Ventura Stage Race Men's Cat 4

For me Ventura was a race of realization. After raiding the ucsb team stash of aero equipment dan katz and i rolled down to ventura early sat morning for our early prologue start times. I rolled off the blocks with my teammates yelling over Dave Towle's constant drone. I have never hurt so much in my life as i did in that TT. Though i felt good about my time it was the results that shocked me, second to last. I shook it off and was prepared for the crit in the afternoon. Even warmed up and with a good start position I barely made the cut to start the road race the next day after getting lapped halfway in. The road race was not much better as my tired legs never really warmed up and a surge at the top of the climb caused me to reel off the back and quietly pack it in. After talking with fellow teammates on the US paraympic squad as well as NOW, i've come to realize that my struggles in these races aren't because of a lack of fitness or commitment. I falter purely because when I line up on the start line of every single race i carry an automatic handicap, the fact that I have cerebral palsy, and while everyone else has two functioning legs i have one and a half on a good day. This race reinforced the fact that I have to carefully choose the races I do to further my fitness and motivation of my goal of making the 2009 para-cycling national teams going to race in Italy and Great Britain later this year at the respective world championships. As I shift my attention towards track these next few months i hope to see familiar faces at ADT as i start making the regular trek down to carson to train on the boards.
stay safe and thanks again,
Will Chesebro