54-year-old Scott McNeice (Invacare / Top End) of St. Petersburg, FL re-asserted his status as a Paralympic team contender today by winning the opening race of the U.S. Handcycling Series at the Redlands Bicycle Classic. The race is sponsored by PossAbilities, which is doing a great job at the RBC in hosting the opening race of the series...
Photos by Terry Martin and/or Ian Lawless. c. PossAbilities, USHF, 2008
McNeice posted a time of 16:14, besting San Diego's Oz Sanchez (Challenged Athletes Foundation) by three seconds, up the gruelling Sunset hill climb time trial course. The course is one of the most notorious in bike racing, boasting sections that include a 16% grade. McNeice was favored due to his light weight, but still showed that he is fit and ready to challenge for a spot on the Paralympic team at the Rocky Mountain Omnium in June....likely his final shot at the games after missing out in 2004 due to illness.
To his credit, Sanchez posted an excellent time of 16:17 despite a 70 lb. weight disadvantage to McNeice. Sanchez has been training hard in San Diego this winter, and his new "less partying" regiment looks to be paying off.
In the men's longseat race, 2007 TT winner, David Lee (Cardiff, CA) showed decent early-season form, winning his category in 22:06....although it was 1:30 slower than last year's time. Back in action for the first time in a few years (he was building a new house in South Carolina) was Carlos Moleda [Challenged Athletes Foundation], who always shows up prepared. Moleda was 2nd in the longseat category with a time of 23:39, but more importantly he was the first in the brand new 45+ category.
Notable newcomer, Niel Harding of W. Bountiful, UT put on a pretty decent show in his first-ever USHF race, finishing 3rd in the longseat race. Racing for Team PossAbilities, Dan Davies of Beaumont, CA also raced well while simultaneously serving as the handcycle race coordinator....all just 12 months post-injury. Harold Warner (Tucson, AZ), Rick Gilliland (Kenai, AK), and Gerard Ah Fook (Bothell, WA) all soldiered to the finish, but all three are looking forward to tomorrow's road race in Beaumont where the terrain is more suited to their racing.
Meanwhile, Erica Davis was the lone woman in the race, but proved tenacious up the difficult climb, and endured a crash on the descent after the race was finished. Davis will likely be sore tomorrow, but the battle scars are cool and she’ll no doubt be the crowd favorite on the start line at tomorrow’s road race in Beaumont.
Details about the Redlands Bicycle Classic can be found here, and full handcycle results are below. Photos are on the way.
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