If your child is turning 4 years old by the end of the calendar year and can ride a pedal bike, they are welcome to join us for the season! For the little ones younger than 4, we do host a free strider race before our Tuesday race nights.
** Please bring your completed club registration form and volunteer bond payment to your first visit of the season. **
HOW TO GET STARTED:
⦁ sign up for an Alberta bicycle membership (obtained through the ABA - Alberta Bicycle Association) - choice of general licence ($52) or UCI licence ($125 youth/$145 adult) + our club membership ($150), both renewed annually @ www.albertabicycle.ab.ca
⦁ Important note – your rider will be racing in the age category that they will be turning by the end of 2024 – if your child has a December birthday and is currently 7 years old during the season, they will be racing in the 8 year old category
⦁ General license for youth and adult -($52) – can only participate in Airdrie open tracks, Airdrie district races, and Airdrie group events. Does not collect points or wins/upgrades.
OR:
⦁ UCI license ($125 youth/$145 adult) – can ride at any BMX track in AB, you need to keep track of your rider’s wins for class upgrades, can race in AB provincial cup series, Nationals, etc
⦁ Club membership $150 – this goes towards maintenance of our track, equipment, funds group activities, allows you to attend coaching – this fee is paid directly to the ABA at the same time as the registration for your bike license –season runs from April to October (beginning and ending with open tracks as long as track is dry)
⦁ We also have a $300 volunteer bond (to be collected on your first time at the track via cheque, cash, e-transfer) – bond will be returned upon completion of required hours for the season – more information is provided in the volunteering section.
RACE PLATES:
Every new rider will be given a plate at the beginning of the season. Plates are required for racing and the different colours of plates are explained below. The plate numbers are assigned by the ABA. They are dependent on if the rider has a general or UCI membership (will be 3 numbers). A rider can also choose to use their earned rank plate if they have participated in additional provincial/national etc racing (this is when you will see plates with an N or AB or single/double digit numbers).
Male : yellow plate, black numbers
Female : blue plate, white numbers
Cruisers: red plate, white numbers
Jr Elite: black plate, white numbers
Elite: white plate, black numbers
RIDER RACE CLASSES:
Alberta BMX classifies riders to ensure competitive riding. Riders are classed as Novice, Intermediate, or Expert. Riders begin as Novice and move up the classes by winning races.
BMX uses 3 principles in order to build competitive motos: age, sex, and class.
Male riders – 3 classes (novice, intermediate, & expert) – 10 wins to advance from novice to intermediate, additional 20 wins to advance from intermediate to expert (30 wins total)
Female riders – 2 classes (novice & expert) – 20 wins to advance from novice to expert
Wins are cumulative across all tracks and seasons!
District races - count as one win
Provincial races - count as two wins
***It is the rider’s (or their parents) responsibility to track their wins - if there are any questions, please email Heather @ Alberta Bicycle heather@albertabicycle.ab.ca***
