|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
| Human Interest | |
|---|---|
Further Personal Information | |
| Residence | Langley, BC, CAN |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Club / Team | GreenEdge Cycling Team: Australia |
General Interest | |
| Hobbies | Snowboarding, hiking, running, weight training and freestyle wrestling. (Garmin-Transitions Team Web Site, 01 Jan 2010) |
| Famous relatives | His grandfather, Arne Tuft, was an Olympic cross-country skier from Norway. (Commonwealth Games Media Guide, 13 Mar 2006) |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Why this sport? | One of his friends had him try out his road bike, and he couldn't believe how fast the bike felt. After that, he and his dad pieced together a road bike to race. He loves the sport because of the tangible progress that can be made through hard work and dedication. He likes the travel, and having the opportunity to meet new people. |
General Interest | |
| Most influential person in career | He admits he would never have made it without his father's support and assistance. (Prime Alliance Cycling Team Web Site, 01 Jan 2002) |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Name of coach | Matthew White [sports director] |
| When and where did you begin this sport? | He took up serious cycling after taking a bike tour to Alaska in 1997 and began racing competitively in 1999. |
Further Personal Information | |
| Occupation | Athlete |
| Languages | English |
General Interest | |
| Other information | UNCONVENTIONAL BACKGROUND His father Arne came from Norway to Canada after reading Jack London's 'Call of the Wild', while his mother Lesly is a fitness instructor. His path to professional cycling has been unconventional. He dropped out of school at age 15 to travel and mountain climb, and once spent an entire winter snowboarding and living in a tent in British Columbia, Canada, where he says all he did besides snowboarding was shovel snow and chop wood to stay warm. He has also dappled in mixed martial arts, and as a teenager headed off with his dog Bear on a 600 mile cycling journey to the Bella Coola Valley. He later did a 4000 mile cycling trek to Alaska. (cyclesportmanagement.com, 2011; nytimes.com, 2009) |