Vanessa Hair first visited Williams Lake in wintertime and while she didn't bring her mountain bike, her journey to explore the trails surrounding the town already began.
Hair, who lives in Kelowna, is a professional level two mountain bike coach through the Professional Mountain Bike Instructors Association, a former Downhill Alberta champion and Female Athlete of the Year.
Hair and her husband were visiting her mother-in-law in the lakecity and they were out for dinner with her and some of the people her mother-in-law works with in Williams Lake.
Through conversations, someone suggested she connect with the organizers of the Ride Your Ride mountain bike festival for women.
"It was very serendipitous," said Hair, of getting involved with the first-ever women's mountain bike festival in Williams Lake.
"That was the beginning of me falling in love with Williams Lake and the community."
She said she helped the organizers as they prepared for their first-ever event and she signed on as a coach for the festival, and ended up leading a group looking to learn more advanced techniques.
"It was a ton of fun. I met so many amazing women," she said of the three-day festival, noting the many meaningful connections she made.
Hair praised the collaborative and community-focused approach of the organizers and said she saw a lot of "ah-ha" moments over the two days of riding.
She called the lakecity a "hidden gem" of mountain biking.
With so many of the participants saying they wanted more coaching, Hair is now planning a return with a range of mountain biking clinics on weekends through the fall, beginning Sept. 14.
The range of clinics will include a few different levels and groups, from teen female-specific clinics at different levels, to ones for adult women as well as co-ed clinics.
To find out more about Vanessa Hair, her company, BOLD Mtb Coaching, and the upcoming clinics, go to: boldmtbcoaching.com.
