Advertisements
Just thinking about the 2,500 miles Carlos Casillas rode in one month makes my legs burn. Trying to envision an average bike speed of 26 mph makes my head spin. Listening to him talk about baseball - That I can handle, but I digress.
Forty-five-year-old Carlos Casillas and his wife, Linda, have two daughters (Jasmine, 9, and Alissa, 6). Carlos lives in Davis and works for the Office of the California Attorney General in Sacramento, commuting daily by bike. The trip is 15.2 miles door to door and, yes, he rides in any weather. He says he prefers the heat and sports a Gortex body suit in the winter. The most radical conditions he’s endured were 50-mph winds with “sideways” rain. This leisurely trip usually takes him 50 minutes but, in these gale-force conditions, it took him more than 2 hours - most of which were by foot. Yes, he walked to Sacramento. After that experience, he vowed to never unnecessarily endanger his own life. With his daughters in the picture, there is no reason to push the envelope.
His passion for bike riding started nearly 40 years ago when Carlos would go on 12-mile bike rides in Illinois with his father. Carlos grew up a Cubs fan in the ghettos of Chicago. He was a scholar and an honor athlete. He saw a man get shot at the age of 12 and considers himself lucky because all of his old friends wound up dead, shot or in jail. He now says that Davis is a “Utopia” compared to where he grew up.
Forty-five-year-old Carlos Casillas and his wife, Linda, have two daughters (Jasmine, 9, and Alissa, 6). Carlos lives in Davis and works for the Office of the California Attorney General in Sacramento, commuting daily by bike. The trip is 15.2 miles door to door and, yes, he rides in any weather. He says he prefers the heat and sports a Gortex body suit in the winter. The most radical conditions he’s endured were 50-mph winds with “sideways” rain. This leisurely trip usually takes him 50 minutes but, in these gale-force conditions, it took him more than 2 hours - most of which were by foot. Yes, he walked to Sacramento. After that experience, he vowed to never unnecessarily endanger his own life. With his daughters in the picture, there is no reason to push the envelope.
His passion for bike riding started nearly 40 years ago when Carlos would go on 12-mile bike rides in Illinois with his father. Carlos grew up a Cubs fan in the ghettos of Chicago. He was a scholar and an honor athlete. He saw a man get shot at the age of 12 and considers himself lucky because all of his old friends wound up dead, shot or in jail. He now says that Davis is a “Utopia” compared to where he grew up.