Fiona Mulvenna launched Flow Mountain Bike Adventures in 2020 with the goal of creating unique holiday adventures in Western Canada and the Yukon.
While COVID impacted some of the programming, in her role as the director of adventure she has been growing the business and providing coaching and guiding ever since.
Recently, Mulvenna held the Women's introduction to enduro racing clinics in conjunction with her race team, Steedz Enduro based out of Canmore.
“The clinics were held at the Bike Cafe in Canmore on Aug 24 and 30 with 24 women attending. The Steedz Enduro race was on Sept 5 and we had 48 women registered, which is awesome,” she says.
Her clinics, and her hard work to help women feel empowered in the sport, are helping to grow the mountain bike community.
Although the rest of her coaching, mountain bikepacking trips, and multi-day guided tours are all co-ed, there will be a Women's Only Intro to Mountain Bikepacking Trip coming up in Kananaskis Country the weekend of Sept 25-26.
Mulvenna is inspired by her mother, who was also an entrepreneur.
“She ran three retail stores (called Trio's) selling bed, bath, linen and gifts. As a single mom with two daughters, I don't know how she did this,” shares Mulvenna. “But having a strong, independent entrepreneur of a mom has definitely led me to the success of my business.
"Additionally, I have experience with advanced first aid through volunteer ski patrolling at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort. I also have a degree in earth sciences, so lots of experience with learning about navigation and mountainous environments. My former profession in the environment sector has also contributed to my success.”
Flow Mountain Bike Adventures fills an important niche, she said.
“I’m the only company offering unique mountain bikepacking trips in Canada. And I'm a female founder offering co-ed mountain bike coaching, guiding and mountain bikepacking. I do hope I inspire other women to open companies in the mountain bike industry,” Mulvenna says. “I love teaching people how to mountain bike, and get over their fear of biking. This sport has also allowed me to develop confidence that has transferred into other areas of my life.
"I also love giving people a space on my mountain bikepacking trips and guided tours where they can just let loose, relax and enjoy their free time in a fun and exciting atmosphere. I really enjoy seeing the happiness that I can provide to my customers, and see the progression in their biking and allowing them to believe they can ride over a certain obstacle or feature. I'm very fortunate to be able to do what I do.”
Advocacy and giving back to the community are also important to Mulvenna.
“In 2020, I was the trail maintenance coordinator for a large mountain bike club based in Calgary. In this role, I established relationships with five local trail associations, where previously we had only worked with two. I also convinced the executives to tack on an extra $10 to every membership, enabling us to donate $5,000 towards the local trail associations. This is something they have continued this year, and hope they continue into the future.”
She further gives back to the industry by creating a number of YouTube channels. Two of them are Trailbuilding Talk Thursdays and Badass Mountain Bike Babes.
“Trailbuilding Talk Thursdays is where I interview local trail associations to provide awareness to the public on the importance of purchasing a trail association membership, so they have funds to further build and maintain the mountain bike trails that we all love to ride.
Without trails, we might as well sell our bikes as we'd have nowhere to ride,” shares Mulvenna. "Awareness is important to help support the areas’ five local trail associations: Canmore and Area Mountain Bike Association (CAMBA), Bragg Creek Trails (BCT), Calgary Mountain Bike Association (CMBA), Moose Mountain Bike Trail Society (MMBTS), and Friends of Kananaskis.
Badass Mountain Bike Babes interviews women in the industry, increasing their visibility in a male-dominates sport.
Although COVID-19 has impacted some of the tours, Mulvenna is already making plans for next year’s adventures.
“I’m also working on my permits, which I'm hoping to obtain by next summer, to guide in British Columbia,” she concludes.
Learn more about Mulvenna and Flow Mountain Bike Adventures online.
