Kudos to the "new" Raphael Gagné!!

No, I'm not talking about the Canadian Pro MTB racer, but rather the FUTURE Canadian pro! The youngest member of the Body Driven Club, Ralph started racing last spring on a 33lb hardtail. His enthusiasm and enjoyment of riding and racing was hard to miss. He came out to as many races as he could, since he was still 16 and had to get rides from his folks. Whenever we would prelap, Ralph would try to go harder than everyone else. Panting and red, we'd try to remind him that this wasn't the race yet, and that he should just relax, learn the course, and try to conserve his energy for when it counted. Obviously the kid is competitive! On our annual trip to the Maa Daa Hey trail, he did his best to keep up, but nearly passed out several times, and eventually took the last morning off to recover. There were a few times we thought he wouldn't make the trip....

Enter the NEW and IMPROVED Raphael Gagné. He's been training with Team Manitoba since last fall. He's Dropped (or at least appears too) 30lb or more. What's left is a developing machine with pure potential. And, Yesterday, at the Grand Beach race, he got 1st place in the sport class, beating out a large field of riders!

Congrats Ralph on serious dedication and drive to really make a difference!!