Watch this Colombian farmer speed past an ironman triathlete without breaking a sweat
LatestIf you’ve ever huffed and puffed while biking uphill, you need to take a look at this dude.
Two professional triathletes who are trying to bike across South America in record time recently got smoked on a steep uphill climb by a Colombian campesino who peddles past them on a single-speed bike while wearing jeans, carrying a heavy sack of food, and apparently not even breathing hard.
The old man, identified only as Luis, doesn’t even stand to pedal on his beaten-up city bike as he shoots past marathon bikers Axel Carrion and Andreas Fabricius during a lung-burning climb in the Andes mountains. The European bikers try to catch up to the Colombian man on their fancy race bikes, but fall back as Luis lengthens the distance between them.“Andreas is getting ridiculed right now,” huffs bikemate Carrion, who is filming the scene from behind. “We are in pain here,” he jokes.
The hilarious video was posted by Carrion on the Biking Man Facebook page last week, and has already been seen more than 2 million times. The clip has attracted local media coverage, and led to unexpected fame for Luis, who was apparently promised a new bike by a local TV station.
The video has also helped Carrion and Fabricius generate more interest in their cause. The triathletes, from France and Sweden, are undertaking a grueling 11,000-kilometer trip across South America to raise money for the Firemen Without Borders charity.
Fabricius and Carrion say they finally caught up to Luis and spoke to him after filming his breakaway speed.
“He’s a strong guy,” they told Spanish newspaper El Pais. “He told us he does lots of kilometers on the bike each day.”
The European bikers bumped into Luis on the second day of their expedition, which started in the Caribbean port of Cartagena. The athletes plan to make it all the way to Ushuaia, on the southern tip of Argentina in less than 58 days, setting a record for the fastest bike trip across South America.
The bikers are planning to travel at least 200 km each day to reach their goal, dipping down into tropical forests and climbing back up to 16,000-foot mountain passes in the process.
You can follow their adventures on the Biking Man Facebook page.
Manuel Rueda is a correspondent for Fusion, covering Mexico and South America. He travels from donkey festivals, to salsa clubs to steamy places with cartel activity.