Manitoulin Island’s pastoral pleasures is a wonderland for visitors on two wheels
EDITOR’S NOTE: This year’s series of stories is geared to giving tourist visitors insights into activities Manitoulin has to offer and will focus on unique experiences available to everyone.
Between sips of tea brewed from leaves just picked in her garden, Maja Mielonen rises occasionally when a buzzer indicates someone’s come into the food shop at the front of her gaily painted house on Mindemoya’s main street. We are talking at her kitchen table about her passion for cycling. While she bakes quiches, bread and cakes, whips up lavender and rose sorbets and grows lettuces, berries, herbs and garlic for sale, these are just a small part of her busy agenda. She is also the Prophetess of Pedaling, Manitoulin’s Sage of Cycling, if you will, whose longtime dream it was to obtain the paved shoulders now gratefully enjoyed by bicyclists on Highway 6 between South Baymouth and Little Current.
Manitoulin Island Cycling Advocates (MICA), founded in 2010 by Maja and her husband Guy Nielen, produces the excellent Manitoulin Cycling Routes and Road Map, engages in outreach (such as at this year’s International Bike show in Toronto) and advocacy (more paved shoulders, road safety and collaboration with several bike groups on various projects). For information on trails, activities and resources, see the list below.
Thanks to MICA’s commitment to promote bicycling on the Island, this year’s Passage Ride in June saw 140 riders disembark from the Chi-Cheemaun ferry at South Baymouth, arriving from southern Ontario and points beyond to tour Manitoulin for two days. The $65 per person fee covered the return ferry ticket, organized touring, wholesome lunches and a party in Maja’s lush garden, with its small stage, outdoor clay oven and arbours.
On the Passage Ride, the cyclists pay their own accommodations costs in motels and bed-and-breakfasts of their choosing and arrangements are made for bags to be picked up and dropped off by these establishments right at the ferry dock, leaving riders car- and luggage-free for the duration of their holiday. While touring, a ‘sweeper car’ brings up the rear, ensuring that there are no worries about being left behind or stranded in case of tiredness, injury or bike malfunction.
“One 10-year old from southern Ontario cycled 110 kilometres on his first day, on a kid’s bike!” enthuses Maja, still awed by this feat. “He saw some new-born rabbits and raved non-stop about the wildflowers. Three kids came with their mother and went swimming at Providence Bay beach; they saw a fawn and talked about it for two whole days. Kids hear, smell and notice a lot on these trips, they are so excited. For their parents’ peace of mind, we offer the safety and security of the sweeper car if required.”
“What bicycling visitors enjoy here are the quiet back roads, the 108 inland lakes, the birds, wildlife fresh air and flowers. Most are younger people escaping the rat race, and retirees staying fit—they’re aged 46 to 65 on average, and they often come in groups. Many cyclists come alone the first time and return later with their families by car,” she adds.
MICA’s vision is for Manitoulin to become a cycling destination, especially in the June ‘shoulder season’ when there is less traffic on the roads and businesses not as busy as in the high season of July and August. The Passage Ride participants not only stay in local accommodations, they eat out morning and evening in area restaurants and shop in local businesses; biking is a healthful addition to the Island’s many outdoor activities with economic benefits for the community.
Another cycling devotee is Jeff Brankley, owner of Lightfoot Bikes in Mindemoya, a self-described jack-of-all-trades who sees a definite trend toward more cycling on the Island. Moreover, he thinks that anyone living here “who commutes to work within a 10-mile radius of home” should consider a bike for daily exercise. To make things stress-free, he sells and installs an e-bike conversion kit that turns anyone’s bike into an eco-friendly vehicle that goes 90 km on a single charge of the lithium battery. “You can go 30 to 35 km an hour with absolutely effortless pedaling, up hills, wherever. There’s no gas, no insurance, no exertion. It’s perfect for elders who want to enjoy a comfortable level of exercise,” says Jeff.
Lightfoot Bikes also promotes cycling for parents with children, with a selection of attachable carriages. “I want to get people interested in riding and set them up with a good bike, so what was maybe not pleasant or easy becomes a fun experience they might not have thought possible before.” Jeff will happily adjust anyone’s seat to the right height, a small change he considers critical to big cycling enjoyment.
If pedalling is your passion, you’ve come to one of the most stress-free, pastoral places on the planet in which to practice the art of exercising muscles and unwinding your mind. If you’re new to the sport, rent a bike and try it out!
You may have to pinch yourself a few times (don’t fall off your bike!) as you glide along Manitoulin’s peaceful scenic byways. You may ask yourself existential questions: Why is sky so blue and so big? Are those gazillions of stars or merely billions and billions? Have I really just ridden for miles without seeing a car? Does everyone always smile and wave? Was that not the best fish and chips ever? Okay, maybe not all your musings will be about the meaning of life, but it may start to feel that way on a bike on this mystical isle.
Bike-friendly trails and cycling resources:
Gordon’s Park, on Hwy 6 north of South Baymouth, offers various accommodations with four free self-guided bike tours from 20 km to 44 km beginning and ending at Gordon’s Park. Tel: 705-859-2470; email: rita@gordonspark.com; www.gordonspark.com.
McLeans Park has an 8 km biking loop with some challenging terrain on old logging roads in 100 acres of hardwood bush, with washrooms at the trailhead. On the scenic New England Road off Highway 6 between South Baymouth and Manitowaning.
Bebamikawe Memorial Trail is a professionally-built 20 km trail system in the Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve; the Fitness Trail is mountain bike-friendly with exercise stations, leading to a waterfront gazebo. Outstanding views over the North Channel and LaCloche mountain range. For more information, call Wikwemikong Tourism at 1-888-801-9422 or 705-859-3477; email: inquiries@wikwemikong.ca; www.wikwemikong.ca
Nimkees Trail, for mountain bikers and hikers, is a 20 km trail divided into several sections in Sheshegwaning First Nation. With advance notice groups of twelve may rent Nishin Lodge; catering and guides may be arranged. Telephone the band office at 705-283-3292.
Auberge Inn is a bed and breakfast accommodation with bicycle and kayak rentals by the hour, day and week, and yoga packages. In Providence Bay, 25 minutes from the ferry at South Baymouth. Contact Nathalie and Alain, who speak French and English: Tel: 705-377-4392, toll-free 1-877-977-4392; email: info@aubergeinn.ca; www.aubergeinn.ca
Lightfoot Bikes, full-service shop, tune-ups, repairs, parts and accessories at 1644 Hwy 551, 1 km north of Mindemoya. Tel: 705-377-7801; email: lightfoot@riseup.net; www. lightfootbikes.com.
Highway 6 from South Baymouth to Manitowaning also offers cyclist-friendly paved shoulders, thanks to the lobbying efforts of MICA.
Manitoulin Island Cycling Advocates: Pick up the Manitoulin Cycling Routes and Road Map locally for $2 or order it online. All the map’s routes may be printed individually from the website. Businesses ordering 20 maps or more pay $1 each. Also get updates on Manitoulin’s inclusion in the Georgian Bay Cycling Route, on Ontario’s Cycling Strategy, the Waterfront Regeneration Trust and the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail at www.manitoulincycling.com
http://ontariobybike.ca/manitoulinlacloche lists distances between towns and villages on the Island, and road status reports.
www.thisismanitoulin.ca lists outdoor activities including cycling, events, accommodations and cultural offerings. Pick up a copy of ‘This is Manitoulin’ and ‘Manitoulin’s Magazine 2014’ throughout the Island to plan your summer activities. The weekly Manitoulin Expositor and Manitoulin West Recorder give latest updates and local news.
