It’s time get on your bikes and ride! Or if you don’t have a road-ready bike, you can rent and ride. Here are some options in the area to ride, rent and ride, or rent, ride and get a guide to some of the great routes in the area.

Starting right at home, Ride On Bikes offers a variety of rental bikes, including comfort bikes like the Electra Townie and Verse, as well as the Louis Garneau Elevation 29-inch wheel mountain bike. You can rent these bikes and head out on your own, or you can sign up for one of the guided tours, including the Meaford Sunrise Tour (which offers a view of the sunrise over Georgian Bay and a stop at a 100-acre farm for juice and an optional mountain bike ride) and the Georgian Hills Winery/Beaver Valley Tour, which includes a stop at one of our burgeoning local wineries. (Don’t forget to try out the tandem!)

Georgian Bay Cycling Tours offers scheduled guided tours, custom cycling tours and B&B cycling tours. Bike rentals are available by request ahead of time, and tour leader Pete Russell also offers road cycling clinics to help newer riders bone up on their riding and minor repair skills.

Blue Mountain Resort’s downhill cycling trails get all the notice, with the armoured downhillers cruising into the Village, but Blue Mountain also offers challenging (you get to ride UP the hill, too) cross country trails for mountain biking. And they also recommend the Pedal/Paddle along the Apple Pie Trail, which includes a gondola ride up the mountain to get you started, mostly flat and downhill riding, a kayak rental and paddle on the Beaver River. Bike rentals are also available.