Manitoba by Motorcycle is a local, self-guided motorcycle tourism program that launched in 2016 as a way to promote motorcycle tourism in Manitoba. The concept was developed by Myles O’Reilly and over the next few years it expanded to offer more challenges for riders and new partnerships were established with the regional tourism boards. In late 2021 Wess Freeheart and Tennyson Weibe came on board as partners to help manage and grow Manitoba by Motorcycle even further.
Myles O’Reilly
Myles has been on two wheels his entire life but only bought his first motorcycle 14 years ago and promptly started riding random roads all over the province. He loves to find new places and often does random u-turns because something caught his eye and he just had to go check it out. Small town diners are THE BEST. He has traveled elsewhere but Manitoba is home and he truly enjoys being a local tourist and his personal motto has always been Life is Better on 2 Wheels (you can see it hand-painted on the side cover above).
Wess Freeheart
Born in South America and raised in Manitoba, Wess Freeheart lives for summers. Whether pavement, gravel, dirt, dyke or tall grass trail, he’ll take any path that sparks his curiosity. Having owned a variety of bikes since he was 17 from Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha and Harley, Wess is not brand loyal; to him it’s more about the ride itself than what you ride. “All bikes are adventure bikes” has become Wess’ personal biking ethos.
Tennyson Wiebe
Tennyson was born completely bored outside of Waterloo Ontario. He spent some years hopping around a few provinces before he ended up in Winkler Manitoba when he was 16 and decided to “make the best of it”. You’ll often find him deep down some goat trail with his big v-twin cruiser with a tent strapped to his back rest and saddlebags full of pepperoni. He always says “life is just like a throttle, either jammed wide open or your bike is parked for the winter”. If you ever get the chance encounter to take a selfie and use the hashtag Bigfoot is real and you’ll be entered into a draw for a sticker pack.
There is currently no cost to anyone to obtain a patch beyond the gas they use to get to each location. Patches are purchased and mailed out at no cost to any individual who completes the rides as required and I will mail the patches out to anyone anywhere. Occasionally we will deliver them in person too!
For those that have asked, donations are always welcome but never solicited and can be done via Paypal, eTransfer, by mail or in person (shoot me a message). Anything and everything is always greatly appreciated!
