It’s my 10th day living in Alejandro Carcano’s bicycle studio, and the last three days of my journey to the next stop on my visa.
Alejandro, who is always quiet, asked if I would paint the walls, as he wanted to redecorate the studio. I said I could try.
So we tore down an old wall in the backyard, sorted out the clutter to make room, and built a frame to paint the walls.
Alejandro climbed up the stairs and asked me to pass the steel beam up, and just as I was handing it to him, I noticed a slight tremor in his hand and then he suddenly froze and couldn’t move it.
I said “Let me do it, this thing is too heavy”, he said let me try again, so gritted his teeth, hard to the steel beam to hold up, and then sweaty panting on the steps, look at his appearance is a bit wrong, and asked what the situation, he laughed and said maybe the old health problems again.
I said, “You exercise every day, what else is wrong with you”, and he said, “It is cycling that continues my dream and life”, I was instantly shocked by the words in the translator.
“Can you tell me your story?” So I finally got to know the story behind this Argentinean.
Alejandro started showing symptoms seven years ago and after visiting several doctors, he received a clear diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.
“I went through moments of frustration and pain. At first, I closed myself off and shared recent events only with those closest to me,” he explains about his condition.
“When I realized that the situation was beyond me, I went to see a psychiatrist, who helped me achieve success a few months later. Today I feel like I can talk about it and share it because the illness is something that is with me and lives with me.” He looks so natural as he says this without a hint of fear or trepidation on his face.
Hawaii Triathlon: An Unfinished Dream
His first steps in the sport were as rocky as his work. “I was playing soccer with my brother when I broke my knee and started swimming in order to recover. In the pool where I was training, a colleague suggested I run a triathlon in Balladero. I loved it and then I started running, swimming, and cycling, just like I do everything in life: with all the enthusiasm I can muster”, Alejandro explains about his first contact with cycling.
“After I sold all my trucks, I opened another photo studio. At first, I distributed rolls and prints on a motorcycle, but after a while, I switched to a bike and combined my training with my work because I was running many kilometers a day”, Alejandro says.
For 10 years, he has been dedicated to triathlon and his focus has been on triathlons in Hawaii. The program has different distances, from shorter and faster races to the most iconic event, the Ironman: a 3.8-kilometer swim, a 180-kilometer bike, and a 42-kilometer run. ”
I have participated in 10 Ironmans and my best time was 10 hours and 10 minutes. My goal was to qualify for the World Cup in Hawaii. I was very close, just a few minutes away from reaching the necessary time, but it didn’t happen and ended up leaving me exhausted…”, Alejandro talked about his experience in competing in the triathlon with some regretful faces, but racing is not the same as life, mediocrity, and passion always accompany my life, and in his case, the ride has become life.
His passion for cycling
No longer disillusioned with triathlon, he turned to cycling with great success, competing in many prestigious races, but failing to become a professional athlete.
His contact with cycling opened the door to a new opportunity: “One day, Marcelo Alexander, the world champion of the scrambling kilometer, invited me to a sportive cycling course and I was hooked.
From then on, I started taking classes at Club Ocampo and training amateur cyclists.”
One student gave him some training advice and accompanied him on the 1,600-kilometer IncaDevide race at an altitude of 5,000 meters, which takes place in northern Peru in a self-sufficient format, as cyclists must bring everything they need to sleep and food for the road.
“It was an incredible experience. A very hard race where time was frozen in the beautiful highlands of Peru. Sixty riders started the race and I placed 12th. I didn’t actually finish because I arrived after the required cut-off time.”
After IncaDevice, he fell in love with the race format and went on to race the 1000km and 15000m Patagonia cross-country traverses in Chile.
Battling Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s didn’t change me; everything I do today I’ve done before. It didn’t start with Parkinson’s for me to take on a certain goal or challenge. I always did it, I always fell down and then had to get up”, said about his participation in the race.
I’m not in a race against time, I live in every stage and I enjoy what I get and what I can do. I’m always climbing to the top and striving to give everything I have.
If I reach it, it’s an accomplishment, and if not, I’m still happy because I know I’ve tried,” Alejandro Chucky said.
“Parkinson’s is my companion and my daily challenge, it tells me I have to keep moving because I have Parkinson’s and it’s the stiffness, not the tremors”.
People live in fear and think about all the bad things that can happen to you, and that’s not the way I do it,” he concludes. Once we had to go up a very steep slope and stopped when we reached the top, and a colleague who came behind me said to me: I never had money or fear, and he went down the hill like crazy. That’s how I walk, fearlessly, trying to get through my life”.
Jiang has been a Solar Partner of Sungold, and we are glad that our solar panels have accompanied Jiang and Harry through so many countries and had so many unforgettable experiences.
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