Riverside cyclist with CMT pedals to medal in Beijing

[Guest guest]

Riverside cyclist pedals to medal in Beijing

By Doug Haberman The Press-Enterprise

http://www.press-enterprise.com/news/NEWS_zahn12.html

RIVERSIDE, California - Riverside cyclist Zahn went to the

Beijing Paralympics in September with a fierce desire to come home

carrying a medal.

Zahn is not getting any younger -- he was 33 in China and has since

turned 34 -- and has Charcot-Marie-Tooth disorder, which causes

muscles in the feet, legs, hands and arms to weaken over time.

He had to rely on his father and a retired friend to run his bicycle

shop, 's Cyclery, during his many months of grueling training

over the last three years, something he does not feel comfortable

asking them to do anymore.

" I was very aware it may be my only shot, " Zahn said of Beijing.

He now is the proud recipient of a bronze medal.

He won it for the individual men's time trial among a class of

athletes with severe locomotor disabilities, including amputees.

Participants in the time trial start about a minute apart, and the

three cyclists with the fastest times win the gold, silver and bronze

medals.

Zahn said he was in a daze after the race, and standing on the

winners' podium felt surreal.

Now that he's been home for a while, he has moments when he tells

himself, " Hey, I've got a medal, " he said. " It's still sinking in. "

The time trial was on a 15.4-mile course, and Zahn finished in 41

minutes and eight seconds. The temperature on the course ranged from

104 to 108 degrees with 90 percent humidity.

Zahn's wife, Deane, and parents were in the stands watching him

finish, then had to wait to see if the cyclists who started after him

would finish in faster times.

Finally, it was clear Zahn had won the bronze.

" It was a big deal, " said his father, Larry. " We were all pretty

happy. "

Jim Lehman, the assistant U.S. Paralympic cycling coach who worked

with Zahn, said the athletes spend years training and " then they have

that one moment to perform in. "

Zahn's bronze-medal win was exhilarating, he said.

" To be there in that moment was extremely gratifying, " Lehman

said. " He was just beaming. "

Zahn, who competed in races against able-bodied cyclists for about 15

years starting around 1990, is looking forward to competing in the

Para-cycling World Championships in Seville, Spain, next August.

And he's dreaming of going to the 2012 Paralympics in London even

though he has his Beijing bronze.

" I'm happy with it, " he said of the medal. " Except it's still not a

gold. "