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eyeballs are not otherwise occupied, I<br />
notice a few of our group leering there<br />
each and every lap. I think it’s less a<br />
case of nostalgia and more the result<br />
of superior circulation. Many have<br />
resting heart rates in the fifties and low<br />
sixties, more common to athletes in<br />
their twenties. They relish relaying their<br />
doctor’s classification of them as one in<br />
a million or freaks of nature.<br />
There is an addictive quality to<br />
the audible hum and gentle vibration<br />
produced from chains driven by pedals<br />
whirling at ninety revolutions<br />
per minute, pushing us through<br />
the air in unison. We all share<br />
that need for self-produced<br />
speed. These elder statesmen’s<br />
addiction to endorphins is<br />
no less pronounced than in<br />
younger athletes, if not more<br />
so. Unless there is a crash,<br />
which is extremely rare for this<br />
experienced group, and as long<br />
as you are properly fitted on the<br />
bike, injuries are almost nonexistent.<br />
Regardless, everyone<br />
in our group wears a helmet.<br />
Rubén is eighty-three.<br />
He rides with a titanium hip.<br />
You could not meet a happier<br />
person spinning around with<br />
the pack. Two years ago, in the<br />
slow lane, a young distracted triathlete<br />
ran into his rear wheel and knocked<br />
him off his bike and onto his fake hip. It<br />
was clearly the triathlete’s fault. Rubén<br />
was in the hospital for a year, half of<br />
that time fighting for his life because of<br />
infections. One day I saw someone else<br />
riding his bicycle and feared the worst.<br />
I asked around and was told that in fact<br />
that was his old bike. He was still alive<br />
but had sold the bike because he was<br />
homebound. That was then. Now go<br />
there on any given Tuesday, Thursday<br />
or Saturday and you will see him on his<br />
new bike with an even bigger smile on<br />
his face.<br />
‘El Uruguayo’, also known as ‘El<br />
Gato’, is eighty, yet has the spirit and<br />
friendliness of a teenager. His bike and<br />
equipment date to a past generation<br />
but he still keeps up with everybody<br />
without sweating too much into his<br />
faded wool jersey. I ride one of the latest<br />
high-tech ‘Ferraris’ of bikes and I often<br />
wear out before he does. I asked him<br />
why this is. He told me, “Because I never<br />
stopped.”<br />
Still another friend, Enrique, is<br />
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