Around Lake Ontario Epic Tour

DAY 1: We meet in Rochester, NY, home to worldwide WomanTours headquarters. We’ll start our tour at 2:00pm with an orientation, followed by a bike prep and then dinner together. If you arrive early, feel free to stop by our office. We always love visitors! 0 miles.

DAYS 2-11: We’ll run this tour as we do our cross-country and epic tours. We start early with a light breakfast provided by the hotel. Then we’ll pack our bike bags with snacks of raisins, nuts, energy bars and peanut butter sandwiches. We’ll make sure we have an extra layer of clothing and perhaps a rain jacket with us. We leave on our own, usually between 7-8am and cycle at our own pace.

We’ll ride out of the hotel on a short paved bike trail and then we’re quickly at the shores of Lake Ontario. The landscape becomes gently rolling and flat farmland full of apple orchards and cow pastures.

About every twenty miles, we’ll meet our SAG vehicle. It holds water, snacks, tire repair tools and a first aid kit. Even if you don’t need anything, you can stop to chat and talk about the wonderful tailwind or the panoramic view. If you’re too tired to bike anymore, you can take a ride in the SAG vehicle to our hotel for the night. The SAG makes sure everyone is in safely at the end of the day.

Lunch is on your own during the day if you want something heartier than the snacks out of our SAG vehicle. We encourage you to stop and get a taste of the local fare and catch a bit of gossip. Once at our hotel, you’ll find your luggage, (delivered earlier by the WomanTours van and trailer), and can check in to your room.

Most of our hotels are chain hotels or simple, family-run places, and most of us will be in double occupancy rooms. We rotate roommates every night, unless you’ve requested a specific roommate or to upgrade to a single room. There will be time to shower before dinner and perhaps take a dip in a hotel hot tub.

If anyone has experienced bike problems during the day, our guides will use the time before dinner to fix it. Then we eat dinner together, served buffet-style outside. Our traveling chef creates hearty and healthy dishes from our trailer kitchen. While she will accommodate guests with specific allergies and provide a nonmeat protein source for vegetarians, she cannot always adhere to everyone’s likes and dislikes. We ask that you be flexible. If you require a vegan or gluten-free diet, there will be a $50 surcharge.

After dinner, our guide will hold a map meeting to discuss the highlights of the day and to go over the details of the next day’s route.

We’ll have one layover day on this tour in Toronto, Canada to give our bodies a chance to recover. We’ll also have time to explore this fascinating city, which proudly proclaims itself to be the most diverse and safest in the world. 51 miles average per day.

DAY 12: We end our tour with a short ride back on the Erie Canalway Trail into Rochester, NY. With any luck, the prominent west wind will provide us with a wonderful tailwind back to our offices. After enjoying a final picnic lunch and saying your good-byes, WomanTours will provide a complimentary shuttle to the airport by 1:30pm. 25 miles.

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS:

• Womantours Hdq.
• Erie Canalway Trail
• Niagara Falls State Park
• Waterfront Trail on the Canadian shores of the lake
• Toronto attractions: Chinatown, CN Tower, Royal Ontario Museum, Harbourfront Centre, Distillery District

REGISTRATION DETAILS: To sign up for this tour, we require a nonrefundable deposit of $300. The balance of the tour price is due 75 days prior to the tour and is nonrefundable.

DISCOUNTS: Save an additional 2% if you pay by check.

TRIP INSURANCE: We strongly recommend insurance, and will provide you with a source for insurance upon receiving your tour deposit.

SAG VOLUNTEERS: We use 3 volunteers to drive a support car during this tour. Each driver works once every third day (for a total of 3 times,) supporting the riders until the last rider finishes cycling for the day. She provides food, drinks, flat tire assistance and moral support, and becomes an integral part in the success of the tour. In return, each volunteer receives a discount of 40% off the full tour price. If you’re interested in a position, please email or call us.