What a year to remember for all of us here at Ridley’s Cycle! 2024 was filled with great events and community initiatives. From kid's bike rodeos to trail-building days, and cycling races - we had the best year with you, our friends, and fellow bike lovers, and wanted to share a recap of all the memorable things we got to do.

To start the year off, we joined Spirit North, a charity that empowers Indigenous youth through sport and play, at the Mînî Thnî Community School to help tune up their fleet of mountain bikes for the busy season of cycling programming ahead. Then, in February, both our Kensington and Westhills locations were ‘Hot Spots’ during Bike Calgary’s Winter Bike Day - which saw riders playing a city-wide game of bingo to win prizes along the way.  

We also hosted a couple of in-store private shopping experiences. The first was at our Kensington location for BiciSport, one of our longest-sponsored cycling clubs. The second was at Westhills for Spin Sisters with their 400 members who stopped by to grab their seasonal swag bag, mingle with other riders, and shop some exclusive deals. 

Bike to Work Day started us off in May. It’s another great event from the fine folks at Bike Calgary. We sent staff out to two different locations along the Calgary bike path network to greet commuters on their way to work, give their bikes some path-side tune-ups, and hand out some surprises. We also attended a couple of fun kid's cycling events - Bike Haven (at the North Haven Community Association) and Scenic Acres Bike Day (at Scenic Acres School). We love seeing kids out riding their bikes, and the kids love trying out the obstacle courses and jumps.    

As the season picked up steam, our summer got very busy! We started it off with a staff trail day at Moose Mountain. We’ve been doing trail days with MMBTS for quite a few years now. All of our shops close for the day to allow staff to head to the mountains to stock up on their trail karma. This time around, we helped dig (and even got to name) the new trail connector we dubbed ‘Many Hands’. It’s hard work, but everyone always leaves stoked from the day! Plus, the guidance from the MMBTS trail crew is especially interesting.    

We co-hosted our third Mons Ride Out with YYCMTB. We were set up at the new Ing’s Mine parking lot, handing out some ride fuel and Mons Royale swag while riders were able to send some Husky laps with the folks from YYCMTB. In mid-June, staff from Westhills joined the community of Marda Loop in welcoming their new pump track during the official opening day, and to close out the month - staff from Okotoks helped out at the Nanton Bike Rodeo at A.B. Daley Community School. 

Next up, we packed up the van and headed to Claresholm for The Range, a multi-distance gravel race in the rolling foothills of southern Alberta. We’ve been sponsoring the race for a few years now, and love to see the turnout! There were even a few familiar Ridley’s faces in the mix on the course. Make sure to check it out this year as it’s part of the international Gravel Earth Series and TransRockies Race Series.  

The rest of the summer was packed with tons of mountain bike events at Moose Mountain. We co-hosted an MMBTS Fiver race with the Shred Collective, held an IBIS Bike Demo, with the fine folks from Mountain Exposure, and were a sponsor of the ever-popular MooseDuro, put on by Alberta 66 MTB - which had us stationed first at the staging area helping racers with any last-minute bike fixes and then on the course as emergency bike doctors and spirit lifters. Meanwhile, the rest of the Ridley’s crew was keeping busy with brisket barbecues, group rides in the mountains, and along the river paths, city-wide scavenger hunts, critical mass rides, and racing bikes of all disciplines around Alberta and British Columbia. Really soaking up summer as much as possible! 

When fall came our way, we attended another Bike Haven with the kids of North Haven Community Association, hosted our friends from YYCMTB at our Kensington location for a private shopping experience, and finished off September with a movie premiere! We were able to host the Anthill/Red Bull Calgary premiere for the film ‘Anytime’ at our Westhills location. It was a great turnout, all in support of MMBTS. We had some awesome raffle items donated from Shimano, and OneUp Components, plus Born Brewing Company attended (and donated some beers, too) in order to raise more money for MMBTS!  

As the snow finally began to fall, and December set in, staff from our Okotoks location were out at Light Up Okotoks, with hot chocolate, shortbread, and a fleet of fat bikes for test rides in the snow. Our Westhills store had Santa stop by for a couple of days of Christmas photos in the store, and we organized a warm clothing drive for Project Warmth Society of Alberta across all three locations - thanks to all who donated items! 

Finally, we'd like to wrap things up with a message from the owners:

“2024 was another extraordinary year at Ridley’s Cycle, and it’s all thanks to you, our friends in the cycling community, and our incredible teams at each Ridley’s location.

We welcomed more of you into our stores than ever before for clinics, events, and great times talking all things bikes. We were honoured to support fantastic events, clubs, teams and help build more fun km’s of shared trails.

Everything we do centres on your next great ride, and we can’t wait for what lies ahead in 2025 - Ridley’s 80th Anniversary!

Thank you for your continued support and being part of this incredible journey.”

Kristyn Hall and Ron Uhlenberg

Co-Owners

Ridley’s Cycle