A Cyclist's Dream for La Paz May Become True. But not that soon
A wild nine-month journey just ended for world-renowned cyclist Paul Solon in La Paz on Friday, June 14.
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And if you are wondering why you have not read or heard anything about this before today, well, I assure you there is a perfectly logical explanation for it. To start, if your brain went directly to a cycling event, I can’t blame you. After all, Paul Solon won the RAAM, short for Race Across America, in 1989, back then setting a new record for the Solo Traditional category of 8 days, 8 hours and 45 minutes.
Thirty-five years later, Solon is making the news again.
This time it’s south of the border, and this time, for his strong desire to collaborate with the Mexican government. Solon claims the journey started about 9 months ago when he contacted the Mexican officials in Tijuana initially. The journey ended up in La Paz.
Since the beginning of the year, several news outlets have been documenting Solon’s ongoing journey to partially fund a high-performance sports centre in Mexico.
To understand Solon’s proposal better, you need to understand Paul Solon better first.
It is not unusual these days to catch regular folks talking about biohacking as well as performance hacks regularly.
Solon is far from being your average folk let alone an average athlete.
When I met with him for this interview, he greeted me perched on a set of crutches.
“Cycling accident?”, I inquired; “Yoga injury,” he answered with a glimmer in his eyes.
Solon is currently on his way back to the US for his next scheduled surgery. He is convinced that he will be fully recovered from this surgery to conduct a solo bicycle ride in Baja California Sur in only 6 weeks for now, riding from La Paz to Todo Santos in a loop.
Solon stresses that he is not trying to break any records here since he will not be at his peak performance yet, but that in the future he intends to train actively and continue to pursue his professional cycling career at the age of 69. And, since Solon has decided to make Mexico his permanent home, he intends to settle in a town that allows him the accessibility and flexibility to train at a professional level.
Solon is also not delusional.
He is well aware that there are no such facilities currently in Mexico, let alone Baja. Hence, Solon’s proposal to collaborate with the Mexican Government and partially finance a sealed altitude training facility.
A very generous and philanthropic gesture that Solon believes to be very symbiotic in nature.
He proposes to the government his expertise and financial support. As a sports enthusiast, Solon believes that the best way ahead with this project is for him to partner up with his chosen town, and finance the amenities and setup for this highly specialized high-altitude room.
Solon budgeted $140,000 USD plus tariffs which he estimated will cost approximately a total of $180,000 USD. This donation is said to cover all initial equipment costs and installations. Solon is asking for the Mexican government to provide the physical structure for this room in exchange. Additionally, he is also expecting a hot and cold plunge attached to the high-altitude room as well as ongoing care and maintenance from the local government.
High-altitude training is a strategy used by athletes to improve their performance, particularly endurance, by spending time training at high elevations (usually above 7,000-8,000 feet). The benefits are many. High-altitude training assists in increasing red blood cell production and improved oxygen efficiency at low elevations which is said to enhance endurance and increase the maximum amount of oxygen in the body.
Based on Solon and two newspaper articles, the first one in El Vigia published on January 10, 2024, and the second one in La Tribuna on June 8, 2024, Solon went on a wild goose chase that eventually got him in touch with the Baja California Governor's office.
Nine months later, after navigating multiple phone calls, messages, unanswered emails and an expensive trip to Mexico spanning across Tijuana, Ensenada and La Paz, this saga ended up with a very productive meeting between Solon and Noe Fiol, the director of sports for Baja California Sur on Friday, June 14.
Solon invited me to be present at the meeting between him and Verduzco. The latter expressed that the governor’s office called him to indicate their interest in this project. Verduzco went on to detail the procedure for submitting such a project for official consideration and their different guidelines. Solon still has time to make an official submission for this project to be reviewed by the board for next year.
Verduzco stressed that even if the project seems interesting, the final decision does not depend on him but rather on the priorities for his department and the budget they are allocated, making sure to indicate no guarantees.
For Solon, that’s a win, as he now finally has a proper channel to submit his project. Currently, Solon is going to focus on his surgery and continue to pursue this project.
When asked why not purchase a piece of land and build his own altitude training room and call it a day, Solon maintains that he wants other local athletes to have access to this technology and that he only has the budget to finance the project not maintain it. There is also the option of partnering with an aligned business or local charity, but Solon has his heart set on collaborating with the government and no other agencies. We wish him good luck on his journey and we will continue to follow this story.
To connect with me: @naailahauladin
