An Inside Look at The Squamish Gravel Cycling Club

Cycling clubs are often at the heart of riding communities worldwide, bringing people together, fostering new riders, and sparking countless adventures. Here in Squamish, the story is no different—though we'd argue there's something particularly special about it. Amidst the town’s renowned mountain biking scene, the gravel cycling community has quickly flourished, largely thanks to the efforts of those running the Squamish Gravel Cycling Club (SGCC).

Founded by locals Alex Morgan and Pat Valade a couple of years back, the SGCC has grown to over 100+ members, becoming a central hub for many gravel riders in the area. Known for their year-round weekly rides, events, and unwavering stoke, the SGCC has become a true staple in the riding scene for riders both old and new.

Fortunately for us, we were able to catch up with Alex and Pat to hear a bit more about their club, how things all started, and their thoughts on the gravel scene that's now booming around town.

1. Hey guys, how's summer been so far? Getting lots of riding in? 

Pat: It’s been a great summer out here. As far as riding, never as much as I’d like! But the weekly SGCC rides are keeping me honest, and trying to get out on the weekends here and there!

Alex: Another classic summer in BC, feels like it will be over too soon and I’ll just be finding my legs haha. Lots of riding to be done and never enough time.

2. Amazing. So you guys are the founders of the Squamish Gravel Cycling Club, can you tell me a bit about the story of how that came about? What was the inspiration for starting it in the first place?

Pat: I won’t take too much credit here, as Alex and some other pals were doing a loosely organized weekly ride called the “Gravel Burrito” ride, that I occasionally would join, and when we realized that there was some desire from the community, to create something that brought people together, Alex asked me to join as a board member, and actually help out!

Alex: There’s a long and a short answer to this. Here’s the “short long” version… July of 2020 Pat and I were on a ride casually discussing how great a local gravel cycling club would be. It was a time when a lot of folks were missing a certain connection or sense of community. By spring of 2021 I’d been regularly meeting up with a small crew to ride Thursday evenings. Interest varied from the few riders who knew about it but a few of us just kept showing up wanting to keep weekly rides going no matter what. Sometimes it rained (or snowed), sometimes just 1 or 2 others showed up, but it was always the highlight of my week. February of 2022 more people began to hear about the rides and numbers increased steadily into the summer. A community seemed to be coming together around riding gravel in Squamish. Towards the end of 2022 it became obvious that to continue these rides safely, we were going to need to create some structure. Early 2023, remembering the conversation with my friend Pat back in 2020, we got together and began really putting the pieces together to start that gravel club. February 18th 2023 we launched SGCC!

3. So what does the club actually entail? You guys have members and then do rides throughout the year?

Pat: Exactly. We run a club ride every Thursday, all-year. 

We also have a women’s ride that runs twice a month. We wanted to create a community hub, and consistent space, for people to meet new people, and ride together, and have fun! The goal is to have people meet, and hopefully hang out, and ride together other days of the week!

Alex: That’s right. Like Pat said, the club’s foundation is the weekly Thursday night rides. The consistency of the rides in the community makes for a space that people know will be there for them every week. What makes this different from a regular group ride is that we are a club now. To join the rides you need to become a club member. This means everyone who comes out to the rides has made a contribution, a silent commitment acknowledging that this is important to them and is something they want to see continue. It’s been incredibly inspiring and motivating to see the response from the community over 2023 and again for 2024. These rides are for the gravel enthusiasts looking for a place to meet others who ride in Squamish. Some riders are extremely experienced, some are new to cycling or maybe  just new to gravel. Thursday night rides are a great place for all types of riders to come together and benefit from getting to know one another.

4. Nice, so give me the run down on where you guys usually ride. How do you guys go about finding and picking routes for everyone? 

Pat: I’m giving Alex 100% of the credit here. He generally is the creative one with routes, and I just nod, agree and say “that sounds like fun!”

Alex: Perhaps this is one of the most interesting things about the club. Squamish, like Whistler and the North Shore, is known for great mountain biking. Squamish isn’t exactly known for the abundance of gravel routes. If you’re a gravel cyclist in Squamish then you are a specific type of person. Maybe you were a roadie and found you wanted to get off the highway and into the forest. Maybe you’ve been riding exclusively MTB for most of your life and are tired of frequent injuries. The terrain in our backyard is aggressive for the most capable riders on the most capable bikes. Choosing gravel cycling as your thing probably means you like finding ways  to make things interesting. Every week I enjoy creating a slight variation of the previous week’s route to post and that seems to keep things rolling. Afterall, the weekly rides are more about the people than the route. I like to think we could ride the same route every week and folks would be stoked.

5. Ah that's really interesting. Are there any specific trails or areas that are a hit among the members?

Alex: Northside Connector is a go to for SGCC connecting Alice Lake park to Diamond Head. Either direction with several different ways to start and finish the traverse, I will never get tired of riding it.

6. Nice very sweet. So when it comes gravel riding around here why do you think it's so good? Seems like the scene's really exploded here in the last few years. 

Pat: I think some people would say it’s debatable on how good Squamish is for gravel riding aha!

We have rough roads, with steep climbs. But! There is a vast network of roads, which provide access all over near town. 

Alex: The views. I think Squamish is probably one of the hardest places to ride “gravel” but the rewards are world class, epic views of the beautiful Sea to Sky Corridor. You have to like to suffer a little (or a lot) but if you do, this place can take a lifetime to explore.

7. That's fair I'd agree with you on that. Definitely a lot of rough roads and steep climbs!

To go into things a bit deeper - what’s the definition of gravel riding for you guys? Seems like a wide scope especially here in Squamish, so I’d love to hear your opinions. 

Pat: Alex definitely said it best. But I think gravel often gets lumped in to one very specific thing by other types of cyclist. It has so many aspects. It just means you’re not focused on technical trails, or road, but ride all sorts of other terrain. The goal might be to wear tight clothes and go fast. The goal might be to push your bike over a mountain trying to connect some faint line on a map, it might be riding the local trails to get some icecream. It is what you make it, what the cycling industry sells gravel as, is not always accurate in my mind. 

Alex: I like to say gravel is a state of mind. Gravel is about adventure and exploring your backyard and beyond. The gravel cyclist wants to ride from their doorstep and see where their bike (and legs) can take them. Weight is not fussed over, in fact most gravel cyclists are busy seeing how many bags they fit on their bike. Many gravel routes in Squamish might be considered mountain bike trails anywhere else. Many gravel cyclists ride mountain bikes to enjoy their “gravel ride”. The lines truly do get blurred out here if looking for the definition of gravel. At the end of the day gravel is whatever you make of it, whatever bike you love riding most or feel is able to fulfill that need for adventure and exploration wherever you choose to ride.

8. Amazing. And over the last few years, I’m sure lots has happened. Are there any stand-out moments or memories for you guys? Or wild things that have happened?

Pat: We saw a cougar once! The first Thursday where we hit 40 riders was pretty wild.

It’s been great to hear that the reputation for SGCC has grown across other communities, and we have people reaching out to see how they can start something similar in their community. 

Alex: As someone who has only been living in town for 5 years, for me the stand-out moments have been seeing the response from an older Squamish community. Folks who have seen the town through a lot over the decades coming out and showing their support for this club has been extremely meaningful and has made me feel very fortunate to be a part of it all. 

9. Awesome, crazy to hear about the Cougar!

So when it comes to some of the more rewarding aspects of the club, does anything stand out for you guys? It must be pretty amazing to be so connected with the community.

Pat: It’s been a really amazing and humbling experience, bringing people together, who love community and riding bikes. The most rewarding thing is seeing people challenge themselves, and make friends, in a town where that is sometimes hard to do. We are so grateful for the community that’s growing here! Local companies like yourselves, and other brands like OneUp, Drop Bar 

Alex: Fostering new relationships. Seeing walls or barriers broken down. Squamish is a town where the bar of physical activity is set pretty high and our own preconceptions can get the better of us and even prevent us from doing the things we want. It is common for people in Squamish to prioritize their personal goals and objectives over community. It’s amazing to see people put these needs aside for one night of the week to come out and be a part of something like SGCC.

10. So cool to hear, definitely well deserved guys. Do you see the club evolving in the next few years? Any big plans or dreams?

Pat: Wipes Sweat off Forehead I honestly can’t believe we’ve gotten this far, with such quick momentum, and positive feedback. For me, I’d hope we can just still have the bandwidth to keep running 6 rides a month, with the help of our awesome team of Ride leaders (shout out to Sophie, Jenn, Nicole, Morgan and Austin!) and hopefully, with the help of our local partners, run some fun events, and education nights as well!

Alex: Yeah, just facilitating 6 rides every month is a big commitment and we’d consider it a success to simply continue offering this. That said, with more support and interest in the club, who knows what the future will bring. We like to keep our minds open and ultimately, as long as we’re enjoying ourselves while getting others out riding together, there seems to be a lot of opportunity for more fun events and collaboration.

11. I can imagine! Sounds like a lot of work for sure. For any newcomers who want to join the club, or start gravel riding around Squamish, any tips for them?

Pat: I would say, reach out to us if you have any questions about rides, but try and get out on some rides yourself, to check out the terrain, and your comfort level! Sometimes the riding here, can be a bit challenging, or unpredictable, so it’s nice to have a baseline understanding  of the terrain, before joining a large group ride. We always try and post our rides ahead of time, so people have a chance to check out parts of the loop, and get psyched on the weekly rides!

Alex: Definitely check out the club's Strava group. This is a quick and easy way to begin receiving information about weekly rides. We encourage anyone looking to join club rides to get out there and explore some of the routes on their own first. The club is open to all but the rides are not considered introductory or instructional. We hope to set riders up for success and therefore we’re always realistic about the difficulty of the rides. It's important for everyone to be responsible for themselves and to have an awareness of their abilities. Club rides consisting of enthusiasts who take it upon themselves to ride regularly helps to contribute to the overall enjoyment of the weekly group rides. The terrain in Squamish is challenging and regardless of how friendly or approachable we try to make the rides, newcomers may find that riding gravel in Squamish is more difficult than they expected. We live in a valley in coastal BC. To enjoy the best riding available we would recommend appropriate apparel for all weather conditions that’s also great for climbing (we have lots and lots of climbing). We’re incredibly lucky to have the local support of 7mesh, the industry leader in alpine grade cycling apparel. Comfort and quality is imperative for enjoying long days exploring Squamish.

12. Got it that's great. And how do you stay connected with club members and keep the people engaged? Any special events this year?

Alex: The easiest way to stay connected is to just show up to the rides. Come out and talk to us in person. We love talking about all the bike things. We will occasionally send out emails to club members to notify them of an upcoming event or perhaps a discount that has been extended to club members but we really don’t want to fill people’s inbox with spam. Instagram and Strava are probably our biggest tools to stay engaged and both members and the general cycling community get the info they are looking for. Over the last 2 years we’ve been fortunate enough to have hosted a variety of events outside of our weekly rides such as “Trailside Mechanics”, “Bikepacking 101”, “Intro to Gravel”, “WSGCC Sea2Sky” and of course “The Squamish Triple Crown”. These special events have helped us connect with a broader community and we’re excited to continue coming up with new and fun things to bring folks together.

13. Nice! Sounds like you've got some great things in the works. Well, that just about wraps things up on my end. A big thank you to both of you for sitting down to chat a bit more about the club. Is there anything else you guys want to add?

Pat: We are just so grateful for the continued support of members, and local businesses like 7mesh, OneUp and Drop Bar. We just hope to continue building on the momentum of Gravel in Squamish, and providing a fun, safe place for people to come out and ride!

Alex: Absolutely, just a big thanks to our members and partners for all of the support. SGCC wouldn’t exist without you. 

Awesome to hear. Thanks again and we can't wait to keep seeing the club grow from here.