Kristina Bangma
Experienced Cyclist, Endurance Athlete, Coach + Personal Trainer
An experienced cyclist, endurance athlete, coach, personal trainer, volunteer and ambassador, Kristina’s passion for endurance sports is woven into every aspect of her life. Kristina has competed in triathlon, road cycling, road running and trail running. She loves to cross-train in the mountains by skate skiing, mountain biking, hiking or snowshoeing.
After relocating from Whistler to Vancouver, Kristina’s desire to share her passion brought about the creation of Kits Energy Training Inc. – an endurance coaching and personal training business. Since 2003, Kristina has been working with all levels of athletes from a variety of competitive sports including triathlon, road cycling, mountain biking and running. Her business also includes those looking for a healthier lifestyle, even if they may not think of themselves as athletes – yet.
Kristina believes in giving back to the community she loves by volunteering her time and knowledge. Kristina spent three years volunteering as a triathlon coach for the Leaukemia and Lymphoma Society. Kristina continues to teach through her own coaching blog and through her regular bi-weekly column in the Vancouver Courier.
While running her own business and racing Kristina relies on Vega Products to maintain a healthy lifestyle. She finds them beneficial for performance and recovery and is a proud ambassador for the local company.
If you would like more information on Kristina, the athlete, coach or personal trainer please go to:
http://www.vancourier.com/search/search.html?q=kristina+bangma
Shakuntla Sharma
Adventure Seeker + Athlete
Shakuntla Sharma has a long history of grabbing onto big challenges. Good thing: Her family moved her at the age of ten from tropical Fiji to the middle-of-winter Edmonton. It kick-started her love of the outdoors and she discovered her desire for adventure.
She’s been running flat out – or uphill and over mountains – ever since. Shakuntla, and her mountain-climbing husband, have summited Mount Baker, neighbouring Rainer and Kalapathar (5,500 metres) in the Himalayas. The West Coast Trail, Chilkoot Trail and the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu are all crossed off her bucket list. Also on the crossed-off list is a full marathon – her first in May.
She skis the North Shore, alpine and cross country – why limit yourself, she says. And she kayaks – once with penguins in Antarctica – and paddles, including a Bowron Lake expedition.
To ensure she doesn’t miss an adventure, Shakuntla volunteers with the Coquitlam Search and Rescue, team based not far from her home in South Surrey. Cycling? You bet. It’s her next adventure.
Follow her blog as she takes to the road clipped to her Argon 18 Krypton.
Miranda Miller
Internationally Acclaimed Downhill Mountain Bike Racer
Miranda is a downhill mountain bike racer based out of Squamish, British Columbia. She is a 6x National Team member, the 2009 US Open Champion and has had the opportunity to stand on many national and international podiums. In the summer months she travels to races and rides her bike at home in the Sea-to-Sky corridor as much as possible. She’s extremely lucky to have the support of some amazing people and companies in the industry that allow her to live out her dream. In the winter, she works at Corsa Cycles in Squamish while training hard and smart.
Miranda is very excited to be a contributing member of the Women in Cycling Blog for 2013. It will definitely be a new challenge for her! She hopes to write a little bit about her training experiences, opinions and love of cycling and British Columbia.
Jane Victoria King
Jane is an award-winning television producer and trained photojournalist with a passion for telling people’s stories in hopes of inspiring and engaging others. She’ll be 50 in 2014 and plans to continue living in her 27 year-old spirit shell by staying active and being fit. Not keen on travelling the same road twice, Jane is always seeking out new butt burning goals. This year it’s the RBC GranFondo Whistler. Jane plans to share her cycling training journey with readers, complete with all the real-life hick ups and frustrations any normal busy person will find along the way.
She’s passionate about cycling, as life on two wheels has already taken her places. Her son (now 21 years old) grew up on the back of her bicycle. Their most memorable summer holiday was over ten years ago when she first discovered long distance cycling. Jane and Kyle (then nine years old) rode the Pacific Marine Circle Route (clockwise) on Vancouver Island beginning in Victoria and adding in Salt Spring Island on the way home.
Pulling a two-bin trailer they slept in a tent and cooked over a camp stove or open fire. Kyle rode behind her jumping every curb and riding over every log he could find. He later left his favourite sport of hockey to pursue Downhill Mountain Biking and became the National Junior Downhill Mountain Bike Champion in 2009.
Besides the RBC GranFondo Whistler in 2013, Jane also intends on finishing her second Half Marathon and possibly her first Olympic distance triathlon.
Originally from Vancouver Island, she now lives in Vancouver on the North Shore.
Check out her blog at www.janevictoriaking.com.
Jen Segger
More information on Jen, as both an athlete and coach, can be found at: Jen Segger Challenge by Choice
Ria Terins
Born and raised in the Vancouver neighbourhood of Kitsilano, Ria now lives in the North Shore with her husband and their two sons. A sea creature at heart, she started swimming at two and a half and continued to swim competitively for many years (her gills are just now starting to close over). Though having competed at a very high level with swimming, Ria self-proclaims herself as “athletic-ish.” As most moms will testify to, post “kidlets,” she fits in workouts when she can.
Part of her workouts include mountain biking. About ten years ago, Rian started mountain biking after she was dragged kicking and screaming by a girlfriend. By the end of the ride, she was hooked. But now the threat of breaking a limb while mountain biking has put her on a different bike.
When her husband, an avid road cyclist, began dropping not so subtle hints that it would be nice for the two of them to ride together, Ria, though having never road cycled and never really thought of it as a sport she would pursue due to her fear of cars, severe road rash, and lycra, decided to give it a whirl.For Ria, this marks a new phase in life, a new sport, and a whole new set of challenges. Follow her as she starts her journey from “athletic-ish” to riding 120km in the RBC GranFondo Whistler, while juggling family, friends and a whole swath of new roadie jargon. Ria can be reached at terins@shaw.ca.
Women In Cycling 