First Race of 2026 Complete

Hello there! Welcome to my blog for the month of February. I just had my first race this past weekend here in Phoenix. Honestly, the only goal I had for the weekend was to make the, formerly national standard, which is now recognized as the international podium standard. I went a little over 1% faster then the international podium standard. This is good. I think it’s actually really good because we use caffeine and carbohydrate, fast digesting carbohydrate in our races to increase performance. Well, I really didn’t have either of these for the time trial. That is to boost the way that I can perform with legal substances that are essential to top performance. I didn’t go without them on purpose I think I was just overwhelmed and wanting to race. I had a small cup of coffee 2 1/2 hours before the event but it was pretty watered down. I’m truly happy with that performance Something else I’ve noticed, which started last year, was that during allergy season here in Phoenix which is typically mid February through March my performance starts to go down. My power numbers are typically lower as a result of blood pressure being lower. Allergies can cause vasodilation and with a compromised autonomic nervous system at my level of spinal cord injury it’s not a good thing. I will use an abdominal binder and a little more caffeine to try and increase the blood pressure but it’s not really of any help. I started taking Zyrtec last year and it helped a bit but not so much when I’m riding outside. Not sure exactly what I’m allergic to out here in phoenix during allergy season but it’s  definitely a recurring issue that happens annually. More reason to be grateful for indoor training with Zwift. Going back to the top I did skip the road race yesterday and just did the criterium today. I actually felt really good for the criterium for the first 15 minutes. After that my blood pressure started to struggle a bit and performance went down. Is what it is but it’s nice to know that my performance is in a decent place right now. The good thing is that my allergies don’t really bother me over in Belgium or Italy where the World Cups number two and three are this year.

 I was selected to compete for Team USA at the first World Cup in Chiang Mai Thailand during mid March. Just this past week I denied my selection. The highs are currently in the low 90s and it’s very humid over there. As mentioned in the first paragraph I have some autonomic dysfunction as a result of my spinal cord injury. What this means is that I don’t sweat well at all and my blood pressure will go lower in addition to overheating. It’s not a safe situation. I was thinking it would be cooler in northern Thailand versus southern Thailand. I’ve been to southern Thailand and it is miserable with the heat there after checking the weather reports at what time we will be competing it was not worth it. So, I will make my World Cup debut this year in Belgium and Italy will follow 2 weeks later. It’s a bit of a bummer but I think it is not necessarily a bad thing because it’ll be less stressful than traveling all the way over to Thailand and back. Alternately, just grateful I performed well this weekend in the time trial and learned a few new things. USA cycling really values those who get medals at the World Championships. It’s nice to be respected for good performances. Ultimately, it’s all about getting medals at the World Cups and World Championships. The World Championships are absolutely the most important event and luckily they are in Huntsville AL this year. It’s definitely gonna be hot humid in Huntsville over the Labor Day weekend. One day at a time though, one day at a time building towards the World Championships.

The classes I’ve been teaching are going well. I’m a little behind with grading so I’m gonna spend Presidents Day catching up on grading. I’m also gonna go over and lift some weights at the gym. I might do a quick hour recovery ride on my E bike as well. That seems like every year, at least the past two or three years, valley of the sun is definitely a kick start to the year. Sometimes it’s a good wake up call and sometimes, such as this weekend, it’s a good opportunity to know that things are going well. There’s only three weeks left in the exercise prescription for special populations course I teach. And then there are 10 or 11 weeks left in the other class I’m teaching. Looks like I’m gonna be doing some work on courses while over in Europe. I’m definitely a forward thinker. I’ve been thinking about taking advantage of the opportunity to further my education through the school funding available through Team USA. I think growth is essential. But also, it’s definitely not easy to go back to school after being out for so long. There’s not a lot of reward for getting a doctorate in education. I’ve taught as an adjunct professor about 13 years, maybe more. That’s a long time.  teaching can be a bit repetitive. I’m definitely facing that issue now. It’s a great place to be and provide additional support as I do my best to work towards the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympic Games. I think it’s best to chat more about this another time. At this time though, I am going to go to bed. I’m really looking forward to the next couple months of training and even testing. This weekend really got me fired up to really crack the whip on racing in preparation. Then lastly, I love my jet bike!