Underground Railroad Bike Tour memorial

Two countries (United States and Canada)

Eight States and one Province (Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Ontario).

Five route legs (Fulton, MS to Buchanan, TN to Louisville, KY to Newport, KY to Akron, OH to Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON.

Countless museums and national parks.

32 days

27 wonderful, accomplished biking companions.

Woman Tours Underground Railroad route in a nutshell
(map copied from RideWithGPS app)

This journal was originally posted on Polarsteps when I and Team Greta (my bicycle and all its gadgets and gear) traveled almost 1500 miles with 28 other women from Fulton, MS to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. It pushed me to new levels of endurance and friendship. I came away learning that anything is possible with the right attitude, good preparation, excellent food to fuel the daily rides, and a mind open to willingly face new challenges. It's amazing how easy it is to start a conversation with just about anyone when you roll up on a bicycle.

Woman Tours, is a women-only bike tour company that's been creating small, inn-to-inn road bicycle tours for women since the 1990's. Their bike tours are designed for women of all ages, abilities and interests. Every participant cycles at their own pace with the comforting knowledge that there is a warm shower and a bed waiting at end of the day.

Woman Tours based their 32-day bike tour on part of the Underground Railroad Bicycle Route published by Adventure Cycling Association) from Fulton, MS, where there is a large Underground Railroad Historical Placque Marker (see picture above) to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. The route memorializes the Underground Railroad, a network of clandestine routes by which African freedom seekers attempted to escape slavery before and during the Civil War.

(from the ACA Underground Railroad Bicycle Route website:) "The history of this remarkable period comes alive as you pedal along the 1,997.1-mile corridor that traces the Underground Railroad route from the Deep South to Canada, passing points of interest and historic sites. Beginning in Mobile, Alabama, — a busy port for slavery during the pre-civil war era — the route goes north following rivers through Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Waterways, as well as the North Star, were often used by freedom seekers as a guide in their journeys to escape slavery. Upon crossing into Ohio, the route leaves the river to head toward Lake Erie and enters Canada at the Peace Bridge in Buffalo, New York. In Ontario, the route follows the shores of Lake Ontario and ends at Owen Sound, a town founded by freedom seekers as early as 1843. Owen Sound is located on the southern side of Lake Huron's Georgian Bay."