Articles
2008 Cycling Season Underway
June 4, 2008 — Mike Connolly
The 2008 cycling season is well underway with the Mother’s Day Time Trial complete and a full calendar of events scheduled for this season. The 2008 Smooth Cycle Citizen Road Series gets underway Saturday, June 14th with the China Point time trial and road race. The Dalvay by the Sea Mountain Bike Citizen Series kicks off Sunday, June 22 at Summerside Rotary Park.
With the increased demand for cycling services Cycling PEI has established a new position. Cycling PEI is pleased to introduce Luke MacDonald as our new technical director responsible for coaching and rider development. Luke is a certified coach, commissarie, mechanic and examiner. This position was made possible by the Sport Participation Bilateral, jointly funded by Sport Canada and PEI Department of Communities, Cultural Affairs and Labor.
With the establishment of this new position Cycling PEI has seen amazing growth. A new club has been established in Souris with the focus on mountain biking. All new members are welcome and volunteers needed. The West Prince Sports Council has made cycling one of its top priorities and have implemented a 6 week recreational cycling program for kids 9-12 through the recreation departments in the area.
Cycling PEI in conjunction with the new technical director’s position has established a series of recreational rides to meet the needs of beginner, intermediate and advanced road and mountain bike enthusiasts. Every Monday evening there will be a beginner road ride starting at 6pm in Stratford meeting at the Lady of Assumption Parish. This is open to all beginner riders and an instructor will be on hand to lead the group and teach riding skills. The distance covered will be 20-28 km each week with the goal of 100km by the end of the summer. Also, on Monday’s are the Confederation Trail rides starting at 6:30 and meeting at Island Construction on the Sherwood road. Every Tuesday night is the Rigid Riders youth mountain bike rides at Brookvale Nordic Center starting at 6:30pm ages 12-17. Thursday nights are recreational road rides with 3 groups to choose from, advanced, intermediate and beginner. Each group varies in speed and instruction level, starting at 6:30pm meeting at the Charlottetown Mall. Fridays offer an adult mountain bike ride for beginners and recreationalists starting at 6:30 at the Brookvale Nordic Center.
Each ride and group will have instructors who offer feedback, skills, safety tips, equipment checks, and instruction on how to ride in groups. There is no charge for any of these rides but participants must be a member of Cycling PEI and for the Tuesday night mountain bike rides must be a member of Rigid Riders mountain bike club. For more information on the weekly rides, upcoming events or anything cycling please visit www.cpei.ca or call the office at 368-4985.
Cycling Prince Edward Island is excited to announce Luke MacDonald as our new Technical Director.
Luke has been intimately involved in Cycling for more then half of his life. He started as a recreational rider with strong mechanical skills and quickly began his career working in local Bike Shops as the head mechanic in two, and as the owner of a third. While working in the various Bike Shops he as always taken the time to race in local events and has also competed in upper levels such as the World Single Speed Championships.
For four years he was the head coach and principal sponsor of the Red Rok Racing Team and is currently the head coach of the Rigid Riders MTB club. For this role he has received the ADL Coach of the Year Award twice as an individual and once shared among fellow Rigid Riders coaches.
Luke is a Canadian Cycling Association Certified Coach, as well as a Union Cyclistes Internationale Commissaire, and a Bicycle Trade Association of Canada certified Mechanic and Examiner.
Many of the MTB trails on PEI have been built and maintained with his expertise and the skills of many other volunteers. As an organizer he has helped with numerous races including the very first Red Mud Mountain Mayhem (this was a great task as there was not a single piece of singletrack at Brookvale before the project began).
Luke enjoys all aspects of cycling (except sometimes his 35km commute from Bonshaw in the rain). In his twenties he raced Cross-country, Downhill, and Dual Slalom and enjoyed Trials Riding. His riding focus is now towards Single Speed riding, and recreational Road and Trail riding.
He now looks forward to “assisting the riders of today, and helping the riders of tomorrow have safe places to ride so they can grow up to enjoy the wonderful sport of Cycling and its many disciplines.”
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