Promo's perfect grad present
Promo got an early graduation present — local Mounties found his stolen bike.
The mountain bike, put together from donated parts and with volunteer labour from Full Boar Bike Shop, is vital to Pramod Thapa — who everyone refers to as Promo — because the competitive downhill skier uses it in the off-season to train.
His goal is to take part in the 2014 Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia, or the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Thapa, who has cerebral palsy, graduated from Sa-Hali secondary on Thursday, June 7.
The day before, police phoned his trainer, Jim Knowles, to let him know they had found a bike they thought was Thapa’s.
RCMP Const. Grant Learned said the bike was located while officers were dealing with an unrelated matter.
Learned said the theft had not been reported, but officers recognized the bike from a story in KTW about the theft.
Knowles did not report the theft because other bikers had told him the odds of recovering it were slim.
Friends and supporters of Thapa’s dream donated parts to create it and Full Boar donated the frame made by British mountain-bike company Orange. That helped with identifying it because the frame is white with a union jack painted on it.
At the time of the theft, Knowles estimated it would cost about $4,000 to replace the bike.
Since the early May theft, Thapa has been using a road bike to train for the Gran Fondo Highway Pass race in Alberta on July 7.
He first tackled the gruelling race last year, a competition that spans 147 kilometres and includes a 7,000-foot climb.
COMMENTS
Let's keep comments:
We ask that all participants own their words by logging in with their Facebook account. It's a simple process that will take seconds and helps keep our comments free of trolls, cranks, and “drive-by” commenters.
We reserve the right to remove comments from anyone using screen names, pseudonyms or false identities. Please see our FAQ if you have questions or concerns about using Facebook to comment.