Ep. 52: Aaron Scheidies sees things differently

This week we’re talking with many time para tri world and national champion, Aaron Scheidies. Aaron’s vision has been deteriorating since he was a kid and he now estimates he has about 10% vision—but he’s still one of the fastest guys out on the race course. He was the first blind athlete to break two hours in an Olympic distance race. He’s won seven world titles—but he’s never raced in triathlon at the Olympics.
He’s hoping to finally get that chance this summer, if everything goes according to plan. But as you’ll learn from Aaron’s story, nothing every goes according to plan for him. You can read his whole up-and-down journey to being a Paralympic cyclist in Rio here.
He tells us all about what it’s like to race with a guide, some of his crazier adventures as a para-cyclist, how he found triathlon as a kid, and how paratri has evolved over the years.
Listen to our chat with his guide and former pro, Ben Collins.
And before that we’re talking with our Laura Siddall for Sid Talks. Laura’s actually preparing to serve as a back-up guide in Tokyo for a blind British athlete, and she tells us a little about it from that side. Plus, we dissect all the racing now that racing has finally started again in the U.S. Is every field going to be stacked this year?
Listen to the transcript of the episode here.