About Us

OnaVelo is a new venture with some tried and true experience. Rick and Tanya McFerrin are back from their second bike trip around the world and bring 25 plus years of experience to OnaVelo –  doing what they love to do. OnaVelo is the (r)evolution of Two Wheel View – the youth development organization they founded in 2001. OnaVelo focuses on taking adventurous travelers on bike trips to some of their favorite international destinations.

Meet the OnaVelo team

Tanya & Rick McFerrin

The couple who started it all

Rick & Tanya

Cyclists, Adventurers, Free Spirits

Rick and Tanya McFerrin turned their passion for bike travel into a lifestyle after taking a two-year round-the-world cycling adventure more than 20 years ago. They founded a youth development organization called Two Wheel View in 2000 and have countless stories of “changing kids’ lives from the seat of a bike” on bicycle trips in Canada and abroad and through after school programs. Rick now runs a boutique bike touring company called OnaVelo. These lifetime adventurers and avid bikers do what they love to do.

Their bicycle adventures include epic trips. From 1998-2000, they travelled the world for 25 months and covered 24,000 km and 43 countries. When their boys were just 4, 6, and 8 years old, the family went on a 14-month, 14,000-km tandem bike trip from Calgary to Mexico City and back. In 2018 they returned from a 13-month, 15,000 km bike trip through parts of Scandinavia, the Baltics, Eastern Europe, India, S.E. Asia, Japan and western Canada.  Their experiences and  perspectives on the world, created the basis for ConnecTour.

The do-anything anchor

Allison

Designer , Wanderer , Blogger

Forever a wanderer and bicycle enthusiast, Allison discovered the joys of bike-packing while exploring the northern corners of Ladahk, India. The adventure, challenges, and satisfaction brought by that first trip evolved into a new way of life and travel. Allison worked for Two Wheel View, where she led youth bike trips and facilitated Earn-a-Bike after school programs. She also co-led adult trips through Argentina and the backroads of Alberta. 

By day, Allison works as a language instructor for New Canadians and provides employment counsel to internationally educated professionals. Born and raised in Calgary, she is an amateur urban homesteader, itinerant artist, and loves coffee, bikes, and wandering the unbeaten paths of the world. 

Allison Flach
Route 6 to Big Chief border crossing

Storyteller, Stand-in Mechanic

Doug

Conservationist, Scribe, Seeker

It’s a big ol’ world, and Doug wants to see it all – in slow mo. A lifelong cycling enthusiast, Doug discovered the joy of bike touring on a recent trip through northwest Argentina led by Onavelo. “At bicycle speeds, you get a more powerful sense of place,” he says. Doug is a journalist, adventurer and conservationist. He and partner Lisa have explored much of Canada, and fill their weekends with cycling, kayaking, skiing, and hiking in the Rocky Mountains. When Rick is busy, Doug pitches in on fixing flats.

Media connector. Party & food planner.

Lisa

World Traveller. Nature Lover. Always Curious.

When Lisa Monforton moved to Calgary from Ontario 20 years ago, little did she know that being near the mountains would change her life and outlook. She was a confirmed winter-dreading flatlander – and fearful of heights. Those first winters in Alberta skiing and in summer tenting and hiking made her ask: “Why hadn’t I moved a lot sooner?” A long-time journalist working at newspapers in southern Ontario, she became the travel editor at the Calgary Herald. It was a pivotal job change, giving her the chance to travel the world, and to experience and write about new cultures.

Lisa Monforton

News, updates & media coverage

Oh, the places you’ll go! touring on a bike

Bike touring has been my favourite way to travel since 1993, when my partner Tanya and I discovered it as...
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Oh, the places you’ll go! touring on a bike

It’s not about where we travel, but why

THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED ON TROYMEDIA.COM Of all the things we do that have changed since the arrival of COVID-19,...
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It’s not about where we travel, but why

Local cycle group to hit the road in 2021 in search of remarkable Canadians

BY MICHELE JARVIE/Calgary Herald – After a year of social isolation, a group of adventurers is planning an epic trip...
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Local cycle group to hit the road in 2021 in search of remarkable Canadians

News Release: Adventure and celebration of remarkable local people

CALGARY, AB Dec. 10, 2020 -- A group of adventurers who want to reconnect, restore, and rebuild our communities after...
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News Release: Adventure and celebration of remarkable local people

Visiting cyclists making the most of recent social changes

July 16, 2020 DAUPHIN, MB By Doug Zywina/Dauphin Herald – Life during the COVID-19 pandemic has been limited for many...
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Visiting cyclists making the most of recent social changes
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