As I sit here scheduling the 2012 racing season for the Grand Rapids Wheelchair Sports Handcycling Team I am reminded our accomplishments in 2011. It brings a big smile to my face to know that we just started in 2010 where we first introduced our team at the press release inside the Grand Rapids YMCA. We have made a great amount of progress since then. We are moving forward steadfast with a lot of positive momentum. The last couple of years we kicked off the season with the Fifth Third River Bank Run and ended it with the Detroit Marathon. This year Brad Baumann, Dan DeWitt and I are kicking off the season by traveling to Melbourne, Florida for the Melbourne and Beaches Music Marathon. Eighty of the world’s most elite handcyclist’s will participate in this event. It’s an opportunity for Grand Rapids Wheelchair Sports Association to get in front of The U.S. Handcycling Federation & the International Cycling Union, and a variety of organizations that set the stage for handcycling. It is our goal to do well and represent the Mid-West. It has taken some extensive planning to be able to do this type of effort. In the beginning we talked about flying to Melbourne, Florida and later settled with the idea of driving. It’s really about getting an event this size under our belts so that we can pave the way for the up and coming riders new to our program. Once we get back from Melbourne we have a Kick Off meeting at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital on the 18th, 10am – 12pm. At this meeting we will talk about our entire schedule we plan to participate in. As of now we have three out of state events, ten in state and two tours in Michigan. My goal for the team is to always have at least three of our athletes representing GRWSA at each event. We plan on attending the Ultimate Cycle Challenge again this year. This challenge benefits the Lance Armstrong foundation. We participate in the 24 hour challenge switching out riders every hour. We had a lot of fun last year at this event and plan to participate every year. So as you can see we are training almost year round now. Our down time is really only a couple of months (December & January) and that give us time to work on equipment and make changes to our training schedules. I plan on posting our race schedule on our teams Facebook page so please drop in and “LIKE” us cheer us on this year at the May 12th, 5/3rd River Bank Run, and take a look at all the venues we plan to race this year.
The link to our Facebook page is: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Grand-Rapids-Wheelchair-Sports-Handcycling-Team/60617578105










