The Beginning
Researched the sport of international trike racing.Through Stephen Burke was put in touch with Stephan Chaput a trike racer from Drummondville, Quebec. Went to see Stephan and tried riding his racing trike. Visited the National Cycling Championships in St. George de Beauce, Quebec and there met with Louis Barbeau, President of The International Paracycling Association to enquire if there was a UCI racing trike that could be borrowed for training. Directed to Montreal’s Olympic Stadium where after much persuasion was given the loan of a UCI training trike.
Approached the people at Duke’s Cycle in Toronto to ask if they would be willing to make the borrowed UCI trike usable for training purposes. Duke’s was of course very obliging and fully prepared to help with all the mechanical constraints of the UCI trike. The mechanical team at Duke’s rebuilt the rear section of the trike and replaced all the missing parts. The trike was then brought to Jamie Meikle’s machine shop to have the rear axle straightened.
With the trike now ready for a test ride, went with some members of the Lapdog Cycling Club for the first ride at the Leslie Street Spit. Managed to maintain a constant speed of 15 km per hour.
Travelled to Calgary’s Olympic National Cycling Centre to participate in a training camp. There Program Coordinator and Head Coach, Stephen Burke, determined that there was a strong potential to succeed in becoming the first women trike racer to represent Canada in the 2012 Paralympics.
The Ontario Cycling Association then set up the first official time trial for a trike race near Stratford, Ontario. The time trial was a success. Chico (Adam Ruppel), donated a tandem bike for training purposes. Rode the tandem in the Prince Edward County 42 km marathon.
Began regular training sessions on both the tandem bike and the newly modified UCI trike. Continued with regular rides on recumbent trike as well.
Signed up for and started a weekly spinning training program at the GETSpinning club.
