The Lance Armstrong Cycling spirit is settling in, but with a very special provision- World Class Deaf Cycling! It is an Olympic-like atmosphere due to the international roster of the Deaf Cyclists from 12 nations competing in 4 cities in Northern California-San Jose, Fremont, Livermore, and Pescadero.

In the World Deaf Cycling Championships, the United States has the highest number of riders at 11 to Italy’s 10. The rest follows averaging up to 4 riders each country. The competitive field narrows down to the best cyclist regardless of the number of cyclists for each country. On the other hand, having a big team helps to draw talent to the pool of riders.

Says Bobby Skedsmo, “The reason United States is always very strong in the world of cycling is because we are able to recruit a high number of riders, and that gives us more selection for the best riders.”

Not only the United States will pose as a challenge, but a rider from another nation can pull off a surprise. The US team will not underestimate anybody. It is a wide open field for one to snatch first place with a Gold medal.

The World Deaf Cycling Championships will feature a 100km Road Race, a 1000-meter sprint, an Individual Time Trial and a Points race along with two mountain bike races. Each event will have awards for the top finisher to the 10th place finisher.

All are in world class shape, but the experienced cyclists with the most endurance and sprinting ability will be the ones who will win, barring falls causing injury or any unforeseen twist-of-turn.

They will worry about their present condition for this event instead of thinking ahead too much or backtracking to where they started; they all have excellent work ethic to maintain their training. Their goal and foremost objective is to train gradually until this event starts, with a fresh and reinvigorated outlook.

Many International cyclists arrived early way in advance to scope out the environment, to get used to the California climate and other intangibles. Jet lag can bring them down so it was a necessity to get over with the inevitable jet lag. This is a demanding sport, and there is no way to sprint if one is sluggish, or if their biorhythm is way off.

The one with the fiercest determination in training for this event will win.

The list of participated countries: Australia, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Italy, France, New Zealand, Canada, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, and USA.