Huntington Beach’s Waite Weathers Pain to Win Bicycle Race in San Diego

SAN DIEGO —  He had only two days rest after the nationals. He couldn’t move his right arm over his shoulder, and he was just coming off two 200-meter heats.

It sounded as if 24-year-old John Waite of Huntington Beach was making excuses. But this was after winning the gold medal in the kilometer bicycling event at the San Diego Velodrome during the opening day of the California State Games.

Despite a piercing pain shooting through his right shoulder on the start, Waite got out to the early lead and maintained it. He won in 1 minute 14.61 seconds, nearly two seconds ahead of San Diego’s Arnie Baker (1:16.03). Peter McCurdy, Baker’s teammate at Cyclo West, placed third at 1:16.60.

And about those excuses? Turns out Waite claimed the gold in the same event one year ago in 1:10.03--more than four seconds quicker.

“My start was slower than I would have liked because of my shoulder,” Waite said. “I tried to ignore it and tell myself to go all out for three laps and let it hurt later, but that first pedal stroke, it felt like my arm was coming off.”

Waite, who builds racing bikes, also qualified first in the 200-meter time trial and 200-meter quarterfinals, putting him in today’s semifinals.

At the nationals last weekend in Seattle, he placed among the top 12 before he was knocked out in the 200 meters.

“This is fun because the program itself is a little more relaxed,” Waite said. “It’s just that the way they promote the thing is conducive to going fast because you have a relaxed state of mind.”