Clothes don't make this man. What's underneath does.
Bulging biceps, massive arms and a broad chest propelled Peruski to victory in the six-day, 227-mile Sadler's Alaska Challenge handcycle race that ended Saturday at Mountain View's Davis Park.
Peruski, a grade-school teacher from Linden, Mich., schooled a field of eight by winning six of seven stages. Along the way on his journey from Fairbanks to Anchorage, Peruski provided some on-the-job training for runner-up Brant Schalk, a promising talent from Fairbanks.
"Keeping up with him was tough, and he was towing (me) part of the time," said Schalk, who placed second to Peruski in the first six stages before winning Saturday's final stage, an 8 1/4-mile time trial on the Glenn Highway.
Once a bodybuilder -- no surprise there -- Peruski used his considerable upper-body strength to average 14.2 mph for an overall time of 15 hours, 30 minutes, 21 seconds. Schalk was 26 minutes behind in 15:56:22, almost two hours ahead of third-place Matt Robinson of Albuquerque, N.M.
Gathered at the finish line, Schalk and Peruski looked like the before and after photos from a home-gym commercial. Peruski weighs about 200 pounds, Schalk about 145, and Peruski's arms are maybe twice the size of Schalk's.
At first, Schalk thought that was maybe a good thing.
"I thought, 'That's more weight he's got to pull over the hills,' " Schalk said. "But I didn't have those deep reserves. This is a wearing-down kind of thing, and he just had more. I wasn't intimidated -- we worked together quite a bit -- but he always ended up dropping me in the last five miles."
Peruski, 32, said he spends three hours a day working out. And in a circuitous way, it was a weight-lifting that led him to competitive handcycling.
"I did this race in 2006 because I wanted to bench 500 pounds and I was at a sticking point," Peruski said. "I was at 485 and couldn't pass it. Someone said, 'Do something with endurance,' so I came up here and did this race and my muscles had a chance to lengthen.
"About 10 months later I did 555 pounds and said I'm done. After that I decided I didn't want to lift those heavy weights any more."
Peruski, who teaches second-graders, and Schalk, a desktop technician at UAF, were both 21 when accidents left them paralyzed from the waist down in 2001. Peruski, 32, was in a car accident and Schalk, 31, flipped a four-wheeler.
"I was cruising around with my friends, mud-bogging, and I was on a pretty steep hill and flipped it on me," Schalk said. "Everything changed."
Schalk said he immediately knew his injuries were life-altering. After a day and a half in a Fairbanks hospital he was medevaced to Anchorage, where surgeons fused his body internally and externally.
The construction jobs he worked before his accident were no longer an option, but Schalk made a conscious choice to not despair.
"I made a quick decision to go back to school right away," he said. "I wanted to stay away from that phase I've heard of, of self-loathing and drug abuse. I said I'm not gonna do that. I got an associate's degree in IT and I'm pursuing a bachelor's degree in arts."
The continuing education extended to last week's race, during which Schalk and Peruski often raced together, with Schalk benefitting from Peruski's experience.
"Travis was here to show what more I need," he said.
Peruski, whose stage victories over Schalk ranged from a two-second margin in the 47-mile race from Ester to Nenana to a 13-minute edge in the 51-mile race from Nenana to Healy, said he was happy to oblige. Sometimes, that meant letting Schalk draft off him instead of breaking away.
"I probably sacrificed at the most five minutes (per stage), but I'd rather sacrifice that and help him out," Peruski said. "It's always nice to have somebody a little bit better than you, because it pushes you."
Reach Beth Bragg at bbragg@adn.com or 257-4335.
Sadler's Alaska Challenge
Saturday's results
8.25-mile time trial 1) Brant Schalk, Fairbanks, 21 minutes, 34 seconds; 2) Matt Robinson, Albuquergue, N.M., 22:12; 3) Mike O'Neill, Anchorage, 22:50; 4) Travis Peruski, Linden, Mich., 22:58; 5) Leon Bostick, Northridge, Calif., 23:33; 6) Mark Stever, Clearwater, Kan., 25:44; 7) Rick Gilliland, Kenai, 26:18; 8) Larry Coutermarsh, North Pole, 26:29.
Overall standings
227 miles, 7 stages
1) Peruski 15:30:21; 2) Schalk 15:56:22; 3) Robinson 17:41:42; 4) O'Neill 19:05:07; 5) Gilliland 22:02:40; 6) Bostick 23:37:43; 7) Stever 24:14:46; 8) Coutermarsh 24:39:55.
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