Over one million people visit New York City every single week; tourism is this city’s single largest industry. But for most of the 52 million people visiting New York City every year, Brooklyn remains a mystery.

Get Up and Ride is a bicycle tour company that organizes guided sightseeing tours and cycling events in New York City, particularly in Brooklyn. We also use our expertise in the active tourism field for application for corporate excursions, private VIP tours, and consulting on cycling / tourism related issues in New York City.

Bookings are made online, generally 1-2 weeks in advance, with a maximum group size of 11. Once booked, every guest receives an email confirmation with all pertinent information preparing them for their tour. Every tour focuses on highlighting sights, history, and cultural notes that a traveler would not be able to find on their own. The small tour size allows the guide to get to know each guest, and personalize recommendations, anecdotes, and interesting features of the neighborhood.

We offer three different types of tours currently, and also offer private, VIP, and customizable tour options. Get Up and Ride offers the key to unlock the mystery of Brooklyn, through an affordable and personable bike tour of New York’s biggest and coolest borough. 

Get Up and Ride has, over the past 18 months, established itself as the most popular activity for tourists visiting Brooklyn, NY (Tripadvisor). We have built a name for ourselves as a small, agile active travel company, providing unique cycling adventures for over 1,000 New York City visitors in 2013. Merely 11 months after founding the company, Felipe Lavalle was able to hire a Vice President and three tour guides, and increasing the company’s revenue by 669% this year, while maintaining a 70% profit margin.

2012 Bookings (June - October) = 194 Guests 

2013 Bookings (March - October) = 1,071 Guests 

2012 - 2013 Bookings = 1,268 Guests

TripAdvisor Ranking as of November 2013

We are truly unique in Brooklyn, and in the tourism industry overall.

• Bikes enable travelers to see more than any other mode of transportation, and give them a closer connection to the sites they are seeing: no tinted windows to peer through.
• Stylish, lightweight bikes are hugely popular as an alternative to clunky, low-quality, and unattractive rentals that are common for the market.
• Hip, young, friendly guides lead small groups that get to know each other well over the course of the tour. All of our guides are local freelancers too (actors, musicians, videographers, etc) who guide as a way to share their love for the borough they call home. 
• Real interaction between the guests and the guide, and among the guests, is a welcome change from the canned commentary of big box tours.
• We have mutually beneficial, organic relationships with the small indie Brooklyn businesses we visit - no low-quality tourist traps make it onto our tours.
• All of these characteristics come together to create an experience that makes you feel "in-the-know" about the real Brooklyn, not on a hokey tourist jaunt. Its a genuine, fun, hip, healthy, and green way to see the borough.

Have you ever tried to take an important call in a cafe at the exact moment that 20 screaming preschoolers appear all around you? We have. It's about as fun as it sounds.

For the past year and a half Felipe and our growing team have been a nomadic band of freelancers and entrepreneurs with no central location to call our own. We've kept a low overhead, but it is pretty tricky to run a business from your apartment / local coffee shop / bike shop / parking garage / smart phone. We store our bikes in a parking garage that is shared with many other clients and not 100% secure, and we lack a friendly, visible meeting location to start and end tours. And we are pretty much over relying on cafe wifi to get our work done.

In order for us to expand our business and maintain a stable place in the business community in North Brooklyn, we need a brick-and-mortar HQ - and FAST. We will be able to offer more tours and rentals, build more partnerships with local businesses, offer a better experience to our guests, ensure secure storage for our equipment, and have an efficient office for our team. The space will also be utilized as a retail shop to showcase the goods and services of other businesses and creatives here in North Brooklyn. In a nutshell, it will improve everyone's existence in every single way.

Improved Customer Experience: Our guests will be able to meet in a friendly, comfortable, accessible space, and will have the opportunity to peruse and purchase some of the best Made-In-Brooklyn products and artwork, cycling accessories and media, and relax in our lounge before or after their tour.

Increased Revenue: By centralizing our presence in one space, we will streamline our operation and reduce inefficiency, while simultaneously increasing our revenue generating capability. We will be able to take care of all of our equipment maintenance and repair in our in-house workshop. In addition to in-store and online sales of our featured Brooklyn and cycling wares, our hosted events will directly generate income as well. The draw of the space will bring us increased visibility and business for our tours. Perfect. 

Centralized Team HQ: We've gotten great at telecommuting from wherever we are, but there is nothing like the synergy you experience from an in-person team meeting, or a community event in your neighborhood. We will be more productive, creative, and focused, and strengthen our presence in the local economy and community, by having a physical space to work, meet, share, and grow.

On top of all that, we want to make our HQ a locus of activity outside of normal business hours too! Our versatile space will host an array of events, including cycling-related meet-ups, workshops, art shows, and parties throughout the year. If you think we're good at giving tours, wait till you see our parties. 

Through our fundraising this winter, we will secure the capital necessary to find a strategic location for our first HQ, and open in time for the spring.

This winter we will secure our first brick-and-mortar HQ, and the hefty rent that goes with it. While we build out and outfit our space to be the ideal multipurpose coworking, retail, meetup, and event environment, we are securing capital to invest in the space to optimize the launch in the spring. Our fundraising will support:

• The security deposit, rent and utilities for our new space ($6,000)
• Necessary improvements to the space ($1,500)
• Furniture, equipment, and decor ($1,000)
• New hires, tour development, and training for Spring 2014 ($4,000)
• Purchasing of inventory to showcase in our shop ($2,000)
• Web development for our new resource guides, blog, and neighborhood calendars ($3,000)
• Locally roasted coffee to fuel us through the winter (PRICELESS)
• All of the fantastic rewards you'll get for contributing to the Brooklyn economy and indie business community!

We are dedicated to collaboration, and we're serious about biking not just as the best way for travelers to experience a city, but as necessary to support our physical, mental, and environmental health. That's why we are donating 5% of what we earn during this winter fundraising campaign to amazing national cycling and educational non-profit, CYCLEKids!

Pretty philanthropic, right?