Calgary, Alberta Women Freeriders...

Well, another Calgary Stampede is over, hockey season is past, football season is in full swing but life has, more or less, returned to normal here. The only bandwagon left to hop on in this town is the one heading to the top of the mountain for a sweet ride down! My crazy summer experiences so far involve getting the heck out of Dodge to get on the bike. See, summer tends to drive everything up – the number of people, the amount of traffic, drink prices, blood pressure… and I simply prefer going to the mountains with my bike while all these events take place.Another event that’s been taking place for the past few months is the first ever ladies freeride group in Calgary! My thoughts on the freeride group are this: fantastic. I wanted to start a small group of ladies with whom I could ride. And for a no-charge group with no name, we didn’t do too badly. This group exceeded my expectations from wondering, the first night out, if anyone would show up at all, to a group of ‘regulars’ attending weekly. Tuesday nights quickly became the most exciting night of the week for me (yes, even more exciting than Friday night) as we’re all on the same page in terms of interest in the sport and mentality towards helping each other. Everyone comes from different backgrounds with the age range being anywhere from 18 to 40 years old! We push each other to do the things we want to try most, and encourage each other to take it easy when not feeling up to trying something new. It’s about your limits - knowing when to go for it or when to pull up the reigns. There’s no showing off or going for glory here, although the feedback has been tremendous.


Several ladies attended or will attend mountain bike camps (Sugoi Dirt Series, DevineRIDE and the Dirt Girls). I’m very excited to provide a group where girls can use these skills in a similar environment before and afterwards
The Calgary ladies freeride group out of Canada Olympic Park (most of the time) has attracted interest from all over the world!! From Brazil to the Philippines to the UK, I’ve received several emails telling me what a wonderful idea this was. For example:

I was reading the article about the all ladies freeride event, awsome stuff and what really blew my mind was the pic of Hannah doin the backflip! My props to her and you guys! errrr... I mean Gals! It's nice to know that you girls are talking a keen interest in freeriding. I'm a freerider here in Manila and let me tell you that the women riders here are few and much more the women freeriders!
Just my two cents!
Keep it in the big ring!
Efren

And:

WOW I just read your article on the freeride evening and this sounds
awesome!! I wish I lived a bit closer to Canada (I’m in England!)I've
not heard of any rides like this in the UK, mostly it seems that there
are just girls-only XC rides which is all fine and dandy but not quite
as exciting as what your doing!!
I'm gonna have to come to Canada one day I think!!
Sue

These emails pump me up! The dawn of the ladies freeriding group is happening! New groups are starting to pop up with Vancouver leading the way. I managed to tag along with an established group out of Abbotsford, BC while out that way – if you’re from Abbotsford or surrounding area, and you’re looking for a women’s freeriding group – check out:
http://www.lifecyclesbikes.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=events.list

This is a super friendly gang; very encouraging too. You can’t beat a sweet ride on Vedder followed by a cool dip in Cultus Lake on a hot evening. This group has a good range in ability level; even if you are comfortable on your bike and maybe not on stunts yet…check it out!
A few weeks ago we took a few people to Moose Mountain for the first time. Now there’s chicks out there almost every weekend! I post all pics on Pinkbike’s ‘Girls in Action’ section.


For anyone new looking to come out – this is a great opportunity to meet some other keen riders. At the moment, however, we’re taking a little break as people head to Fernie, and other awesome biking locations, and a few of us are nursing some biking related wounds so this is our chance to heal up! Write to karen@pinkbike.com for more details on the group and for future ride locations.

Posted In:
Stories Reader Stories