A Placerville-born cyclist is en route to the Paris Paralympics. Here’s his story

Bryan Larsen is one of seven elite athletes that will compete on the United States’ Paralympic cycling team in Paris. He won individual races before losing mobility of his right arm in 2019, but that injury set him on a path to the world stage.

“I always joke that my only talent is I’m too dumb to quit,” the Placerville native said.

The life-changing injury occurred during a San Rafael nighttime road race that he made a last minute decision to join. He had no aspirations or goals for the race. “I was just there to have fun,” Larsen said.

On the last lap, Larsen was coming around a corner at a speed of over 40 mph when the cyclist in front of him had a mechanical failure and crashed.

“And because I was already going through the corner, it was just like a cascade, like a domino,” he recalled.

Larsen was thrown from his bicycle and forgot to brace for the fall and impact. He landed face first, which caused the nerves around his spinal cord to be torn.

He woke up in the emergency room in a neck brace, no longer able to move his right arm. However, his medical team had told him a brachial plexus injury was common in athletes, so once the inflammation went down, he would most likely regain mobility.

Weeks went by and several tests were done, but Larsen still wasn’t able to raise his arm. “Until then, it just felt like an injury, but then, after that point, it was like, ‘oh, my arm is paralyzed,’” he said.

With that confirmation, Larsen’s life would never be the same.

Getting back on the bike

Larsen realized he could never road race again, but cycling wasn’t completely out of the picture.

Track cycling was where he looked to next. Using a fixed gear requires no grip strength to shift and brake, which made it doable with one arm.

“I don’t need my hand, I don’t need to brake, I don’t need to shift. I don’t need to do anything,” he said. ”All that is needed is to “hang on to the handlebars.”

The prospect of being able to race again gave him a goal to work toward throughout his recovery process. “All I have to do is figure out how to use my arm,” he said.

It was a risk to get back on that bike, however. “You’re kind of relinquishing this history of performance in hopes that where you’re going is gonna fit your goals,” he said.

That transition to becoming a para athlete was an eye-opening experience for Larsen.

He thought para just meant amputees, and being a part of this community was what made him realize that para is beyond that.

For the first few months, Larsen said he felt like the classification of “handicapped” didn’t feel right, but he can now accept it.

“I can accept that I have a challenge that maybe somebody else doesn’t,” he said. However, he doesn’t believe that identifier limits him from living the same life he was living before, albeit a bit differently.

Larsen was able to get in touch with other para athletes and was welcomed into the community.

“There was never a space where they came in and rejected me for coming from the able-bodied athletic side to the para-side,” he said.

He was able to steadily adjust to this new normal and practice on his bike with a few accommodations, the rigor of his training never failing.

His determination paid off, and in 2022, just a few years after his accident, Larsen was invited by U.S. Paralympics Cycling Coach Sarah Hammer to observe the national team.

JOURNEY TO THE OLYMPICS

Together, Larsen and Hammer outlined a three-year plan on how he would earn a spot on the team. This would require him to “go to every World Championship between that moment and Paris,” he said.

The 2024 Union Cycliste Internationale Para-Cycling Track World Championships this March in Rio de Janeiro was what solidified his ticket to Paris.

Larsen had been training nonstop and set a national record. Unfortunately, he was 1.5 seconds away from being on the podium. “I was devastated,” he said.

“I had a great performance, but I missed the podium, which would have guaranteed me a spot for Paris,” he recalled, but “I came back the next day, got a podium, and the next event, and then the next day I got another podium, and then the next day I got another podium,” he said.

Larsen said “It was kind of one of those, ‘you may think you’re out of the fight, but you’re not’ moments.”

“I think that that consistency and grit is probably what really helped me earn the spot for Paris on the team, to be one of one of seven athletes,” he said.

Larsen secured the only track racing spot on the cycling team. The other six athletes compete in either road racing or a combination of the two.

Support at home bolsters performance

Larsen said family scrapes him off the pavement and puts him back on the bike whenever he crashes.

Larsen was born with a clubfoot and had to undergo an intense surgery before the age of 1 that left him with a cast until he was 2.

Around the age of 12, he became interested in cycling initially through his dad but later realized it was one of the few sports that didn’t aggravate his ankle.

While warned by doctors to avoid athletics, that doubt just worked as motivation.

“I always liked being challenged to something,” Larsen said. “Naturally, someone says, ‘I can’t do it,’ and I want to do it…”

Athletics was a mechanism Larsen used to prove he could do whatever he was told he wouldn’t be able to achieve.

Larsen, who works at a medical device company, practices every day after work for 1.5-2 hours. “I think I’ve taken a total of 10 days off the bike in the last eight months, or nine months,” he said.

His partner of 15 years, Ashley Scott, who was by his side during his recovery, gives him peace of mind which allows him dedicate his all to cycling.

“I think the other piece behind all of this too is she’s kept everything else in our life afloat while I’m racing,” he said.

Five years since his injury, everything has been leading to Paris.

“All that matters is what I do between now and then, making sure I’m the best I can be in that moment,” he said.

Larsen said he hopes to place in the individual pursuit on Aug. 31.

While he is steadfast in his determination to win a medal, Larsen said just celebrating being an Olympian is a win in itself.

“To be able to have your nation’s flag on your back and walk through an opening ceremony,” he said, is a once in a lifetime experience.