2025 World Cup 1 Race Recap
If you read my March blog, you know I didn’t qualify for the Team USA World Cup Roster despite my past 2 years of being the top ranked men’s handcyclist in the country. The good news is that I have the amazing support of Team PossAbilities which allowed me to go to Europe, compete in both World Cups, do my thing and secure my spot on the USA World Championships roster… and I got to do it all in our fresh 2025 race kits!
World Cup #1 in Belgium – P5 in the Time Trial P5 in the Road Race
I was having a great Time Trial! Everything was going flawlessly, hitting my expected power numbers, flowing with the course…. until the final U turn on the final lap. To make this tight turn I had to swing wide off the side of the road onto a section of cobbles then cut as tight as my legs will allow me to turn my fork until they bind up. I went into it a little too hot and the cobbles made my front wheel start to bounce and while I was trying to turn, it continued to bounce and push straight instead of getting traction and holding the turn. I ended up hitting a curb and my front wheel dropping into a narrow section of sand. I WAS STUCK! Waiting what felt like forever for somebody to pull me backwards so I could get going again. I ended up missing a podium spot by 13 seconds in that race… my mistake shows my bike computer auto paused for 15 seconds. So Close!
The Road Race was a whole new course for us this year located in Bruges. I like courses with fast, tight, technical sections…. This was the complete opposite of that. It was basically a very large rectangle made out of wide, flat roads, with nothing exciting about it. I hung with the lead group for the first 4 miles or so then ended up by myself for the next 24 miles of the race. Not enough power to catch up to the guys ahead, but enough to hold off the group behind me. This isn’t where I wanted to be during this race but overall it wasn’t terrible.
That’s all for World Cup #1. Check back soon for my next blog which will be a World Cup #2 Race Recap
