SPRING ADVENTURE

Cycle tours hit global road

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MAYNE ISLAND
Closer
than you
think.

ome people seem to have

been born on a bike, and
others seem born to bike.
Chris Winter is both.
In conversation with the Georgia
Straight, the Whistler-based cycle-tour
operator recalled how, when he was a
toddler, his parents, Mike and Linda
Winter, took him to England and
Wales in the early 1970s. My parents
pioneered bringing North American
riders to Europe. Im a rare secondgeneration bike-tour operator.
In a Whistler cabin with their son,
Mike and Linda weighed in with
memories of their own. We got the
crazy idea while chaperoning highschool students on a bus tour in
Holland in 1970, said Linda, whose
husband was an Ottawa English
teacher. One day we rented bikes
to explore the Apeldoorn forest, and
it turned out to be a much more indepth experience than on a bus. The
next year, we put together a bike trip
to the Rhine. Only three students
enrolled. Mike tried harder, putting
up signs at the entrance to school
cafeterias and giving lunch talks. He
recruited 18 kids.
Mike recalled the price: $350, including airfare. In those days, only
students were interested. Adults
wouldnt be caught dead on a bike,
he said. We rode 10-speed Peugeot
bikes with drop handlebars, toe
clips, and outfitted the kids with Jofa
hockey helmets, as there were no
bike helmets back then.
Linda remembered European children reacted to the bizarre sight by
throwing stones. Two years later,
I got a letter from one girlwho by
then was in universitythanking us
for the character-building lessons on
coping with the hilly conditions in
England and Wales. We just imagined
it would be flat. It was anything but.
Those were the years before Google Earth. When my parents started, there werent even fax machines,
Chris said. Linda added: All we had
were Teletypes.
By 1985, adults began to sign on
as well. That was the last year we
camped or stayed in youth hostels.
From then on, it was hotels, said
Linda, who currently acts as an adviser to Cycleventures, the company
the Winters founded in 1972 and ran
for three decades before Chris took
charge. In Chriss eyes, his mother
still holds the reins. The clientele
have returned time and again for 30
years. Mom has a following like you
wouldnt believe. An older brother,
Sean, a secondary-school teacher in
Vancouver, also guides with the company during the summer.
As well as taking on responsibility
for Cycleventures, Chris, who moved
to Whistler in 2002, simultaneously
launched a mountain-bike touring
company, Big Mountain Bike Adventures. Whistler did it to me,
he said. This is where I got the bug.
My first branch off from Cycleventures was in Switzerland. A bit like
when my parents started, back then
it was a far-flung adventure to take
mountain bikers to Europe. Twelve
years later, its finally catching on

National Hiking Trail

explore the
nature & arts
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sti

va l a

c t iv e pa s s.

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for more info visit www.mayneislandchamber.ca

14 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT MARCH 5 12 / 2015

The Winter family founded Cycleventures, a locally based company that

helped pioneer cycle tours in Europe and abroad. Louise Christie photo.

with riders whove spent years at

Moab [Utah] and are game to try
something farther afield. Whereas
my parentswho have ridden every
back road in Francefocused on
Europe, with my new venture we
go to Third World and developing
countries.
Asked how mountain bikers differ from road cyclists, Chris said that
fat-tire riding is quite specific to each
individuals comfort level. They
tend to be hard-core cyclists who
typically own several different types
of bikes. Demographically, theres
an 80-20 blend of male and female,
with a good mix of couples and singles on our trips. Whereas Iceland
is among Chriss new favourites, his
father pointed to Scotland as his first
choice. As for Linda, the Alsace and
Black Forest regions of France and
Germany, respectively, keep calling her back. All three agreed that
France, Italy, and Spain are by far the
most cycle-friendly locales.
When the Straight met up with
Robbin McKinney at his office in
Fairview Slopes, the long-time
cycle-tour operator agreed with the
Winters assessment that Europe remains the most popular choice with
North American cyclists. Provence
is where I first began in 1997 with
my own company, Great Explorations. It remains the best place for
families in search of food and culture. It hits everything on the list.
My kids are seven and nine, and we
cycled with them there last year on
ride-along bikes. I cant wait to take
them on the Camino [de Santiago]
when theyre a little older.
Much like Chris Winterwhose
four-year-old daughter, Ella, pedalled her own bike on a multigenerational family outing in France last
summerMcKinney said that determining how soon a child is ready
to cycle-tour depends more on the
parents than the offspring. Choose
appropriately, he counselled. Bike
paths in the Loire Valley, for example, are mostly level and separated from motor traffic. We just had a
reservation from a family who want
to ride the Canadian Rockies with
their 13- and 15-year-olds.
Have websites that help people
plan their own tours had any effects
on business? McKinney said theyre

from previous page

and is usually done south-to-north due to snow levels.

One of the GDTAs goals is to gain formal recognition
and protection of the GDT corridor. According to Vaillancourt, the provincial governments are quite supportive of
the project. Although the federal government was an early
backer of the GDT in the 1970s, he said present-day Parks
Canada officials havent expressed a lot of interest yet.
People wont care for what they havent experienced, and this trailour trailallows people to go
out there and experience it, Vaillancourt said. We
want people to protect it. That means we need to get
them out there caring about it. Thats why were doing
what were doing.
On the phone from his Powell River home, Eagle
Walz remarked that hes been too busy working on
the Sunshine Coast Trail for the past two decades to
hike the PCT. The 180-kilometre SCT traverses the
Upper Sunshine Coast from Sarah Point in Malaspina

both a threat and an opportunity.

People still value that someone
like me, who has been guiding since
1985, has designed routes for cyclists
who value culture over simply riding
from point to point like GranFondo
types. Our groups are more about
a relaxed adventure. Behind-thescenes support is the attraction of my
other company, Randonne Tours.
Clients choose their own dates and
save money by being self-guided. We
tailor trips to their individual needs,
plus supply comfy bikes.
Bikes are personal. Most cyclists
relate to theirs like a favourite pair
of shoes. A comfortable fit matters
most. When asked about choosing
equipment to pack on a cycle tour,
Trish Sare, director of BikeHike Adventures, listed helmets, clipless pedals (for those who wear bike shoes),
and seats. When interviewed at her
Granville Island office, Sare, whos
guided trips for 20 years, said that
Costa Rica has been her companys
bread and butter from the start. We
mountain-bike 40 to 50 kilometres a
day on rugged roadsbut not North
Shore rugged, she said. Were not
all about biking, because people who
go with us are older, so we addhiking and horseback riding to the mix.
Perennially popular bucket list
destinations with BikeHikes clients
include the Galpagos and Ecuador.
This year especially, its Cuba, she
said. Every second call were fielding these days is someone, particularly Canadians, who wants to see
Cuba before the country changes.
Ive been leading trips there for three
years now. We ride mountain bikes
fitted with semislick tires. Cuban
roads are in not bad shape compared to dirt-and-rock trails in some
countries we visit. The countryside is
more hilly than mountainous. Cuba
is about the people, not wildlife. Besides Cuba, Sare pointed to Slovenia
(Its finally taking off), as well as
Vietnam and Morocco. People rave
about Morocco. Its our most culturally authentic trip, as we follow nomads on their annual migration. We
are their guests.
No matter where, McKinney
summed up cycle tourings enduring appeal: Were all after the same
thingwind in our hair and biking
through exotic places. -

Provincial Park to Saltery Bay on Jervis Inlet.

Walz, founder and president of the Powell River
Parks and Wilderness Society, told the Straight the
SCTwhich now bears National Hiking Trail markerswas completed around 2000. Since then, volunteers have added many signs, benches, picnic tables,
and campsites to the SCT and improved its surface.
In May, Walz hopes to see construction start on a new
hut between Walt Hill and Mount Troubridge, adding
to the dozen huts already found along the trail.
According to Walz, who authored a guidebook on
the SCT, the trail takes 12 to 14 days to thru-hike,
and about 100 people do this every year. He recommends starting at the remote north end, which can be
reached by water taxi from Lund. Along the way, SCT
hikers visit old-growth forests and bask in vistas of
the Coast Mountains and Salish Sea.
Taken in part, its easy, Walz said. But doing
the whole thing is a real challenge, and they will find
out things about themselves that they may not have
known before. Its a beautiful experience. -