About Blue Marble...
Some of you have known us since the early years, when the offices were in our apartments, the bike workshop was the towpath of an industrial canal on the edge of Paris, and all trips, including Austria and Portugal, started and finished with train rides out from and back to Paris. The days before route sheets, back when we kept track of your travel projects by remembering to tell each other about them. Usually.
But Blue Marble has grown. Though most of the old names are still around in one connection or another, there are many new ones. So, allow us to introduce ourselves.
History...
Blue Marble was founded in 1986. Perhaps “evolved” would be a better word. Or “hatched.” And the date is somewhat artificial. We came up with the idea for the type of trip we run, and operated our first trial trips, in the early 80's. Conversely, the company was not incorporated until 1989. So there are a lot of different start dates, depending on how you define “start.” But the first Biking Transcontinental itinerary under the Blue Marble name ran in 1986, so that seems as good a date as any.
Despite being relatively unknown to the travel industry, or to other cycle trip outfitters (we do not target the usual clientele of wealthy 60-year-olds), we are one of the largest European bike trip outfitters. At least if you measure in rider-weeks. If you measure in revenue, the people charging 1,000€ a day for the same trips are bigger.
Our marketing has always been our weak point, and remains so. In fact, it essentially relies on our regular riders telling other people about us. Roughly 3/4ths of our riders over the past 5 years have been either alums or the friends they brought along. A note to you wonderful folk: please accept our heartfelt thanks! We don't like to sell ourselves, because we never know if the people we convince to go will find our trips right for them. When they don't, we feel terrible (plus, we have to listen to them whine). It is much more fun to go with people who know what they are getting into: you, and the friends who travel with you! We only hope that we can continue to bring you as much as you have brought us over the years....
About Us, Personally...
The Early Years
At the beginning, Blue Marble consisted of a few pioneering souls: Nicolas Clifford, Brigitte Bruneau, Ethan Gelber, and Jacqueline Sirven.
 |
Nicolas grew up in Greenwich Village, New York, son of a wine journalist and sometime cookbook editor. He acquired an undergraduate degree in Economics, and then an MBA from Wharton with a specialty in Transportation Management, before abandoning civil society for the world of cycle travel. His current role at Blue Marble is logistics manager (he meshes the trips and the trains), and CFO (he refuses funding for the latest wacko/visionary idea from one of the others, so don't hold your breath on Ethan's “Sri Lanka Biking” project). He also leads trips: about 2 month's worth each year. |
Brigitte has an even more pointless degree: a doctorate in Chinese (which she no longer considers she even speaks). She grew up in the western suburbs of Paris, and now lives in the eastern suburbs of Paris, but she spent a core 17 years in the center of Paris. If we extrapolate, she should make it to Champagne in another 120 years. She left her role as Paris office manager and comptroller in 2000, after 14 on-again, off-again years with us. We still miss her playful office presence. But we all see her regularly, and she has a happy life teaching anti-gymnastics to people opposed to fitness. Or something like that. |
|
 |
Jacqueline was born in Algeria, but moved to the south of France, and then to Paris, at a young age. Her studies were at Sciences Po, where she earned a degree in – any guesses? – that's right, Political Science. Jacqueline assumed Brigitte's role as manager of the Paris office in 2000, but has now moved on to a new career helping others find jobs. She has a teenage daughter, Lauren, who visits the Paris office from time to time and practices her budding English on befuddled cyclists. You can reach her at: jslm@club-internet.fr |
Within the first few years of our existence, we were joined by two others: Padraic Kennedy, who first travelled with us as a rider, and has been doing so as a Trip Coordinator for nearly two decades since. Also Ron Kurtz (of the “full Ron”), who came home after his trip with us, married his sweetheart Carol at a Flintstones theme park, and opened our Canadian commercial office a year later, in 1992.
 Professor Padraic |
|
 Trip Coordinator Padraic |
 |
Ron is an Anglo-Quebecer, born and raised in Montréal in a German family. He has an MBA from York University with a specialty in marketing. Ron has a real job outside of Blue Marble, and Carol does the day-to-day work in our Canadian back-office. She is from the Maritimes (New Brunswick, to be precise), and is a trained accountant. Which is why Brigitte, trained in Chinese, did our accounting, and Carol, trained in accounting, did marketing. If you haven't figured this out by now, Blue Marble has provided most of us a way to escape our destinies, which we were all manifestly trying to do. |
There have been many other important names added over the years, and a number of introductions are in order. We'll make them by geographic location.
The U.S. Office (Ron and Carol are the Canadian Office)
|
 |
 |
Laura Malone was the first full-time (solo) manager of the U.S. office, back when it was a brick-n'-mortar affair, then in Morristown NJ. She grew up in a suburb of Chicago. Her professional background was in publishing (with an undergraduate degree in English and music), and later in computer programming (needed to make a living). She travelled with us on a trip in Spain in 1993, decided that the making-a-living-thing was overrated, and that we were more fun than computer programming. Unfortunately for her, we were so delighted to have someone who knew how to at least turn a computer on that she has been our I.T. person ever since. She and Nicolas were married in 1997, in a bar in New Orleans, before the city was given up to rising water and snakes. They claim that they were both sober at the time. Remarkably, witnesses do not dispute this account. They now have two daughters, Mathilde and Elise, born in 2004 and 2006. Laura can be reached at laura@bluemarble.org. |
RoseMary Wall held down the Philly Phort for its first few years. She was working as a bartender, putting her B.S. in anthropology to good use, when we met her. She also worked as a senior systems analyst for a BIG company, but we don't understand half of what's on her resume (although it sounds impressive)... We do know that she's one of the friendliest, most cheerful people we've met. She wants to go to grad school to study the anthropology of genocide. So maybe she's a bit bipolar. But we only ever saw the good side.... You can reach her at rmswall@yahoo.com. |
 “So THAT's how it works...” |
Tim Suba is another of our multi-trip clients who More recently he was some type of sales/marketing guy for Coca-Cola USA. He was lured back to the beverage world in '03, this time with Gambrinus (Corona), now with Moosehead, but continues to make “special guest star” appearances, most recently in 2009. Tim can be reached at: timsuba@aol.com. |
|
 |
The Paris Office
We opened our Paris office in 1992 (and installed heat in 1997). It occupies the ground floor of an old building in the center of the city, midway between the Louvre and the Pompidou Center, and within walking distance of both (our rental apartments are in the building above).
Before 1992, we ran our trips out of an apartment rented for the purpose; a 6th floor walk-up next to the Pantheon, on the left bank. This became impractical as the number of people who needed to actually visit the place increased. It was also illegal, and our landlord was getting testy.
Our current building is a national historic monument, because some of its bits are among the oldest stones in Paris. The foundations were probably laid in the 12th century. The basement, where many of the bikes are kept, was part of an old tunnel which lead from the Louvre (a royal palace at that time, not a museum) to a mansion in the Marais, the neighborhood adjacent ours to the east. A branch of the tunnel forked off in our basement, and lead under the Seine to an alternate escape hatch on the left bank -- one of the world's very first underwater tunnels. The building's ground floor, where our office is, dates from the 13th century, and the upper floors were rebuilt subsequently, probably in the 15th or the 16th.
Despite (or maybe because of) its age, the building is not particularly pretty: it was cheaply built as a hôtel de passe (the type of hotel where rooms rent by the hour). The neighborhood was one of the only ones to escape Baron Hausmann's reconstruction in the Napoleonic era, and it had always been (relatively) poor, until very recently. Victor Hugo's “Court of Miracles,” vividly described in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” as the epicenter of Paris’ medieval squalor, is only three blocks away. Today the neighborhood is the last in Paris' historic center to still have a meaningful working class component, though it is gentrifying fast.
|
 |
 |
Marianne Bry has been in our Paris office since 2006. She hails from the region of Clermont-Ferrand, and is aptly named after the feminine ideal of France. Fortunately for her, since it seems that everyone else in her family, including her sister, is named Pierre. A personable, charming woman, whose English far surpasses that of any Baggage Master, past or present. |
The Road Show
That leaves the trip coordinators. Tim, Padraic, Ethan and Nicolas have been previously introduced.
 |
Lyn Donelson once aspired to be a professional wrestler. His inspiration was the late great Ravishing Rick Rude (his native Iowa was a bit short on dynamic role models). But at age 8, he discovered his real passion in life was bass fishing. His career goal is now hosting his own Sunday morning fishing show, alongside the likes of Babe Winkleman and Al Linder. Until that happens, you may find him working at Blue Marble. His stories of wild adventures in exotic lands are usually grounded in truth, and his gift for synthesis brings them to life. Put any exaggeration down to a skill he learned hanging around the grain elevators and livestock sale barns of his youth, where hog futures and corn yield weren’t the only things discussed. He can be reached at: lyndonelson@yahoo.com. |
In addition to being a hardcore italophile, her enthusiasm and love of all things Europe and bike-related is contagious. And it goes without saying that she will kick your ass on the hills. Catherine can be reached at catedundie@gmail.com. |
 |
 |
Jeff Kralik has a past career as a teacher, of French and of history, and a sometime basketball coach. He is also an amateur cycle racer, and an amateur German speaker. He, too, now lives in Philadelphia, where he has finished his PhD and is working for the Philadelphia School District. He is otherwise supported by his sons Nathan, born in 2003, and Sebastian, born in 2008, with help from wife Tammy (a “top doc” at Children’s Hospital). He has been leading trips with us since 1994, and tries to get in a few a year. He is also co-responsible, with Laura, for the design of the famous Blue Marble biking jersey. He can be reached at masi3v@comcast.net, and is happy to discuss sponsorship deals for future jersey runs. |
|
 |
 |
Carlos Correa joined us in 2005, leading trips in France, Switzerland, and Italy. He has since added Spain and Portugal to the mix, which makes some intuitive sense when your realize his native language is Spanish. Why didn’t we think of that sooner!? When not on the bike, he can be found working on his PhD in Economics (sustainable development, broadly speaking) in New York City. Married his favorite Blue Marble guest, Karen Moscow, in 2007, and baby Mateo arrived for the start of our ‘08 season! A native Colombian, Carlos entered the world of bicycle touring with 3 years of bike instruction, an impressive fluency in three languages, and experience as an Ultimate Frisbee competitor under his belt. And the prerequisite: an “appreciation of a well-prepared meal with a cup of wine....” |
Richard’s Official Title |
Richard Bankowitz had travelled as a passenger on our trips since 1997, visiting no fewer than 15 of our itineraries. He finally abandoned any semblence of trying to get any work done, gave up his day job (was that wise?), and signed on for an extended sabbatical leading trips in 2005. After a wonderful first summer, he promised to leave his career routinely, but we saw him only as a passenger in ‘06, ‘07, ‘08, '09.... 2010, Richard? An east coaster originally, more recently from Chicago, Richard moved to Philadelphia in 2006 (as all good people eventually do), to be closer to our glass and steel headquarters of the day. Besides being an MD, he has an MBA, a certificate in advanced feng shui, and an affinity for eastern philosophy (not to mention Austrian white wines). He speaks versions of French, Italian and German which invariably astound the locals. Notwithstanding rumors to the contrary, he is neither a Hapsburg heir, nor a serious candidate for the presidency. He can be reached at bankowitz@rcn.com. |
|
 |
 |
Jed Buckner is, well, Jed Buckner. A Colorado mountain town type, he climbs rocks and cycles up Rockies for fun (?!). Somehow managed to pick up Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian along the way. He worked with us full-time for two seasons, then moved to the North Shore of Maui, Hawaii, where he and his wife ran a B&B. They got the important work done: teaching their three children (including a pair of twins) to surf. Then moved back to Colorado, and are filling ATM machines in the Rockies. Jed can be reached at: jedjustjed@yahoo.com |
Sue Sterling hails from Toronto, leads trips for us in French, German and Italian, and has in the past helped out in the Paris office. She has had a host of jobs with the underlying theme of “using languages,” and did so with us for two seasons. In recent years, Sue’s “day job” has involved representing a winery back in Canada. She comes to visit periodically with samples :-). Check out her award-winning “Naked Wine Show” at www.slurpswish.com! Sue can be reached at: ss925@rogers.com |
 |
 |
Break Battlee (the misspelling is intentional — he doesn't want to come up on Google, for fear of being associated with us) is Australian. He came to us in 1999 via Canada, where he was studying snow -- um, French -- at the Université de Chicoutimi. He has run trips in Spanish, French, Italian and Danish, the last of which he does not actually speak. But then his English also leaves something to be desired, so we take what we can get. Brek is commonly agreed to be one of the nicest people on the planet. We’re not sure what he does in the off-season (actually, we are sworn to secrecy), but we put out that he operates a chain of bordellos, and would appreciate it if you would sustain that rumor.... |
 |
Greg Green first came to us (or maybe we drafted him?) in 1995 to lead trips in Italy and France. Coming off a stint in a bike shop, we thought he was going to work his magic on our special fleet of bikes, as well. But, as you can see from this picture, it turned out his talents lay elsewhere. Greg last travelled with us as a guest/assistant guide (you never escape!) in 2007. But then fatherhood happened, and his most recent communiqué is as follows: “Presently on day three of vomiting and a cold ([daughter] Heidi, not me).... driving on black ice is fun.” Still with us in spirit. Greg can be reached at gregoriogreen@hotmail.com |
Chris Barrett stumbled into Blue Marble's Paris office in 2007, while hunting dirt to worship and trees to hug on French organic farms. |
 |
 |
Ty Murray is in his third year with us. He is the only person, ever, to hail from southern California and not possess a driver’s license. Which driver's license, let it be said in passing, is a requirement for the job he holds. Oh well. Figure we hired him for his good looks, instead. As he says, he's found where he belongs. And, look Mom -- he's even eating his vegetables! Ty can be reached, appropriately enough, at tyishungry@yahoo.com |
 |
For two seasons our support and logistics were handled by a Baggage Master extraordinaire, Tony Gentry. Discussing his work, he once laconically commented, “There's easier ways to kill a man [sic].” He speaks in a North Carolina drawl remarkable for the fact that it reduces his word-per-minute count to about 3. He was a water sports instructor at a resort in Saipan, then went to Japan to hunt down a Japanese celebrity to whom resort visitors were sure he was related. Sounds like “stalking” to us.... He has since taught English there (and, more remarkably, French, which he is still trying to learn himself). He has also worked as a bouncer for the Japanese mafia, which he described as “only slightly less dangerous than [his] girlfriend.” And he is currently back to teaching, which we hope is safer.... We love seeing Tony, who continues to put in appearances when he needs a Europe fix. And we always wish him the best of luck, though he seems to make his own. Perhaps his language students will need it more: they may wind up as the only Japanese English speakers with precisely that accent. There is no risk that they will ever learn French.... Tony's e-mail is tonygentry@hotmail.com. |
No list would be complete without mentioning Ross Dukes, who established the “Baggage Boy” (his title) position some years back (we now call them Baggage Masters). It is quite rationally the most highly-paid at Blue Marble. A little like Michel, Ross can do anything, or at least is willing to try. A big guy from Sault Ste-Marie, Canadian side, Ross can eat several half chickens or carry 8 suitcases with equal ease. Ross was most recently spotted working on the Algoma Central Railway as a short-order cook. He didn't seem to be quite sure why, and none of us except for Nicolas know where the Algoma Central goes. All the same, since he created the Baggage Master position, we will always fondly associate it with him.
There are others, but these are the ones you are most likely to come across, so we'll spare you the details.
Some of us in the doorway of the Paris office. From left:
Brek, Sue, Tony, Brigitte, Michel, Nicolas, Jacqueline, Laura