Hi, I'm Geoff.

I made Joyful Rides because a bike is my favourite way to see a place, and finding the right ride shouldn't take an evening of reading blogs.

A road bike on a gravel track high above Lake Annecy, with forest below and mountains across the lake.
Above Lake Annecy, 2026

2008 · Texas 4000 for Cancer

Texas to Alaska

I fell in love with cycling at 21, on Texas 4000 for Cancer, a charity ride from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska. For 70 days we rode 50 to 100 miles a day through some of the most beautiful country in the United States and Canada. We lived on the generosity of our supporters and had little to do but take in the scenery.

Four riders in team jerseys sit on a ridge looking over a turquoise lake and mountains.
Texas 4000 teammates in the Canadian Rockies, 2008

AIDS/LifeCycle · 5×

San Francisco to Los Angeles

A few years later I met my wife while training for AIDS/LifeCycle, 545 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles. We've ridden it together five times.

The Cabrio Taxi team, fists raised, riding under the AIDS/LifeCycle arch as crowds cheer.
Riding in with the Cabrio Taxi team, 2015. Photo: AIDS/LifeCycle
Six riders in red Cabrio jerseys at a hilltop sign reading Halfway 2 L.A., one holding a bike overhead.
Halfway to L.A., 2013
Geoff riding toward the camera in a red jersey, with balloons and other riders behind.
2016. Photo: AIDS/LifeCycle

Ten years in San Francisco

Cabrio Taxi

I started Cabrio Taxi, a bicycle taxi company in San Francisco, and we ran it together for ten years. It still runs today.

A dozen sparkling red pedicabs parked in rows, one showing the Cabrio Taxi logo.
The Cabrio Taxi fleet
Geoff grinning from the back seat of a pedicab on the Embarcadero, with another Cabrio driver behind.
On the Embarcadero
Two road bikes against a railing above the Golden Gate Bridge, with San Francisco in fog behind.
The Golden Gate from the Marin Headlands

Today

Everywhere, now with my family

I've since ridden all over the world, and now I ride with my family. A bike gives me joy and, above all, freedom. Whenever I visit a new town, I try to go for a ride.

Geoff, his wife and their two children in a cargo bike, stopped above vineyards and a lake with mountains behind.
With my family above Lake Geneva
A gravel bike against a trail sign on a bike path, with the Teton range behind.
Grand Teton, Wyoming
A loaded touring bike on a red road winding between sandstone cliffs.
Touring in Zion, Utah

Why I built Joyful Rides

The idea came on a solo trip to Annecy, which is a candy store for cyclists. I didn't know which rides to choose, and I didn't have the patience to comb through dozens of blogs to find out. I wanted one place to understand my options quickly, then take what I needed and go ride.

How the rides are chosen

I decide what makes a ride good. In cities, that's quiet streets and beautiful views. Outside them, it's steady climbs, big views and the roads local cyclists celebrate. Software then applies that to every street, scoring traffic, surface and slope from open map data. That's how a new city gets good rides from day one. Nobody pays to be on a route.

I ride as many as I can myself, and each ride will soon say whether I have. Until then, treat the rides as modelled, not checked on the ground, and check conditions before you go. The details are in how the rides are made and the review policy.

Find a ride