Nearing Her Final Competitive Chapter, Alicia Dana Is Eager To Write A Few More Pages

Three-time Paralympic medalist Alicia Dana knows there are chapters in every good story. Her journey in Para-cycling is the perfect example.

And now, after memorable opening and middle chapters, Dana is taking the audience into the final chapters to close the narrative.

Dana, 56, freely admitted she wasn’t sure what her body will be capable of — in terms of results against top competition — when she lined up at the U.S. Paralympics Cycling Time Trial on Saturday in Huntsville, Alabama. At the event – which served as the selection event for the two European world cup stops this spring – Dana finished second in the WH3 class, and will wait to see whether she qualified for the U.S. team when the roster is announced.

The veteran cyclist is coming off a difficult 2024 that included a frustrating ban (since overturned) and then surgery to fix a long-running issue with her tailbone. Her handcycling is only just starting to resemble the modes she has put down in her 25-year elite career.

This is an unwritten chapter, with the direction not even known by Dana.

“This was what really motivated me to want to get back in shape. I still want to keep my spot on the national team and get to race in world cups this year,” said Dana. “There is nothing like being completely out of shape to really want to make yourself feel better. If there is a silver lining in all of this, being taken away from cycling helped me realize what I want to do in this sport and where I want to be. I want to find my place, and this is the start of figuring that out.”

Dana’s 2024 season did not turn out as planned. A pressure sore on her tailbone, caused by the position she sits in for handcycling, flared up around this time last year, adding a complication to her quest of making a fourth U.S. Paralympic Team.

Then Maniago happened.

She was in the Italian city last May for a world cup race when her sore started getting worse and, eventually, infected. In need of treatment, Dana went to a pharmacy and received an over-the-counter antibiotic cream. Unfortunately, the medication contained an anabolic steroid banned by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, something Dana did not know.

Long story short, Dana was cleared to compete again in February following an appeal, but a positive drug test last spring meant she couldn’t compete at the 2024 U.S. Paralympic Team Trials and, in turn, Paris.

Dana’s original plan was to do one more Games and then retire from elite racing. She was left disappointed, angry about the steroid result and, yes, still dealing with a significant health issue with the ongoing sore.

“It was hard going through that, especially because I didn’t know I did anything wrong. How was I to know that, when I needed to do something to treat an infection in my body?” Dana said. “I was really let down after that, but now, in some ways, I see it as a reset. I was able to focus on my body. I needed to stop and do that.”

Dana’s surgery, which involved shaving down her tailbone to relieve the pressure causing the sore, happened in October. She was bedridden and immobile for weeks to allow the area to heal. She felt her strength draining away but realized getting back on her handcycle would be the way forward.

“The hardest part is being patient, but you need to give yourself time to heal,” Dana, a native of Putney, Vermont, said. “It is really hard. I’m sort of an impatient person by nature, so yeah, that’s that can be particularly challenging for me.

“I think what’s helped is, coming out of the hospital and being in that really weakened state, I started training with absolutely no expectations. All I wanted to do was ride my bike and get stronger. I wasn’t even sure if I was going keep racing.”

Dana’s workouts improved, and she still wanted to be part of Team USA. She put in the application to be on the team, even on the C level (below her normal A status), just to get some support while she trains and competes.

The likelihood of getting back to where she was when she won a silver medal in Rio 2016 or a pair of bronze medals in Tokyo 2020, or winning the Boston Marathon three times, is not guaranteed. A lot of things have changed. Her left-hand grip has weakened, and her right shoulder hurts at times, all from trying to generate power. She is tweaking her bike setups. She also has a new coach, former U.S. national team member Noah Middlestaedt, who’s providing a fresh look at everything she is doing.

Dana’s focus for now is on just giving it her all and try and being competitive, as opposed to a specific outcome or planning a full Paralympic quad. She’s enjoying this part of her journey, however long it will last.

“I have no expectations of really crushing in the competition or anything like that. I want to be up there on the podium, but if I’m not, I feel much more sanguine,” Dana said. “My career path in cycling has been a sort of a bell curve. I started off low, and I went up, up, up, up, stayed up there good five or six years. I’m just starting the downward slope now and that’s OK.

“I’ve had an awesome career, a lot of success, and I feel really happy and satisfied with that. But I’m not quite ready yet to let go completely. I’d rather stay in the game for a bit longer, if I have the fitness for it, I think I have a chapter or two left in me.”

Joanne C. Gerstner is a veteran sports journalist and book author, with a focus on Olympic and Paralympic sports. She has written for TeamUSA.com since 2009 as a freelance contributor on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.