Man rides bike 4 meters above streets of Havana
Source: Agencies |
June 7, 2012, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
MANY people would be leery of cycling through chaotic downtown Havana, sharing its narrow, potholed streets with the darting scooters, incorrigible jaywalkers and hulking 1950s Detroit classics that clog every byway.
Felix Guirola does it every day, and not on just any bicycle. Guirola rides 4 meters above the ground atop his homemade super-tall bike, peering over pickups and even buses and without a helmet or other protective gear to break a fall.
"I feel good up high. I don't get nauseated or dizzy, nothing like that," the 48-year-old Guirola said. "Up there I see the scenery better. I feel relaxed. There's more of a breeze, I breathe it and I feel freer."
Since Guirola sold his home in the central province of Ciego de Avila and moved to Havana in November, the odd spectacle of him pedaling around town has become a daily occurrence. But neighbors still gawk, and smiling tourists whip out digital cameras.
"It's crazy. It must be difficult to keep his balance up there," said Rafael Trejo, 55, a motorist. "And when he comes to a stoplight, he must be a ninja to be able to climb down from there."
In fact, Guirola more resembles a daring child on a jungle gym than a deadly assassin. To mount, he has other people stabilize the bike while he scrambles up the metal frame. When a red light looms, he starts lowering himself while the bike's still in motion, leaps to the ground and grabs the frame before it can topple.
"It's easy. ... It's perfectly normal for me," said Guirola, an athletic man who practiced judo and boxing in his youth. "I never get scared, nor have I fallen, and I obey all traffic laws."
Guirola has been riding tall since 1983, when seeing a tandem bike inspired him. He said his first tall bike was 1.6 meters, and they got taller until five years later he was riding 5.5 meters in the air at Ciego de Avila carnivals.
That would put Guirola in the ballpark of a world record. Guinness World Records said it currently recognizes as the world's tallest rideable bicycle a 5.55-meter bike ridden more than 300 meters in 2004 by Canadian Terry Goertzen.
Felix Guirola does it every day, and not on just any bicycle. Guirola rides 4 meters above the ground atop his homemade super-tall bike, peering over pickups and even buses and without a helmet or other protective gear to break a fall.
"I feel good up high. I don't get nauseated or dizzy, nothing like that," the 48-year-old Guirola said. "Up there I see the scenery better. I feel relaxed. There's more of a breeze, I breathe it and I feel freer."
Since Guirola sold his home in the central province of Ciego de Avila and moved to Havana in November, the odd spectacle of him pedaling around town has become a daily occurrence. But neighbors still gawk, and smiling tourists whip out digital cameras.
"It's crazy. It must be difficult to keep his balance up there," said Rafael Trejo, 55, a motorist. "And when he comes to a stoplight, he must be a ninja to be able to climb down from there."
In fact, Guirola more resembles a daring child on a jungle gym than a deadly assassin. To mount, he has other people stabilize the bike while he scrambles up the metal frame. When a red light looms, he starts lowering himself while the bike's still in motion, leaps to the ground and grabs the frame before it can topple.
"It's easy. ... It's perfectly normal for me," said Guirola, an athletic man who practiced judo and boxing in his youth. "I never get scared, nor have I fallen, and I obey all traffic laws."
Guirola has been riding tall since 1983, when seeing a tandem bike inspired him. He said his first tall bike was 1.6 meters, and they got taller until five years later he was riding 5.5 meters in the air at Ciego de Avila carnivals.
That would put Guirola in the ballpark of a world record. Guinness World Records said it currently recognizes as the world's tallest rideable bicycle a 5.55-meter bike ridden more than 300 meters in 2004 by Canadian Terry Goertzen.
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