Episode 142: El ciclista nómada (The Bike Nomad) - Revisited

Ever since he was a kid, Rafa Millan-Garcia got through tough times by getting on his bike and pedaling alone for miles. But after one very long bike ride took him 1,700 miles from his home in Mexico City to Colorado, this nomad found a community that he never wanted to leave.

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Martina: Hola, listeners! This season of the Duolingo Spanish Podcast, we are revisiting some of our favorite stories about people and their animal friends…stories that show just how amazing that bond can be.

Today’s episode is from November 2021, and it takes us on an international adventure. It starts in Mexico with Rafa Millan-García, who one day decided to ride his bike all the way to Colorado! But he didn’t do it alone. By his side was his faithful companion, his dog Rosco. Find out what Rafa learned on his journey, and stay tuned until the end of the episode to hear what he’s been up to. Here we go!

Martina: In 2001, Rafa Millan-Garcia set off for a long bike ride, leaving his hometown of Mexico City. His only companion was his dog, Rosco, who tagged along in a cart, hitched to the back of his bike. At first, Rafa didn’t have any destination in mind…but his trip would end up spanning weeks, and countries.

Rafa: Yo no tenía ningún plan. Mi único objetivo era llegar al norte. Paraba cuando quería y conocía a mucha gente en el camino. Pasaron varios meses hasta que finalmente llegué a Colorado para visitar a un amigo de México. Viví muchas cosas durante el viaje, pero ver the Rocky Mountains, o las Montañas Rocosas, es una experiencia que nunca olvidaré.

Martina: Today, Rafa can look out and see the peaks of the Rocky Mountains every day from the window of the highest bike shop in the United States. It sits more than 10,000 feet above sea level. What’s more, Rafa owns this bike shop. It’s called “Leadvelo Bicicasa.”

Rafa: Abrí Leadvelo Bicicasa en 2019. Esta no es una típica tienda de bicicletas comerciales, sino un servicio para la comunidad. Todas las personas son bienvenidas, aún quienes no saben montar. Escogí el nombre “Leadvelo Bicicasa” porque quiero que sea como una familia y que la gente se sienta como en casa. Mi bicicasa es su casa.

Martina: But how Rafa ended up making this community and bike shop into a new home — all started with a wandering journey, more than 1,700 miles long.

Rafa: Mi plan nunca fue quedarme, solo sucedió. Así es como vivo mi vida, un día a la vez. Mi bicicleta decidió llevarme a Colorado y por eso estoy aquí.

Martina: Bienvenidos and welcome to the Duolingo Spanish Podcast. I’m Martina Castro. We’re dedicating this season to you, our listeners. Over the last 12 seasons, you’ve written to us by email and social media, you’ve called and left us voicemails with wonderful suggestions for stories. So, this episode, like the rest of this season, comes from your ideas.

Martina: Today we begin with a message from Matt in Colorado.

Matt: Hey! I've been working my way through your podcast from the beginning and while I still have a ways to go, I wanted to say thanks and share an episode idea. I live in Leadville, Colorado, at 10,000 feet, and we have a bike shop in town that is owned by someone whose life I think would make a great episode.

Martina: Thanks, Matt. Today our story starts in Mexico City.

As always, the storyteller will be using intermediate Spanish and I’ll be chiming in for context in English. If you miss something, you can always skip back and listen again. We also offer full transcripts at podcast.duolingo.com.

Martina: Growing up in Mexico City, Rafa loved going to bike shops, or tiendas de bicicletas, with his father. They often went downtown to Avenida San Pablo, where there was a bike shop on almost every block. They were all family-owned and had names like “Bicicasa Gonzalez” and “Bicicasa Rodriguez.”

Rafa: En la Ciudad de México a veces llamábamos “bicicasas” a las tiendas de bicicletas. Yo iba a diferentes tiendas y miraba cómo los mecánicos hacían las reparaciones. Yo podía estar allí durante horas. Las tiendas eran como una comunidad, eran mucho más que un negocio. Ahí yo me sentía en casa.

Martina: As Rafa got older, he enjoyed his actual home less and less. His parents wanted him to have a professional career, but he wasn’t interested in that. His bicycle was his escape. Whenever he got into an argument with his parents, he would hop on his bike and ride around the city.

Rafa: En la bicicleta me sentía libre. Podía ir a cualquier lugar y nada me podía parar, pero mis padres y yo no estábamos de acuerdo en eso. Ellos querían que yo tomara la ruta tradicional en la vida: graduarme de la universidad y conseguir un trabajo en una empresa. Yo no quería eso. Entonces, cuando me gradué de la escuela secundaria, me monté en mi bicicleta y me fui.

Martina: After high school, in 1994, Rafa biked thousands of miles to Chicago, then California, and eventually back to Mexico City. In all, he spent six months on his bike. But Rafa never stayed anywhere for long. He called himself “a human tumbleweed,” moving from place to place, like a nomad.

Rafa: Yo soy un nómada y sigo la ruta de la vida sin ningún plan. Pero cuando llegué a la Ciudad de México, conocí a una chica y todo cambió. Nos enamoramos y estuvimos juntos durante cuatro años. Pero después nos separamos, y mi corazón se rompió en mil pedazos. No sabía qué hacer. Y, como siempre, cuando no sé qué hacer, me monto en mi bicicleta…

Martina: After his breakup, Rafa sold all his belongings in Mexico City. He packed a small bag and decided to ride north, like before. But this time, he would bring his best friend — his dog, Rosco. He was a street dog with shiny black hair. Rafa couldn’t leave without him, so he put Rosco in a cart behind his bike. He didn’t know where they were headed…but Rafa’s plan was to keep pedaling until his heart was healed.

Rafa: Iba en bicicleta de un pueblo a otro y, cuando tenía hambre, paraba. Todos fueron muy amables conmigo. La gente me daba comida y me ofrecía lugares para quedarme.

Martina: Everyone Rafa met along the way was curious to know why he was riding a bike with a dog all the way from Mexico City. Strangers would ask him questions like…

Rafa: “¿Quién es este hombre en bicicleta con su perro? ¿De dónde vienes? ¿Adónde vas? ¿Qué comes? ¿Dónde duermes?”. Hacían todo tipo de preguntas. En mi aventura, también hice muchos amigos.

Martina: Rafa wasn’t in a rush to go anywhere. His trip wasn’t about the next destination — it was about escaping and healing emotionally.

Rafa: Estaba triste y me sentía miserable por la separación. Solo quería montarme en mi bici y pedalear. Sin embargo, después de la separación, me sentí libre de nuevo y recuperé mi autonomía. Podía hacer de todo sin explicarle nada a nadie.

Martina: So, whenever Rafa met someone interesting, he stuck around for a few days. If he wanted to explore a local spot, he did. If he needed money, he’d ask for work. He cleaned restaurants floors and loaded trucks — whatever he could do to earn a meal. Rafa wanted to keep going north, which meant he had to cross the border between Mexico and the United States. This was back in 2001, it was a calmer time at the border.

Rafa: Yo tenía la suerte de tener una visa de turista, así que no estaba preocupado por cruzar la frontera, pero no sabía si me iban a interrogar. En realidad, no sabía qué iba a pasar. Cruzar la frontera en bicicleta no es algo que se ve todos los días.

Martina: But the crossing went smoothly. The border patrol didn’t search Rafa’s things and let him pass without any hassle.

Rafa: En camino hacia el norte, decidí visitar a un amigo mexicano en Colorado que estaba estudiando en Fort Collins. Pero en realidad, pasaron meses antes de poder llegar allá. Conocí a gente maravillosa en el viaje y vi muchísimos lugares hermosos. Sin embargo, cuando entré en Colorado y vi por primera vez las Montañas Rocosas cubiertas de nieve, sentí algo que nunca había sentido.

Martina: Rafa arrived in Colorado in December of 2001. He had biked more than 1,700 miles. He had seen dozens of cities and towns, three states, and two countries. He rode through deserts, alongside forests and crossed over the Rio Grande. But of all those places, something about Colorado felt special to Rafa.

Rafa: Crecí en la Ciudad de México. Allí tenemos un clima templado durante todo el año. Así que yo no estaba acostumbrado al frío, pero cuando llegué a Colorado, me encantó la nieve, las montañas, ¡todo!

Martina: Rafa stayed with his friend for a few weeks. Then the college semester was ending, so his friend was headed back to Mexico to spend the holidays with his family. Rafa didn’t feel like he was done traveling. His heartbreak had mostly healed, but he still wanted to wander more on his bike.

Rafa: Pensaba que iba a volver al sur, pero una tormenta de nieve muy fuerte llegó a la ciudad. Las carreteras estaban cerradas; nadie podía salir y menos en bicicleta.

Martina: Rafa was stranded. His friend had already flown home to Mexico. Rafa didn’t know anywhere he could stay during the snowstorm, except by the train tracks, or las vías del tren.

Rafa: No tenía ningún lugar en donde quedarme y tampoco sabía adónde ir, así que puse mi carpa cerca de las vías del tren. La nieve caía con tanta fuerza que apenas se podía ver. Mi perro Rosco y yo esperamos.

Martina: Rafa was alone in a tent, or carpa, near the train tracks in Fort Collins, Colorado. He huddled with his dog Rosco and waited for the snow to stop. Fortunately, some locals saw his tent and invited him to stay at their place.

Rafa: Era una casa compartida con un grupo de amigos de 30 años, como yo. Nos llevamos bien inmediatamente. Nos gustaba la misma música, el arte, la política y, lo más importante, todos amábamos las bicicletas.

Martina: Rafa figured he would crash at their house for a few days, wait out the storm and then go on his way. But after the storm, he decided to stay.

Rafa: No tenía un plan, simplemente vivía un día a la vez como siempre lo hago. Y me enamoré del lugar.

Martina: Fort Collins is a university town with a thriving arts and culture scene. It sits at the base of the Rocky Mountains and offers lots of hiking, skiing, and other outdoor activities. Most importantly for Rafa, it has a booming cycling community.

Rafa: Montaba en bicicleta con mis nuevos amigos todos los días, explorando el área y las montañas. En poco tiempo, comencé a conocer a la comunidad. Empecé a trabajar como voluntario en diferentes lugares. Conocí a muchas personas increíbles.

Martina: While living in Fort Collins, Rafa realized that the community needed a bike shop that was affordable and accessible to people from all walks of life. So he opened a makeshift repair shop in his friends’ garage. He helped people without stable housing, single moms, and immigrants.

Rafa: Más y más personas venían a verme, así que comencé a reparar las bicis en el garaje de la casa donde me estaba quedando. Las personas venían y yo las ayudaba con sus bicicletas. Todo lo hice por la comunidad, no lo hacía para ganar dinero. Solo quería ayudar a la gente haciendo lo que más me gustaba: hablar y estar en contacto con las bicicletas.

Martina: More and more, people were coming to his shop for help with their bikes. So it came as a surprise when one day, Rafa learned that someone had complained, or se quejó.

Rafa: Un día, recibí una llamada de la ciudad y me dijeron que un vecino se quejó porque yo tenía una tienda ilegal de bicicletas. Dijeron que si no dejaba de trabajar, iba a tener que pagar mil dólares por día. Fue un shock emocional… Yo no estaba ganando dinero, solo estaba ayudando a las personas.

Martina: Rafa knew people in the community depended on his shop for affordable or even free repairs. He wasn’t going to give up so easily on the one place where he truly felt at home. So Rafa stormed into city hall, determined to fight the case.

Rafa: La secretaria de la ciudad dijo que solo un vecino se había quejado. No lo podía creer… ¡Todo esto por un vecino! Le dije: “Puedo reunir doscientas firmas ahora mismo de vecinos que le dirán que no es un negocio y que no estoy ganando dinero”.

Martina: To run a business in Fort Collins, the city required people to register and obtain an official license, something Rafa did not have. He didn’t realize he needed one because he wasn’t making any money from the bike shop. The clerk said that didn’t matter.

Rafa: Ella me dijo: “Esa es la ley. Tiene que dejar de trabajar en su garaje e irse a un espacio comercial. No hay otra opción”.

Martina: Rafa was angry. He was trying to give back to the community that had given him so much. And in return, he was likely going to be fined thousands of dollars. He didn’t think it was fair.

Rafa: Cuando se lo dije a la gente de la ciudad, todos me ofrecieron su apoyo y fueron conmigo al ayuntamiento. Nuestro objetivo era encontrar un pequeño espacio comercial en la ciudad.

Martina: After two years of offering repairs out of his friends’ garage, Rafa finally opened an official bike shop in 2003. But it wasn’t a typical commercial business. It was a co-op, meaning it was a non-profit. It was run for and by the community. Instead of sponsors or government funding, they relied on grants and donations. It became the first community bike shop in Colorado.

Rafa: Mi plan nunca fue abrir mi propia tienda de bicicletas, simplemente sucedió, pero cambió mi vida para siempre.

Martina: Rafa ran the shop just like the one out of his garage. Anyone was welcome. He taught young kids how to ride their first bike. He showed more experienced cyclists tips and tricks. And now, Rafa had the resources to give people their own bikes, free of charge.

Rafa: Como era una tienda real, la gente dejaba sus bicicletas viejas y nosotros podíamos dárselas a las personas que no podían comprarse una. Por ejemplo, a las personas sin hogar, a las madres solteras y a los inmigrantes. Tener una bicicleta les da libertad a las personas y las ayuda a sentirse mejor. Poder hacer eso fue tan hermoso.

Martina: Rafa wanted to keep the shop accessible, so he accepted informal payments. A lot of his customers did chores around the shop in exchange for bike repairs. Sometimes moms gave him tamales for helping their kids. Money didn’t matter to Rafa. What he cared about was his love of bikes and sharing that freedom with others.

Rafa: Desde que abrí la tienda he tenido la oportunidad de ver hermosos resultados. Por ejemplo, una vez me encontré con una persona sin hogar a quien le di una bicicleta. También he visto montando bicicleta a niños que aprendieron a hacerlo conmigo. Las personas que no podían pagar las reparaciones ahora pueden montar y disfrutar de las bicicletas. ¡Por esta razón hago mi trabajo!

Martina: Over the next 10 years, the co-op kept growing. They provided bikes to schools and nonprofits. They trained the local search and rescue team. They even shipped bikes to Africa and South America. But the more the shop grew, the more time Rafa spent in the office, filling out paperwork and applying for grants. And the less time he spent doing what he truly cared about: riding and repairing bikes.

Rafa: Nunca estudié cómo manejar una empresa formalmente y, por esta razón, no sabía cuánto trabajo administrativo iba a tener que hacer. A veces pasaba días enteros sin tocar una bicicleta.

Martina: Rafa didn’t know what to do. He could keep the shop running, or he could leave the co-op and go back to repairing bikes and riding freely. This decision was agonizing for him.

Rafa: Fue la decisión más difícil de mi vida, pero todo ese trabajo administrativo no me hacía feliz. Y, si no estaba feliz, no estaba dándoles lo mejor a mis clientes y a la comunidad. Entonces, decidí dejar de hacerlo.

Martina: In 2013, when Rafa broke the news to his co-workers, they were shocked. But they understood that he hadn’t made the decision lightly.

Rafa: Dejar de hacer ese trabajo fue muy difícil para mí, pero fue la decisión correcta. Yo quería tener una tienda de bicicletas, pero más pequeña para así poder hacer menos trabajo administrativo y más reparaciones. Sin embargo, primero tenía que hacer algo. Entonces, como lo había hecho después de mi separación, volví a montar mi bicicleta y me fui.

Martina: Rafa decided to go to another mountain town to work with some friends at a small bike shop. There, he could tinker with bikes all day. He stayed a while…but it didn’t feel quite like home. So he got on his bike and kept riding. Eventually, he ended up in an old mining town with about 3,000 people, called Leadville. It’s a three hour drive from Fort Collins — or about 18 hours by bike.

Rafa: Cuando llegué, fue amor a primera vista. Era mucho más tranquilo que Fort Collins, incluso más cerca de las montañas y había más rutas de bicicletas cerca. Aunque estaba en otro lugar, viví el mismo sentido de comunidad que sentí la primera vez que llegué a Colorado. Pensé: “¡Aquí puedo abrir mi nueva tienda! Una tienda para la comunidad, pero sin tanto trabajo administrativo”.

Martina: Rafa still wanted to follow the values of a community bike shop: anyone was welcome, regardless of their experience or income. But Rafa didn’t want to do office work. He wanted to fix bikes…exactly what he admired as a kid when he visited bike shops in Mexico. So he called his new store “Leadvelo Bicicasa.” It was a play on the town’s name and an international term for bike,velo. The shop’s name honored the places where he first fell in love with bikes.

Rafa: Abrí Leadvelo Bicicasa con una sola misión: todas las personas son bienvenidas. Mi objetivo era crear una tienda local donde la gente podía sentirse en casa. Algo similar a lo que yo sentía en las tiendas locales en México.

Martina: From time to time, Rafa visits his old bike shop and friends back in Fort Collins. It’s still the oldest, largest, and most successful community bike shop in the state of Colorado.

Rafa: Cada vez que regreso a esa primera tienda, me siento muy emocionado. Un nómada de México como yo, abrió la primera tienda comunitaria de bicicletas en Colorado. Y esa tienda sigue funcionando hoy después de dieciocho años. De verdad no puedo creerlo. Nunca tuve un plan en la vida, pero mientras estaba perdido, encontré mi camino.

Martina: As we wrap up today’s episode, we have a bittersweet update from Leadville, Colorado. Rafa Millan-García still has his bike shop there. But in the summer of 2023, he decided to take a break from work to cycle through Colombia. He reached out to let us know that Rosco is no longer traveling with him… He passed away a few years ago. Still, Rosco sometimes visits Rafa in his dreams. While he isn’t looking for another pet right now, Rafa trusts that life will guide him if another furry companion is meant to be. You can check out his latest adventure on his shop’s Instagram account, @leadvelobicicasa.

This story was originally produced by Paige Sutherland, a journalist in Boston. It was updated by Tali Goldman, a journalist and writer based in Buenos Aires.

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The Duolingo Spanish Podcast is produced by Duolingo and Adonde Media. I’m the executive producer and your host Martina Castro. ¡Gracias por escuchar!

Credits

This episode was produced by Duolingo and Adonde Media.