Celebrate Cycle Simcoe’s 10th Anniversary with a Century Ride

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Have you ever challenged yourself to a century ride? Well now’s your chance! This year, Cycle Simcoe is celebrating their 10 year anniversary and we’ve partnered with them to host a one-day tour of the Simcoe County Loop Trail—a ride that will check the century off your bucket list and immerse you in all the beauty Simcoe County has to offer. The 160 km Simcoe County Loop Trail is about 80% gravel rail trail with some paved trail and on-road sections. It winds through forests, wetlands, farmlands, and urban areas, offering a multitude of experiences for hikers, cyclists, and runners. Admire the scenic beauty The varied terrain and plentiful vistas provide an exceptional outdoor experience. You’ll ride through the Minesing Wetlands Conservation Area, catch glimpses of the Nottawasaga River, and look out over the expanse of Georgian Bay and Lake […]

Cycling Georgian Bay Shores in Tiny & Tay: A Double Dog Route

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Cycling Georgian Bay Shores in Tiny & Tay: A Double Dog Route Tiny and Tay townships in Simcoe County are known for their rich history, adjacency to Georgian Bay, and… being the namesakes of dogs owned by Lady Simcoe, wife of the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada. There are numerous great cycling routes in these townships, and we have merged a couple of them into a point-to-point route on our  Georgian Bay – Muskoka tour.  We start just outside of Waubashene and end in Wasaga Beach with an optional extension to Collingwood. It is mostly flat, with the notable exception of a hill out of Midland. Much of the ride is along the scenic shores of Georgian Bay. The route is about 77km one way. There is a link to the GPX file at the end of this post. […]

Keep the legs spinning all winter, part 1: Give Zwift a chance!

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Zwift makes indoor riding suck less. A lot less. As a cyclist who disdains the trainer, I previously limited myself to one spin class per week and chose instead skiing, snowshoeing or running as winter activities – anything to get me outside and off the stationary bike. But last year, Mr. Humdinger and I decided to buy a smart trainer and try Zwift. And despite having been a confirmed skeptic known to openly eye-roll when Zwifters pontificated, I fell for the game almost instantly. I fell for the experience points, the sweat droplets, the ride-ons, the sprint and KOM/QOM challenges, the “close the gap” messages, and, I am more than a little embarrassed to say, I even fell for the garage. The garage is where you dress your avatar and buy new equipment. Of course, more kits and accessories are […]

Summer Summary and Looking Ahead to 2021

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Thanks for a great summer! A huge thank you to everyone who got out cycling this summer and supported local bike businesses, cafés, restaurants, breweries/wineries and all other manner of small businesses along your routes. In an obvious understatement, it has been a crazy few months.  Like almost everyone else in the tourism industry, March and April were marked by booking cancelations and sleepless nights. Fortunately, with the COVID-19 reprieve over the summer and a renewed interest in cycling, we were able to run tours. To meet 2020’s unique needs, we focused on local day and weekend trips, and custom tours. Pedal, Pints & Pubs Orillia We were really lucky that Orillia and area suddenly became home to two craft breweries this spring, where previously there had been none. This presented an opportunity to introduce a Pedal, Pints & Pubs […]

Summer Summary 2018 and Next Season Sneak Preview

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Happy Labour Day!  This unofficial end of summer seems like a good time to reflect on our very first season. It started off with a bang in June when an enthusiastic group tackled the Haliburton Pedal, Pints, and Pubs (PPP) tour head-on. The three day tour started off with a fairly gentle ride on Day 1, with, admittedly, a couple of “slopes” that provided a nice challenge to kick things off. The group rode hard and caroused even harder for three days, enjoying beer tastings and great food, and providing Humdinger with a fantastic, formal launch.  PPP ran again in July, and despite persistent pleas to the Universe for fair weather, Day 1 came with heavy rain. We had a number of indoor back-up plans in place, but this game group of women wanted to ride, and ride they did. […]

The devil is in the details: Building the Georgian Bay-Muskoka 6 day tour

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The short version of this post? The Georgian Bay-Muskoka 6 day trip is cool. The last couple of weeks I have been making phone calls, sending emails, and going on field trips to finalize various details, and can confirm that this trip is a humdinger. It visits not one but two UNESCO biosphere reserves (Georgian Bay’s 30,000 Islands and the Niagara Escarpment), the oft-National-Geographic-featured Muskoka, and the world’s longest freshwater beach, Wasaga (part of Cycle Simcoe’s 7 Beaches Route). It has over 400 kilometres of cycling on scenic, mostly low-traffic roads, boutique accommodations, boat cruises, delicious food, and so much more! The trip has a soft start with a meet-up in Orillia and a van ride to Parry Sound. Then things get busy. We have to fit in a trip to the very cool Parry Sound Bikes (and a visit with the […]