MARIPOSA CYCLING TOURS

Fifteen years ago, we met Michael and Dede Barry soon after they chose Girona as their home. Over the years, we became close friends, sharing wonderful rides and meals together. They both fell in love with Catalonia and often said, “One day we need to share these experiences with other North Americans”.

The Mariposa Cycling Tours are Custom Cycling Tours created in collaboration with Michael and Dede Barry. During the week-long tour, we look forward to sharing some of our favorite cycling routes, restaurants, and cultural experiences with you.

Catalonia, and more specifically Girona, offers an endless variety of places to discover, from tiny country roads to idyllic restaurants tucked away in the lush countryside.

The environment is ideal for cycling: the roads are quiet, undulating, and scenic. We will thrash up the foothills of the Pyrenees, swoop down them and dip our feet in the sea.

La Ruta Mar i Muntanya

“Each year, I rode tens of thousands of kilometers through the Catalan countryside while training for the professional races. The routes I sought were not only challenging roads into the mountains and along the coast, but also the most picturesque and serene. They were routes where a dozen cars, or fewer, might pass in five hours.

Some were gravel roads that wound their way up a mountain, past secluded cork tree farms, orchards, or shepherds as they walked with their flocks.

Up in the hills with a friend, we would stop for a workman’s lunch in a country restaurant where a fire was roaring and the patrons were chattering about the day’s events over pints and steaks, before plowing on down the road and home. Of all the hundreds of thousands of kilometres I’ve ridden in my lifetime, the rides in Girona were some of the finest.

La Ruta is a Mariposa Cycling Tour on many of those roads. It will stretch across the province, from the Mediterranean to the Pyrenees. The experience will be unlike any other: the countryside is idyllic, the riding technically and physically challenging, and the cultural experience unparalleled.”

~Michael Barry

Dede Barry

Co-leads the business at Mariposa Bicycles.

A natural athlete, Dede grew up in Milwaukee, WI, and was introduced to cycling as cross-training for speedskating as a teenager.

After racing for three years on the U.S. National Team Speedskating, she quickly found success on the bike, winning the 1989 Junior World Championship road race. That was the start of a remarkable of a 16-year cycling career.

A Silver medalist at the 2004 Athens Olympics and multiple medalist at World, National, and Pan-American competitions, she was a member of the United States National and Olympic Cycling Teams as well as the Saturn and T-Mobile professional cycling teams.

Beyond her many successes in professional cycling, she is an international MBA. Her creativity and focus make her a natural leader. Although she no longer competes as a cyclist, she remains an active athlete, running, cycling, and skiing regularly the many trails in Toronto.

Along with her husband, Michael, and some friends, she organizes a youth cycling development program and participates in charity cycling events.

Michael Barry

Co-leads the business at Mariposa Bicycles.

Born into a family of cyclists who owned a bicycle store in his hometown of Toronto, Michael has spent most of his life riding, racing and working on bicycles. Since retiring from professional cycling at the end of 2012, he has managed Mariposa Bicycles.

As a cyclist, Michael represented Canada at the Olympic Games (’96, ’04, ’08) and the Commonwealth Games (’94, ‘02), and was a World Tour Cyclist (1998-2012). He rode for some of the most famous teams of his era, including Team Sky, Columbia – High Road, T-Mobile, Discovery Channel, and the U.S. Postal Service Team. He competed in the Tour de France, Vuelta a España and Giro d’Italia.

A keen writer, Michael has authored four books and written for numerous publications including the New York Times, Times of London, Globe and Mail, and Toronto Star.