08/04/2016
Each month we highlight one of our Golden Rollers with a photo and short interview. Our conversations explore personal histories and address how staying active has benefitted their health and well-being as they grow older.. This month we meet Federico Garcia.
Name: Federico Garcia (aka Don Freddy)
Age: 67
Hometown: Austin, TX
Bike Experience: “a little bit”
Federico Garcia: “I knew I had diabetes, I’ve had it since I was 38. Then, a couple of years back, I developed congestive heart failure. I had hypertension. That all came together and then, after I retired, they found some thickening in my lungs. I went to a specialist and then they found out I had pulmonary fibrosis. There’s no cure for that, unless you have a lung transplant and I’m too old for that. So what you have to do is keep these lungs active.”
Golden Rollers: “You have to keep moving to survive.”
FG: “Not because I want to. Not because I want to look skinny. I just don’t have a choice.”
GR: “Had you done any regular cycling recently?”
FG: “When I was 61 or 62, I bought a regular bike, a Schwinn. Regular standard bike, bike wheels, big seat. I didn’t have my diabetes under control and I would fall and scrape my knees, and it would take me 2-3 months to get well. So I sold the bike.”
GR: “Do you ever feel worried about falling on the trikes?”
FG: “At first I didn’t know how to work it really well, and I was afraid. It took me a little while to figure it out, but then I figured it out. I did it slowly, I didn’t go real fast. I wasn’t in a race, I was just enjoying it. I think people that want to do this, it’s good to do it in a group so they get some support because not everybody’s going to be the same. And you all are encouraging, you all are there, and it just gives us the motivation to do it. Why stay home and watch TV and be a couch potato?”
Listen to the full interview here:
