Just a few weeks ago on July 5, Joe Beimfohr and his former military buddies celebrated their fifth "Alive Day."

"It's the day that we came so close to death," Beimfohr said about the time in Iraq when his patrol walked into a bomb buried under their path. "It's just kind of like a second birthday for us."

That was five years ago. Now Beimfohr, of Annandale, Va., is more than just alive — he's thriving in athleticism.

After losing both legs in war, Beimfohr became an avid handcyclist about two years ago, and soon after took up competing in the sport. He's now a member of the Paralyzed Veterans of America's (PVA) handcycling team.

Beimfohr's newfound hobby has taken him on a different kind of tour of duty — to races in Florida, New York, South Carolina and even Montreal, Canada.

He plans to roll into Lancaster Saturday, July 24, when the Grandview Grand Prix bike race in Manheim Township's Grandview Heights neighborhood opens its starting gate to handcyclers for the first time.

"Bicycle racing in Lancaster County is a pretty big sport," said Jack Poplar, an avid bicyclist who is the program/clinical director at Acadia Inc., a physical therapy and rehabilitation clinic in Lancaster and one of this year's race sponsors.

Poplar, also a 10-year United States Cycling official, said plenty of his neighbors in Grandview Heights were interested in biking and wanted to have a race in the neighborhood. This year, Poplar and his friend, Mike Doupe, organized the race, which was founded by Rich Ruoff eight years ago.

"We made it a bigger and a more community-oriented event," Poplar said. "What's unique this year is that we're integrating a handcycling event in the bike race itself."

The handcycling race will be held in conjunction with the typical bike race, yet as a separate event. Participants will race in what Poplar described as "modified wheelchairs" made of Kevlar and equipped with lightweight wheels.

"The mission of United States Handcycling is to provide opportunities for wheelchair users to integrate into traditional bicycle races," Poplar said. "They just happen to use a different type of bike."

Poplar said that USA Cycling is doing its best to introduce handcycling events into today's cycling culture.

According to Poplar, the U.S. Hand Cycling Federation, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, has put the upcoming Grandview race on its national challenger. The July 24 competition is one of the U.S. Handcycling Series — 37 individual races at 19 events — and is the only U.S. Handcycling Federation event in the mid-Atlantic this year.

Poplar said such an integration —handcyclists with traditional bicyclists — "fits in with what I do" at Acadia, "integrating people back into the community."

He expects about 25 handcyclists from Pennsylvania and across the country, including teams from the Pennsylvania Center for Adaptive Sports and the PVA, as well as United States Handcycling members, to turn out for the race.

Chris Kaag, a well-known handcyclist and Paralympian from Reading, plans to attend.

Kaag, a former Marine who was diagnosed with a degenerative nerve disorder in 1997, said he "got interested in handcycling as an alternative."

"Just because you have a disability doesn't mean you can't compete," said Kaag, who uses a wheelchair and raced in the handcycling division of the 2004 Marine Core Marathon in Arlington, Virginia.

Kaag also owns Corps Fitness, a gym based in Reading. He founded the I'm Able Foundation, which sponsors the Got the Nerve? Triathlon to raise money and promote awareness for the Myelin Project, an organization that supports research for nerve damage-related disorders.

"I think it's remarkable," Kaag said about the incorporation of handcycling into this year's Grandview race. "It makes a huge statement about the acceptance of disabled athletes. The disabled athletes I'm around nowadays are tremendous athletes and need to be recognized as such," Kaag said.

Geoff Hopkins, associate director of sports and recreation with the PVA, is a veteran and wheelchair user who has been handcycling for about 10 years.

Hopkins said the PVA plans on sending a six- to eight-member team to the Grandview race.

According to Hopkins, the team does several races around the country. Members will travel to Indianapolis in August and to the USA Cycling Championships in Greenville, South Carolina, where handcycling is an included event.

"Once they see us and they include a handcyclist, they see that it's a worthwhile cause," Hopkins said. "We're cyclists too."

Hopkins said that the U.S. Handcycling Federation is working with PVA to encourage traditional bike races across the country to include handcycling events.

"We're not any different than the able-bodied cyclists," Hopkins said. "We have that same competitive edge."

Beimfohr certainly does.

A member of the PVA team, he plans on trying out for the Paralympic handcycling team next year.

And while he said the Grandview criterium, or "crit" race is not really his style, "I'm just trying to improve my skill and my speed," said Beimfohr, who usually prefers longer races, even marathons, over the short, multiple-circuit event that will take place later this month.

"Now this is the only thing I do full time," Beimfohr said about racing.

He said he likes to race with "team captain" Hopkins "a few times a week."

"It was really great, helping him on our team get out and get back into society," Hopkins said about Beimfohr.

"This is a neat way to show the potential that human beings have," Poplar said.

"These are athletes first, who happen to have lower mobility impairment, but that's sort of secondary," he said.

The 5k race is located in the Grandview Heights neighborhood of Manheim Township. The course goes straight down Grandview Boulevard, left onto Janet Avenue for one block, left on Cameron, right on Martha for one block, right on McGrann, left on Janet for one block and finally left back onto Grandview Boulevard.

tbundy@lnpnews.com