Business pedals to the pubs
Urban Pedal Tours will mix bikes with beers this summer
An Edmonton couple is introducing what they think is the perfect combination for seeing the city — big bicycles and beer.
Urban Pedal Tours owners Carol and Matt Gosse have purchased two 15-seater bicycles from China that will be downtown and in Old Strathcona starting May 25 offering what is essentially a two-hour cycling pub-crawl.
“It’s a very social activity, the fact you’re on the bike as a group trying to pedal from one place to the next,” Matt said before their first test outing Friday.
“You’re facing each other. It’s the opportunity to talk, to laugh, to listen to music … You can’t experience that necessarily on an (individual) bike riding from bar to bar.”
People sit facing each other around the machine, with up to 10 of them pedalling at right angles to the road and five enjoying the view while a staff member in the middle steers.
The tours will visit three pubs, spending 25 minutes at each site. On the south side, they’ll stop at The Empress Ale House, Situation Brewing and another spot that hasn’t been set yet, while downtown they’re going to the Yellowhead Brewery, the Craft Beer Market and The Needle Vinyl Tavern.
The Gosses came up with the idea two years ago after taking a similar tour in Seattle.
“We were sitting on the patio of a bar and this bike rolled up with all these people. There was music and laughing, and everyone seemed to be having a good time,” Carol said.
“We looked at each other and said ‘That’s something we need to do in Edmonton.’ “
Although these five-metre-long bikes are used in the U.S. and Europe, they said Montreal is the only other Canadian city where such trips are available.
The Edmonton tour costs $38 per person, plus whatever you buy in the bars. While the couple, who also took a bike tour in Portland, Ore., admit 25 minutes isn’t a lot of time to order and consume a drink, Matt said that’s part of the fun.
“To have a beer, enjoy the location and quickly get on the bike and enjoy the next location, it’s not a race, but it keeps you motivated.”
However, that motivation has to stay in the bar; Alberta liquor laws don’t allow riders to hoist a beer while they’re on the road.
Carol, an administrator, and Matt, a graphic designer, are keeping their day jobs and offering trips Thursday to Sunday at least until the end of September.