The Whitefish Bike Retreat is an amazing place to ride, relax and enjoy friends but don't take our word for it, here's what our guests have to say about the retreat!
If you've had the chance to visit the retreat, submit your testimonial here!
"Great place to stay! We were here with our 2 dogs for a couple of days and already booked a return trip! The trails that are accessible right from the retreat were great for all levels- easy enough for a beginner but fun enough for the more experienced to get some speed and have some fun. Lots of lakes close by- great for the dogs to get a swim and cool down. And when the dogs are pooped, they have the "hound hostel", which was such a plus for our older dogs! Staff was super friendly and very accommodating to all of our needs. We used the shuttle to pick us up in town one day, which was also great! Bathrooms at the campsite are clean and well maintained. Lots of fun "features" around the campgrounds to work on your biking skills. Can not recommend this place enough!! We can't wait to go back!"
-Amy W.
-Amy W.
A friend and I stayed with you while we were riding the Divide in 2017 and haven't been able to forget how great of a time we had. We keep dreaming of coming back and we'd like to bring our families.I know there's a lot of uncertainty around scheduling right now but wondered if theres a way we can subscribe to updates so that we can figure out when to book a group. Thanks so much and hope you're staying safe up there. Seriously one of the most gorgeous fun places I've ever stayed.
-Devin
-Devin
Cricket: Thank you again for providing me and my daughter with the confidence to venture out on our own for a week long bikepacking trip on the GDMBR. It would have never come together without your guidance and support.
-Bo and Kate
-Bo and Kate
Just wanted to thank Cricket and all of her outstanding team members, including Zana, Justin and Kyle, for making my recent stay at the Bike Retreat a delight. You all go beyond the call of duty.
Thanks in particular to Cricket for showing me how to use my eTrex 20.
I’m sure I’ll get lost again but won’t be able to blame Garmin the next time!
-Doug H.
Thanks in particular to Cricket for showing me how to use my eTrex 20.
I’m sure I’ll get lost again but won’t be able to blame Garmin the next time!
-Doug H.
Just have to say thanks again for the great weekend! Keith was awesome, so thorough, great teacher, and made every one of us feel more confident with our bikes. And your place is amazing - recommending it to all my friends. Hope to be back soon, definitely planning a fall trip to see those tamaracks!
-Meadows S.
-Meadows S.
My soon to be husband and I stayed at your campground 2 years ago. We are not bikers, we stayed there for the access to trails and general beauty of the campground. We fell in love!! The staff was so nice. And Cricket sent us on some amazing day trips around the area. My fiance proposed to me while on one of the trails. We cannot wait to come back, and try biking next time! You guys rock!!
-Nikki T.
-Nikki T.
What an awesome two days with Cricket at the Whitefish Bike Retreat! If you want a weekend of inspiration that satisfies your need for adrenaline , great people and adventure education, this is the place to be! We are all excited to read more about the supplies needed to complete the first leg of our Great Divide Ride and we were surprised by the generosity of Hammer Nutrition. Cricket made great recommendations and reviews for many other products and hooked us up with other groups. I could go on and on, but I have a bike trip to plan for! Whoop whoop!
- Kymme P.
- Kymme P.
To Staff and Lego, Troop 1917 had great time this weekend. We all saw improvement after riding at the retreat. Thanks for the great hospitality and awesome trails.
Scouts,
That was the best campout ever!
Thank you Dr. Henson for finding such a neat location.
Nice campground, GREAT TRACKS!
Maybe we should do that one every year!
-Troop 1917 Scoutmaster
Scouts,
That was the best campout ever!
Thank you Dr. Henson for finding such a neat location.
Nice campground, GREAT TRACKS!
Maybe we should do that one every year!
-Troop 1917 Scoutmaster
I wanted to take a minute to thank you for setting us up with the awesome mountain bikes that took us up to Polebridge and back down the Inner North Fork Road. The bikes were a blast to ride. Everywhere we went people commented on our excellent bikes. Diane and I showed up on the evening of July 10th and you were so kind to us. We are pretty inexperienced and even though you were tired you took the time to open up your store and then you even put the pedals on our bike. The retreat facility itself is beautiful (well stocked with coffee!!) and your directions out of Whitefish, through the woods, gave us our first glimpse into the adventure we were about to embark on. You definitely keep the dream alive. Thanks for living your passion and creating such a beautiful place for bikes and the diverse people that show up to ride them. Thanks again for your help, We will be back!
-Mary and Diane
"We booked the Whitefish Bike Retreat for our daughter’s 12 birthday. I feel like we found a diamond in the rough! There were 11 girls total, and when they weren’t dancing, playing games, or watching movies in the large common area, they were outside sledding and roasting s’mores. The setting was beautiful with lots of privacy, and I felt that the girls were very safe to explore and just be 12 yr. olds, I also loved the fact that we didn’t have to worry about waking people in the room next door! The kitchen was a huge convenience, and the girls enjoyed the bike-themed bathrooms while getting ‘gussied-up’. The Whitefish Bike Retreat is the PERFECT place to host any type of event – thanks Cricket!"
-Jim and Kellie Harnar
"I’ve stayed at the Whitefish Bike Retreat twice and am going back for a third in less than 2 months because I love it.
The camping is awesome – great tent sites surrounded by trees with nice privacy. The Lodge is just pure casual comfort and the people you share the space with are great to talk to about the adventure they finished, or are embarking on. I love to mountain bike and there is great mountain biking right out the door, but it’s hard to motivate myself to ride because I’m so happy just chilling in a chair with a book or an iPad while my dog runs around the woods with Lego.
The bike workstation was awesome, as I had to completely dismantle and rebuild a broken bike on one visit and the secure bike storage gives peace of mind. Bike friendly and dog friendly are my favorite combination and no place else compares in either respect."
-Scott G.
"Whitefish Bike Retreat is AWESOME!!! The four of us stayed 4 nights in July. Cricket or Emma were available for any service. This upscale hostel is the ticket to paradise, whether you are riding through or just want to play around Glacier National Park. Bike rentals are also available on site. Stand up paddle boards can be rented and DELIVERED! to the lake."
-Sherry
"We just returned from a long weekend stay at the Bunkhouse at Whitefish Bike Retreat. We can't say enough about what a great time we had.
We are not cyclists so the appeal is not limited to those who are. We skied, we snow shoed, we sledded down the crazy roads leading to this amazing location.
WBR is in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by the beauty of nature and great trails for cyclists, hikers, and snow shoe enthusiasts. It's about 20 mins to the Base Lodge at the hill. Less than 15 minutes to the heart of Whitefish.
The Bunkhouse has some surprising attributes for a "hostel" type accommodation. Fully stocked kitchen, lots of social area, big screen TV, movies, WiFi, outdoor fire pit, BBQ, in-floor heating for winter visitors (!), clean showers/toilets, and, most important, the most gracious and helpful host you could ever hope for! Cricket was constantly available for questions and helpful info. She even tried to help tow us up the icy roads! Customer service at it's best.
Looking forward to our next visit already!"
-Jennifer and crew from Calgary, Alberta
"Cricket and I met in person on the evening of September 1, late at night, at the intersection of the Great Divide trail and Whitefish Lake. She arrived in a truck to shuttle tired riders from my Great Divide Mountain Bike Tour (who had become stranded with fading headlights) to the retreat. After a quick hug, she proclaimed with excitement, “Don’t mention it! I’m here to help. It’s great to finally meet you!
This is just one example of her enthusiasm (and that of her team) to build a cycling culture, and show compassion for thy fellow rider. This attention to detail was evident in all aspects of the physical retreat too – from coffee and scones in the morning, mechanic support, and a homely infusion of unique, wooden architecture.
The Whitefish Bike Retreat has become a part of our story, not just place to lay our heads. I look forward to returning with another group in 2014!"
-Ryan Correy, Adventure Cyclist & Fueling Guru for Hammer Nutrition Canada
"Okay. So how much time do you have?! You may want to get comfy as you start reading this. It may take a few minutes to read, but we really really want to share our experience with you.
My husband and I had set out to ride the epic Beartooth Pass to start off our 2week cycling adventure. We were hit with isolated storms and lightning flagged for the pass on the intended day of our arrival. We had to reroute. After all, 11,000 ft up, and above treeline is not a place to be (on a bike) during storm and lightning! Heartbroken….till we arrived in Montana's Whitefish Bike Retreat! You know, we really believe things happen for a reason, and this change in our plans fully proved that. Let us tell you why!
We arrived late Thursday after two days of driving from Southern California. Just the retreat's beautiful sign at the entrance put a smile on our faces! We were immediately welcomed by a couple of awesome steep rollers leading to the retreat which screamed for the MTBs to be offloaded right then! Wow! Salivating already! What a sweet way to warm up before you head out to any of the many trailheads right near the retreat!
The retreat is built on the grounds where an authentic barn used to be. Make no mistakes, this place is nothing less than a plush "home" away from home! Just perfect! The decor is tasteful, and the ambiance is welcoming intimate and cozy, yet hip and really cool!
We met Cricket at the office. She is simply unbelievable! Her smile (and her pup-Lego's kisses) just puts you at ease. She gave us a tour of the place. My husband was smiling ear to ear when he saw the state of the art bike wash area, and grinned even bigger when he walked into this super duper bike storage/repair/maintenance shop on the premises. If you knew my husband, you would know that he had packed all the tools we may have ever needed for the two weeks of cycling in multiple states! Let me just say, we did not unpack a single tool.
Cricket has thought of everything, and I mean everything at the retreat.
The retreat offers a gorgeous kitchen fully equipped with anything you may need, beautiful and comfy rooms with quality/comfy beds and warm lighting, a common area filled with overstuffed chairs and sofas that hug you, as you sit with your trail map and your cup of retreats' custom PedalPush coffee (Oh My God!) before you head out for the best rides of your life; or where you chill out on the patio with your celebratory beer or glass of wine at the end of the day after you get back!
You can gather around a lovely long table and benches in the living room area, and meet the coolest cyclists you could hope to meet! You sit around, exchanging war stories, compare notes, suggest/ask about ride recommendations, laugh, plan your next visits together, etc etc!
Some of these cyclists are the toughest out there; those taking on the Great Divide (for the umpteenth time!). Some are the MTB daredevils, here to test the most beautiful trails in Whitefish! Some are couples like us, in Montana for the first time, with big eyes trying to take in all the beauty it offers, and unable to get enough of the roads/trails here!
Our most favorite cyclist was the WonderWoman, Cricket, herself;-) Although a life long athlete (and good at most I'm sure), she is so humble that you would never know about her accomplishments as a cyclist, unless you asked.
This Wonder Woman is my personal new hero! Have you ever heard of La Ruta de Conquistador? No? Look it up! Yes? Awesome! She has COMPLETED the "Toughest MTB Race on the Planet" not once, ….but TWICE! Ask her about her racing the Great Divide multiple times! Go ahead, ask!
Okay, bottom line,
-you are a cyclist
-You are searching for the coolest place to ride (Road bikes or MTBs (we had both with us and put them to great use…daily!)
-You want a comfy/plush and well equipped place so you won't have to be inconvenienced in any way while you are away from home….You want all that in one place? Look this place up!
We had planned to stay for two days,….we dragged ourselves away after 6! That's how awesome this amazing place is:) We rode anywhere from 50 to 70 miles a day, between our road rides in the mornings and our trail rides in the afternoon! Although we are sworn to follow the Montana's unspoken rule to " tell everyone ELSE that Montana Sucks!" my husband and I cannot stop raving about the Whitefish Bike Retreat and its SUPER special owner, Cricket!
Whitefish Bike Retreat has been open for just three months.We feel lucky to have found it by chance, but we know this place will be wait listed soon. We are reserving our stay for next year NOW! Happy Trails!
P.S. No worries if you don't ride bikes! Hiking anyone? This is the place! I hear winter sports will be supported by the retreat as well…you never know,…. my husband has already started looking into cross country skiing for us.. What can I say, we Love this place!!! Thanks Cricket for building this dreamy retreat! We enjoyed our stay with you immensely and WILL BE BACK!!!"
-Shirin and Mark Beckett
"If you are into biking of any kind. This is the place to stay in Whitefish. Great concept. Great location and great service! Its every cyclists dream! Everything you need for biking is on the property. Cricket knows all the trails and you can tell she loves biking and wants to share all the great trails around. Your eyes will be looking around at all the little bike details around the place. Handlebar door knobs, Crank TP holders. Can't wait to come back with more bikes and more time! 3 nights isn't enough.
P.S. Hound Hostal is great and lets you feel good knowing your dog is being looked after! "English" is going to be sleeping for days!"
-Brad, Emilie and English from Airdrie, AB
"Hi! Thank you very much – this place is amazing! We will definitely be back to show this place to our friends! Have a good Summer!"
– Cass, Matt and Nick from Canmore
"What an incredible week here in Montana! The week started with a shuttle ride from FCA airport to Glacier Cyclery to pick up a SantaCruz Tall Boy then onto The WhitefishBikeRetreat. What a well thought out place. I rode everyday during my stay. The rides were all incredible and varied. The views were spectacular too, but the people I have met while being out here made the trip unforgettable. Thanks to Cricket, her sons Marshall, Grayson and co-worker Tom. You guys made it an enjoyable place to return "home" to every evening. Thanks to Noah, Erin, and Phil for a great ride at Reid Divide Sunday afternoon. I would highly suggest for anyone reading this to get your butt out here and take in some of the best riding in the U.S.!!!"
-Joe O. from Ohio.