From the Cuban heights to the Guinness book
By Aurelio Pedroso
HAVANA – The man who may well gain the world record for riding the tallest bicycle in the world faces two grave problems: falling to his death from a height of four, five, or eight meters or another impact no less harmful: being deported from the island’s capital to his place of birth, the city of Ciego de Ávila, about 500 kilometers west of Havana.
In these two dilemmas is involved right now Félix Ramón Guirola Cepero with almost 50 years on his back, a man who has traveled from highs to lows, such as the national podium of youth boxing in 1983 in Matanzas and the cells of a prison, more recently.
Our intrepid cyclist speaks with pride of his days as a boxer, a detail that he always warns when some on the street call him “clown” for his stunts on two wheels.
He has no objection about talking about the topic of prison, although I didn’t insist on it much. He explains that, wishing to do a favor for his disabled sister so she could amuse herself with television, he sent her a video recorder, which caused him to serve a prison term.
The deportation to his province of origin came up long after our interview, when he chose to pick up the phone and dial our office to give us the bad news. All this because of a muddled and almost inconceivable process of legal dispositions whose sole objective is to keep the capital’s population from growing, not because of the birth of new inhabitants but because of the arrival of new immigrants from the provinces.
His message bore the classical humor of the native Cuban, even in bitter days: “Listen, I have to take my bicycle to Ciego de Ávila.”
The thing is, Felix has been riding a bike since childhood. At 18, he began to invent things. One day, he tells, he saw a mechanic from the Cuban national cycle team riding a tandem, a two-seater, and told his mother: “I’m going to do that, too, only higher.”
So far, he owns the bike he rides daily (1.60 meter tall), the artistic one (3.45 meters), the one in the shop (5.50 meters) and another one under construction (8 meters.)
The investment has been his, all along, and he says that he must have invested about 15,000 Cuban pesos so far (about US$625). He has no sponsor, he’s not trying hard to get one but wouldn’t mind if someone supported his attempts to achieve glory in the heights.
Not long ago, an Italian retiree named Isidor Tomassi, who travels between Italy and Cuba, began to help him to acquire some accessories.
Both men have something in common: a love of poetry. When Felix told me that, I asked him to light a cigarette, puff away in his room in Old Havana and recite one of his poems. He did, and told me about a book he and his friend are preparing, which already has a title: “From Poet to Poet.”
Back to bicycle riding, he says much of the danger occurs when braking because that’s when a rider loses his balance. During a practical demonstration on Aguacate Street (Old Havana), he looked like a monkey, climbing down speedily to hold his giraffe-like bicycle.
Guirola Cepero, a relative of a revolutionary martyr for whom a baseball stadium in Ciego de Ávila was named (José Ramón Cepero) has a diploma in physical education but earns a living as a self-employed entrepreneur, producing household articles.
To gain a spot in the Guinness Book of Records, he needs formal help and guidance, in which he has not made much headway. He says that months ago he submitted documentation and accreditation to an official at the British Embassy but hasn’t had a response.
While waiting, he continues to raise his bicycles and his boldness. Let’s hope that he doesn’t fall flat in his efforts and that the reply from the British Embassy doesn’t have to go all the way to Ciego de Ávila, because, as he says, paraphrasing a government slogan: “Isn’t Havana the capital of all Cubans?
