Tour Boston on a Bike with Urban AdvenTours

Back in 2004, Andrew Prescott decided to stop working as an accountant. He founded Urban AdvenTours, a Boston bike tour company. Today, Urban AdvenTours, located in Boston’s North End near the New England Aquarium and Faneuil Hall, operates a full-service bike shop with bike rentals for all ages, and hosts a myriad of themed bike tourssuch as a City View Bicycle Tour, Tour de Boston, Funway to Fenway, Paul Revere Ride to Freedom, plus a limited time only Emerald Necklace and Fall Foliage Tour. This tour travels through 15 miles of the historic Emerald Necklace park system. The last foliage tour is on October 31. Make haste to get this in before all the foliage falls. When you show up for the tour, you are outfitted with a bike, helmet, water, a tour guide–and an instant group of riding buddies! While pedaling around the city on tour, you get to take in the sites and spread good bike karma. Chief Wheel Officer/Owner Andrew is passionate about biking not only for sport, but for its positive environmental attributes. Pedal power means no fossil fuels are being burned. Andrew really “bikes the talk” on his company’s eco-initiatives. The company’s truck, which makes bike delivery drop-offs to local hotels for tour groups, runs on vegetable oil. He’s working with the city to make Boston more bike friendly. Real good stuff and that is just a little sampling. Bike. Foliage. Boston. Sounds like a perfect way to spend a few hours. Thinking about going on a bike tour in Boston? In the words of Andrew Prescott: “Make it happen!” 5 Questions with Andrew Prescott of Urban AdvenToursSince you started your company, what bike trends have you noticed in Boston? We keep seeing more and more cyclists on the road, but many of them still don’t know the rules. “Salmon” are probably the worst, people who ride against traffic. Our tours encourage and educate on how to properly navigate our urban landscape. What is the most memorable thing that has happened on one of your tours? The city is always different and our tours change with the flow of our urban environment. There’s always something going on and the most memorable situation was probably in June 2009. Several of my buddies from college had come to visit and joined a Saturday morning tour. We’re having a great time, nothing recognizably unusual is happening, but as we are riding up Beacon Hill we start to hear people cheering. It turns out that we had taken a turn and ended up right at the front of the Pride Week Parade. Of all the tours you offer, which is your favorite? The City View Tour is probably my favorite tour that is available year round, but right now nothing beats the Emerald Necklace and Fall Foliage tour. It’s a really pleasant longer ride and the scenery is fantastic along the whole route. Do you miss you life as an accountant? Hahahaa, no. Any words of wisdom or special credo? We have a lot of mottos around the shop. My staff likes to make fun of me for ending a lot of my emails with “make it happen.”