Steve Lawrence, MBA'95, explores Kingston by
bike

Every summer, thousands of tourists from all over the world visit Kingston to take in its historical richness and lakeside beauty. While there are many historical tours of the city, Steve Lawrence, MBA’95, has came up with a great idea to add to the tourist experience.

Steve offers Kingston by bike!, a two-wheel tour that stops at all the city’s major natural and cultural attractions. Tourists see the Royal Military College and Queen’s campuses, local parks, the lakeshore trail, and the harbours and prisons. Steve’s tour also stops at British Empire landmarks in Kingston, as well as historic buildings such as Bellevue House.

Says Steve, “I was one of those Torontonians who came to Queen’s and stayed.” In Toronto, he was a cycling activist and part of a community of cyclists who successfully lobbied the municipal government to create more bike lanes. The lobbying experience and working with governments increased his interest in earning an MBA degree. “Queen’s was recruiting well-rounded students from a variety of backgrounds, for its MBA program,” Steve recalls.

When he came here Steve fell in love with the city and its cycling possibilities, and started his own bike tour of Kingston. “It wasn’t hard to visit the Archives and read the well-documented deep history of this amazing place,” he says. “I was able to design a great tour that includes those rare places most people don’t know about.”

The carefully designed 14-km tour incorporates both a leisurely pace and a flat route so cyclists at all levels can participate. Each tour takes up to eight tourists on a unique trip. Steve has also designed a program for those visitors who are more ambitious and adventurous – Kingston by Bike! offers a half-day tour to Kingston Mills, the first lock on the Rideau Canal and a National Historic site. This tour includes a provided picnic lunch and a stop at Fort Henry and the RMC campus.

Asked if giving the tour ever gets repetitive, Steve is quick to say no. “If you really like your city,” he adds, “you won’t get bored.”

When he’s not leading bike tours, Steve is a fractal artist; simply put, he creates stunning visual images of mathematical formulas. He is the owner of Well Bred Fractals, and his work can be seen on wellbredfractals.com.

For tour booking information, please visit his website or email Steve at fractals@kingston.net.