard and camping gear. As you can guess he eats, sleeps, and breathes bikes and loves to travel.

BREN:  Bren's cycling career started out at the tender age of 10 when he joined the infamous Willow Wheelers Cycling Club, completing his first 100 mile cycle the following year. But it wasn't until Bren reached college that he really caught the cycling bug and things got a little more competitive. Bren races Triathlon & Duathlon as well as road racing, time trials and road running races, picking up victories in all along the way.

MARK: Mark is a long-time cycling aficionado thanks to the heroics of Kelly and Roche (not to forget LeMond and Chiappucci), a pretty handy bike rider and an all round nice guy.

Having dabbled successfully in other sports, Mark has come full circle to where his heart has always been and has rejoined the competitive cycling ranks. Injuries led him to qualify in Sports Massage and Remedial Therapy.  He has since  worked as a soigneur on the Tour de L'Ain UCI stage race in France and as a masseur to the touring All Blacks, Argentinian and Pacific Islands rugby teams. 

Mark recently completed a 17 month round-the-world tour on a tank of a mountain-bike.  His bike adventures took in many cities as well as much more remote parts of the world including the Himalaya, the Andes and the Rockies. A blog of his adventures can be found on thebionicdude.com.  Since he returned to Dublin Mark has completed the An Post Ras and continues to explore Dublin and beyond on his road-bike often taking unfamiliar turn-offs to see where they might lead while out training.

PATRICK: Patrick is an active club cyclist and veteran of many cyclosportive and running events. He is half French, and brings his unique perspective to travel, which was developed over his years living in New York City.  During this time Patrick worked as a traveling commercial photographer and spent several years in a commercial helicopter flight school.  More recently, he spent two years exploring Europe with his bike while based in Lisbon, Portugal.

Patrick now proudly calls Ireland home, but really feels at home anywhere, especially with his bike and a good map.

PAUL:  Paul first caught the cycling bug while watching Stephen Roche's triple victories of Giro, Tour and the World Championships in 1987.  After racing for St Tiernan’s Cycling Club in his teenage years, Paul was attracted by the lure of triathlon and has been racing competitively since his mid-twenties, representing Ireland at the European Duathlon championships in 2007 and 2009.  He is passionate about all things cycling and is happiest when the going gets steep. 

He is also a keen practitioner of yoga and is currently pursuing a teacher training course in Iyengar yoga.  Having spent time living and cycling in France, Spain and Japan, he is always ready for his next cycling adventure.

Paul is currently in New Zealand hoping for the rain to stop so that he can go and explore his new hometown of Auckland by bike. 

Karl:  Having started out cycling for fun as a BMX bandit, Karl discovered that he was pretty useful at this pedaling lark and took it a little more seriously.  Over the years Karl has ridden 8 An Post Rasana. These include an incredible 5th place overall in 1997 as well as some overall success in the 1998 Ras when he rode on the National Team that helped Ciaran Power to victory. His international racing has taken him to a stage-race victory in the hilly Basque Country as well as the ballsy cobbled and gutter riding of Belgium. Karl is a classy rider with bags of talent, experience and national medals under his belt.

These days Karl once more rides his bike for fun, albeit not the BMX of his youth. He enjoys sharing his knowledge on club spins as well as with his kids who he jokingly times on their flying laps of the local housing estate. He is a qualified Sports Massage and Remedial Therapist and returned to the An Post Ras in 2012 as a masseur, which he enjoyed immensely.  

There is no doubt that Karl knows a thing or two about bikes and bodies. He is great for chats and looks forward to helping you get the most out of your body and your bike this summer.

James:  James loves the social aspect of cycling be it in the paddock of races or on the club-spin. He enjoys having to tough it out in a hard road-race but he prefers to get dirty, be it while riding cyclocross or wrenching on bikes, as he has done as a shop mechanic for several years.

James has also completed the An Post Ras as a rider but he has covered recent editions as a team mechanic.  He loves nothing better than to lean precariously out the window of fast-moving cars to fix bikes and is always ready with a 'sticky bottle' and plenty of encouragement.

Ger:  Ger is a keen road and mountain-bike rider.  He has been involved with all aspects of cycling over the years from competition to management and organisation. There is nothing Ger does not know about the bike industry.  He has worked as a shop mechanic, he has supported riders on foreign Cycle Tours and Sportives, he has managed racers for Ireland's An Post Ras 8-day stage-race and he has also organised media interviews with the sports biggest stars during the Tour de France for Velonation.com.

Ger's knowledge of cycling runs deep and he is a great man for the stories while out riding or while relaxing in the bar over a 'demi' after a hard day in the saddle.

Should anyone have relevant experience and a possible interest in joining our On Your Bike team, please Contact Us for more information.