KENORA — Mosswood Adventures and Rentals is breathing a fresh new idea into Kenora’s winter recreation, offering people a new experience with their ice bike rentals.
Mosswood Adventures and Rentals is soft launching their exciting Ice Bikes this weekend near the Hard Water Café at Lake of the Woods Ice Road off Highway 619 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Vic Moss, the founder of Mosswood Adventures and Rentals, said people can rent their Ice Bikes now from her website.
Being relatively new to Kenora, Moss’s passion for starting Mosswood stems from wanting to be outdoors.
“Everything started with curiosity. I moved to this region about a year-and-a-half ago. So, I was new to the area. With COVID, I was looking to get outdoors more,” Moss said.
During her exploration of Kenora, Moss took advantage of Kenora’s recreational sites. Moss began building a following on social media.
“I didn’t really have a business concept at the time. It was more like, “Hey, I’m interested in these things. Give me a follow,” she said.
After learning about some companies in Manitoba that offer Ice Rentals, Moss’s entrepreneurial spirit took hold and she set her sites on officially opening up Mosswood Adventures and Rentals.
“I didn’t research on how to bring [ice bikes] here in Kenora because we do have the infrastructure. We have ice roads. We have lots of lakes. Lots of rinks, and people are always looking for winter activities. So, that kind of what I wanted to bring to the table,” Moss said.
Mosswood Adventures and Rentals pop-up business is located next to the Hard Water café.
“I reached out to them and kind of pitched the idea to them in being ice neighbours and creating a little hub," she said. "That will be my weekend location unless I have community events, carnivals, and that, but that’s kind of my main location.”
Although, Moss also suggests that she is looking at being in different locations around the city.
Moss said that she has three models of bikes available to rent. The classic model is for the single rider which has a single blade in the front and a wheel in the back. The tandem bike is a similar model to the classic, however, it has two wheels with independent petals, duel blades, and a seat wide enough to accommodate two people full-size adults and a child under the age of four.
“It glides seamlessly across the ice,” Moss said, “Both of those have stability pairs on both sides. It’s fairly stable. It’s not like you’ll be shaking around a lot.”
The third model is slightly different from the classic and the tandem where it utilizes smaller blades to skate across the ice. The trike model has two skis in the front and a fatter tire in the back for traction.
“That one actually goes on pretty hefty snow train as well, and it’s built to glide seamlessly, especially with that fat tire,” said Moss.
Moss has set the rentals fee for the Classic and the Trike at a moderate price of $20 for a half hour and $30 for the full hour. The Tandem starts a $30 for a half-hour ride and $50 for the full hour.
All riders are required to wear a standard bike or snow helmet while riding an ice bike. Patrons can bring a helmet from home or one will be provided at no extra cost according to Moss.
Moss said the ice bike rentals are seasonal; however, she is looking forward to her next project, which will expand the adventure side of her business into the off-season.
“I am looking at the rental side, whether that’s e-bikes or some type of water type of rental. Adventures is the other side of the business, so I am hoping to bring some curated introductory experiences. I did a test run in October for an introduction to forest bathing,” Moss said.
Moss explained that she had a certified forest therapy guild conduct a one-hour zoom session with people from inside and outside the community.
“I am really hoping to extend that into an in-person longer session for forest bathing,” said Moss, “My business is a platform for people who are interested and curious about getting outside.”
