Para-cyclist returns to island to train
Pine Islanders from St. James City to Bokeelia may have noticed a female para-cyclist peddling from one end of the island to the other and back again five days a week. Shelley Gautier has returned from Toronto, Canada, and is now training on Pine Island for the Paralympics to be held in Tokyo in 2020
“This is the fourth year we’ve traveled from Canada to Pine Island for training,” Gautier said. “Last year I was in training for the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and I’m happy to say I won a bronze medal there.”
Para-cycling is a disability cycling process governed by the Union Cyclist Internationale covering four functional disability types. The classification system includes classes for hand-cycles for people who have lower limb mobility issues.
In 2001, Gautier, at the age of 23, was severely injured in a mountain bike accident.
“I was in Vermont on the day before my first wedding anniversary and I was mountain biking on mountain snow and I wiped out,” Gautier said. “I don’t remember much, I spent six weeks in a coma and eight months in the hospital. I am paralyzed on my right side. If I was in a wheel chair it would have been better for me.”
Gautier’s disability hasn’t stopped her from cycling. When she came home from the hospital she purchased a recumbent tricycle and by 2007 she was competing as an amateur. By 2010 Gautier started competing at an elite level.
“I got involved in raising money for different charities,” Gautier said.
“More than 4,000 athletes from 176 countries competed in the Rio paralympic games,” Gautier said. “It was an 11-day event and I competed in two races. There were time trials and then the 30km road race. I came in third place only 1 1/2 seconds behind the 2nd place winner.”
“This is the first time anyone in classification T1 has ever won any medal,” trainer Alan Greer said. “T2 includes people with physical disability and T1 includes people that have not only physical disability but also cognitive disability which is what Shelley has. No T1 man or woman from any country has even won a medal Shelly is the first.”
“My next goal is to compete in another Paralympics and come home with a different color medal either silver or gold,” Gautier said. “The next paralympics is in Tokyo in 2020.”
Before competing in the Paralympics, Gautier plans on participating in races in Montreal, Belgium, Spain, Netherlands, the world championships in South Africa and finally in the Para-PanAmerican games in Peru in 2019.
“We have a new bike built by our sponsor Specialize,” Greer said. “It’s the first one with front suspension. Some of the racing Shelley does, in Italy for example, is on cobblestone streets. You can imagine how difficult it is to hold onto the handlebars. But this new suspension improves in the training and competing. The company got this bike to us two days before Rio.”
Pine Island has turned out to be a great place for Gautier to train.
“When we needed a winter training environment that was quiet, I knew Pine Island would be the ideal place for us,” trainer Alan Greer said. “It is impossible to train in the Cape or Fort Myers because of the traffic but Pine Island has turned out even better that we expected. Not only is the environment ideal but the people have been so supportive.”
“I train five days a week with Mondays and Thursdays off,” Gautier said. “I would like to thank the people of Pine Island first for putting in the cycle paths. Those paths create a safe environment for all cyclists and in addition to the paths, the people have been very kind. Coming to Pine Island and getting to know the people has been great.”