The Long Hard Ride of Damian Lopez Alfonso

WITH only the tips of his elbows touching his bicycle's upturned handlebars, Damian Lopez Alfonso pedaled along the Hudson River bike path on a cool March day. His balancing act elicited stares from disbelieving pedestrians and curious double-takes from fellow cyclists.
Because not only does Mr. Alfonso ride his bike without forearms, lost in a devastating childhood accident, but he also rides it very, very fast.

Tracy Lea first witnessed his unorthodox cycling method during a race outside Havana nearly eight years ago.

Ms. Lea, a former elite racer from Maryland, found herself in a ragtag pack of riders on a highway pocked with ''car eating'' potholes outside the Cuban capital. ''I'm worried about these guys in tight, fast conditions,'' she remembered thinking, ''and all of a sudden, I'm racing next to a guy with no arms!''

She watched as he powered through the course, lifting his body to shift gears with the nubs of his elbows or press down on the brakes. ''Then I realized he had more control than most of the people in the race,'' she said.

Despite his disadvantages, Mr. Alfonso, 34, has won local competitions at home in Cuba and he races nearly every weekend against able-bodied cyclists in informal events. But the alterations to his bike that allow him to do so -- turning the handlebars nearly 180 degrees upward, so the brakes and gear shifters face him -- have also kept him out of officially sanctioned international competitions, which have strict equipment rules.

But not for much longer.

In July, Mr. Alfonso is scheduled to race in Canada, the first event on his road to qualifying for the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. If all goes well, it will be the culmination of a nearly decade-long journey for Mr. Alfonso, a story of sudden tragedy, grim determination and a little help from a lot of perfect strangers in a bicycling community thousands of miles away.

Article by "Mr.J. David Goodman"