Cheryl Beattie is a most deserving nominee for the Kazlaw Community Award Entry to the 2018 BC Bike Race. As the owner of the Bicycle Café in Kamloops, BC since opening in 2003, Cheryl has poured her heart and soul not only into the industry but more importantly, into the culture of mountain biking in British Columbia and the community of Kamloops. She is a founding member of the volunteer community Board that established the Kamloops Bike Ranch in 2005, which has become one of the most photographed municipal bike parks in North America and a training ground for the likes of Graham Agassiz, Dylan Sherrard, Matt Miles and more. Cheryl sits on this same Board today; The Kamloops Performance Cycling Centre, which not only manages the day to day operations of the Kamloops Bike Ranch, but is also entrusted with the management of over 100 kms of trails spread over 4 local networks; the Pineview Trail Network (50 Kms) the Harper Mountain Trail Network (25 Kms) and the Isobel Lake Winter Trail Network (30 Kms) Cheryl puts in countless volunteer hours managing these trail networks for all to enjoy. Management includes fundraising, grant applications, organizing trail maintenance, overseeing and approving new building and liaison work between private landowners, corporations, mining operations and the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Recreation Sites.
Cheryl has a soft spot for putting kids and mountain bikes together. She fundraised and organized the purchase of an airbag for training purposes in the Kamloops Bike Ranch, sponsors annual kids skills camps, volunteers with the Kamloops BMX Club, and organizes trail and dirt jump maintenance sessions with the local kids, which encourages them to give back to their riding community. If kids are working on a volunteer project in the Bike Ranch, Cheryl is working right alongside them.
Cheryl also encourages women to become passionate about the sport of mountain biking. Her shop sponsors the Dirt Chix Ladies Mountain Bike Group, which in 2017 had 149 members, with hosted group rides once a week from early April until the end of October each year. Group rides average 35-40 members each week. Members are also offered bike maintenance clinics and skill development clinics each year, as well as social functions and grassroots racing. Cheryl has supported and nominated several women ambassadors in the sport to further enhance women’s riding in the community.
Cheryl promotes community involvement and engagement amongst her employees and leads by example in this regard. Her highly trained and qualified staff each give back to the riding community with certified coaching, training, mentoring, race organizing and community activism. If there is ever a trail maintenance day, a network clean-up day, dirt jumps to be raked and watered in the Bike Ranch or a fundraiser to help a community member, team or group, you will see Cheryl Beattie and many of her staff members in attendance.
Because of this strong community presence within the biking community in Kamloops for the last 15 years, there is not a single person who rides bikes or parent of a child who rides bikes that does not know Cheryl Beattie. She is our ‘go to’ person for all things biking in Kamloops. This is why I am so proud to nominate Cheryl Beattie for the Kazlaw Community Award Entry to the 2018 BC Bike Race. She literally embodies our sport and she truly deserves to be recognized for her dedication to the lifestyle of mountain biking in British Columbia.
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