Adventure Cycling Association

You can expect:

• Connecting with your ACA friends and fellow members.
• Celebrating ACA’s history, including honoring ACA’s founders and the intrepid Bikecentennial riders from 1976, as well as all those who have adventured with ACA over the past 50 years
• Looking forward to ACA’s next 50 years
• A chance to support ACA’s next 50 years

See above for the most up to date schedule of events.

Support from donors and members is critical to ensuring ACA’s future, and the event will include opportunities to make a donation to support ACA’s work. (Honestly, we’d be remiss if we didn’t, based on how many people at the Jubilee in the Desert in January asked us about this very thing!) While we will be asking participants to consider making a donation, you are welcome to attend whether or not a donation makes sense for you, and we promise that the focus will be on celebrating ACA’s past and future.

The event will be held in Missoula, MT, home of ACA headquarters. The main event – Saturday’s celebration dinner – will be at the Holiday Inn Missoula Downtown. Please see the schedule of events for the location of other activities.

You are welcome to stay anywhere you would like; there is not an official accommodation location, and you are responsible for making your own arrangements.

We have a block of rooms available at the Holiday Inn at a discounted rate from 10/23 – 10/25. (You can stay longer; that’s just the time when the discount is available to our group.) The rooms are first come first served, so make your reservations early if you have your heart set on the Holiday Inn. The Holiday Inn will be where the Saturday dinner is held, and is about a 10 minute walk from ACA HQ.

To access the discounted rate at the Holiday Inn:

• Reserve online at ACA 50th Anniversary
• Reserve using the mobile app:
  
• Reserve by phone by calling the front desk at 406-721-8550. When contacting the front desk please have the following information available to provide the agent on the phone:
  • Group name: ACA 50th Anniversary
  • Group code: ACA
• You can find information about other options, including camping, at https://destinationmissoula.org/where-to-stay

The event is capped at 300 participants; we expect the event to sell out so don’t wait to register! Registration is required for all participants. The cost to attend is $150 per person. This is based on the actual costs of holding the event. We don’t want the cost of registration to prevent anyone from coming; if the cost of registration is a barrier for you, please email together@adventurecycling.org to request support for attending. If you’d be interested in supporting the event to help ensure that it is accessible to everyone, please contact development@adventurecycling.org.

The 40th celebration was amazing, and this celebration will be too, but this will not be a repeat or re-creation of 2016. This celebration will lean more heavily into looking forward so that we can ensure ACA’s next 50 years are just as – if not even more – impactful than the first 50! If you were at the 40th, you can expect a more intimate crowd; October weather (Missoula in October can vary widely, and programming will reflect that); and a balance of both celebrating the past and present and looking toward the future.

Missoula in October is a bit of a wildcard when it comes to weather. The average climate is cooler (highs in the 40s and 50s and lows below freezing). It’s possible we’ll see sunny days, but we’re planning events that will ensure we have a great time even if it’s cold and rainy (or even snowy). You can learn more about typical October weather in Missoula at https://destinationmissoula.org/weather. Because we want to be ready for any weather, the official events will not include bike rides, but we’ve reserved Sunday morning as a time for more self-directed bicycle adventure, and we’ll be sharing information about possible routes. If you’d be interested in volunteering to help with Sunday options, please email together@adventurecycling.org. Sledding is unlikely.

Yes! Email together@adventurecycling.org and let us know you’re interested in volunteering, and someone will be in touch soon.

This page reflects the latest and best information! If you have additional questions, please email together@adventurecycling.org, and one of our volunteer planning committee members will respond as soon as we are able.

Email together@adventurecycling.org

We had a great time in Arizona in January, and this event is meant to continue the celebration through the end of our 50th anniversary year. The October celebration is going to be held where it all began, Missoula, MT, and will dig deeply into our 50-year history, while also looking forward toward our next 50 years. We’d love to see you in October whether we saw you in January or not!

There is not a Facebook group specifically for this event, but we encourage you to check out the Bikecentennial 76 & Adventure Cycling’s 50th Anniversary Celebrations Facebook group. Please note that this Facebook group is entirely run by a non-staff volunteer; be patient and kind! Official announcements and information will come via ACA directly, not the Facebook group.

Dress code is anything goes! Come in whatever makes you comfortable and puts you in a festive mood, from your favorite bike jersey to formal wear!

Nope! We welcome everyone to this event. That said, members are the lifeblood of ACA, and if you’re not a member, we hope you’ll consider joining, whether you can join us in October or not!

Yes! Everyone is welcome! All attendees do need to register to attend.

When ACA staff were planning this fabulous year of 50th celebrations, the focus was on our January Jubilee in the Desert. Based on feedback from members, we decided to add a celebration in Missoula. There were a number of factors, including having adequate time to plan, the availability of a venue, avoiding dates with other large events, and the cost of travel to Missoula, among many others, that the planning committee considered in picking a date. There wasn’t a perfect answer, but the committee determined that this date was the best option given all the competing considerations.

You can find information about bicycle rentals at https://www.bitterroottrail.com/bike-shops

Of course! We’ll be honoring folks who have contributed to ACA’s first 50 years from every era, and also celebrating the folks who are leading us into the next 50 years. That said, the 1976 crew will always hold a place of honor at ACA, and you can expect that we will be celebrating the 76ers loudly in October!

The dinner will be open (unassigned) seating, so just make sure you and your friend keep an eye out for each other!