Marion and Andrew Vile have traded paddocks for pedals and are geared up to take you off the beaten track and explore cycle trails anywhere from the Murray River region to the High Country of the Upper Murray. Photos: Vanessa Hayden.
Burrumbuttock’s Andrew Vile is not quite sure how he’s gone from sheep and cattle farmer to tourism operator.
He scratches his head at the question but admits he’s happy he’s set the wheels in motion on a hobby he has enjoyed with his wife Marion for more than two decades.
Andrew and Marion recently launched AV Cycling Tours and if you can’t find them somewhere on their 1100-hectare property in between Burrumbuttock and Howlong, you’ll find them traversing back roads, rail trails and bike tracks anywhere from Benalla to Tumbarumba.
AV Cycling will offer set itineraries, exploring places such as Albury, Rutherglen, Corowa, Corryong, Tumbarumba and the King Valley. They can also tailor itineraries to suit differing group needs. Just about everything is included, and accommodation and tour stops are all booked for you.
If you don’t have a bike, don’t worry, Andrew can arrange that, too.
It’s a far cry from his first ride – an event that had less to do with tourism and more to do with wheeling out some good old-fashioned community spirit.
“I first started cycling as part of a fundraiser for St Paul’s College in Walla Walla,” Andrew said.
“There were three great teachers there that were training the kids up, and other people, such as myself, would go along and train with them.
“It was an amazing effort. The ride toured the Upper Murray and it was really great to see the kids conquer the terrain and the mental challenge of not thinking they could do it.
“To see them then succeed and have the feeling that they could do anything after that was fantastic.
“The power of that was what got me into group cycling.”
Andrew and Marion soon found themselves organising short trips away with friends, exploring new locations and discovering towns and regions they’d heard of but knew nothing about.
From riverside rambles to High Country climbs, AV Cycling Tours can take you out for a day or for a week. With the recent delivery of eight new electric and acoustic bikes, you can join in the fun without needing your own wheels.
Word soon got out and before he knew it, Andrew was hosting friends of friends and others who had heard about the ”wheelie” good time they had on his ”spoke-tacular” adventures.
“It got to the stage where we had to buy a bus to carry us around and I found myself in a very shady area of South Dandenong with $3000 in my pocket after answering an advert on Gumtree,” he said.
“It was like one of those creepy American crime-show scenes. I turned up on a stinking-hot February day and I met this fella at a chained-up deserted lot with a heap of old vehicles in there.
“Of course, there was no roadworthy certificate but I’d travelled all the way down there, so I bought the thing, got a permit from VicRoads and drove it home.”
Since then, things have improved dramatically and you’ll be happy to know there’s a new bus and a specially designed trailer that can carry both electric bikes and regular ones.
This month they’ve supercharged their saddle game – six more zippy new e-bikes and three good old pedal-powered ”acoustics” have rolled in to the Viles’ hire service (totalling 14 mounts). Now they’re set to wine and wheel their way around Rutherglen, swapping gears for grapes and trails for tipples, on their one-day tour.
“What I love about our tours is that we can reach seven small family-owned businesses in one day. It’s not about us, it’s the collaborative thing that we are really drawn to.
“It’s also a way of us continuing our ongoing love affair with the villages of north-east Victoria, the southern Riverina and the Upper Murray. You meet some of the most amazing people from all walks of life.
“It’s also much more fun to cycle in a group than on your own and it’s visually safer because you’ve got a lot more colour and flashing lights on the road than if you were by yourself.”
You can find out more about what’s on offer at the AV Cycling Tours website or by calling Andrew on 0427 540 557.
