(BC) MENTEE Application for MTB Mentorship Program 24/25

Colour the Trails Mountain Biking Mentorship Program is a year round program that aims at supporting Black, Indigenous and Racialized folks to become confident mountain bike riders realising their full potential. Our goal is simple, yet needed. We advocate for inclusive representation in outdoor spaces, working with brand partners, businesses, and organisations to break barriers and create accessibility.

Here you will find information and application to be a MENTEE (there is a separate form for mentors)

This is our 5th year running the program and we are proud to see so many BIPOC folks riding local trails!

This mentorship program is for people with barely any experience to advanced riders. We are currently running the program for folks in Tri-Cities/Metro Vancouver/Sea to sky region of BC. We will try to match you to a mentor that is located as close as possible to allow for convenient meetups.

This application will ask questions about you, your interest in mentorship and mountain biking. The application should take you 10 minutes to complete. We encourage you to reflect on your personal experiences and use that to guide open and honest responses. Your responses will only be share with the team responsible for pairing participants.

Mentorship programs do require communication and effort. It is very important to reach out to mentors, coordinate rides and communicate both with mentor and our team in order to get better support in your learning. Without your own effort, it might be challenging to progress. We have seen some great friendships created in the past years and this keeps us moving and running this program.

The program does incur a cost. As we are still finalizing financial support from partnering brands, the cost is currently is in the range of $500-650 and will be confirmed at the time of program start. The program cost gives you the following:

 

• Pairing with a mentor
• Program support/check ins with CTT Team
• Some riding gear to start you off e.g. kneepads, elbow pads, gloves, jersey, bottoms.
• Option to include discounted clinics with Ozmosis Training for CTT mentees that are more of a beginner level *
  • Examples of clinic topics from past years:
    • Ascending and Descending trails
    • Cornering with speed and confidence
    • Bike Skills & Drills
    • Riding Technical Terrain
    • Jumps & drops
• Deeply discounted bike rentals from Essential Cycles (last year was $35 per day of rental)
• Social rides with CTT community **
• Opportunity for rent-to-own program thanks to https://www.marinbikes.com/ca (basically financing a bike at a discount rate)
• Whistler Bike Park discounted lessons
• and potentially more!

Commitment Level: This program spans October 2024 to June 2025. You will hopefully be able to ride at least 2 times a month with your mentor to help you practice, improve your skills throughout the program and make this a meaningful program for both you and your mentor!

NOTE: There is a lot of work that goes into the program and there are limited spots for this program; it is important that those that are selected can commit to the program based on the above commitment level. If we won’t be able to have you join this time, the MTB community around Metro Vancouver is very supportive and we encourage you to reach out to friends and explore the trails.

This application will close on October 1st. We will reach out to everyone mid October with details and confirmations.