"The Dirt Chix: Making Time" is a Kamloops-filmed documentary following a group of women who have met weekly for 15 years to ride their mountain bikes together.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED / Vesta Giles

KAMLOOPS - A documentary about a dedicated group of female mountain bikers in Kamloops is ready to premiere this weekend.

After months of filming and many turns of the spokes, The Dirt Chix: Making Time, funded with $60,000 from Telus Storyhive, will premiere at the Paramount Theatre in Kamloops on Sept. 20 at 7 p.m.

The documentary is directed and produced by Vesta Giles, who first got involved with the all-female mountain biking group a few years ago.

“A friend of mine who passed away a few years ago actually rode with the Dirt Chix,” Giles says. “We were best friends and she told me she started bike riding and she had met these amazing women and I thought ‘I would never ride a mountain bike.’"

Giles says she learned how to ride with the group and was surprised to see how welcoming and supportive they were, regardless of experience.

“They have a space for everybody and they don't judge anybody and they don't criticize anybody. It’s the most positive, welcoming group you could ever imagine,” Giles says. “They have room for everybody and they have respect for everybody whos riding, whether they're walking down hills and walking up hills or whether they're trying things for the first time, or whether they're seasoned mountain bikers.”

The group started with four women 15 years ago and now has seen around 160 women hit the trails. The group meets every Thursday, and the film focuses on how setting aside time for the weekly rides has helped shape these women.

“Mountain biking is the backdrop, and it’s the reason they all get together, but the movie is really about the heart. It’s really about why doing this is so important to these women,” Giles says.

Giles says 350 tickets have been sold for the premiere and expects the remaining 150 seats to sell quickly. Giles says that the documentary will be available on YouTube and Telus Optic near the end of the month.

To buy tickets for the screening, click here.

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