Where so many rainbow jerseys have led Tristen Chernove
“I’ve never been chasing rainbows,” said Tristen Chernove. The paracyclist has 12 world champion jerseys. At his track worlds debut in 2016, he won gold in the individual pursuit. In 2017, the C2-level rider held the world title for every road and track event he could possibly compete in. This past March, he won the scratch race and omnium at the paracycling track worlds in Apeldoorn, Netherlands.
About a week and a half after Chernove stood on the podium in Europe, he took a break during a drive from his home in Cranbrook, B.C., to Powell River with his family. He reflected on how his outlook on competition has changed throughout the past three years. “I was more internally driven. Now I look to some external factors to give me a bit more drive, like seeing riders like Keely, who I can be an example for,” said Chernove, naming another Canadian who stood on the podium at para track worlds, 24-year-old Keely Shaw.
One of Chernove’s more personal motivations is to show his two daughters, ages 11 and 8, just what someone with Charcot-marie-tooth syndrome can accomplish. Both of his girls have a chance that they could suffer from cmt, a condition in which a body’s electrical signals stop reaching nerves away from the brain and spine. As the signals fade, so do muscles. After Chernove competed in the Paralympics in 2016, he became more than just a role model for his own children. “After Rio, I received more than 100 emails from all around the world in the disability community, a lot of them from people with cmt. Many parents told me stories about their kids. My being able to have an impact, being able to show them different possibilities, was incredible,” he said. Recently, he rode on the track with a young teenage rider with cmt in Burnaby, B.C., and offered advice.
Chernove’s on-bike career may not centre on winning championship jerseys, but the effects of those successes go beyond the rainbows.— MP