My friend and her husband were planning a trip to visit his mama in Russia, and they were considering a stop in Switzerland for a five-day mountain biking tour to break up the trip. “Would you all want to go, too?” she asked her girl posse on a ride. “Um, let me think about it. Hells YES!” was the obvious answer from all of us.
And the planning began. Another couple of our friends had found Inspired Mountain Bike Adventures, a small custom tour company, with an Internet search for mountain biking in Switzerland, and had raved about their experiences. It was an easy decision to follow their lead with this vetted company for our five-person group.
Owner and lead guide, Gabriel Klouda, was born in former Czechoslovakia and immigrated to Queens, New York, in 1981 — his English is perfect albeit interspersed with profanities in several languages. His family moved to New Jersey where he discovered mountain biking and cross country racing as a teen, and he worked at a bike shop there through college. He bike toured for a couple of summers in Europe and started guiding for a summer camp in Switzerland in 2000. In 2003, Gabriel moved to Lyon, France, where he married his French wife, and now has three kids there.
He makes a living as a systems engineer, but this charismatic and outgoing bike-loving guy genuinely enjoys leading mountain bike tours with Inspired Mountain Bike Adventures a few weeks each summer since he started the business in 2012.
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From Dirt Rag Mag
Dirt Rag is a mountain biking lifestyle magazine. Original art, passionate stories, investigative articles, honest product reviews, and a realistic attitude are what we're all about. Whether you are a timid beginner or a seasoned race junkie, Dirt Rag speaks to you.
