Marie’s Report: Wolfville Newcomers’ Off-Road Hiking and Biking Group

Marie’s Report: Wolfville Newcomers’ Off-Road Hiking and Biking Group
By Marie Mossman

Would you like to feel wind-in-your-hair youth again? Give cycling with our group a try. Members of the Newcomers’ adult cycling interest group look out for each other on the trail and are a super source of information about events, routes, and equipment. If you have no bike, you may borrow one at Wolfville’s public library, or rent one at a bike shop in the Valley. I’ve had excellent service from the shops in Wolfville and Kentville. I started with a 30-year-old bike too large for me, and gradually realized it would be wiser to buy a smaller model. A good fit is more comfortable and safer on the trail.

The Newcomers’ bicycling group, known in 2019 as our Off-Road Hiking/Biking Group, welcomes guests. Guests must sign a waiver, and if riding, must wear a helmet. After two outings, if guests want to continue, they are expected to join Newcomers, for a modest fee. Our enthusiastic coordinators send out an email each week suggesting a route and meeting place. We take a mid-ride break at a coffee shop, if one is located at a spot close to the trail.

When the weather turns as cold as the rest of the world thinks it always is in Canada, we turn into a hiking, snowshoeing, or cross-country skiing group. Some members prefer to always hike and meet others for the coffee klatch. A couple times a year, we skip the restaurants and socialize in a member’s home. Nothing like home hospitality to bring out our full membership.

This cycling group has been functioning since 2011. Mostly, we ride on rails-to-trails (the Harvest Moon Trail), and usually we arrange a shorter option that fits with the longer ride. We are an inclusive group, as are all the Newcomers interest groups, and I enjoy our diversity.

The Off-Road Hiking/Biking group will continue throughout this July and August. A summer membership, good for the summer only, may be purchased. For more information, contact us through wolfvillenewcomers.org.