Dear John Letter

Dear John:

By the time you read this, I’ll be in Belgium for a tandem stage race. There are so many things I want to say, but I’m uncertain of where to begin.

We’ve had a lot of great times since London. I’ll always cherish our walks around Annapolis, lunches breaking up the work day, and; nights that became mornings. Those were great times, right? But who are we kidding. We both knew they wouldn’t last forever…

That being said, racing in Greenville last month made me feel alive again. I haven’t felt this motivated and driven since 2011. Now, I want to race; I need that old familiar feeling of lactic acid pulsing through my body, and; I’m more willing to suffer alone on the trainer in the basement than ever to reach my goal. What’s the goal you ask? What could be so important? It’s simple: winning the 2014 UCI Para-Cycling Time Trial World Championship in Greenville, SC, next Summer.

To this end, I spent a last few days in Tucson and am now racing in Belgium. In Tucson, Dave and I…you remember Dave, right? Well anyhow, Dave and I rode a couple hard laps of Saguaro Park to open the legs; rocked the Saturday morning group ride to shock the system, and; flogged ourselves ten miles uphill for the Mt. Lemmon time trial, as pictured below. All this was meant to prepare us for six races over four days this coming weekend in Belgium. Last year, Belgium was great training. We were doing pretty well on the overall standing too actually, until a couple crashes and a broken wheel slowed us down a bit. This year, our form probably isn’t as good heading into Belgium, but our mental state and drive to improve couldn’t be more spot on.

So, I guess what I’m trying to say is, it’s not you, it’s me. I need more.  It’s a big world out there and I’m not done exploring it and pushing myself beyond the limits of what I think are possible. Don’t worry, we’ll still see each other around…from time to time.

Fondly Yours,

Clark

Seven and a Half Months

Worth their medal. All 17 members of the U.S. Paralympic Cycling Team for the London 2012 Paralympic Games, including six gold medalists, are back on the road and track for 2013.

Seven and a half months. That’s how long I went without racing after our Paralympic road race in London on September 8, 2012. In some ways, the break was too long, And still in others, it wasn’t long enough.

The first couple months home from London, I didn’t think about, look at or touch a bike. At all. Not once. There were more important things that needed my immediate attention, such as anything else which also included:

A festive wedding season highlighted by my sister’s wedding on the Outer Banks of North Carolina where we jammed partying into every waking hour and only saw the sunrise if we hadn’t gone to bed the previous night;

New and improved family photo!

In the bridal party for Rachel and Derik’s October Outer Banks beach wedding.

With sister, Rachel, on her big day!

Weekly…daily excursions to happy hour, festivals, and more generally, just out and about enjoying the company of family and friends which was all to infrequent for the past two plus years;

Melissa Sampson, Katie Cashwell, and Sean Eggleston join in on the festivities at the Maryland Renaissance Festival. Huzzah!

Made the Old Man’s Christmas complete by scoring a Paralympic cardigan in just the right size!

Partying on St. Patrick’s Day with Bentley Rachfal.

Kari Miller, April Ross, myself and Jennifer Kessy at the White House Easter Egg Roll. April and Jennifer are beach volleyball players who won the silver medal in London.

Non-bike related travel to San Diego, Chicago, Asheville and Breckenridge, and finally;

Ringing in the New Year with Greta Neimanas in Asheville, NC.

Nordic skiing at the 2013 USABA Winter Sports Clinic in Breckenridge.

Even to the office for work where Verizon was as good as their word – my key still worked and my desk was vacant.

My separation from the bike lasted two months, however, I started getting twitchy and needed to be physically active after only two weeks. I found pleasure in the gym, running stairs of our building at work, rowing, stand up paddling, Nordic skiing and even running. When I crawled back onto the bike in early November, out of self-inflicted guilt more than a desire to ride, it was unpleasant to say the least. Physically, I was good to go, but mentally, I wasn’t ready.

Athletic Goals for 2013: Make the podium at the 2013 Para-cycling Road World Championships. And, run a marathon. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon in Washington, DC, with Verizon colleagues on behalf of Got Chocolate Milk and Team Refuel through the Challenged Athletes Foundation, that is!

Since the new year, trainer workouts remain the bane of my existence. I’d much rather be outside doing something, anything, rather than listening to my task master of a timer counting away the minutes and hours. Alternatively, riding outside is still liberating and enjoyable. I was reminded of this at our first tandem race of the year in Greenville, SC, April 20-21.

Getting after it for the first time this year at the Greenville 2014 Para-cycling Open!

Although it was seven and half  months between races (and eight months between blog posts), many things felt familiar instantly. Dave and I didn’t lose any of our mojo over the off-season; our technique was solid. This was a major factor in our decisive time trial win. That being said, one of our other strengths, the ability to repeat hard efforts, was lacking. This was unfortunate but easy to understand. In short, it was the result of all those intervals I didn’t have the mental capacity to complete. Dave’s form was spot on due to his racing in Tucson. Meanwhile, I wasn’t ready for prime time. As a result, we placed second in the road race.

On the men’s podium in 2nd place.

Results aside, the most important thing to come out of racing at the Greenville Para-Cycling Open was motivation. I still have the desire to travel, race and win. I knew that desire was lurking deep down somewhere within, it just took a swift kick in the butt for it to erupt and reclaim the mantel as a top priority in my life.

What a great way to start the season!

Annapolis paralympian ready for races in London

http://www.capitalgazette.com/news/annapolis/annapolis-paralympian-ready-for-races-in-london/article_01b86cb5-266a-584c-814a-03e4a925fbd9.html#user-comment-area

Posted: Saturday, September 1, 2012 5:00 am | Updated: 11:04 pm, Sat Sep 1, 2012.

By DIANE M. REY For Capital Gazette

Clark Rachfal, left, of Annapolis was nominated to for the U.S. Para-cycling team to compete at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. Rachfal began competing as a blind tandem cyclist with his sighted pilot, Dave Swanson, of Tucson, Ariz., after being introduced at a developmental cycling camp hosted by the U.S. Association of Blind Athletes (USABA) at the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center in 2006. The following year the duo would compete for the U.S. Para-cycling National Team.

John Coggin and Clark Rachfal found fun in different places at Annapolis Elementary School on Green Street, where the two met in kindergarten.

“Clark was into athletics and sports. He was outdoors all the time. I always wanted to have my face in a book, reading,” said Coggin.

Despite their differences, the two forged a friendship that has lasted 25 years. Recently Coggin called Rachfal to wish him luck before he headed to London to compete in the Paralympic Games. He’s keeping up with him through Facebook and emails.

“I practically grew up at his home in Annapolis, I spent so much time there,” said Coggin, who lives in Bay Ridge. “I knew his parents well. They’re like a second family.”

Rachfal’s father Kenneth, mother Tanya and sister Rachel were in the stands cheering when he marched into the Olympic stadium with Team USA for the opening ceremonies on Wednesday.

Rachfal, a blind 28-year-old cyclist, is competing with his sighted partner, Dave Swanson, of Tucson, Ariz., as the only tandem team among the 17 cyclists representing the USA.

Rachfal gradually lost most of his sight to a rare genetic disease.

Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the games. The ceremony included a flyover by a disabled pilot and an elaborate show titled “Enlightenment” that included professional performers with disabilities.

Although Rachfal couldn’t really see the crowd during the Parade of Athletes, he’ll never forget the roar they made.

“That alone, was the experience of a lifetime, to come through the tunnel with 80,000 people cheering for you,” said Rachfal in a telephone interview. “It was very emotional.”

He’s tried to be low-key, at least when he’s off the bike.

“I’m really relaxed. I’m feeling well. We raced yesterday and today is a recovery day,” he said.

Their first race, with Swanson in the front or pilot position, and Rachfal in the back as stoker, didn’t turn out like they’d hoped. They came in sixth among eight bikes in the 4-kilometer qualifying race. Only the top four made it to the medal round, led by teams from Australia in the first and second spots.

Nevertheless, Rachfal said they were pleased with some aspects of their performance. He said they started strong and hit their splits in the 16 laps of the 250-meter velodrome. Ultimately, though, it wasn’t enough.

“Speed and time bled away from us a little at the end,” he said.

They’re hoping for better results to come. On Sunday, they’ll be back in the velodrome for the 1-kilometer time trial. Then it’s outdoors for the 24-kilometer tandem trial road race on Wednesday. Their longest race of 100 kilometers, or about 60 miles, is scheduled for Sept. 8, the day before the closing ceremony.

Rachfal said the pair is pinning its hopes on the longer races.

“There are sprinters the size of linebackers who specialize in the explosive sprint events,” he said. “We’re more endurance riders.”

Between races, Rachfal has been relaxing in his townhouse in the Olympic Village and talking with other athletes. The Paralympics were first held in 1960 in Rome. This year’s are the biggest ever, with 4,200 participants representing 165 countries.

The athletes have a variety of cuisines to choose from to make them feel at home, Rachfal said. He’s been keeping up his calorie count at the Asian and Indian area and the Caribbean and African station.

“They’ve got good fruit and fresh veggies and a lot of flavor,” he said.

But there’s one specialty dish that he hasn’t seen on the menu: Maryland blue crabs.

“I plan on getting a bushel of crabs and steaming them up in the backyard when I get home,” he said.

Clark Rachfal, right, cheers to his parents while marching during the opening ceremony for the Paralympic Games.

Clark Rachfal (Annapolis), was nominated to for the U.S. Para-cycling team to compete at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. Clark Rachfal began competing as a blind tandem cyclist with his sighted pilot, Dave Swanson (Tucson, AZ) after being introduced at a developmental cycling camp hosted by the U.S. Association of Blind Athletes (USABA) at the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center in 2006. The following year the duo would compete for the U.S. Para-cycling National Team.

Cycling pair riding toward gold

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/olympics/articles/20120824cycling-pair-riding-toward-gold.html

Swanson, Rachfal chase Paralympic hardware in London

by Sarah Eberspacher - Aug. 28, 2012 06:27 PM
azcentral sports

They train together. They travel together. They compete together.

“And we haven’t killed each other yet!” said Dave Swanson, one half of the U.S. Paralympics tandem cycling team.

Swanson, 35, and his teammate Clark Rachfal practice the athletic equivalent of a long-distance relationship. Swanson works and rides in Tucson. Rachfal, 27, trains at his home in Annapolis, Md., and commutes to his job with Verizon Communications in Washington, D.C. The pair get by through most of the year on individual workouts administered by their coach, and Rachfal hops on a plane every few weeks to Arizona so he and Swanson can get in training time together.

It might not be ideal, but considering that since 2009 they haven’t missed qualifying for the track and road World Championships, it hasn’t impeded their performance too much. And after narrowly missing out on a trip to Beijing, Rachfal and Swanson head to the London Paralympics with one goal in mind:

“Medals,” Swanson said. “We’re looking forward to soaking up the experience, but we’re there to do a job. We’re there to do what we prepared to do.”

Those preparations started not so long ago. Swanson is a sighted pilot for vision-impaired or blind cyclists. He first piloted for a Tucson-based blind cyclist in 2006, and after some initial success, the pair headed for Colorado Springs to participate in a development camp hosted by the United States Association of Blind Athletes.

The partnership between Swanson and his first cycling partner did not work out. However, soon after he began trading e-mails with Rachfal, who he had met at the camp. Swanson invited Rachfal out for a preliminary ride.

“Not only is it a working relationship, it’s a personal relationship,” Rachfal said. “If you don’t get along on the bike, or you don’t get along off the bike, if your riding styles aren’t similar or your personalities aren’t similar, it’s going to make it very difficult to be in that close proximity for extended periods of time.”

The initial training went well enough that the pair agreed to compete in the U.S. Paralympics National Track Championships in 2007. After only about 10 days of actually riding together, Swanson and Rachfal were riding at the national level. They won silver and have been picking up hardware together ever since.

Rachfal joked that his relatively recent introduction to the sport before teaming up with Swanson – he first rode in 2004 and started getting serious about cycling in 2006 – means he’s mimicked his training partner, for better or worse.

“I was so new that I picked up all of Dave’s good and bad habits,” Rachfal said. “In a lot of respects, though, it made it a lot easier for our performances to evolve as a team because we’re pretty much lockstep.”

Not that it’s easy. When he isn’t riding with Swanson, Rachfal uses a stationary bike in Maryland, and although he says it’s great for endurance training, it can’t truly simulate a real race experience.

“When you’re riding in a group, not only do you have variations from wind and change in the roads, you have other people you have to account for,” Rachfal said. “You don’t get that on the trainer.”

Enter Rachfal’s monthly trips to Tucson, when he and Swanson push through track workout after track workout, then hop on the tandem bike a few mornings a week for group rides with other area cyclists. In addition to being great training, Swanson said the morning group rides are an ego boost, as local riders often anticipate a tough time keeping up when Rachfal and his pilot arrive to train.

“When we show up, everyone knows what’s going to happen,” Swanson said. “It’s flattering for us, but then the other part is the fact that we’re representing our sport and changing the notion that the Paralympics is this B-level participation sport.”

The pair hopes their performance in London will further stifle that stereotype, though Swanson said the last five to 10 years have seen an increasingly deep field of competitors, anyways.

“A couple seconds over the course of a half-hour race moves you from third to eighth now,” he said. “Before, maybe it was just third to fifth. There’s just that many more tacking up at the front.”

Maddening? Perhaps, especially if those competitors snatch the hardware in London that Swanson and Rachfal have trained so hard to earn. But it also means Paralympics cycling is becoming increasingly elite, and that can only be a positive for the sport, Swanson said.

“On the one hand, it’s frustrating because now if you don’t do everything perfect, you could tumble through the top 10,” he said. “On the other side, competition is moving to where it ought to be. It should be really hard to do this.

“It’s the best in the world.”

Dave Swanson is a sighted pilot for vision impaired and blind cyclists. His current cycling partner is Clark Rachfal, who splits his time between his home in Annapolis, Maryland and Tucson to train with Swanson.

Locals in London, Paralympic Games: Clark Rachfal, tandem cyclist

http://www.wtop.com/41/3009628/Locals-in-London-Paralympic-Games-Clark-Rachfal-tandem-cyclist

By: Rob Woodfork, wtop.com

Wednesday – 8/29/2012, 7:44am  ET

The stage in London now belongs to the 2012 Paralypmic Games. This week, WTOP’s “Locals in London” series spotlights four local paralympians to watch. Check out this map of the venues in London.

WASHINGTON – Clark Rachfal was diagnosed with Leber’s congenital amaurosis, a rare disease, at the age of 4. It left him with degenerative eye sight. Rachfal has some peripheral vision, but has been rendered legally blind by the illness. With the aid of what is called his sighted pilot (or lead cyclist) Dave Swanson, the Towson graduate has been involved in competitive paracycling for 5 years.

Rachfal and Swanson just missed qualifying for the 2008 games, but this time around they come in with more winning experience. In each of the last 3 years, Rachfal and Swanson took gold in at least one race, including the Road National Championships in 2009 and 2010, and an American record in the Parapan American Games in 2011.

Rachfal says in his Team USA bio, “Every kid grows up watching and dreaming about representing their country and the Olympic Games … I chalked this up as a pipe dream as my vision deteriorated. With this competitive outlet and opportunities available through U.S. Paralympics, it is now possible for me to achieve that childhood dream and show others that no dream is out of reach.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtU_9A-0CMk&feature=player_embedded

Serenity Now

The Olympics are done. There are no more track camps. And, the U.S.  Paralympic Cycling Team leaves in less than a week for the U.K. Despite  this, I find myself surprisingly relaxed and calm. Our training’s in  the books. I’m healthy and illness/injury free. And, the only source of  anxiety I have is due to everything seeming so easy right now.

Dave and I are again in Tucson. Our L.A. track camps, even the one that  concluded Sunday, are a distant memory. Our bodies have healed and only vague memories of hugging a trash can on the infield and chasing a motorcycle around the velodrome persist.

Our Remaining Schedule:
A few more days of riding before flying out on Aug. 19;
A week of acclimation in Newport, Wales, before moving into the Olympic Village on Aug. 26; and,
The wild rumpus begins Aug. 29, with the Paralympic Games opening ceremony.

And for the first time, here is a comprehensive answer to the question “will we be able to watch you compete at the Paralympic Games from the U.S.?” - http://paralympic.org/news/usa-announces-nbc-broadcast-plans-london-2012

In closing, there are few guarantees in life. The Paralympic Games are  guaranteed to far exceed my wildest expectations in magnitude and  grandeur. Knowing this, and knowing that the hard part is already done,  I plan on spending the next week engrossed in an activity which always  gives me hope for a better tomorrow – preseason football!

Road to London

Dave and I were nominated to Team USA for the 2012 London Paralympic Games on July 22. A lot has happened over the past few weeks. But first, let me begin by saying thank you. Thank you to everyone for your words of encouragement and support over the past four years. This has truly been an experience of a lifetime, and Dave and I are blessed to have so many loved ones and fans backing us every step and pedal stroke of the way. In addition, thank you all for your patience as I have been a completely frazzled and unfocused mess since the team nomination.

At London Trials in Augusta, GA, Dave and I bested our time from last year and recorded one of our fastest time trials to date. This along with our bronze medal from the 2011 road world championships and consistent results over the past year were enough to qualify us for London.

After trials, I returned home and received a hero’s welcome from Annapolis and Verizon. Being home so infrequently these days, I took special note of the little things, for example: walking around my mom’s gardens, evenings in Annapolis, and praise from those whom I never knew followed my exploits so closely. In addition, I had time to get acquainted with the 2010 Bentley my dad treated himself to for Father’s Day.

Bentley: Rumble and Rusty tolerate his existence.

My week of barely touching the bike came to an abrupt end with our annual trip to Baie-Comeau, Quebec, Canada. This year, we were headed north for the final world cup race of the season. With few miles in our legs since trials, Dave and my expectations were a bit muted going into the world cup. However once on the starting line, we raced to win. In both our time trial and road race, we took second. Although two silvers sound impressive, the luster fades once it’s noted only three men’s tandems were in contention. These races were the beginning of our final push to London. As a result, I’m now travelling with one of the Baie-Comeau silver medals for added motivation.

It took two days to get home from Baie-Comeau and another day to land in L.A. for our first London Team track camp. Five Months. That’s how long we were away from the track. And, nothing could make us cognizant of that more than an immersion camp.

In recent history, the track has been a place of missed opportunity and disappointment. Although we’ve given our best, our best has only been good enough for fifth and seventh. And more condemning, we haven’t lived up to the world championship title we won in 2009.

Now the good news – that’s all history. We know we’re stronger than ever. So really, it’s just a matter of execution and confidence. Once the all to familiar pain and sickness associated with those first track efforts faded, we began to roll. Were we as fast as we need to be come London? Absolutely Not. But, we were putting forth the necessary effort and were sustaining our lap times.

Dave and I are now in Tucson for recovery and road training. More on our Tucson training will follow – it wouldn’t be prudent at this juncture. In the mean time, please like my fan page on Facebook!: http://www.facebook.com/crachfal83, and; enjoy these articles from local Annapolis publications:

“Local Resident Gears Up for 2012 Paralympic Games,” Capital Gazette - http://www.capitalgazette.com/news/local/around_annapolis/around-annapolis-local-resident-gears-up-for-paralympic-games/article_31b0a4ed-b3a0-5377-b91b-be6946f4c72f.html

“Annapolitan Clark Rachfal Named to U.S. Paralympic Cycling Team,” Eye on Annapolis -http://www.eyeonannapolis.net/2012/07/05/annapolitan-clark-rachfal-named-to-u-s-paralympic-cycling-team/

“Annapolis Man Named to U.S. Paralympic Team,” Annapolis Patch - http://annapolis.patch.com/topics/Clark+Rachfal

A blind cyclist trains in Tucson for the Paralympic games

http://www.kvoa.com/news/a-blind-cyclist-trains-in-tucson-for-the-paralympic-games/#!prettyPhoto/0/

News 4 Tucson KVOA.com

August 8, 2012 8:26 AM

Video: A blind cyclist trains in Tucson for the Paralympic games

TUCSON- When the curtain drops on closing ceremonies another international competition begins.

London will also host the Paralympics where some of the world’s best athletes will compete despite their disabilities. One of those athletes is Clark Rachfal and his riding partner Dave Swanson.

Diagnosed legally blind at the age of four Clark has defied the odds.

“There were certainly rough patches with me accepting my disability and learning to live with it, to cope with it,” said Rachfal.

He and Dave are making waves on the international stage of tandem cycling.

Clark relies on David to be his eyes when they are out on the road. But David relies on Clark for something Clark does best.

“I get a lot of information to me relayed from what Cark can hear. He can hear chains, he can hear breathing, he can hear shifting, he can hear someone pulling out and hitting the wind,” said Swanson.

Tandem riders learn to synchronize their movements by shifting their weight and matching each other’s cadence.

The competition is expected to be pretty intense but this team says they are as ready as ever to go for the gold.

Verizon Corporate Responsibility: London Calling, and It’s Got the Sound of Gold

http://responsibility.verizon.com/news/clark-rachfal-heads-to-London-for-the-2012-paralympic-games

Verizon employee Clark Rachfal is headed to London to compete in the 2012 Paralympic Games.

Rachfal, a visually-impaired cyclist, is paired with a sighted pilot (Dave Swanson, right) for the tandem cycling event.

When it comes to the Olympics, we all have dreams.

Clark Rachfal had them as a kid until fate intervened with a diagnosis at age 4 of Leber’s congenital amaurosis, a rare disease that caused his eyesight to steadily degenerate. He is legally blind now, though he has some peripheral vision.

But some dreams − especially Olympic-sized ones − don’t die easily, and today, Rachfal is getting ready to compete as a cyclist in the Paralympic Games, which begin Aug. 29, two weeks after the London Olympics.

“I chalked this up as a pipe dream as my vision deteriorated,” said Rachfal, who’s worked in the Washington, D.C. office of Verizon’s Public Affairs, Policy and Communications group since Dec. 2006. “With this competitive outlet and opportunities available through U.S. Paralympics, it is now possible for me to achieve that childhood dream.”

The Paralympic Games, first held in Rome in 1960, are the largest sports competition for athletes with a disability worldwide. This year’s games are expected to be the biggest yet, with 4,200 athletes from 165 countries competing in 20 sports.

Rachfal began competing in 2007 as a blind tandem cyclist with his sighted pilot, Dave Swanson, who he met at a developmental cycling camp in 2006 hosted by the U.S. Association of Blind Athletes (USABA) in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Tandem racing events feature two-person teams on tandem bicycles. A sighted pilot (in this case, Swanson) occupies the front seat, while a vision-impaired “stoker” (Rachfal) takes the rear seat.

They qualified for the U.S. Para-cycling National Team in 2007 and just narrowly missed qualifying for the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Team in 2008.

In 2009, they competed for the first time at the road and track world championships in Italy, where they placed fifth in the time trial and then crashed in lap two of the 10-lap road race. Undaunted, they headed to the Para-Cycling World Championships in Manchester, Great Britain, and became world champions. For Rachfal, it was one more step on the way to the 2012 Paralympics in London.

He and Swanson took another large step last year when they earned the overall UCI Road World Cup title and a time trial bronze medal from the UCI Road World Championships.

In June, Rachfal and Swanson competed and earned a spot on the U.S. Paralympic cycling team. Rachfal called it “validation of all our hard work.”

“I want to show others that no dream is out of reach,” Rachfal said.

Around Annapolis: Local resident gears up for 2012 Paralympic Games

http://www.capitalgazette.com/news/local/around_annapolis/around-annapolis-local-resident-gears-up-for-paralympic-games/article_31b0a4ed-b3a0-5377-b91b-be6946f4c72f.html

By DIANE M. REY For Capital Gazette

July 6, 2012

Annapolis, MD — After getting edged out for a spot on the Beijing Paralympic team four years ago, Annapolis resident Clark Rachfal is gearing up to compete later this summer on the U.S. cycling team at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.

The blind tandem cyclist and his sighted partner, Dave Swanson, learned they’d made the cut June 22, after winning the national championship in the men’s tandem time trial at the U.S. Paralympic Road Cycling National Championships in Augusta, Ga.

The Paralympics were first held in Rome in 1960. This year’s games, held from Aug. 29-Sept. 9, are expected to be the biggest yet, with 4,200 athletes from 165 countries, some without arms or legs, competing in 20 sports.

After a week at home to rest and recuperate, Rachfal left town for a road World Cup race this weekend in Quebec, Canada. When he returns to the U.S., his training schedule will have him traveling to Arizona, Colorado and California before the big event in London.

Rachfal appreciated the downtime. “I’ve been mentally, emotionally and physically just drained out,” he said. “Over the next six or seven weeks, I’m not sure I’ll be home at all.”

Rachfal, 28, has Leber’s congenital amaurosis, a rare inherited disease that has caused his eyesight to degenerate from the center outward. He still has some peripheral vision.

A wrestler at Annapolis High School, Rachfal took up competitive cycling in 2006 and competed the following year on the U.S. Paralympic cycling national team. He rides in the back of a custom built tandem racing bike in the stoker position, with Swanson, of Tucson, Ariz., in front as the pilot.

In 2009, the pair won a world championship in the 4-kilometer pursuit on the velodrome, a steeply banked oval track, at the International Cycling Union (UCI) Para-cycling Track World Championships. Last year, they added the overall UCI Road World Cup title and a time trial bronze medal from the UCI Road World Championships to their records.

Rachfal and his partner will compete in both road and track events at next month’s Paralympics. In the 60-mile road race, they plan to maintain a speed of 30 miles per hour.

As he readies for London, Rachfal is as conscious of his time off the bike as he is about his training routine. When results are measured in thousandths of a second, everything matters, from what he eats (mostly lean protein and vegetables) to how much sleep he gets.

“We have a recipe for success. We have to make sure the ingredients go in, in the right quantities at the right time,” said Craig Griffin, U.S. Paralympics head cycling coach.

At the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, the U.S. won 14 medals in cycling: five gold, five silver and four bronze. Rachfal hopes to be on that list this time around.

“Our strategy is to execute what we do in training, stick to the plan and hit our pace, hit our splits, and ride the fastest race that we can,” he said.

You can follow the pair’s progress on Rachfal’s blog, www.clarkrachfal.wordpress.com and via Twitter atwww.twitter.com/crachfal.