Before going to Belgium… What are Rider Cards??

If you go out to ride in Belgium, you will almost certainly be asked for your rider card – which usually stumps Brits who haven’t come across the concept. In a nutshell, rider cards are postcards printed with a rider’s photo and a few stats. People collect them – some seriously. Not only kids – the real collectors are often adults. Even if you aren’t asked for a card personally because you’re busy with course practice or warm up, people will ask your mechanics for one. We’re not talking hordes of screaming fans demanding them, but on an EvoDevo trip we are always asked at least 2-3 times. So I’d encourage you to have a few to hand out. Don’t feel daft – it’s all part of the CX spirit out there. The sport depends on the interest of fans for its success, so anything you can do to help that along is good for the CX community.

Sample rider card that's easy to print at home. Takes a horizontal photo.

I’ve come up with a couple of templates that you can use to create your own cards. They’re a quick and simple standard A6 postcard (148mm x 105mm). The first is a simple black and white design that you could easily print at home. The other uses a background colour printed to the edges that you would have to get printed professionally. As a rough guide, Vista Print charge around £6 for 10 copies of a standard quality print, with quantity discounts above that number. Ten is probably enough for a couple of EvoDevo trips. Maybe 50 if you are getting top placings and going out to race regularly throughout the season. If you leave them with us we can hand them out to anyone who asks while you are practising. Alternatively, tuck some in your windscreen wipers in good weather. Sometimes people will come back with them and ask you to sign them. Again, don’t feel silly. These people are paying for tickets to be entertained by you so it’s all part of the game.

Sample rider card requiring professional printing due to coloured edges. Takes a portrait photo.

Template instructions

1. Download a template and double click to open in PowerPoint.

2. Drag and drop a photo on to the photo box on the title page, remembering to add a photo credit.

3. Click in each text box to fill in the details.

4. Drag and drop logos of teams or sponsors onto the logo boxes. If these appear cropped, select them and go to the picture format bar and choose crop. You’ll be able to drag the edges outwards and reposition things so that they look right.

5. If there are any boxes you don’t fill in, they won’t appear on the printout.

6. Either print at home or save as PDF, selecting “best for printing” if you are sending them to a professional printing service.

Rider Card Template - Horizontal Photo - Postcard Size.potx

Download POTX • 26KB

Rider Card Template - Portrait Photo - Postcard Size.potx

Download POTX • 27KB

Feel free to personalise the designs

If you want to make changes to the fixed titles, go to View – Slide Master and make changes there before closing the master (on the Slide Master tab). For example, you might want to remove the career section and include more results instead. Or if you prefer, create something entirely new from scratch, or use free postcard templates from somewhere like Canva.

If you’ve found this helpful, please consider donating here to support the work we do with young riders. We are not-for-profit and entirely reliant on donations.