Meet our 2024 Directors
Gabor Huszar
Gabor has been living in Coquitlam since 1998 when he moved here from the land of the Terminator. After a very lengthy absence from mountain bikes, we are talking back to the days of rigid frames, he re-discovered the pleasure of two wheels in 2010. At first undecided if spandex or loose fit would be his style, it only took one fateful trail day on Blue Line to discover his amazing backyard and get hooked on mountain biking.
After meeting the rest of the TORCA directors and seeing their passion for the sport and their community Gabor decided to join TORCA as a director in 2015. Even though he doesn’t have the fancy bike related credentials, his passion and dedication will hopefully make up for it. Gabor is driven by his desire to learn the art of trail building, to improve his riding skills and giving back to the community.
He’s also known to bake some mean Austrian treats and can often be found hanging out at one of the local craft breweries. And then there’s also that obsession with downhill skiing … but we won’t get into that.
Chris Cook
In 1986, the world was discovering Vancouver during Expo, Team Canada participated at the first World Cup Soccer, and Chris was learning how to go over the bars (OTB) on Mt Seymour, and soon after every other nearby mountain we all now know so well. At the time mountain bikes were road bikes with bigger tires and so were the parts… rims made for great tacos, just not the ones you eat!
Introduced to mountain biking by a motley group of friends who worked at Mountain Equipment (Co-op) at the time, Chris immediately fell head over heels for mountain bikes, the networks of skidder roads and an emerging ribbons of fresh loamy root-filled trails that took an entire day just to ride a couple of spots. The passion was instant for a small group of pretty fearless riders filled with a spirit of adventure, an emerging bike culture and bins of salvaged parts.
This early stoke led Chris to co-publishing Coast, the Adventure Sport Magazine and then eventually to working in the bike industry where Chris enjoyed the company of and learned so much from many amazingly generous people and trails around the world. On the record, we have the VERY best trails right here in our backyard! After all these years, the progression of mountain biking and places to ride has kept Chris rolling along… trails and bikes and riders and access just keeps getting better and Chris is looking forward to working with TORCA and our partners to help and support everyone have their moment of discovery.
Chris and his family live in Port Moody, and they’re a 4 season bunch (his wife works at a local running shop) and often outside. Hope to see you on the trails!
Wes Sawchuk
Wes has been living in the Tri-Cities since 2009. In 2013 he decided to try mountain biking after his 9 year old son showed interest in the sport. Despite an initial setback, Wes was instantly hooked and has been riding regularly since. Wes discovered the amazing trail network that was in his backyard, but more importantly, he discovered membership in a rich, diverse community of riders and builders in the Tri-Cities.
Wes has become a regular at trail days and is taking on building and maintenance projects for TORCA with his son. Wes’ daughter is currently learning to ride as well which allows him to continue to connect with the challenge and excitement of those new to the sport. Wes’ passion for the trails and the community prompted him to get involved as a Director to try to increase ridership and decrease barriers to entry for new riders.
Geoff Hague
Geoff’s interest in mountain biking was piqued when – on a bit of a whim – he decided to casually explore the bike trails of Bert Flinn while his two young sons were participating in a bike camp during the summer of 2020. His initial thoughts were along the lines of “People can actually ride this stuff!?”, followed by “I feel strangely and powerfully compelled to ride this stuff!”. With the purchase of his first real mountain bike in early 2021, he’s quite new to the sport, but has fallen head-over-heels in love with it, with a passion unlike any he’s felt for the numerous other hobbies and past-times that he also still enjoys (running, music, reading, film and television, food and drink, among others).
Geoff is the proud father of two young(ish) boys, Owen and Benjamin, both of whom are starting to explore the sport as well. One of Geoff’s favourite things to do on a weekend (other than riding) is to relax on the couch and watch a few MTB YouTube videos with the boys. You’ll probably find him and Owen out on TORCA trail days as well.
Geoff has lived in Port Coquitlam for over 15 years. He’s worked here nearly as long too. Geoff is a Chartered Professional Accountant, and for most of those years living in PoCo he’s been the CFO of the Dominion Lending Centres group of companies (which itself is a proudly PoCo-based organization). Burke Mountain is almost in Geoff’s backyard; he smiles a little every time he sees it while pulling out of his driveway, and enthusiastically tries to spread his love of this sport to friends, family, colleagues, and acquaintances (whether they care to listen or not!). Joining the TORCA board as its Treasurer seemed a natural way for Geoff to give back to the wonderful MTB community that he now finds himself part of.
Watch for Geoff up on Burke riding his black Giant Trace X Advanced Pro. (Is that a good bike? He’s not really sure; it’s the only one he’s ever owned! But he sure seems to love it…). You’ll probably find him doing laps on Overtime and other lower trails, and maybe starting to venture higher up the hill on a more frequent basis too.
Craig Alfredson
Craig grew up on the North Shore, but interestingly did not start mountain biking until he moved to Nanaimo in 2014. In 2020 he moved to Port Moody and has been enjoying the trails in his new backyard ever since.
Craig also enjoys getting his hands dirty building and maintaining trails. He looks forward to working with TORCA to help legitimize and grow the trail networks in the Tri-Cities.
Chelsea Hobbis
Chelsea grew up surrounded by bikes. Her grandpa Cap started fixing and selling bikes out of his barn in Burquitlam back in 1932.
After a few decades, she continued with the family business operating out of the Tri-cities. From road biking in South America to bike packing across The Netherlands, Chelsea found her confidence in the mountains. Learning to mountain bike in Wales was much less intimidating than the lower mainland mountains she now calls home. After living in Amsterdam and Wales for the past five years, she’s excited to return to the local mountains and get back involved in the community.
Chelsea was responsible for events and community engagement at Cap’s Westwood Cycle (now Trek Bikes), along with marketing and operations. She’s looking forward to bringing her experience to TORCA. This is her first year on the board of directors for TORCA, but she is no stranger to the Tri-Cities.
Joe Lo
Joe has been mountain biking since 2010 after being introduced to the sport by his neighbour. Since his first taste of mountain biking on a DH mullet 26/24 bike he bought off of Craiglist, he’s never stopped biking (or buying new bikes).
As a father of 3 mountain biking kids and husband to a reluctant mountain biking wife, it is almost guaranteed that on any given day you will see a minimum of two Lo family members on our Tri-Cities trails (riding or building)!
As a TORCA member for many years, Joe looks to more actively support all the great work TORCA is already doing – now as a director – to make mountain biking more inclusive, accessible, and open to all in the Tri-Cities!
Joe and his family has been living in Port Moody since 2008.
Cassidy Palmer-Ruben
Cassidy discovered the fun and terror of two wheels at a young age when his father took him to the local cemetery, removed the training wheels, and sent him off with a running push. His first bike to send him airborne was a black Haro BMX launched from a dirt pile in a residential construction site. The rush was real, and he was hooked. Growing up, he and two close friends spent many summers days riding around the local university finding new ways to turn the campus stairs, ramps, and ledges into their playground. In his early teens he participated for a couple seasons in local XC races on a borrowed Specialized that was most certainly a couple sizes too large for him.
In 2006 Cassidy moved to Anmore at the foot of Eagle Mountain. In the years that followed, biking all but completely fell off his radar. Time went by and the forest above the powerlines was a mystery until a few years ago when he re-discovered his passion for fun on two wheels. At the time, his sister worked at Kinetik Cycles and suggested he come check out what a ‘modern’ mountain bike was like. After a quick spin in the parking lot, he was once again hooked. She proceeded to lead him up Eagle Mountain to the top of a trail that she insisted, with a big grin, he was going to love. Looking at the entrance feature on Manhandler felt oddly like the first time the training wheels came off. Fun and terrifying.
Since then, he has fully embraced the sport and much of his free time is spent exploring all that BC has to offer for mountain biking. Despite all the unique trails to be ridden in BC, he firmly believes the best riding around is right in his backyard on Eagle, which suits him just fine since less driving means more riding. When not riding his bike, Cassidy is also a avid skier and enjoys searching out all the steep and deep that the Coastal and Rocky Mountains have to offer.
In 2021 he was reminded of the uniquely tight knit MTB community in the Tri-Cities when his dog went missing during a hike on Eagle Mountain. Through the power of social media and word of mouth, the community came together to assist in the search. A few days later his dog was found safe by a local mountain biker and builder. Looking for ways to contribute to the community and to become a steward to the mountain where he spends so much of his time, he began to assist Reno with maintenance on Physiotherapy. While he has only spent a fraction of time with a shovel in his hands as compared to the local builders, Cassidy is inspired by the creativity and thought that goes into building and maintaining trails.
As a director with TORCA, Cassidy intends to contribute his knowledge as an Environment and Sustainability geographer to help preserve and grow his local trails.
Dylan Hansen
While Dylan has only started regularly mountain biking in 2023, he’s no stranger to riding two wheels. Dylan has spent the past 10 years road cycling around most of the Metro Vancouver area, and prior to that, the streets of San Francisco. However, the spring of 2023 was when Dylan took his first ride through Bert Flinn Park and the rest was history.
Dylan was born and raised in Prince Rupert, BC, where it’s borderline too wet to safely cycle regularly. Dylan went to college in Victoria, BC before beginning his career in technology. During his time in Victoria he would regularly commute along the Galloping Goose trail from downtown to the Vancouver Island Tech Park. In 2010, Dylan relocated to San Francisco, California and learned the value of riding a carbon bike to navigate the cities many hills. In 2012, Dylan returned to Canada and the Metro Vancouver area. Dylan moved to the Tri-Cities in 2016 to start his family and set down roots.
When Dylan isn’t riding, he’s usually spending time with his wife and two boys – exploring the many trails and parks that the Tri-Cities have to offer. Dylan is also a big fan of sports: feel free to chat with him anytime about the Vancouver Canucks, San Francisco 49ers or San Francisco Giants. Professionally, Dylan is a Senior Director at Salesforce and has been a key member of Salesforce’s Vancouver team for over 10 years.
As a Director for TORCA, Dylan hopes to utilize his technology background and keen eye for operational improvements to shape the way TORCA can scale it’s ability to drive impact. As well, Dylan is keen to explore ways to expose more professionals in the Tri-Cities area on the amazing benefits of mountain biking!
Juan Pablo Gaviria
JP is originally from Colombia and moved to Montreal in 2002. in 2022, JP moved to the Tri-Cities and started exploring the amazing trails network of TORCA and quickly fell in love with the area. JP is an Aerospace Engineer supporting modifications to airplanes. JP joined the Board of Directors at the end of 2023 and is looking to help our amazing organization in the development of our trail network that brings so many positive impacts to our communities.
Shannon McCluskie
Shannon McCluskie grew up exploring the trails of the Sunshine Coast on foot, bike, and motorcycle. She now lives with her family at the base of Bert Flinn Park. She is deeply connected to the parks and trails in the Tri Cities. As an accountant specializing in charities and non-profits, Shannon seamlessly blends her love for the outdoors with her non-profit experience. Her passion for mountain biking extends beyond personal enjoyment; it fuels a commitment to the positive impact on mental health and a drive to make mountain biking more inclusive and welcoming for all. Joining as a Director, Shannon brings a warm community spirit to foster a sense of belonging and shared joy on every mountain trail.