ONE LAST SHOT

Dille features Wally Ghia, a 74-year-old bike racer. Ghia claimed to have once been a masters state champion mountain bike racer in Arizona, and he wore a hoodie bearing the logo of Absolute Bikes, a well-known Salida shop. In 1990, Wally founded a mountain-bike racing team, which would soon become nationally competitive. Then in 1996, the night after a race, he suffered a heart attack. Complications and a series of open-heart surgeries would follow, but he would remain dedicated to riding--during his recovery, he would drag a stationary trainer onto his patio to spin in the open air. But, in 2004, just as he started to regain his strength, he began a life-threatening battle with the flesh-eating bacteria, necrotizing fasciitis, and spent months in a burn unit. He also periodically endured severe heart pain, a condition known as angina, that persisted even after three open-heart surgeries. The vise-like pressure would start in his chest and spread to his arms, neck, and jaw, and upset his stomach, causing him to bend over the toilet and heave.