In the summer of 2023 two people set out on two separate adventures to ride their bicycles across Europe to reach the city of Istanbul. George starting out in the city of Amsterdam and Lea starting in Rome. It wasn’t until thousands of kilometers later that they met in the city of Izmir, on the west coast of Turkey. Instantly they connected over their passion of biketouring, being immersed in the landscape and the people of the places they moved through, traveling at a slow enough pace to truly see a place and really take everything in.

Inspired by their trips, both Lea’s and George’s moms started asking each of them when they were going to take them on one of these bicycle rides. So, when George and Lea started their relationship it was obvious that they would need to organize a bicycle trip to show their moms the beauty of bike travel. In the summer of 2025 they began a month-long adventure around Ireland and Scotland with their moms, and with that George and Lea discovered a new passion: guiding people in the strange art of bike touring and bike packing. 

With that new found passion Chilco Bike Expeditions was born!