Ridelab women’s mountain bike festival roars back for year two

After a successful launch in 2023, Ridelab women’s mountain bike festival is coming back to Squamish, B.C. for a second year. The three day festival offers community, learning and guided riding for women

Ridelab year two returns to Squamish on May 13-17, 2024.

The festival features three days of guided rides around Squamish’s legendary trail network. These are led by certified guides in groups of similar ability riders. There’s groups for all levels of rider, from beginner to pro, as well as for aMTB, led by Bowhead, and eMTB groups. Along with learning and riding, Ridelab states its “Goal is to foster connection among women riders while exploring this mecca of trails.”

Along with coaches and guides, Ridelab attracted a solid list of guest riders to help mentor and inspire others. in 2023, that included Hannah Bergemann, Andreané Lanthier Nadeau, Flo Espineira, Jade Blouin-Comeau, Lucy Van Eesteren, Bailey Goldstone, iconic Olympian Katarina Nash. Several are already confirmed to return for 2024.

Ridelab offers four nights of camping in a central event village. That area also includes vendors, demo bikes, beverages and hosts tech talks in the evening and yoga in the morning. There’s music and films to keep the party going into the evening.

Ridelab 2023 Wrap Video

Here’s what Ridelab has to say about its 2024 event:

After a successful event last year, it was a no brainer that it needed to come back. RIDELAB will take place on the land of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw May 13-17th in Squamish, British Columbia. In addition to 3 great riding days, good vibes, the event will also offer bike demos, tech talks, panel discussions, live music and a camping retreat. It’s a great opportunity to connect with like-minded women with a shared passion for mountain biking in a safe and inclusive setting. BC is one of the most amazing places in the world to ride mountain bikes, join the party and find yourself in a welcoming, inclusive, supportive environment that is guaranteed to be a lot of fun.

RIDELAB is honoured to have partnered with Bowhead Corporation and lead by Adaptive Rider Sierra Roth to help more 3 wheel riders participate in the event. Our Adaptive Rider participation has doubled at RIDELAB for 2024… Now that’s big growth! RIDELAB is a Mountain Bike Festival For Women, non binary, queer and folk who love bikes, beverages, food, camping, music and good times. In 2023 there was 150 riders, 15 groups on pedal bikes, 2 ebike groups and 1 adaptive group.

Dialed-In Cycling, a local guiding operation, will handle all the guiding for the event. While the event focus is guided rides and getting the most riding time on this great network of trails, there will be opportunity for session’ing features and receiving skills tips from your PMBIA* certified guides. RIDELAB is also partnering with the Indigenous Women of the Outdoors (IWO) to support its community members in gaining greater visibility in the mountain biking industry. IWO is a non-profit organization that strives to support, encourage, and provide Indigenous women and non-binary folx living on the territories of the sḵwx̱ú7mesh, líl̓wat, səlil̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm nations with low barrier access to outdoor recreation.

RIDELAB has been created to showcase the enjoyment of mountain biking and the women who ride. The event will bring more women into mountain biking and foster development of riding at every level. In addition, they aim to empower women riders with not only trail knowledge, but technical knowledge as well. The workshops are designed to equip women with the information and understanding they need to confidently make choices about bike maintenance, safety and new purchases of bikes, gear & more.