By NOEL MURPHY
HE’S one of Geelong West’s most-colourful characters; a lime-green-and-orange-garbed harlequin peddling like fury atop a miniature pushbike.
With his wiry grey hair and whiskers protruding from a vivid green and pink helmet, Sebastian Flaccavento is obviously not the average 71-year-old.
A familiar sight in and around the suburb’s car parks and shopping strip, where he works as a trolley attendant, Sebastian has a collection of tiny children’s bikes he rides as much for fun as fitness.
Last year he rode the entire Around the Bay course in 13 hours as a septuagenarian granddad on a tiny treadlie without gears.
“My boys all reckon I’m crazy,” Sebastian admits.
“But many young kids think it’s great when they see me on the bike – they want to stop and talk, take photos.
“I have to out the seat up high for some of the rides so I can extended my legs properly and I can get a sore neck looking up.
“Some people ask why I do it.”
The answer’s surprisingly simple.
Sebastian’s been a competitive cyclist for decades, with gold and silver medals for veterans’ time trial and criterium events from Tasmania to Canberra. When he clambered aboard a tiny kids’ bike seven or eight years ago, the fun and funny side of it all had him hooked.
“When I was a kid, back in Sicily, I had no toys whatsoever. I thought, ‘Why not become a kid again?’”
Sebastian generally coughs up $5 for his bikes at garage sales and recycling centres, lovingly knocking each bike into shape before taking to the road.
“Sometimes people say I’m funny, sometimes they say I’m an idiot, but I want to do something a bit different from everyone else – I do it for my own satisfaction.”
On a recent marathon ride around the Bellarine Peninsula dozens of serious cyclists tore past Sebastian as he laboured up the Portarlington hill.
“They got to the crest and stopped,” he said.
“They all waited until I reached them at the top and cheered me.”
