Our Club

Elbow Valley Cycle Club is the largest recreational bicycling club in Western Canada, with about 700 members. We stage approximately 250 events a year, mostly within and around Calgary, consisting of road, urban and mountain bike rides of one day and multi-day duration, as well as social events. Our premier event is the annual Golden Triangle, over the Rockies, held over three days. We are not a racing club; we hold no timed events. Our membership ranges from beginner to advanced, and covers the entire age spectrum. We nurture good exercise, good friendship and fun.

We believe bicycling promotes a healthy, active life style and is a choice form of transportation. We support these values through various educational, mentoring and advocacy activities. We are a respected participant in discussions about bicycling at the City of Calgary.

Our Club is organized and run entirely by volunteers. The heart of our organization is our army of ride coordinators, who plan, stage and carry out the rides. You can see their names along with the officers of the club in Volunteers.

Our busy season runs from May to September with rides staged through the week. We try to have as much variety as possible as you can appreciate by flipping through the calendar in our Home page. Road ride distances range between 20 km. to 160 km., many of the rides have hills, and the pace of rides varies widely. We grade our rides in six categories between Easy and Advanced+ according to their degree of difficulty, in order to facilitate member selection. Rides are also known by type: Road, Urban, MTB (mountain bike) and Multi-day.

We stage up to a dozen multi-day rides a year, apart from the Golden Triangle. They usually last from three days to two weeks. Examples are the Sunshine Coast Spring Fling, the Gulf Islands Tour, the Jasper to Banff Icefield Parkway, The Logan Pass Hub and Spoke, the Kootenay Kruise, the BC Wineries Tour, the San Diego Surf & Citrus Tour, the Tulip Tour and the Tumbleweed Tussle, exotic names for exciting rides. All these rides are organized and run by our volunteer coordinators. The multi-day ride season usually starts in January, so if you are a prospective member, get in early.

The membership year runs from January 1 to December 31. Membership includes accident and liability insurance. Annual fees are: Basic $30, full-time student $25, and additional family members $15 for 18 years and older and $10 for under 18 years.

If you would like to become a member of our Club, please go to the Membership application form. Your membership will be activated as soon as you complete the process and we receive your on-line payment. You can come as a Guest for a ride if you wish to experience the club beforehand.