Its stunning. Unbelievable, really: When Cycle City opened in 2011, it was the first urban bike tour company operating in Vancouver.
Two years later, there appears to be only one other business offering anything like it, and not nearly to the same scale.
Founder Josh Bloomfield says he was initially suspicious of why no one else was offering the internationally established concept here.
It was a no brainer, he says with a laugh.
So, if you havent already heard of it, meet Cycle City an innovative and flexible way for tourists and locals to get to know the streets of Vancouver. In fact, Bloomfield says his tours are often for people who want to get to know Vancouver better.
While business was slow at first, Bloomfield is now seeing the daily rewards as people catch on to the idea at home.
A lot of people are looking for a bike tour. They do one in one city, like London or Barcelona, and then do ours, and then they say theyll do one every time they go to a new city because its such a great experience.
Cycle City currently offers:
The Stanley (3 hrs/9kms through Stanley Park; $34 + bike rental)
The Grand Tour (5 hrs/20 kms of the citys greatest hits catalogue; $60 + rental)
Central City Tour (3 hrs/9 kms through the best of central Van; $34 + rental)
The Food Tour (a story of the city told through food; $74 + rental)
A limited-time-only Pride! Tour (35 years of Vancouver LGBTTQ history, people, places and events that have shaped the city; $25 + rental)
and Private and Group Tours (prices vary)
With the two ladies who started the Biennale-themed Art Wheelers tour departing for other cities, Cycle City recently obtained the rights and relaunched the Art Wheelers Public Art Tour ($25 + rental) as well.
We went on the tour last year, and both of them [Carol-Ann Ryan and Rosemary Lennox] were moving away. We wanted to get into doing tours for locals and thought this was a great concept.
Guide and amateur art historian Dan Hayes has spent months researching and revamping it to bring you an all-new tour of the most interesting public art you didnt even know you knew.
For me, public art is not just sculptural pieces outside of office towers, explains Hayes. It encapsulates any aesthetic intentionality within the city. So were going to covering a diverse cross-section of sculptural pieces, murals, old hand-painted signs, mosaics, manhole covers, public squares as well as architecture. We talk about things you wouldnt necessarily anticipate on a bike tour.
The tours begin and terminate at partnering bike rental shop Spokes, at Denman and Georgia in the West End. Expect to cruise along sea walls, parkways and bike lanes, seeing more than you thought possible in the time allowed.
You cover more ground, quickly. And its interactive, Hayes explains of the appeal.
If you think about it a bike tour compared to the alternative on a bus tour you have 40 people and a driver. Whereas with us, our maximum is 12 guests, so we get to know each of the guests and find out what they are interested in and cater the information to them.
Bloomfield and Hayes both have a background of long-haul bike touring (through the Himalayas and Northern Canada respectively). They initially flirted with the idea of the company doing supported expedition rides, but the boom in urban tourism and the rise in cycling popularity locally (4,861 people actively participated in this years Bike to Work Week) prompted them to focus on that market, and the results are in: with 144 reviews logged, Cycle City boasts the coveted Excellent rating on Trip Advisor.
WE Vancouver joined along on a trial run through their new art tour two weeks ago. The itinerary was so fresh out of the box that Hayes was ironing it out on the fly. He barely looked at his notes, though; his familiarity with the subject matter was effortless.
Here are a couple of abridged highlights you might enjoy along the way:
LightShed by Liz Magor (2004)
Located on the downtown seawall near the Coal Harbour Community Centre, facing Stanley Park.
A 1/2 scale model of the old boat sheds that used to dot the shoreline. It is not made out of wood, as one might initially assume, but, rather, is cast in aluminum, down to the most infinitessimal barnacle. Shell often create objects that emphasize the fakeness of their aesthetic. This looks like a wooden thing that has been spray painted silver, but it was actually meticulously cast by the lost wax process at the Harman Foundry on the Sunshine Coast. Bill Reid did a lot of his famous bronze castings at the Harman Foundry. At night a soft light emanates from within the sculpture.
Working Landscape by Daniel Laskarin (1998)
Located at 901 West Hastings Street.
This looks like an innocuous public square, however its actually this really subtle kinetic art piece. Four circular platforms are set in the park throughway beside the Vancouver Club. Each wooden disc has a park bench and a living indigenous tree in a round steel planter on it, and rotates at speeds based on the work week: 1 hour, 8 hours and 40 hours. The fourth platform represents the 20-minute coffee break.
I came by to do a dry run of this tour with some friends, and there were some kids skateboarding on this thing. I pointed out that it was moving and they were like, Oh my God, I cant believe that!
Head to CycleVancouver.com for descriptions and schedules of each tour and to book.
To browse the hundreds of pieces in the Public Art Registry yourself, click here.
