Photo courtesy of Bill Seitz.
Seitz, left, and Cravens, right, have quickly made waves internationally as a new and young tandem Para cycling duo. The sport is known for long-established and experienced teams.
They’re young and they’re fast.
From Vestavia Hills to Boulder, Colorado, new tandem Para cycling duo Will Seitz and Owen Cravens are working to turn a long-distance biking partnership into a place on Team USA at the 2028 Paralympic Games in Los Angeles.
In just a year of knowing each other, the pair have garnered attention at international competitions in a sport traditionally known for age, experience and longevity.
“In some ways it’s good because we don’t have any learned bad habits, and in some ways it’s bad because we don’t have any learned good habits,” said Seitz, a mechanical engineer and a 2020 graduate of Vestavia Hills High School. “For me, it’s sort of an obsession with figuring out a way to win.”
Seitz and Cravens each held a passion for elite challenge and relentless competition dating back to their childhoods.
They have already won Para nationals and stood on a World Cup podium in Thailand. In time trials, Seitz said they average around 33 to 34 miles an hour, sometimes reaching about 37 miles an hour.
“We both have our skill sets, so we help each other,” Cravens said. “It works out pretty well when we’re together.”
Their journey continues this month, Sept. 4-7, as they compete in the Union Cycliste Internationale Para Cycling Road World Championships in Huntsville. Known as the highest level of world championship competition outside of the Paralympic Games, this is only the second time the USA has hosted the competition.
In Para cycling, Cravens provides most of the pedaling power as the “stoker,” riding in the back. He relies on Seitz, the sighted “pilot,” for steering, positioning and every decision that keeps them upright in a crowded pack.
Photo by Kelli S. Hewett.
Veteran cyclist Will Seitz of Vestavia Hills is pursuing tandem Para cycling at the world level as a sighted “pilot” for a new tandem Para cycling team. Seitz, a mechanical engineer, is a 2020 graduate of Vestavia Hills High School.
Seitz grew up in a cycling family, tagging along with his dad, Bill, to races and getting on a race bike pretty early. By age 5 he was competing. By 10, he was on the start line at a world championships in Denmark.
“I enjoy riding my bike,” Seitz said, “but I think the competitive side is more fun.”
That focus now plays out on the front of a tandem, where Seitz makes tactical calls and tries to translate his years of experience to a discipline that handles very differently from solo racing.
Cravens’ path came through a diagnosis that changed his relationship with sports.
He grew up outside Chicago, playing competitive soccer and swimming. At 10, he was diagnosed with Stargardt disease, a form of juvenile macular degeneration that destroyed his central vision. He still sees out of his periphery.
“You basically can’t see directly in front of you,” Cravens said.
As his vision changed, he moved more into Para swimming and cross-country and, through the adaptive organization Dare2Tri, into triathlon and then international Para competition.
After the Paris Paralympic Games, he started considering Para cycling. On the bike leg, he already felt at home.
“I was one of the best cyclists in Para triathlon, so it was pretty natural to transition,” Cravens said.
A mutual friend, Alabama Paralympian Aaron Scheides, who also has Stargardt, connected the two men.
For Cravens, the move had a clear goal.
“I love cycling and I love triathlon and I want to represent myself and my country at the L.A. Games and this is the best route for me to accomplish that goal,” Cravens said. “There are much cheaper sports out there, but this is the best route to get to have a platform. This is very much a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
For Seitz, the partnership met a very specific way of looking at the sport.
While they were talking, before they ever raced together internationally, Seitz was pulling numbers and building models.
Using aerodynamic data and power files from training, Seitz said he ran calculations in Excel and MATLAB.
“I’ve been able to calculate and estimate that we were international quality before we even raced,” Seitz said. “We went into the first race knowing on paper we were good, and from then on we’ve been figuring out all the things that we didn’t know.”
Photo courtesy of Bill Seitz.
Seitz, right, has partnered with Owen Cravens, left, of Colorado, who has visual impairment. The pair are set to compete in Huntsville September 4-7 at the Union Cycliste Internationale Para Cycling Road World Championships.
On race days, their speed comes from a custom tandem they helped design, built by a manufacturer in California from cut-up existing frames and a mix of stock and one-off parts.
Their bike started as an idea Cravens mocked up.
After seeing a European team’s bike that had been created by combining two frames, Cravens began splicing together different bikes in Photoshop and then showed the concept to Seitz.
They worked with a builder in California who cut and joined existing frames, then added custom parts.
Seitz estimates they spent $25,000 to $30,000 on their bike, and they hope to raise funding for a second one — a smart option in multi-race competitions where one accident can derail an entire race effort.
When they line up, Seitz said, they’re often beside international competitors with government funding. For example, French tandems made by Airbus cost about $50,000 each, in programs he believes outspend their project about 20-1.
“Their salaries are, per rider, more than our whole budget,” Seitz said.
A considerable amount of their time goes into fundraising and seeking sponsorships. Like many Olympic athletes in training, their families help support their competition goals and dreams.
Cravens trains in Boulder, riding alongside professional triathletes such as Tokyo Olympian Kevin McDowell. He stacks training hours on top of online business classes through Arizona State University.
“It’s pretty much a full time job,” Cravens said. “When you’re not training, you’re recovering for your next training sessions.”
For Seitz, the sport is all-consuming, as well.
He estimates he trains 20 to 25 hours a week — 1,100 hours year-round — on the bike, not including several days a week of gym time.
Then there is refinement, care, maintenance and upgrading of the bike and equipment.
“It’s very much a friendship,” Cravens said. “But then we have our goals, and racing definitely can be emotional.”
The pair keep a packed calendar.
Short-term, in addition to competing in Huntsville this month, Seitz and Cravens are looking to national track championships — which they plan to enter without prior experience on a track tandem — and Cravens’ triathlon world championships.
Photo courtesy of Will Seitz.
Cravens, left, and Seitz, second from left, hope to move a step closer to their dream of competing in the 2028 Paralympic Games in Los Angeles.
Longer term, Seitz’s sights are on the Paralympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028.
“Obviously, the big goal is the Paralympic Games,” Seitz said. “That’s where all the funding is. That’s where all the money is. The goal is to win there or at least medal.”
Seitz also has an eye on the tandem hour record, the distance a team can ride in 60 minutes on a velodrome, a sports arena with a banked oval for track cycling.
“There’s a world record that’s pretty easy. I think we could break it tomorrow,” Seitz said. “I really want to take a shot for it. I think a world record would be fun.”
For all the calculations, travel and financial strain, Seitz said the basic reason he keeps at it hasn’t changed much since he was a kid racing in Denmark.
“It’s fun to race,” Seitz said. “There are so many ways you can calculate on how you could win in a spreadsheet, and the real fun is figuring out how to make that happen.”
For more on the duo’s Para cycling, visit americantandemproject.com.
