Riverside paralympic cyclist with CMT on to Beijing

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Riverside paralympic cyclist, driven by urge to win, heads to Beijing

competition

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Bicyclist Zahn, of Riverside, says he's always been

competitive, and that competitive drive is taking him to next month's

Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.

" I just want to see how far I can go and how many people I can beat,

if anyone, " Zahn said in a telephone interview.

The Paralympics are competitions for elite athletes in six disability

groups. Since the movement was started in 1954, the games have always

been held in the same year as the Olympics, and since 1992 they have

been held in the same venues.

Zahn, 33, suffers from a degenerative neuromuscular disease called

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, which causes muscle weakness. He

competes in a class of athletes who have locomotor disabilities,

which include amputees and muscular equivalents.

Zahn, 33, of Riverside, will go to China for the Beijing 2008

Paralympic Games. Zahn has a neuromuscular disorder.

He will compete in four events. On the indoor track, or velodrome,

he's entered in the one-kilometer individual time trial and the three-

kilometer individual pursuit. Outdoors, he'll ride in the 24 ½-

kilometer individual time trial and a road race 60 to 70 kilometers

long.

Zahn will leave Sunday for two weeks of training in Colorado before

flying to Beijing.

" I'm really excited for , " said Sjogren, of Riverside,

who rides regularly with Zahn. " And it's going to be really, really

fun to see how he does over there. "

While this will be Zahn's first trip to the Paralympics, he is a

veteran of international competition.

He won the bronze medal last year in the road time trial at the Para-

Cycling World Championships in Bordeaux, France. At the Pan American

Open Championships last November in Cali, Colombia, he placed third

in the time trial and road race, both outdoor events, and fourth in

the indoor one-kilometer and three-kilometer events.

As he prepared for Beijing, Zahn said he was focusing on the road

time trial. " That's my strength, " he said. But another priority is

avoiding injury.

" If you're racing, everybody is pushing all of their limits as far as

fitness and going into oxygen debt, " he said. " And everybody is

taking risks, pushing the limits of their handling capabilities.

Because if they don't, someone else will and that person is going to

do better. And so in racing you get some crashes. And I'm trying to

avoid those. "