Any cyclist with a sense of adventure won’t feel foolish taking a deep dive into Ontario’s agricultural heartland. The Farmers Folly is a bikepacking route designed to offer up a bounty of riding surfaces tracing 400 kilometres of cropland, marshes, time-worn bridges, native forests and big-sky views.Start your journey in the village of St. Jacob’s, located in the heart of Mennonite country, and from here strike out into open countryside on sun-smashed country roads before rolling into all the tree-lined barely there roads that a bikepacker could yearn for. Here, in the land of no winter maintenance, there are few signs of human presence. It all seems untamed. A vapid corn-strewn landscape this is not.It is not designed to be the most direct route possible (that would be rather yawny), but instead one that wends through the most enticing locations that this region of Ontario offers up to help inspire a sense of two-wheel adventure. Places that will remain unbent by tourism, the pace of modern world. But this is not a route that requires expert bikepacking skills or carrying pounds of food and water as services come regularly.In the end, you can revel in one of Ontario’s most enticing bikepacking rewards – the chance for a victory photo at St. Jacob’s most famous tractor.
Accommodation options on the Farmers Folly range from established campgrounds, to motels, to Airbnb. Most options are indicated on the RWGPS route file. I have noted several “wild” camping options along the route that could be used for discreet camping. However, I can’t guarantee these, and all riders are responsible for safely securing their own overnight resting spots – and absolutely leaving no trace. There are also a couple of landowners who are offering tenting space.
Matthew Kadey, curator of Bikepacking Ontario.
Adrian Grant of www.ridegravel.ca
Chris Panasky, host of the Bikepack Adventures Podcast.
Matthew Kadey, curator of Bikepacking Ontario.