Cycling Without Age wheels into Year 8 in Greater Vernon
Published 7:30 pm Sunday, May 31, 2026
A popular North Okanagan cycling program is up and rolling for 2026.
Cycling Without Age (CWA) gives rides around the Vernon area to seniors and adults with mobility issues.
“We are open now until Oct. 31,” said program coordinator Erin Burgess.
The program features ‘pilots,’ the volunteers who operate the bikes that are called tri-shaws, complete with bench seating for two people up front. The pilots wheel the passengers around such areas as downtown Vernon, the Okanagan Rail Trail, or through Polson Park.
Cycling Without Age is popular worldwide, but the program was brought to Vernon in 2019 by the husband-and-wife duo of Lauren Lypchuk and Ward Strong, who have since moved to Vancouver Island. Burgess took over the program’s helm in 2025.
“We have been busy receiving and training new pilots, and re-certifying returning pilots, getting out tri-shaws tuned up and trying to contain our excitement for 2026,” said Burgess.
If you’re interested in signing up somebody for a ride, there are several options:
• Email Burgess at cyclingwithoutage.vernon.bc@gmail.com
• There’s a CWA volunteer desk at the Schubert Centre with volunteers there Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. where private citizens can receive information about the program, sign ride waivers, and schedule a ride(s)
• Folks in care facilities, said Burgess, working with the program are signed up for rides by the facility’s activity directors.
Not only are the rides free, but Cycling Without Age helps reduce isolation, build friendships, and bring the joy of the great outdoors to hundreds of people each season.
Since the kickstand was pushed up on the program in 2019, more than 2,700 rides have been provided covering nearly 22,000 kilometres traveled.