Back row: Albert Oteiza, Joan Legarrea, Angel Legarrea, Jean-Marc Sorhondo, Leon Sorhondo, Dean Fantham (holding Ikurina with Leon). Front row : Arielle Goni, Stephanie Echeverria, Celeste Chain, Andy Chain, Bernadette Tobin (behind Andy), Jon Oliden, Jenna Tobin, Patrick Tobin, Dominique Erdozaincy, Philippe Acheritogaray, Matt Etchepare, Nicole Cabalette, Kingsley Lerner, Iker Goni, Michel Tristant (partially obstructed)
As all of our previous rides, the weather gods were with us and it was a beautiful day. It started off with clouds overhead but it was not cold. Bye the time we all finished about 12:30PM, the sun was out in time to continue our celebration.
We had two routes on this ride which consisted of a relatively easy paced (31 miles) distance for some and a 40 miles distance that added some steep climbs to make it a bit more challenging for the others.
The following persons were on: Bide Txiki route:
Chain, Celeste Etcheverria, Stephanie Goni, Arielle Goni, Iker Legarrea, Joan Lerner, Kingsley Oteiza, Albert Sorhondo, Jean Marc Tobin, Bernadette Tobin, Jenna Tobin, Patrick Tristant, Michel
Bide Luze route:
Acheritogaray, Philippe Cabalette, Nicole Chain, Andy Erdozaincy, Dominic Etchepare, Matthew Fantham, Dean Legarrea, Angel Oliden, Jon Sorhondo, Leon
The SAG crew: Veh.1 - Berterretche, Dominic and Cuburu, Yvonne Bide Luze Veh.2 - Choperena, Joe and Inaki de Luzuriaga, Joseba Bide Luze Veh.3 - Cuburu, Maitexa and Krakau, Delfina Bide Txiki Veh.4 - Elicetche, Natalie and Elicetche, Suzanne Bide Txiki
The first question most of you have asked is: Who won the Xabie Award (like that's a pride thing to get). For a host of reasons it came down to our host (Pat Tobin) who hadn't told his wife until the newsletter arrived at their house that they were hosting this event. I have to say that they took a big chance since they had never ridden on any of our rides so far.
A big THANK YOU to your family for hosting this event. As every single one of the hosted events have been outstanding, this was as well. There was some great food, wine, beer, ricard, desserts, appetizers and barbecued chicken (by our host) and several new riders who had a chance to exercise and meet new friends from the Basque Community.
The inspirational award was given to Jenna Tobin (10 years old) as she not only rode 20 miles of the ride and could have ridden more but was stopped by her mother (Bernadette) because she thought that Jenna might suffer for it later. This was truly a family affair and it makes me think that we can start a separate ride with some younger members of the BCC.
Several other notable stories on the ride: One of the new couples riding this year was Iker Goni and Kingsley Lerner. Kingsley was originally from the Monterey area and went to the Basque country several years ago where she met Iker Goni (no relation to the other Arielle Goni) from Donostia and learned to speak Basque. Her last name should have been Learner instead of Lerner. They both came to SF almost a year ago and started to work here where Nicole Sorhondo was introduced to her as another Basque person working at her senior building.
Albert Oteiza was another new name and he also came full of bottles of wine and beer (he must have thought we were alcoholics) and dropped them off before the ride in front of the hosts house. How's that for confidence in an area. He also had a great ride and actually showed several of our Bide Txiki riders a short cut with almost no hills. (That's cheating) Anyway, he paid for it because as he arrived near his vehicle, he fell over. A little bit embarrassed but not hurt. Of course I only learned of this later.
Not to be out done, I also heard that Michel Tristant was riding circles and doing tricks without holding onto his handlebars. Now I know why he can't change gears.
Dean Fantham who initially started of volunteering to go down the hill to help bring up our 10 year old Jenna of course did his usual drive up and down and back up again after help set up her mother's bike since hers' was apparently too small for her. Buy her a new bike DAD. Dean also bought fresh french bread that you could smell as you got close to Tobin's house.
On the hill rides Angel took a while but I later learned that someone must have taken the air out of Angel Legarrea's mountain bike. It's too threatening to have a 65-67 year old beat you up a hill on his mountain bike. We learned that Angel's bike only had 25 psi on his tires. What an animal. No wonder that Angel fell over onto Dominic's bike when he got to the top. Poor Angel fell downside instead of upside. We were worried about him until he said that he's done it before and his friends all laughed at him. He and Joan made some wonderful Ensalada Pimiento Xigortukin.
Nicole Cabalette of course never worried where we were going cause she said, "I can do whatever any of the men can do and better". She didn't really say that (they were my words) but she definitely rode like it. Next year we will have Yvette join her and then men, look out.
Philippe was our photographer for the Bide Luze group as he would ride with one hand and take pictures with the other. I believe that he deserved some of the rose bottles and salad dish that he brought with him.
Thank heavens Arielle Goni was with us because she had a map with her and some sags got lost or riders got lost (I'm not sure) and she was able to help get them back on track.
I never did see Andy, Matthew, Dominic and Jon. I believe they're half "billy goats" as they volunteered for every hill they could see and challenged the rest of our group. They thought they were taking the short cut but our ride distance was to be 36-37 miles and we ended up doing a bit over 40 miles (so go figure).
I also heard the other ladies on the Bide Txiki were on the front and Jean Marc was on the rear helping out Jenna Tobin but that may have been an excuse. At least he completed the ride.
Now for the sags: The sag leader was Yvonne Cuburu and she was paired with my workhorse, Dominic Berterretche (who complained of being called a sag). They handle the front of the Bide Luze group and did an outstanding job, not only in leading the group but always ready with the drinks and bananas or oranges as the riders came to their rest stops. He was always patient and ready to do anyone's bidding. Yvonne was constantly on that phone and making sure others were where they needed to be and to round up any lost riders.
Joe Choperena had a recent knee surgery and still wanted to help so he and Inaki (also had a bum knee) were paired up and Inaki acted as our video man. Unfortunately, the "gopro" camera has its limits on battery power so he was only able to capture about 40 minutes of the ride on the Bide Luze. He made up for it as he swung a real cow bell and shouted encouragement to the riders. Almost forgot he also made a mean Tortilla de Patata along with Kingsley and Iker.
The sags for the Bide Txiki also volunteered their vehicles and brought side dishes , drinks and some wonderful lukinka stew dish (made by Chef Gabriel).
Everyone brought their best dishes and drinks were outstanding. All of you receiving this news of the bike ride have been at one of our rides and it was as good an any we've had so far. I don't know how long we can all keep this up but all of you should be praised as that's what makes it all work. Biba Deneri!!!!
