us ness

A group of bicyclists
on a CBT adventure.

13

BAR,

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22 VOUZIERS

Magical Bicycle Tour

Michigan native launches venture
that lures travelers to Europe.

AMY J. KRAMER

SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

Jerry Soverinsky now owns a bicycle tour company.

S

omething about bik-
ing convinced Jerry
Soverinsky to trade
his lawyer's brief-
case for a bicycle helmet
and road map.
Had he remained a
lawyer, Mr. Soverinsky
would never have fulfilled
his secret ambition: to
own his own bicycle tour-
ing company.
Mr. Soverinsky, 27 for-
merly of Southfield, is the
president of College
Bicycle Tours (CBT), a
company he founded in
1987 - three days after
graduating from Wayne
State University Law
School.

Amy J. Kramer, a former
Jewish News staff writer, is
a freelance writer in
Chicago.

Ever
since,
Mr.
Soverinsky has spent four
months each year in
Europe, leading groups
through England, France,
Belgium, Luxembourg,
Switzerland and Ger-
many. He spends the rest
of the year marketing his
bicycle tours from his
Chicago apartment.
"I wanted to take this
chance while I was
young," Mr. Soverinsky
said. "I wasn't so sure I
wanted to be a lawyer. I
was sure about running
bicycle tours."
Mr. Soverinsky joined
his first bike trip while in
college at the University
of 'Michigan. The trip
through the Northeast
convinced him he could
master his own tour.

"I was very dissatisfied
with the poor planning
and inexperience of the
leaders," he said. "I
always thought I could do
it better."
Mr. Soverinsky started
saving money. He did not
know how much he would
need, but he was deter-
mined to continue.
He tried to organize a
trip during his first year
of law school but didn't
find many takers. The
next year, he worked in a
Detroit law firm trying to
recoup the money he lost.
By the end of law school,
Mr. Soverinsky had saved
about $4,000 and decided
to work on his dream full
time.
"I took a chance and fir
changed how I structured ti