TOPSFIELD — Canadian-born cyclist Lyne Bessette may have retired in 2008, but that has not kept her from winning gold and finding meaning guiding a nearly blind cyclist on a racing bike built for two.
In her heyday, Bessette was one of the top female professionals in the world, excelling on the road and in cyclocross. She's a many-time Canadian national champion who competed in the Olympics in 2000 and 2004.
In 2010, the 36-year-old Topsfield resident and wife of well-known local racer Tim Johnson took on a new competitive cycling role when she agreed to become a pilot for Canadian racer Robbi Weldon, 36, of Thunder Bay, Ontario, who has about 6 percent of her vision.
Weldon, whose vision began deteriorating when she was 14, had been competing as a cross-country skier before switching her sport. She competed at the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver in cross-country skiing.
Bessette, who hails from Knowlton, Quebec, a hilly area just north of Newport, Vt., said she is grateful for the experience of competing alongside and among para athletes.
"It makes you realize you really are not the one," Bessette said. "They are the ones who brought me down to earth and made me realize how lucky I was in life."
In an online posting, Bessette spoke about what it was like to be among the athletes at the 2011 Parapan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, in November, where they won four gold medals.
"I was part of a minority, but the para athlete made me realize that life is about smiling, having goals, finding life again, and living it 200 percent," Bessette wrote.
The pair, who race for Canada, are the second-ranked para-cycling road tandem in the world, Bessette said. The goal is to medal at the London Paralympics in August and September.
They compete in the visually impaired category, and together they won the para-cycling world championship road race in their category in 2010 and the world time trial championship in Copenhagen, Denmark, last year, Bessette said.
In November at the Parapan, they won the road, track, time trial and individual pursuits. They were asked to be Canada's flag bearers in the games' closing ceremonies.
Their most recent competition in Los Angeles this month was disappointing, but Bessette attributes their 10th-place finish to lack of time to train at an elite facility. They had just three weeks at a track in San Diego.
Bessette agreed to pilot for a blind cyclist in 2010 and was paired with Weldon.
"I totally fell in love with it," she said.
She saw athletes riding with missing limbs and using carbon prosthetics. Others were blind or had brain injuries, but all were competing at a high level. It gave her a real appreciation for what she had.
She was giving it her all next to athletes were doing the same but were dealing with disabilities, "and they are never complaining," Bessette said.
Weldon has also been an inspiration.
"She's been improving since the first day she got on a tandem with me," Bessette said. "My coach said if she didn't have her vision compromise her athletic career, she would have been a pretty good cyclist."
Bessette is responsible for steering, shifting and strategy. Weldon is the stoker. Bessette also has to communicate to Weldon what's ahead in the road and what she needs to do. Sometimes she will use a code such as touching her arm to signal that an attack is coming soon.
"Really, in a bike race, you don't have to talk that much," Bessette said. In any case, Weldon can sense when Bessette picks up the pace or backs off.
Bessette is a different rider when she is with Weldon — she takes fewer chances.
Bessette has no plans to return to the elite level, but she is glad she said she's glad she accepted this opportunity to do something so meaninful.
"I couldn't imagine a better way to end a career," she said.
Staff writer Ethan Forman can be reached at 978-338-2673, by email at eforman@salemnews.com or on Twitter @DanverSalemNews.
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