2016 Paralympic Hopeful Added to Team HMPS Roster
The Herbalife p/b Marc Pro – Strava Cycling Team added 2016 Paralympic hopeful, Will Lachenauer to the roster. Check out team’s official announcement:
San Rafael, CA (6/15/15) – The Herbalife p/b Marc Pro – Strava Cycling Team is thrilled to announce the addition of nationally renowned para-cyclist Will Lachenauer. By joining Team HMPS, Lachenauer hopes to showcase the sport of para-cycling to the greater cycling community as he makes the journey from a 2016 Rio Paralympic hopeful to the top spot on the podium next summer.
“Being part of such a professionally run team, being teammates with an amazing group of cyclists, and partnering with supportive sponsors makes this team a perfect fit,” says Lachenauer. “Personally, this is a really proud moment for me as a para-cyclist. I hope I can contribute to the entire team’s efforts as they represent cycling in all its forms and at the highest level.”
Will’s extensive palmares as a H3 Handcyclist are impressive. He is a multi-time and reigning US National Champion in the Time Trial, earned a bronze medal at the 2014 World TT Championships, and has stood on the podium at numerous World Cup events around the
world. In 2015, he will be competing at the UCI Paracycling World Championships and the Para Pan American games as he pursues a berth to represent the United States as a Paralympic hopeful for Rio 2016.
“When the opportunity came to add an athlete of Will’s caliber to the team roster, I didn’t even hesitate,” says team director Phil Mooney. “He is known worldwide as an inspirational figure, a great guy, and a fierce competitor. By adding him to the team and having him riding alongside our current elite able-bodied cyclists, he can really showcase the incredible athletic talent of top-level handcyclists.”
In 2008, Will suffered a Spinal cord injury (SCI) during a motocross race that resulted in complete paralysis below his chest. Lachenauer relates the details of his injury in his own words:
I couldn’t have been out long. The blood from a small gash on my elbow hadn’t even had time to travel down to my wrist. The sweet, sun warmed scent of crumpled sage marked where body and bike had impacted and was a warm soft pillow against my cheek amidst the hard granite piles that had broken me up. A constricting grip of immobility countered every effort to pick myself up and each attempt to rise was met with an equal unseen opposing force down. “No,” my legs weren’t pointing where the mind’s eye expected them to be and I knew this was a spinal cord injury. “Oh my God I have a little girl,” fear of what this would mean to taking care of my young family eclipsed any pain which had pierced the haze of shock.
Change was the only sure thing that day. My journey with my SCI has included raising two young daughters, running a business that sells action and winter sports gear to enthusiasts calling the Sierras their playground, and pursuing a Paralympic Gold medal as a member of the US Paracycling team. Part fight, part surrender, mixed with love and support from friends and family became the recipe for life after injury. My mobility may look different after my SCI, but my passion for life does not.
A love of sport, competition, and pushing boundaries is injected into the goal of winning a Paralympic Gold Medal as a member of the U.S. Paracycling team. In 2012 I won the Paralympic selection qualifying race, all three domestic US cycling championships and became the first male H2 (injury classification) American to win an individual UCI World Cup paracycling medal. At the final UCI World Cup race leading up to the London Paralympic games I was just 6 seconds behind an eventual London Gold medal winner in a Time Trial. Sadly, I was left off the US team roster and never got the opportunity to compete. This chapter is far from over and there is much story that remains to be written with 2016 in Rio not too far off.
In 2013, Will was named a Sales Representative of the year by the Snow Industries of America for the NorCal region. Today, Will balances training with work and family life.
“My wife Tanya and I enjoy watching our two daughters, now 6 and 8, experience life and develop into the most amazing people I have ever known. Change is inevitable and keeps us glued to this adventure that life is. Laying in that field paralyzed, truly afraid, I could not have envisioned what my life would look like today and that was the source of my fear. Once we learn how to manage changes in our lives, fear fades and we are able to shape our future.”
Palmares: H3 Handcyclist
2015 US Cycling TT National Champion
2015 Tour De Nez Winner Handcycle Crit
2014 UCI Paracycling World Championships Bronze TT
2014 UCI Paracycling World Championships Silver Team Relay
2014 UCI Paracycling World Cup Segovia Spain Gold TT
2014 UCI Paracycling World Cup Segovia Spain Silver Team Relay
2014 UCI Paracycling World Cup Castiglione della Pescaia Gold Team Relay
2014 US Cycling TT & Road National Champion
2013 UCI Paracycling World Championships Baie Comeau Canada Silver Team Relay
2013 UCI Paracycling World Cup Matane Canada Bronze TT
2013 US Cycling TT and Criterium Champion
2012 UCI World Cup Baie Comeau Canada Silver TT
2012 US Cycling TT, Road, Crit National Champion