CCNS helps you achieve and surpass your goals by implementing the most advanced proven training techniques, the latest technology for training and assessment, and unparalleled first-hand experience.
Proven science and experience
CCNS believes that to achieve your goals and reach new levels of fitness or racing you need to focus on more than just a training plan. We insist that real coaching focuses on everything from your training plan, to your diet, to your daily lifestyle. Consulting with your coach on a regular basis, on everything from training, to lifestyle choices, to riding tactics, is an understood and encouraged part of the coaching relationship.
Fundamental Pillars
Meet the coaches
Aidan Charles is the owner and Head Coach of Charles Coaching & Nutrition Services. Aidan regularly works with athletes and his fellow coaches to help support endurance athletes of all levels achieve their goals. Aidan has coached athletes ranging in age from 14 to 75 years old to numerous athletic accomplishments, including multiple world championship titles, over ten national championship titles, and Race Across America event records. In addition to being the coach of the Yale Cycling Team, he has consulted with various collegiate athletic programs (including Mary Washington, Yale, and Wesleyan Universities) on training program periodization and methodology. Aidan has been a featured contributor to articles in Bicycling Magazine, National Geographic, and a variety of publications. He is also a regularly featured panelist/speaker regarding training techniques, nutrition, and coaching for endurance athletes and youth development in the sport of cycling.
Aidan is a 2006 Graduate of Mary Washington University, with a B.S. in Biology with concentrations in Nutrition and Exercise Physiology. He is an active category one road cyclist, a former Under-23 USA Cycling National Team member, and he raced professionally for the Nerac Cycling Team. Aidan enjoys helping all levels of athletes, from the beginner to the professional level, in a variety of endurance sports, including cycling, triathlon, duathlon, running, and rowing.
Additionally, Aidan is the founder of the Connecticut Cycling Advancement Program, and he continues to serve as an advisory council and board member for the non-profit which provides youth across the state of Connecticut access to the sport of cycling. He is the recipient of Hartford Business Journal’s 2015 40 Under 40 award and the 2013 MCSAAC Harry E. Burr Award.
Ben Wolfe is a certified USA Cycling Coach and has been a CCNS athlete since he first started cycling. Since then, he has competed at both a National and International level of racing and has competed for the last 7 years at the Professional Level, racing for teams such as California Giant p/b Specialized, Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis and Hincapie Racing p/b BMC. Besides over 40 race victories in cycling events throughout the country, Ben’s top results include a top-10 in the National Championship Road Race and two top-10 placings in the U23 National TT Championships – including a 3rd place finish in 2014. Coach Ben has spent seasons in Europe with the USA U23 National Team, competed in World-tour level races such as Tour of California and Tour of Utah. He has also been the first alternate for the UCI U23 World Championships in 2014 and 2015.
Coach Ben’s extensive racing experience and genuine approachability help him connect with athletes, understand their physical and mental challenges, and provide the keen advice that they need to reach new levels of success in their training and racing. Ben is full of enthusiasm and is currently accepting athletes.
HUNTER PRONOVOST is a highly experienced coach at CCNS, where he has been working full-time for the past eight years. He is also the provider of physiological tests for CCNS, with few others in the Northeast having administered and studied as many performance tests as Hunter. With hundreds of tests under his belt, Coach Hunter has unique insight into what makes athletes faster. Witnessing the improvements that CCNS athletes make gives him an incredible sense of satisfaction and drives him to continually improve his coaching skills. Hunter believes that with the right training and guidance, anyone can achieve their goals and reach their full potential as an athlete.
Hunter has been a competitive cyclist since his teenage years, winning his first championship at the age of 16 when he unexpectedly won a NEBRA junior road racing championship. He has since competed at the Pro/Amateur level in road, cyclocross, gravel, and XC mountain bike for nearly 20 years, demonstrating remarkable consistency and longevity. Hunter has won multiple age-group titles in road, cyclocross, and XC mountain biking, racing at the Category 1/2 level and achieving a top-20 finish at the Rasputitsa Gravel Grinder. He is a Level 3 USA Cycling Coach and continues to race in 25-35 events per year.
In addition to his cycling expertise, Hunter is also a top-ten finisher at the 2000 North American Orienteering Championships. This experience allows him to guide and support athletes in a diverse range of endurance sports. He is currently the coach of the CCAP Hamden/Cheshire Rail Trailers youth road and cyclocross teams and an active promoter of cyclocross races in the state. Hunter has also led numerous clinics for both experienced and beginner riders. Handling the majority of the in-office services and testing at CCNS, Hunter is committed to providing exceptional coaching and testing services to athletes of all abilities and ages.
Katrina Niez has enjoyed competitive cycling for 30 years. She started cycling at the University of Arizona as a freshman with dreams of finishing a triathlon. She quickly joined the triathlon and cycling teams and fell in love with her new community of athletes. Her accomplishments include junior National Triathlon Champion, New England Time trial Champion, New England Points Champion as a Cat. 3 and a Cat.1, and Masters National Cyclocross Champion. She has raced all over the US and in international professional level road and stage races from 1999 – 2003 for various women’s teams. She was the team captain for the Trek Plus Women’s Team and a member of the Richard Sachs Cyclocross Team. She continues to race on the road occasionally and enjoys gravel and open water swimming events.
Katrina comes to CCNS from a teaching background, having taught English for 25 years to Speakers of Other Languages. She holds a Master’s from the School for International Training and she has worked with students of all ages at Fairfield Public Schools, Danbury Public Schools up to graduate students at Post University. Her favorite is teaching writing to adult learners, which she taught at CT community colleges and in Ecuador. She loves to travel and especially enjoys traveling in France to ride and visit family. She also created the Real Energy Bars nutrition company, which gives her a unique perspective into the fueling demands of an endurance athlete.
Katrina is a true domestique, she loves helping others with their cycling goals. She coached one of the original CCAP junior cyclocross teams for 3 years, enjoying the fun team environment and introducing her twin boys to cycling. She embraces the CCNS community and enjoys the camaraderie on Zwift and group rides. She has a special interest in female athletes and modern structured training for lifelong fitness. She can’t wait to hear about other athletes’ cycling goals and aspirations.
COACH TANNER WARD began his competitive cycling career in 2013 while studying at the University of Arkansas. Raised in traditional sports, he entered cycling relatively late. But once he was in, he was all in. Over the next four years while balancing work; he committed himself to training, racing, and climbing the ranks of American cycling. In 2018, while living above a fritz shop, he spent a year racing in Europe for a Top Competition Belgian team, learning invaluable lessons and scoring a number of impressive results along the way. Tanner returned to the United States in 2019 and has been racing and coaching from his hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas, ever since. Currently a member of Best Buddies Racing, you can find him competing in some of the most prestigious races across the country.
Coming from a non-cycling background, Tanner has a unique and valuable perspective on coaching. He can relate to the first-time racer trying to correctly pin a number on as much as the professional racer struggling to pop the cork off a champagne bottle. He knows what it means—and what it takes—to reach a goal in this sport, and he loves helping his athletes conquer that climb, no matter which point they’re starting from.
Notable pro race results: Saint Francis Tulsa Tough – Cry Baby Hill (3rd), Joe Martin Stage Race – Criterium (3rd), Thompson Bucks County Classic (1st), Sunny King Criterium (1st), BWR Kansas (1st)
Vivien Rindisbacher has deep roots in cycling. With relatives of European descent and an Uncle who was a World Champion, cycling has always been a family affair. He started racing at the age of 14, through a local club and has been an elite level cyclist ever since. Along the way, he has spent time racing for National Team Programs, along with a year at the professional level with H&R Block Pro Cycling. After a year off the bike, Vivien has rebuilt his focus around the development of cycling in the Northeast, as director of the New England Development’s Elite U23 team. Now in school at Boston University, pursuing a B.S. in Human Physiology, his racing experience and academic interest bring a professional level of expertise to CCNS clients.
