Tailwind Tours is run by me, Mark Mahan, an American ex-pat living in Italy since 1992. I’ve been riding a bike since I was five years old but only got serious about it in the mid 80’s. Back in 1994 I started guiding here and haven’t stopped, it’s been my full time occupation for the past 13 years. I’ve worked with a variety of groups and cycle tour outfits, mainly with Andy Hampsten at Cinghiale Tours and Connie Carpenter at Bike Camp. I still guide for Connie as well as Alex Stieda when I’m not busy doing my own tours.

I’m not a famous ex pro racer, just a passionate cyclist who is equally passionate about sharing my adopted country’s most beautiful aspects with other cyclists. Being a guide is not simply making hotel arrangements and sheparding guests on the road. It’s about sharing the nuances of being a cyclist in Italy and helping everyone go home with some of that special feeling that only riding in Italy can give you. Unlike my more famous colleagues, I don’t leave Italy between tours, I’m already home. The cycling vacations I create are in areas and on roads that I know like the back of my hand, places where I’m a familiar face. A local. And that’s my goal, to make you feel that you too are part of this, are a member of the Italian cycling family.

The other people who work with me are either Italians or native English speakers who live in Italy. The technical support in the follow van has always been Italian, the other guides on the bike are frequently either American or South African, sometimes Italian. We’re all professional cycle guides, most of us with quite a few  years of experience.