2012 Elite, U23, Juniors & Paralympic Road National Championships – Day 1

2012 Elite, U23, Juniors & Paralympic Road National Championships – Day 1

ByMike Byrd

Chester and I left the Cool Breeze Cyclery at 3PM and headed to Augusta for the 2012 Paralympic Road Nationals.  We made it to Augusta in 3 hours and checked into the Sheraton.

Chester asked me a couple months ago to pilot his tandem at Nationals but I don’t think I really understood how big a deal it is.  It started to sink in when we rolled through the hotel parking lot and there was a line of about 100 cyclists with their time trial bikes.  They were in line to get their bikes inspected by USA Cycling!

2012 Elite, U23, Juniors & Paralympic Road National Championships – Day 2

2012 Elite, U23, Juniors & Paralympic Road National Championships – Day 2

ByMike Byrd

Today (6/21/12) was Day 2 of our trip to the 2012 Elite, U23, Juniors & Paralympic Road National Championships.  Today’s event was the Time Trial National Championship.

Chester and I didn’t start until 3:15 so we were able to sleep in – until about 7:15…which was late for me.  We got up and had breakfast, ran an errand and then came back to the hotel room.  Our plan was to stay cool, get hydrated and then to get to the venue around 1pm to get our race numbers, check out the start and warm up.

2012 Elite, U23, Juniors & Paralympic Road National Championships – Day 3 (6/22/12)

2012 Elite, U23, Juniors & Paralympic Road National Championships – Day 3 (6/22/12)

ByMike Byrd

Today was a rest day for Chester and I at the 2012 Elite, U23, Juniors & Paralympic Road National Championships. Today were the Criterium Championships and unfortunately (or fortunately) they don’t have a crit class for tandems.  

We slept late and headed down to the races to see the Paralympians that were able to do the Crit race.  It was inspirational to see them racing.  Watching them race definitely puts things in perspective.  They don’t see it that way and race as hard as any able bodied athlete, maybe even harder, but for me it definitely makes me realize that I shouldn’t be ‘sweating the small stuff’.  I hope that makes sense.

2012 Elite, U23, Juniors & Paralympic Road National Championships – Day 4

2012 Elite, U23, Juniors & Paralympic Road National Championships – Day 4

ByMike Byrd

Saturday (6/25/12) was Day 4 for Chester and I at the 2012 Elite, U23, Juniors & Paralympic Road National Championships. Today’s race was the 72K Road Race which was divided up into 3 laps.
Our race was at 8 and held on the Fort Gordon Military Base. Since our race started at 8, we had an early wake up call. Chester woke up at 4:30 excited to get going. I rolled out of bed around 5:15 and started getting ready. We managed to roll out to the truck around 6:30 and were at the race venue at 7.