Bakersfield cyclist rides 100 miles every day to encourage community
Frank Torres discovered cycling at a low point in his life and soon developed a strong passion for the sport that helped him stay sober. As 23ABC's Corey O'Leary shows for the month of July Frank has set a cycling goal that he hopes inspires others to follow their dreams.
Transcript
00:00 We turn now to a comeback story involving a Bakersfield man. Frank Torres discovered
00:06 cycling at a low point in his life and soon developed a strong passion for the sport that
00:11 helped him stay sober. 23 ABC's Cory O'Leary shows us for the month of July, Frank has
00:17 set a cycling goal that he hopes inspires others to follow their dreams.
00:21 It's almost 6 a.m. here at Beach Park. Most of Bakersfield is just waking up, but Frankie
00:29 Torres has been awake since 2 a.m. Why? It's part of his mission to ride 100 miles every
00:34 day in July. He's not just crazy, he's doing this to prove a point, not just to himself,
00:39 but to others. And he's going to be here soon. I'm going to join him for the next leg of
00:42 his journey.
00:43 The first year I failed, the first year I wasn't able to do consistently.
00:54 Torres told me three years ago he challenged himself to see how much he could ride in a
00:57 month but wasn't able to achieve what he hoped, but that didn't deter him from trying again.
01:02 The next following year was like, okay, what can I do here? Can I do a hundred? You know,
01:08 I failed, but I can come back. I know I can come back. Let's come back bigger.
01:13 And come back he did. Last year, he was able to ride a century on his bike every single
01:17 day in the month of July.
01:19 I got COVID day 13. I got COVID and that was rough. I didn't quit. I kept on pushing through.
01:26 Torres is no stranger to comebacks. He told me he struggled with addiction to both drugs
01:29 and alcohol in the past.
01:31 Since I stopped doing drugs and alcohol, I tend to give a new addiction. And so what
01:37 I did was I knew that I sacrificed a lot to do drugs and alcohol. Why couldn't I do it
01:43 with cycling?
01:44 When he first started cycling, he was given encouragement by a local bike owner named
01:51 Fernando Gonzalez.
01:52 He handed me this bike and he told me in three months from now, everybody is going to know
01:58 who you are.
01:59 Soon, the cyclists around him crowned him a new title.
02:02 That's Frankie.
02:03 That's Frankie. They gave me the name. That's the name they gave me.
02:06 Now he wants to give others encouragement and inspiration to achieve their goals.
02:10 You want to win? You got to go. You got to go.
02:14 I think people would probably think Frank's crazy, but if you get to know Frank, you know
02:18 that his mentality is such that he would just knock it out. And once he puts his mind to
02:22 it, he's just determined to get it done.
02:24 He's got an upbeat and magnetic personality. During the ride, he's waving hi to people
02:28 on the bike trails, even striking up a conversation with a man he's seen multiple times but has
02:33 never talked to, ending it by saying they should ride together sometime.
02:36 I'm just a couple miles into the ride and I see why they call him Fast Frankie. He took
02:43 off like he was shot out of a cannon. Currently struggling to keep up.
02:47 He's a person who inspires others, uplifts others. He's a person of community and at
02:53 heart he's a mentor.
02:55 Torez also going on lunch rides with his coworkers who he introduced to cycling, friends and
02:59 strangers both joining him on sections of his daily ride.
03:03 You're freaking unnatural dude. Like your body, just where, like you're leaning like
03:09 this, that's a straight fighter right there.
03:12 Torez told me he's booked up for the rest of July and that he couldn't do what he does
03:15 without the support of his wife.
03:17 I have a real strong wife that is really supportive in my riding and if it wasn't for her to keep
03:24 pushing me, I wouldn't be here today.
03:28 It's something different huh?
03:30 Yeah.
03:31 So I just finished riding about 20 miles with Frankie, just a fraction of what he plans
03:34 to complete today. Let me tell you, I really do feel inspired and also pretty exhausted.
03:40 If you want to follow along with Frankie's journey, you can search Fast Frankie on Strava.
03:44 Beach Park, Corey O'Leary, 23 ABC News, connecting you.