Ride Report: Liv x Ladies AllRide Crankworx Social Ride

Nope, I had never been to Whistler before this week. I also had never seen a Crankworx event in the freakishly talented flesh before, either. But on Tuesday, after a Monday travel day gone awry (my bike made it; I did not), I finally arrived to this mecca for all things singletrack, slabs, and sends.

And immediately felt overwhelmed. There were people and bikes literally everywhere, our new team at Bike Mag was meeting in real life for the first time (and sharing one very… cozy condo) and I was in my head a bit about being responsible for finding compelling stories to tell.

So when I was asked if I wanted to cover the Lix x Ladies AllRide Social Ride on Wednesday, I said “Yup” without even thinking about it. I was travel-weary (one, two-hour flight on Monday turned into a full day in an airport, a missed carpool from Bellingham up to Whistler, an overnight at a hotel back home, and a second-go at flying the next day, this time to Vancouver and a two hour shuttle instead), and a shake-out ride in community sounded perfect. Also, I’d always wanted to see Lindsey Richter of Ladies AllRide in her element, coaching.

The ride ended up being even better than expected: over fifty folks ended up joining, with various skill sets, and my personal vibes were high at seeing that many femme folks snaking their way through the beautiful, dappled, mossy forests of British Columbia that the Squamish and Lil’wat nations have been caretakers of for time immemorial.

Lindsey was somehow everywhere, encouraging folks over wooden features and down rock slabs, with the support of her Liv Ambassador and Wild Rye ride leaders, including Ren Egnew, Vanessa Lebrun, and Jen Audia.

“Crankworx can be a bit intimidating,” says Lindsey (um, yes, girl, see above), “And is still a very male-dominated event. While we do see a lot more women competing these days, it's still important to help women feel welcome, and like they fit in at the festival beyond competition. By doing a social ride it helps women-identifying and non-binary riders join a chill, community ride for the evening, and hopefully connect with others and make some new friends to ride with. Bringing women together to share the joy of bicycles is what Ladies AllRide, Liv cycling and Wild Rye are all about!”

Vanessa offers a similar take: “Crankworx has a full calendar of events catered to athletes, but I feel it’s important to offer inclusive opportunities for the public to take part in the festivities. Our goal at Liv is to create more opportunities for women, and what we experienced on the social ride really shows how important events like these are: we had women, local and visiting, supporting each other to tackle wooden features, rock rolls and techy sections. There is such camaraderie in our sport; it gives a strong sense of achievement that some women might have never felt before.”

For Lindsey, and what maybe resonates most for me, she says that the social ride goes beyond being “just” an activation: “I have been coming to Crankworx since 2003, before it was officially called Crankworx. I was one of very few women who wanted to ride the bike park during the event, but had no women to ride with. It took years before I was riding with other women and comfortably learning the ways of Whistler. These social rides mean a lot to me because I remember feeling alone and intimidated to ride by myself in such a technical place. To be able to offer a safe and welcoming space for women to ride together and learn in a no-pressure environment, is really something special for me. Riding in Whistler with other women changed my riding and my life and I'm so blessed to be able to pay it forward with Liv and Wild Rye giving me a platform to inspire others from.”

Being a fresh never-ever to Crankworx (and Whistler), I absolutely understand what Lindsey is talking about. I love challenging myself on hard trails - and I certainly had my own hopes to tackle the infamous A-Line at some point before leaving (more on that later). But it felt really, really grounding to take a minute to breathe, chat, laugh, and remember that bikes are just bikes, no matter how intense your surroundings might feel.

As Lindsey puts it, there is a “symmetry between mountain biking and life,” wherein you feel more connected to both self and your community as you discover what you are capable of on two wheels. And that is certainly what the Liv x Ladies Allride Social Ride did for me: afterwards, I felt ready to dive into the swarm at the base of Fitzsimmons, ready to hop in a train down A-Line, ready to submit myself to my first foot-long Whistler glizzy, ready to try rock rolls that scare the shit out of me, ready to be honest in my writing about feeling out of my element and completely at home at the same time. Just… ready, because I had community both guiding me and following my line. And that is exactly the bike-life symmetry I needed to be reminded of. So thanks, Lindsey.