WOMEN’S BIKE CLUB

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Welcome to Bike Club. Bike Club is a free weekly social ride on Wednesday nights.

It’s a place to connect with a community, a place to make new friends, a place to challenge your skills or to just give yourself a break. It’s a welcoming space, an inclusive space, a supportive space. It’s a ride for all female-identifying people of all ability-levels.

This is the internet home for our hoppin' Facebook group.If you want all the chatter, join us over there.

If you want none of the chatter, check out our Upcoming Events page where we post the rides every Tuesday.

If you're new, welcome! If you're a Bike Club regular, send us your feedback, suggestions, requests, etc.

If you're brand new to biking and/or are feeling shy, feel free to drop us a line at info@porcabikes.com and introduce yourself. But most importantly, if you want to bike with a rad group of chicks, check out our upcoming rides!

PRE-SEASON INTRO

We’re back. Bike Club is back. This year is our 13th Anniversary!

2024 Schedule

The season kicks off April 10 with a Trail Maintenance Night. Come get your hands dirty with us! We will have PVTA’s trail builder Darren Nicoll out to give us some tips. Check the Facebook page or the Upcoming Events page for more information.

The first ride night will be April 17 and then every Wednesday until June 26. We are taking the summer off this year (but watch out for some everyone welcome Social Rides) and will be back at Sept 4, 11, 18, 25.

How does it work?

  1. Make sure you have your required 2024 PORCA membership.

  2. Register for the entire Women’s Bike Club season by “purchasing” it as a session. (This doesn’t mean you have to show up every time. It just lets us know you are a PORCA member, we can sign you in when you do come and we have the necessary information if there was an emergency.)

  3. Add yourself to the Facebook page. Weekly ride meeting time and location are posted on Tuesdays (sometimes Monday nights) along with a poll next to each ride option offered that week. Please check the option you think you are going to ride as it helps us to organize ride leaders. Don’t have Facebook? No problem, check the website on Tuesdays under upcoming events for that weeks Women’s Bike Club.

  4. Show up on Wednesdays just a bit before the meeting time to check in and get organized into your group. Each group will have a volunteer ride leader who will make sure everyone knows where they are going. It is important to note the ride leader’s phone number in case there are mechanicals, an emergency situation or to let them know you went home early. Someone from each group will volunteer to sweep to ensure no one is left behind. If you are one of those women who knows the trails well, we encourage you to reach out and take new riders under your wing. An important part of Bike Club culture is giving back so everyone should take a turn being a ride leader or a sweep. It takes a team effort to keep this female mountain bike community awesome.

  5. Sign out! Please check in with the ride leader when you are done your ride at apres (or, if you are skipping the best part of Bike Club, please text the ride leader).

Have more questions?

  • Yes, you! Please come! Every year, it is our greatest joy to witness a keen group of new riders find each other, connect, and progress on the trails. It can be intimidating learning to bike, especially in a community of talented athletes. We don't want you to feel like you must be a certain level of rider to ride in “Bike Club”. Believe me, most women feel the same way when they are starting out; they don't want to hold up other riders, they are nervous, etc. The scariest step is coming for the first time! But you will find other women just like you and finding that buddy to ride with is key to learning. That said, the “Bike Club” social rides are not coached and each ride is geared towards a minimum skill level, please check the Upcoming Events or the FB page each Monday to see what we are riding. Unfortunately, Pemberton doesn’t have much beginner terrain so it can be a steep leaning curve here. I would encourage you to pre-ride the Bike Club route for that week if you have not ridden it before. The Skills Park sessions are a good option for Beginners to get involved in Bike Club. You should have a basic understanding of how your bike works to stay safe on the trails. If you need to learn the basics, sweetskills.ca offers clinics that are great confidence boosters.

  • Welcome! Maybe you’re a confident rider but are looking to meet new people. Maybe you’re new to town and want to learn the trails. Bike Club is an opportunity to put yourself out there, but you need to be open to that vulnerability. It can take some time, but keep coming - you will find your people! There is no one type of woman here - everyone comes from different life experiences and that is the magic. If you ever feel like a fish out of water, have a chat with Bree, or one of the ladies who is a regular and we’ll help you find your pond.

  • Ride Leaders and Sweeps - Do you know the Pemberton trail network well? Do you have your Standard First Aid? Part of Bike Club culture is about serving our community. We encourage everyone to give back and volunteer to be a Ride Leader or Sweep. Please contact bree@porcabikes.com

    Feel like hosting an apres? Amazing! You can contact bree@porcabikes.com before Tuesdays ride announcement. We don’t have a house to apres at every week but rest assured someone will bring chips and we will eat them post ride…

    Volunteer - Don't feel like riding sometimes? Volunteer to do sign in!

  • If you're unsure of what group you should be riding in, message or ask Bree, and I would be happy to figure out your ride and introduce you to other people. Since we are all about female empowerment at Bike Club, if you're not sure about where you're going its always a good idea to be prepared. This means you’ve downloaded the Trailforks app and have familiarized yourself with how to use it. This also means you have a tube, pump and tire levers, and know how to change your own tire.

Rules

  • No apologizing. Take up space. We want you here!

  • Be a PORCA member — sign up at www.porcabikes.com

  • Be respectful of other trail users, especially at meeting locations - do not to block the trails/pathways

We embrace an inclusive definition of “women” and “girls” that includes people who identify as women, girls, trans, gender queer, gender non-binary, Two-Spirit, and gender questioning. An inclusive environment means all participants feel safe and supported, however they may identify.

DHaRCO is on a mission to demonstrate what an amazing lifestyle mountain biking is and to inspire people to live no ordinary life.

The brand exists to make people look and feel good and encourage people to ride bikes and get outdoors. To show people what an amazing lifestyle of great friends, adventures and challenging yourself can be like.

DHaRCO is female-founded and led - by a half-Aussie, half-Canadian who’s spent a lot of time in the Sea to Sky with her Canadian family from Vancouver. Mandy has ridden in Pemberton and spent countless summers and winters living and riding/skiing in Whistler. Mandy is also a mother of a mini shredder.

What’s unique about DHaRCO is that Mandy didn’t want to create a “girls” brand, instead she wanted females to be included in the mountain biking landscape and normalized as “riders”, and that has been a focus of the brand - to create an extensive men’s and women’s (and now youth) range, and to support athletes and communities alike. The brand seeks to show that we are all riders enjoying the sport we love - and that's how we want to present to the world.

True to these values, internally the team at DHaRCO is 50% men/women, with 2 out of 4 people on the leadership team being women, and DHaRCO is proud to create a truly gender-inclusive environment and to shift stereotypes.

The company’s mission for the future is to be a trusted global brand and to continually bring new gear to inspire more people to get outdoors and live “no ordinary life

You can find DHaRCO at their Squamish Showroom, Locally at Elevate Bike, Whistler Kids and evo Whistler.