Tour de SF to debut on June 7

Jeff Green | May 07, 2015

Ciao Giro Italia! Adios Vuelta a Espana! Au revoir Tour de France! The Tour de South Frontenac Cyclefest is about to take the cycling world by storm.

Well, the goal of the first ever event offered up by the nascent South Frontenac Rides Committee is not to identify the best cyclist in the world, but a more down to earth effort at promoting cycling in the township and introducing four cycling routes that start and finish in the Village of Sydenham. These routes will be featured in the first edition of the South Frontenac cycling route map.

The idea of a family-oriented cycling event to kick off the cycle route mapping project, which has been identified as an inaugural project by the four-month-old committee, was brought forward at a meeting in March.

“I was sceptical about it at first,” said Ross Sutherland, the rookie council member who got the South Frontenac Rides started by calling a meeting in January and now serves as the committee secretary.

“But the committee has 12 active members and they were just really keen. So we tried it and thanks to some really good organizers on the committee we have put together four diverse routes. We are optimistic that it will be a good event, as long as the weather co-operates.”

Running from 10 am to 3 pm on June 7 from the Loughborough Public School parking lot, the Cyclefest includes a skills rodeo, free helmet and bike repair advice, and a free BBQ in addition to the introduction of the cycling routes. There is a 13 km family-friendly route around Sydenham; a scenic Millhaven Creek route that is 35 km long and relatively flat; a more hilly Desert Lake loop (also 35 km.) and a shorter but more adventurous Little Long Lake route, much of which runs over un-paved, un-maintained township roads.

“We have learned a lot about mapping routes by putting these four together, so the event has already brought benefits,” said Sutherland.

So for cyclists of all ages, June 7 is a date to mark on your calendar. In 20 years when the Tour de South Frontenac has become a bucket list event for cyclists to attend, you'll want to say you were at the first one.