PedalTrout

Ryan MacDonald is fast, and now he has proof to back that claim up.  He has recently claimed title as the 2010 Junior National Road Champion. Ryan didn’t get where he is today by his great personality alone.  He has been busting his butt in Europe training during the month of May with the Canadian National Cycling Team. He had to give up a lot of quality time with family and friends.  Not to mention he had to keep up with that thing called school.  Arriving home just in time to write exams must have been tough.

Ryan learned a lot about what is required to compete at the World elite level from this experience. His main goal for this season was to do well at nationals and earn a spot for Worlds.  Looks like he is going to Worlds…Disney World also perhaps?

The thing we enjoy most about Ryan is the fact that he remains a humble champion and is always fun to ride with and a pleasure to be around. The folks in Pictou County are extremely proud of their new hero, as well as all of us from the cycling community in Nova Scotia. Ryan’s work ethic and tremendous accomplishment make him well deserving of Propeller Rider of the Month honours.

 

 

If you spend any amount of time on PedalTrout and particularly if you're a mountain biker, Barbara Pietersma is likely a familiar name. The Google Nova Scotia Mountain Bike Trails map that features front and center on our Trails page is the end result of Barb's combined passions - cartography and mountain biking.

How Barb became destined to make maps is a mystery, but it's fair to say her Dutch background pre-disposed her to cycling from the very start. An avid mountain biker, Barb recognized the need for an easy-to-use and informative provincial trail map and pounced on the opportunity. As a graduating student of the Center of Geographic Science's Cartography Program Barbara's final project tasked her with making a map to serve the needs of a client. Barbara approached PedalTrout with the idea of creating a mountain bike trail map for Nova Scotia and we jumped at the idea. Barbara's Google Earth maps earned her an award at graduation for "Best Thematic Map"  - not surprising as she graduated with top marks in her class!

If you get a chance to ride with Barbara you're guaranteed a good time - she laughs off crashes like nobody's business, has a keen eye for "nurkey necks" in the trail, and loves to cut corners unless you firmly plant a hay bale in her path. In her non-bike time she definitely keeps busy with a range of interests that includes everything from baking and making jewelery to snowshoeing, horseback riding, and spending quality time with friends and family.  Oh, and as if she didn't have enough on her plate already, Barbara is also in the throes of planning a wedding this year. Hopefully that won't take away from her bike time!

Congratulations on all your accomplishments, Barb and once again, thanks from PedalTrout for our most excellent trail maps. You're an obvious choice for Propeller Brewing's Rider of the Month.

This month’s winner is not your typical cyclist. What sets him apart from the pack is his lack of vision. We’re not talking about foresight – Pictou’s Craig Aucoin has a lot of that; this summer he’s looking forward to three triathlons, the Johnny Miles marathon, and as many other events as he can fit into his schedule. That might seem like some hefty competition for any athlete, but for a visually impaired athlete like Craig it comes with a whole other set of challenges.

Born with a degenerative condition, Craig dealt with severe weight issues while growing up.  It wasn’t until his early twenties that he decided to take control of his destiny and turn himself into a high performance machine. Last year he spent a month in Ontario training with the national triathlon team for the visually impaired. Currently, Craig allocates thirty hours per week to training and working towards his goal of competing at the Paralympics.

Craig also likes to help out in his local community by volunteering at his local YMCA, and he organizes the entertainment for his local CNIB fundraiser. We're not sure when he finds time to sleep, but he must squeeze it in somewhere!

We think that after all that hard work Craig deserves some tasty refreshments to accompany his chill time. Good luck Craig.  You are inspiring and certainly worthy of Rider of the Month honours.

Do you know someone who’d make a great Rider of the Month? Email us with their story.

They say that what goes around comes around so this month the Propeller Brewing / PedalTrout Rider of the Month comes to us by way of nomination from a past winner, Doug Smith.

Steve Bedard is Co-chair of the Halifax Cycling Coalition. According to Doug, "He's been doing a ton of work on planning and is about to present a proposal to the city for a bicycle lane or path that connects each end of the Halifax peninsula. He also has a small newsletter. He is one of the main people in the HCC." In fact, Steve joined the HCC in 2007-2008 as Director of Education and Advocacy.

While Steve spends a considerable amount of time making things happen with the HCC, he also finds time to pedal his Giant OCR and compete in duathalons and distance running events around Nova Scotia.  The Wolfville native is also on the verge of graduating in Nursing so it's a pretty safe bet that he doesn't have too much downtime on his hands. Despite his serious aspirations and dedication to making Halifax a better place to ride, Steve manages to maintain a wicked sense of humour and can only be described by his friends as "Overall great guy, totally wacky!"

WE can't think of a better bunch of reasons to make someone Rider of the Month so on behalf of PedalTrout and Propeller Brewing, congratulations, Steve! Your Propeller prize pack is in the mail.

Do you know someone who should be the PedalTrout/ Propeller Brewing Rider of the Month? Send us your nomination.