Paris 2024 Race Recap
The 2024 Paralympics have came and gone. I am incredibly honored to have qualified and for the opportunity to represent Team USA on the biggest stage in our sport. So much preparation has gone into making sure my bike, my mind and my body were all ready to perform at 100% for this race. Everything was aligning for this to be one of my best races of the year... until 4 days prior to my first race.
What started as a sore throat was turning into symptoms of a cold/flu. After being checked out by the Sports Medicine team, they made the decision to move me out of the Athlete's Village, 30 minutes away to stay in isolation at the Team USA High Performance Center. Over the next few days my health got worse with a cough, fever and chills keeping me awake most of the nights. My appetite was gone, but I still tried to eat what I could while feeling nauseous knowing I would need the calories for my upcoming back to back race days. I ended up missing the final 2 days of training and course preview due to how sick I was.
Sept 4th - Time Trial Day! I knew that the time trial should take sub 30 minutes and no matter how I'm feeling, I can push myself for 30 minutes. The roads were dry and I knew my best chance for making up time were on the fast, technical downhill sections. Unfortunately the team had some equipment/timing issues in the morning which resulted in me getting no warmup prior to my race which wasn't ideal. I was able to start out strong for the first few miles and really carry my speed through the fast sections of the course. About halfway up the first long climb where I really needed to put the power out is where I began to struggle. I started coughing non stop and from then on wasn't able to control my breathing for the rest of the race. I finished in 6th place, 39 seconds away from a top 5 result.
Sept 5th - Road Race Day! Following my Time Trial, my fever and chills got even worse. On top of that it was down pouring with temperatures in the mid 50's. The wet roads took away my chance of making up time on those fast, technical sections. In these conditions it's easy for the front end of our handcycles to push straight and not turn. Early into my race, I saw one of my competitors crash straight into a barrier, this continued throughout the day with many crashes across all of the handcycle classes. My road race was uneventful, for the first few miles I was able to work with a small group until 1 crashed out. Then it was just me and Rory Mead from New Zealand who I've gone back and fourth with in many races over the last 2 years. He pulled away on one of the climbs where my sickness was really hurting my power and from that point I time trialed the last 2 laps by myself to a 5th place finish.
Overall my Paralympic debut did not go as planned but looking on the bright side, I made it through my last 2 race seasons without sickness affecting my performance on race day. It's just unfortunate timing that it hit me when it did. Upon getting home, I then tested positive for Covid. I'm taking the necessary time to rest and recover as Paris was my final race of 2024. Then I'm excited to experiment with a few bike changes as I get into my off-season training to prepare for 2025!
