A Tour Company With a Mission
Welcome! Our tours offer an extraordinary opportunity to uncover the area alongside a local guide who is intimately familiar with every nook, side street, and alley. We take great pride in our rich history and are eager to share it with you, ensuring that your tour experience is truly exceptional. By steering clear of main roads, we venture into hidden corners where treasures and historic sites await your discovery. Our mission is to lead you to places that are often overlooked, granting you not just an insider’s perspective but also a profound understanding of the culture and spirit of our cherished city.
Small Group Sizes
Bigger isn’t always better because we believe in the immersive power of sightseeing and pedaling in a city. Our scheduled departures never exceed eight guests per leader. We want you to have a one-on-one experience and deliver an intimate tour.
Local Guides
Our guides are experienced hosts and knowledgeable cycling experts who have a deep understanding of the region's history and geography. They share their passion for the area enthusiastically and often make impromptu stops during our tours. This spontaneity ensures that there is always something fascinating to see, whether it be passing ships, tugboats, seals, schooners, or other interesting sights.
Meet Our Tour Guides, Mechanic, and Owner
Our PortCity Bike Tour guides are not only proficient in navigating the local roads and landmarks, they bring significant teaching and guiding experience to their roles. Living locally enhances their capacity to establish and share personal connections, and they take great delight in recounting the area's historical narratives, spanning from the Indigenous people and celebrated historical figures to the dramatic evolution of a 17-19th century seaport into an enchanting modern-day destination. Beyond their roles as tour leaders, they also adeptly handle bicycle maintenance tasks and provide unwavering support and motivation to riders throughout the journey. Moreover, they have been carefully selected, trained, and entrusted to serve as compassionate and intuitive companions, dedicated to ensuring an exceptional experience for all participants.
PAUL WENDELL
TOUR GUIDE
BICYCLE MECHANIC
Paul’s first career was custom bootmaker on Broadway, making boots for various shows and the Metropolitan Opera. Pavarotti, Richard Burton, and other stars have worn his boots. After earning a bachelor of engineering degree, he worked as a mechanical engineer for over 30 years, retiring in 2022. He then went back to school and earned a master's degree in military history. While working on the master's degree he volunteered for the National Park Service at the Charlestown Shipyard which includes the Bunker Hill Monument. He has also worked as a seasonal National Park Ranger at the Statue of Liberty in New York City.
Paul is an avid cyclist who has completed numerous 100+ mile rides. He currently owns six bicycles so he can ride on the roads, trails, and other types of paths and has maintained his own bikes since he was a young kid. He currently volunteers for a nonprofit in Concord, NH, repairing donated bikes that are then given to children. He has a bike shop at his home in New Hampshire. He has lived in New Hampshire for over ten years and has enjoyed riding its trails and studying its history and its people.
MARCUS SANTY
TOUR GUIDE
Marcus Santy is a dedicated Social Studies teacher with a passion for cycling and a deep appreciation for the outdoors and the NH Seacoast. With a tenure in teaching history on the seacoast since 2001, Marcus embodies a commitment to both education and a love for the natural world. When not in the classroom, his pursuits include attending UNH hockey games, tending to his garden with family, and leading cycling tours around the picturesque seacoast with PortCity Bike Tours. Beginning as a casual rider, Marcus developed a stronger devotion to cycling in preparation for his inaugural Pan-Mass Challenge in 2011. His enthusiasm for the seacoast and all it has to offer is palpable, and he looks forward to the opportunity to share this passion during the upcoming season.
BETH JEFFERSON
TOUR GUIDE
Beth is retired and has learned at an early age that two wheels are a fun, efficient way to navigate any city while traveling. After a few decades in the corporate world, Beth now enjoys meeting and touring our global visitors around the NH Seacoast. She has been living in the area has seen the landscape change and enjoys sharing the sites and pleasures of cycling with you. When not in the city on a bike, she enjoys skiing, boating, the New England food, and travel. She’ll be happy to share many of the great known and hidden food and beverage spots in and around Portsmouth!
DONNA ACOX
TOUR GUIDE
Donna is three years into retirement from being a Nutrition Services Administrator for the State of New York and an Adjunct Professor at Syracuse University (teaching in nutrition sciences, exercise science, and recreation departments). She's a certified group fitness instructor, inclusive of a spinning Instructor. She taught at Golds Gym and taught fitness at Syracuse University (23 years). She is currently teaching at Barre & Soul in Portsmouth. Donna is an experienced cyclist, and has led many groups. She is CPR/ AED certified and has a Basic First Aide certification. Donna had recently biked across the Netherlands. and found that the experience has taught her that biking and being among the locals is the best way to experience a city.
DEAN MERRILL
BICYCLE MECHANIC
We're super excited to have this guy back on our team! He will be caring for our fleet of bicycles and you will love him just like we do! He's a bicycle lover and enthusiast, loves the NH Seacoast and the outdoors! From New Market, Dean has worked in local bike shops as a mechanic, and more recently, he designs customer bicycles. We are honored to have him! He's a professional bicycle sales/service person with more than 15+ years of experience.
STEVE ADLER
TOUR GUIDE
Steve is a retired educator with over thirty years of experience as both a teacher and school administrator in the seacoast and mountains of New Hampshire. He is an avid cyclist who regularly commutes to work on his bicycle. Steve has a deep passion for learning about and sharing the history of his hometown, Portsmouth, with others. Steve is fortunate to have a friend who owns a small plane and, occasionally, they are observed packing their bicycles into the aircraft for day trips to Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, and other New England destinations with suitable airports.
DAWN PRZYCHODZIEN
MANAGEMENT-OWNER