On most of our trips there are 3 roles – tour leaders who run the event and do all the logistical work needed on an itinerant event; the bike guides who guide people on a bike each day in small groups of 8-10 people; and the medics who usually end up practising more tea making skills than medical.

We love it when we get multi skilled people who are able to do more than one of the below but we always need new people so get in touch and be part of the pie team!

Tour Leaders and Event Managers

Each of our events is run by an Event Manager. They have a team of Tour Leaders who report into them. Between them they manage the event, including the cyclists, guides and medics, and are responsible for its success. They are also the first port of call for the client. On our rides, tour leaders drive vehicles to provide support for cyclists, preparing their food on the hoof, transporting luggage, organising hotels and restaurants, and dealing with the expected and unexpected. All of this is done with more than one eye on the environmental impact of every event.   We expect all pie personnel to “muck in” with everything and play a meaningful, hands-on role on every event. We encourage guides to work as tour leaders and vice versa. Tour Leaders can become Event Managers after working on a minimum number of events.

To become a pie Tour Leader you need to:

• Be experienced working with and managing groups of people and working as part of a tight knit team
• Have a clean driving license and be 25 years old or over to drive all of our vehicles
• Be able to deal with a crisis with a level head and think around problems
• Be 1st aid qualified
• Be physically fit enough to deal with carting luggage, food, bikes, etc

And have:

• Excellent organisational skills
• Preferably conversational knowledge of a European language – mostly French, Spanish or Italian.

If you would like to join our database of freelancers, please send us a CV and covering letter, highlighting your relevant experience, with an attached photograph. Next steps would be to meet up to ensure both parties understand the other’s motivations and needs before doing one day of a UK event where you shadow a tour leader and generally muck in. Although we pay expenses for this day plus food and accommodation if relevant, we do not pay wages on the day you are shadowing.

Guides

pie cycling events are guided on a ratio of 8-10 cyclists to 1 guide. Most of our events are guided rather than signed. As a guide you must therefore be able to use a Garmin and read a map while leading a group of mixed a ability cyclists along an unfamiliar road! We run cycling events across the UK and Europe. All guides must have previous experience of guiding groups on a bike, preferably on unknown roads, with people they don’t know. For fitness, you should have experience in long distance/ multi day cycling, and should be able to keep up a minimum average speed of 15 miles per hour for a long day’s riding. You should be a reasonable mechanic who can fix things on the road side and help out with, if not manage, more major mechanical issues when handed a fully stocked tool box. All of this is done with more than one eye on the environmental impact of every event.

We expect all pie personnel to “muck in” with all aspects of an event and play a meaningful, hands-on, role.

To become a pie guide you need to be:

• Experienced working with and leading groups of people on a bike
• Able to deal with a crisis with a level head and think round problems
• 1st aid qualified
• Physically fit with a proven history of doing consecutive days of riding
• Map read from a combination of sources, such as paper maps and electronic devices

And have:

• Excellent organisational skills
• Preferably a knowledge of a European language – usually French, Spanish or Italian
• You should have good mechanical knowledge

If you would like to join our database of freelance guides, please send us a CV and covering letter, highlighting your relevant experience, with an attached photograph. Next steps would be to meet up to ensure both parties understand the other’s motivations and needs, before doing a day of a UK event where you shadow a guide and generally muck in. Although we pay expenses for this day plus food and accommodation as relevant, we do not pay wages for a shadow day.

Mechanical Skills of a Bike Guide:

During the event we expect a bike guide to carry on them a number of items to enable the group to move along the route without significant delay.  As a minimum you should carry:

• Tyre levers
• Multi tool with chain tool attached
• Spare chain links 11spd, 10spd, 9spd
• Inner tube 700 x 23cc
• Pump

As well as adjusting the bike set up for a client, as a minimum, a bike guide should be able to identify and fix the following mechanical issues on the side of the road:

• Tighten/loosen pedals and cleats
• Repair punctures and change tyres (including the new tubeless systems)
• Adjust brake pads including disc brakes
• Adjust (tighten/loosen) headsets
• Fix broken chains
• Adjust stops on front and rear mech
• Adjust gear cable tension
• Adjust spoke tension for basic wheel truing
• Identifying noise complaints
• Identifying different gearing systems – Shimano/SRAM/di2/Campag

When a toolbox becomes available to a bike guide i.e. at a stop, at the end of the day or when a TL arrives, then a bike guide should be able to do the following work as well:

• Changing a cassette for a rear wheel swap
• Changing gear and brake cables
• Replacing cleats and pedals
• Replacing brake pads
• Re-align a rear mech
• Attaching a new spoke to a wheel
• Truing a wheel
• Applying rim tape to a wheel
• Reattaching a crank arm
• Replacing jockey wheels

If a bike guide is unable to perform the minimum set of tasks above, we recommend further training to deal with these probable issues on a pie cycling event.

Please note it is rare for there to be a mechanic on a pie bike ride.

Medics

We take medics on most of our events. Sometimes we need medics who can actually participate in the event (mountain bikers for example) and are still able to handle a medical emergency if one arises. Most of the time we need medics who are happy to be in the support vehicle which trails the group. The minimum standard of medic we take is an EMT but we are happier still with paramedics, nurses and doctors!

To become a pie event medic you need to be:

• Experienced working medically in remote areas with little support or back up
• Experienced working with groups of people
• Able to deal with a crisis with a level head and think round problems
• Physically fit
• A knowledge of a European language – usually French, Spanish Italian – is always handy.
• We cannot provide medical negligence cover. If you are applying to work for us as a medic, you must be covered for professional liability in your medical capacity.

If you would like to join our database of freelance medics, please send us a CV and covering letter, highlighting your relevant experience, with an attached photograph, and we will forward you a list of events identifying who we need and with what particular skills.