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HUB BICYCLE SHOP

The Hub bike mechanic loves fixing bikes, riding bikes and living in Las Cruces

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The Hub community bike shop mechanic Hal Ruzal can build and repair bicycles. He also likes to ride them.

Ruzal, 68, has ridden a bike across the continental United States four times since 1980 and estimates he has logged more than 400,000 miles on a bike. In March, he biked from Grover Beach, California, to Las Cruces in 13 days, averaging more than 100 miles a day on the 1,062-mile trip.

Ruzal ate a lot of Impossible Whoppers at Burger Kings along the way (he has been a vegetarian since 1975) and slept on a bedroll in campgrounds most nights, but spent the cold ones in motels.

He took a spare tire and eight spare inner tubes on the trip, but didn’t have any flats or other mechanical issues, Ruzal said.

“I just take it as it comes,” he said. “I’m really good at not worrying about a thing.”

In fact, most of his travels on a bike have been pretty carefree.

Ruzal encountered two guys at a campground in Missouri a couple of years ago and had a feeling they were looking for trouble. So, he went up to them and asked if they had a 327 or a 396 engine in the Chevy Nova they were driving. (He’s also an auto mechanic).

“We talked about cars all night,” Ruzal said. “They forgot they were going to get into a fight with me.”

He also remembers being outside a grocery story once when “a guy gave me $20 out of nowhere. You never refuse money,” Ruzal said.

He also plays the guitar and writes songs, often composing lyrics while riding his bike.

“Songs are always in my head,” Ruzal said. “The hard part is remembering them.”

One he does remember is “You Don’t Care,” which he wrote about an old girlfriend.

A New York City native, Ruzal discovered Las Cruces as he came down San Augustin Pass on a bike trip more than 40 years ago.

“It felt good,” he said.

So, 39 years later, Ruzal came back and bought a house here. He also has two antique cars that he works on, a dog named Shiloh and eight bikes, including the English-made 1987 Woodrup bicycle he rode from California to New Mexico.

“It was custom-made for somebody,” said Ruzal. “I got it as a result of a bad relationship.”

He was given the bike by a neighbor in New York after it was left at the neighbor’s house by his daughter’s ex-boyfriend.

Ruzal completely overhauled that bike and has also made a bike for himself. Those skills have come in handy at The Hub, which is at the north end of Cruces Creatives makerspace.

“We do a lot of fixing bikes,” Ruzal said, especially for homeless people and “good people who have had bad luck.”

“It’s nice giving back,” Ruzal said. “I’ve been a mechanic my whole life. I love giving back to people.”

In addition to a lot of bike riding, Ruzal walks Shiloh seven miles a day and does pushups and sit ups every morning.

“Thank you, Las Cruces, for being here,” he said.

Hal Ruzal

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