Adaptive mountain bike program rolls into Sun Peaks this summer

Adaptive Sports at Sun Peaks is rolling out a new adaptive mountain bike program for the summer, hoping to make the sport more accessible to those with a physical disability or neurodiversity.

As a non-profit organization working to increase the recreational accessibility in both winter and summer, Adaptive Sports at Sun Peaks is adding the mountain bike program to its list of sports, which include skiing, snowboarding and sit skiing.

Starting on Aug. 1, each session is two hours long and runs until Aug. 31, with no experience necessary. Registration opened July 2 and those interested can learn more through Adaptive Sports at Sun Peaks’ website or by emailing adaptivesportsatsunpeaks@gmail.com

“Whether you’ve never ridden a bike before, whether you have and you want to start riding trails in the bike park, it’s pretty much open to anyone who has either a physical disability or neurodiversity,” Katie Oldrieve, program coordinator said.

The ratio of coaches to students is two to one, offering support for riders to learn. The coaches in this program work to contact students before their lessons to understand what they want to do during their time together, with experience ranging from brand new to seasoned riders. 

“Lessons will be tailored to suit individual student needs,” Oldrieve said.

When Oldrieve first came into the organization, she was the winter program coordinator, but increased interest spurred the need to expand summer programing.

“The demand for adaptive lessons is growing,” Oldrieve said, “it’s just really nice that we’ve been able to expand along with that.”

Changes within the organization, including splitting the executive director role in two, have enabled Adaptive Sports at Sun Peaks to meet this demand. 

“Our organization is entering an exciting new chapter,” Pam Schneider, the new administrator for the organization said. “We have officially grown from a team of one to a team of two!”

Schneider’s new role oversees the general operations including grants, sponsorships, fundraising and events. As the sports program coordinator, Oldrieve’s role includes the operational side of the program. This involves ensuring coaches and instructors are qualified and students are able to access lessons. 

The coaches and instructors of the program are all volunteers, “so we have to be a little bit flexible,” Oldrieve said. “If a student requests a lesson on a specific day… we can’t always make that happen, so we  try and work with our student’s and caregiver’s families to make sure that we can provide them with something whilst they’re in Sun Peaks.”

Oldrieve and volunteers attended the multi-day adaptive mountain bike coaching course held in Sun Peaks, which was led by the Global Syndicate of Mountain Bike Coaches. With two riders completing the intermediate course and five completing the apprentice course, it was a great opportunity to get the adaptive bikes out on the mountain, Oldrieve said. 

This course brought the organization’s number of qualified instructors up from two to nine, allowing the program to deliver more lessons.

“The adaptive mountain bike program is getting people riding bikes who couldn’t necessarily access the sport otherwise,” Oldrieve said. “Some people will be learning on the Valley Trails, some will be learning on the Morrisey trails and then some in the Sun Peaks Bike Park.”

A Bowhead Rogue bike and a Sport-on XCR bike have been purchased for the program with the intention to add more bikes to the fleet in the future. Both of these bikes are three-wheel electric adaptive mountain bikes powered through arm cranks. This allows students who are unable to use a two-wheel bike on the trails in Sun Peaks to use this equipment without having to buy their own adaptive mountain bike which can be quite expensive.

The program comes as Sun Peaks Bike Park works to make trails more accessible, something both the resort and Sun Peaks Recreational Trail Association have noted as a priority. 

“Adaptive Sports at Sun Peaks is appreciative of the work already completed by Sun Peaks Resort and Sun Peaks Recreational Trail Association, and we look forward to seeing how we can continue to grow the network of adaptive trails in future,” Oldrieve said.

Editor’s note: This story was edited to correct misattributed direct quotations and to add information about the mountain bike program.