Niagara Circle Route by Bike

http://photos2.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/5/5/c/event_109321372.jpeg

The Niagara region has:

• Wild turkeys
• Wineries and their tasting rooms
• Quiet roads working their way through orchards and vineyards
• The historic Welland canal, "Where Ships Climb the Mountain"
• Lots of paved, off-road, bike paths
• Oh, and Niagara Falls

On the weekend of September 8th & 9th you can come see the idyllic Niagara Peninsula on a bike*

Video made by cyclists http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntkxPln-yFM&feature=related

Video by Niagara tourism http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSn5T-rRXZs&feature=related

If you have been interested in learning to tour on a bicycle this is the trip for you.

This is an easy tour with plenty of time for sightseeing. An experienced road cyclist can cover the 140 km distance in a day, but once we factor in a little sightseeing and some winery stops it makes for a fantastic 2-day group trip (about 70 km per day). There are several small towns along the way for snacks and meals. Traffic is generally quiet, most of the distance will covered on paved trails, and most of the grades a very minimal.

This will be a credit card style tour. This means we will not need to carry camping gear as we will be staying in a hotel and eating at restaurants. Everything you need should fit in a backpack or a pannier.

• Day 1- Leave KW early Saturday morning (7:30 am) and head to St. Catharines for a : 9:30 am start on the Welland Canal bike trail. At lock 3 we can explore the museum and if we are lucky watch one of the boats work its way through. After lunch in Welland, we will ride on to Fort Colbourne and turn east onto the Friendship trail. The day ends in Fort Erie, where we will have dinner and call it a night.

• Day 2 - Sunday morning starts with a 9 am departure from Fort Erie with stops in Niagara Falls for the falls and for lunch (yummy Indian buffet). From there we will ride along to Queenston, arriving in wine country by 3:00 pm, leaving some time to visit a few wineries before heading back to Saint Catharines and the cars via Virgil or Niagara-on-the-Lake.

If you plan on indulging in a few wine purchases, remember to plan for space for it (this is when that boxy tote pannier you've been considering for market Saturdays might be useful).

A note about the RSVP fee. This trip has an initial fee of $21.33. I will be looking for a hotel for the group. As a result I will be needing to make a reservation, and the $20 will be put towards your hotel cost - please note that the actual cost of a broken reservation may be greater depending on the hotel. The additional $1.33 helps cover the costs of running KW Backcountry, including the PayPal transaction fees. Please bring cash/credit card to cover the balance of your hotel cost, as well as meals and any other expenses you may incur.

Transportation from Kitchener Waterloo. Ultimately transportation is up to participants. Fortunately in many cases there are enough participants able to offer rides to others that everyone has transportation. If someone is giving you a ride, you are expected to share costs (usually $15-$30 depending on the number of people).

If you cannot get a ride it is still up to you to get to the site. This may mean sharing a car rental and finding a bike rack to borrow (most racks take 3 bikes).

*This trip is an atypical trip for KW Backcountry - hotels and restaurants aren't commonly a part of our human-powered backcountry overnight trips.