About Us
OnaVelo is a bicycle adventure company founded by Rick and Tanya McFerrin. They have cycled around the world over 25 plus years. OnaVelo takes adventurous travellers on guided bicycle trips to some of their favourite international destinations. OnaVelo adventures offer rides for every level of cycling ability, and feature cultural experiences you can’t find anywhere else.
Meet the OnaVelo team
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 changed kids’ lives “from the seat of a bike” on bicycle trips and through after school programs. They now run OnaVelo, a boutique bike touring company. These lifetime adventurers and avid bikers do what they love to do.
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. In 2021, they were part of the ConnecTour cross-Canada ride. Their experiences laid the groundwork for OnaVelo.
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 the Two Wheel View bike charity, 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.
Born and raised in Calgary, Allison is an amateur urban homesteader who now calls Blairmore, AB, home. She loves coffee, bikes, and wandering the unbeaten paths of the world.
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. Her bike mechanic skills are a work in progress.
News, updates & media coverage
Rick and Tanya McFerrin: Pioneers of Bicycle Travel and Advocates for Inclusivity
Oh, the places you’ll go! touring on a bike
It’s not about where we travel, but why
Local cycle group to hit the road in 2021 in search of remarkable Canadians
News Release: Adventure and celebration of remarkable local people
Visiting cyclists making the most of recent social changes
