Despite working as a mountain bike instructor in Ontario before moving across the country – mainly for the sport itself – didn’t mean Sara Archer wasn’t intimidated by the idea of joining the corridor’s riding community after relocating to Squamish with her husband and two young children last summer.
“It was really overwhelming,” she said.
But as Archer began attending local rides and races organized by the Squamish Off-Road Cycling Association and local bike shops, it turned out that the tight-knit mountain biking community made that transition easier.
“Sometimes local riders don’t want to share their trails, but that wasn’t the case here,” Archer explained. “They were super welcoming and really supportive and helpful.”
Archer is one of an impressive number of Squamish moms who are squashing the stereotypes of what it means to be an active parent and showing their kids what it takes to shred the local trails first-hand.
“I love going during the day, mid-week, with a bunch of other moms,” she said. “I think almost every single mom I’ve met mountain bikes.”
While Elissa Lok had spent some time on two wheels throughout her years living in the Sea to Sky Corridor, she said it wasn’t until she became a mother of two that she discovered her love for the sport.
“I started riding as an escape and something to do by myself and something to do for me,” she explained. “I developed this passion for doing it and then I started spending as much time as I could riding and started to do a bit of racing.”
The combination of exercise and being able to notice progression is what Lok said keeps her tuned in to the sport.
“There’s so many small goals to achieve, especially in Squamish with the amazing network of trails,” she said.
“There are technical features that you want to go back to to get that feature or get that time.”
But with all of life’s responsibilities, Lok said it takes careful planning to carve out time to ride – often, she and her husband take turns hitting the trails in the evenings and on weekends.
“That’s how we have to get our rides in,” she explained.
“It is difficult to balance, but you just have to plan for it and because it’s something I love to do I plan it out in my head.”
While Archer agreed that it can be difficult to find the time to ride, she said it’s the community’s collective love for riding and willingness to help each other do so that makes it possible – even if it means trading off babysitting duties.
“They’ll be like, ‘well I’ll watch your kid so you can ride,’” she said.
This widespread love for the sport is something Archer is looking forward to her children experiencing as they get older.
“All the kids ride their bikes to school, there’s kids’ camps… It’s a big part of the social aspect for kids here, I think. That’s great because they’re going to get lots of support and learn lots of skills, and I just can’t wait until we can all go out and ride together.”
As for Lok, she sees her love of mountain biking and drive to compete as a prime opportunity to set a good example for her children.
“(Racing) is that extra motivation to get yourself out and ride because you have something to accomplish…” she said. “I think that it’s good for your children to see you committing to something, setting a goal and working towards it – not just in mountain biking, but in life in general.”
