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.

 

 

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.

Known for his gigantic smile, heart of gold and the ability to supply a cold beverage trail-side at the strangest of times, the first Propeller Brewing Company Rider of the Month for 2010 will undoubtedly put his prize to great use. Mike Phillips is no slouch on the bike either, and the local scene benefits from his tendency to bubble over with positivity.

If you had fun riding the 8 hours of Gore last year, you can thank Mike for his role in that event. Mike put in serious time prepping the course, running the race, and encouraging riders to love every painful minute. It’s hard to moan about how much things hurt when someone like Mike is there to chase you down with a bad case of rabid enthusiasm.

Mike can often be found at Sportwheels in Lower Sackville where he seems to treat selling bikes and gear as a privilege more than a job. It’s obvious that Mike wants people to love bikes just as much as he does and he carries that infectious attitude onto the trail where he frequently leads rides geared towards mountain bike newcomers.

Happy 2010 to you, Mike and we hope to see you on the trail really soon. You shouldn’t have any trouble keeping those Camelbak-chilled Propellers cool in this weather. Cheers!

Know someone who should be a PedalTrout Rider of the Month? Send your nomination to us now!

What can I say that you don't already know about this guy? Tom IS mountain 
biking in Nova Scotia! Former proprietor of "The Bike People" bike shop in 
Halifax, ex-cross-country racer, ride promoter, master trail builder, crazy 
bike handler, friend to every cyclist in the province no matter what shop they 
are loyal to, fun-loving Irishman and all-around great guy! Tom can barely be
squeezed into one month, he's the rider of the decade!

I have had the pleasure of riding with Tom on a regular basis for the 
last three years, and I know we'll be riding buddies for the rest of our 
lives. He lives and breathes biking! He is an active member of Bicycles 
Plus Cycling Club and not only runs their weekly mountain bike rides, he 
also puts on their points series race, A-GORE-Aphobia in Gore every year 
and does a heck of a job!

Only getting his driver's license when he turned 40 to be better able to 
drive his new daughter around, he has lived on his bike for most of his 
life. He is connected with every generation of cyclist in the province, 
from senior racers and enthusiasts to children of all ages. He is a 
certified commissaie and routinely volunteers his time to officiate at 
local cross-country and downhill races. He has been a card-carrying 
member of IMBA for many years and is an experienced trail builder. One 
of the few 'Master" trail elves we have here! He is also the mastermind 
behind the Shubie Park Ice Races held every year on Lake Charles, 
getting cyclists of all ages out and riding even when the weather is 
miserable!

Tom loves nothing more that to bring his faithful dog, Fergus, out to 
Spider Lake any evening of the week and hammer the young bucks into the 
ground for hours. We call him "Mad Skillz" Kavanagh for his abillity to 
stay upright and pedaling through the gnarliest terrain! You can always 
count on him to join you for a post-ride "beverage" usually in the Irish 
Ale variety, and keep the conversation bright and filled with 
bike-related ideas!

I could go on and on and still never come close to covering all that Tom 
has done for the sport in Nova Scotia. Someday he'll receive a lifetime 
acheivement award for his contributions, but for now, I'd like him to be 
the December "Rider-of-the-Month" on PedalTrout.

Thanks for the submission, Geoff, we'll be sending Tom some Propeller Beer
and if you're lucky he just might share it with you!
Know somebody who you think should be Rider of the Month? Drop us a line
and tell us why. Include a photo if you can! 

This month's Propeller Beer Rider of the Month award is about giving credit where credit is due. There are lots of riders who demonstrate extreme enthusiasm for cycling, but it takes a special person to infect others with that passion.

An advocate for all forms of fitness and participation, Sherry's contributions have been most notable in Nova Scotia's mountain bike community. Although Sherry has made a name for herself on the local racing scene, most people will recognize her first for her efforts in turning  women on to the sport. As a co-founder of women's groups such as the Singletrack MudPack and, now the very successful Trail'r Park Girls, Sherry has a knack for organizing women's mountain biking events in a way that makes them accessible to riders of all levels and abilities. From skills clinics to trail maintenance sessions to potluck rides Sherry knows how to show women a good time on a mountain bike.

Sherry's other accomplishments include coaching at Canada Games, co-ordinator for Active Pictou County, and volunteer involvement with groups such as Bicycle Nova Scotia and the Pictou County Freeriders. She is a force to be reckoned with both on and off the bike.

PedalTrout and Propeller Beer are proud to make Sherry Huybers the November Rider of the Month. Do you know someone who fits the bill? Email us their story and they just might be the next lucky winners of a prize pack from Propeller Beer and PedalTrout.

This month Pedal Trout is pleased to award the Propeller Brewing Company Rider of the month prize to Doug Smith, aka Landandwater.

Doug beat out the competition for this month's award by pedaling 410 kilometers from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Corea, Maine. While this trip represents no mean feat in itself, it is definitely made more noteworthy by the fact that Doug's timing was a little less than stellar. Assembling his bike just days before the trip, Doug left Nova Scotia right on schedule to pedal through the wrath of Hurricane Bill and straight into a record-breaking heatwave.

Doug, we hope that a case of cold Propeller Beer will refresh you after the fact, encourage you to plan more trips and entertain us with your stories afterwards.

You can read about Doug’s adventure in the blog section of PedalTrout. We hope it inspires you to nominate a PedalTrout Rider of the Month of your own, or at least do something totally crazy on two wheels.

Between 5 August and 9 August nine-year-old Oona Molyneaux cycled with her father from Digby to Halifax, following the Fundy Coast from Youngs Cove to Victoria Harbour, then down through Centreville and Wolfville and on to Halifax. Total distance including side trips to Fort Anne, Grand Pre, and various locations in Halifax: over 330 kilometers.

She cycled everyday without complaint, she endured the hazing of traffic on route 1 between Wolfiville and Halifax, slept in camps, fields, and the homes of friends along the way, and lived on fresh fruit, kippered herring, ramen noodles, trail mix, and granola.

Oona's bike broke down on the return trip, which was completed by car. For a week though, this little girl lived the life of a serious long-distance, self-supported cyclist.

Oona's dad Paul thought that her accomplishment made her a great choice for rider of the month and we couldn't agree more. Congratulations Oona!

If you know someone who should be the PedalTrout/ Propeller Brewing Company Rider of the Month email your nomination to PedalTrout@hotmail.com. Don't forget, you can nominate yourself!

It's been almost 4 days now. 4 days since those little bastards attacked me at Gore. Finally, the swelling is beginning to subside, although the pain still runs rampant through my ankle, bouncing from nerve ending to nerve ending like a school girl on a sugar high.

The hornet stung my ankle within the first 15 minutes of my 8 hour solo race. It was a good 60 minutes or so before I stopped swearing and inventing profanities, first out loud and then to myself. I've been stung many times before by bees, wasps and hornets. Gorenets are different, though, and this one was the king of the jerks. I've done a little research into Gorenet stings since Sunday, and I'd like to share my findings in the hope of offering help to anyone who may have shared my fate on Sunday, and anyone who may fall victim in the future.

Finding#1.  Gorenets are a super-species of hornet that arrived in Nova Scotia inside a crate of seedless watermelons. Were you one of the unfortunate souls who happened to bite into one of those fruits and think, "Hey, I thought these were seedless!", well... let's just say those weren't seeds you were finding. Welcome to Canada, Gorenets.

Finding#2.  Gorenets prefer hot dry climates and usually feed on young blueberries and old cow dung. Therefore, you will likely only find them on farms where both are present at the same time. They choose to nest on trails because, unlike most hornets, Gorenets can only fly for short bursts at a time. Nesting on trails allows the insects to walk from the nest to their cow dung supper and back again when nobody's looking.

Finding#3.  Gorenets are the Jackie Chans of the insect world. They will buzz around their victims in seemingly ridiculous and gravity-defying manoevres before delivering a sting that has the wallop of 1000 nunchucks.

Finding#4.  Killing a Gorenet is a bad idea. When injured or killed, Gorenets release a pheremone that signals all the other Gorenets into vengeful rage. Multiple Gorenet stings can be fatal!

Finding#5.  Gorenet injuries do not heal quickly. If you've been stung by a Gorenet expect swelling and pain for up to 5 days. The afflicted area may even turn black and blue. Those with allergies to regular hornet stings should definitely not mess with the Gorenet unless Epipens aplenty are at hand.

Finding#6.  If you keep riding your bike for 8 hours steady after receiving a Gorenet sting it will very successfully take your mind off the pain of your wound. Once the pain from riding has subsided, however, you may want to indulge in copious amounts of Advil until the Gorenet sting finally takes a hike.

You are now equipped to handle an encounter with a Gorenet. Should you find yourself under attack, don't play dead and don't climb a tree. Pedal like hell and pray the Gorenets aren't drafting . If you do get stung, drop me an email... I have some new curse words to help ease your pain.

Do you know someone who puts in a ridiculous number of miles? 
Would your mate rather spend more time on their bike than with you? 
Does someone you know have a bike worth more than your car?
Is there more spandex on your clothes line than street clothes?
Can you recite the entire finishing order of the Tour de France without batting an eye?

If you answered yes to any of the above let's hear the story.  We love reading about people obsessed with riding.  The rider of the month will win a Propeller Brewing Company 6 pack of their choice (beer or soda for you young'uns) and a funky PedalTrout bumper sticker. Oh, and of course you can toot your own horn, too!  If you love to ride, tell us all about it.

Submit your entry in 500 words or less to PedalTrout.com and include a picture if you have one.