Shuntain is the manager of the Real Rydaz. He says it is an organization that is still crystallizing around its purpose—that of raising awareness about health and building a bridge between kids and health. “We want to encourage the community to get out and ride their bikes and get involved with us,” he said. To this end, they plan to give a bicycle tour of the area on July 2. He’s hoping the route will extend from Bernard Parks’ office all the way to El Segundo. Because “people don’t think that people ride bikes in the hood,” he noted, we need to “cross more boundaries within this city” and help people see what is going on in other communities.

His own health issues are part of what drives his ambitions. You would never know to look at him that he was 275 lbs. when he started riding his bike 2½ years ago. He acknowledged it was hard to get started because he didn’t know his endurance level and struggled to keep his focus on getting healthy. But when he even suffered a heart attack in 2010, it all came together for him: “If I hadn’t been riding the bicycle, I wouldn’t have survived the heart attack.”

The bicycle is a fascinating thing to behold. So much so, it managed to catch the attention of George Lopez and a couple of advertisers. It wasn’t always in as good a shape as it is now, however. When he got hold of it about two years ago, the 1969 Dyno Roadster was rusted out. He designed some of the pieces on it himself, and plans to come out with a series of bikes carrying those pieces in the near future.