Issue 01
03 Summary and editorial. 05 Review. 08 From here to...Routes. 12 Pedaling. On the cover. 16 Inside. 18 Making of. 20 Interesting.
mag.
Summary and editorial 3
mag. 03 Summary and editorial. / Jon Fernández. A tribute to values.
05 Review. / When watts talk.
08 From here to... Routes. / Jaizkibel.
12 Pedaling. On the cover. / Cheering on from the roadside.
16 Inside. / Xabi Narbaiza.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. Thanks to all the Orbea family for bulding the stories that we have been able to capture in the first edition of the Orbea Magazine. COVER PHOTO. Iñaki Azanza www.zikliamatore.com © 2014 Orbea S. Coop. Polígono Industrial Goitondo s/n 48269, Mallabia (Bizkaia). Spain T: +34 943 17 19 50 F: +34 943 17 43 97
18 Making of. / Orbea pictures.
20 Interesting. / News.
EDITORIAL A TRIBUTE TO VALUES Jon Fernández, CEO at Orbea
In times when the pace of communication is frantic, a new magazine could be seen as just one more communication action by a brand. But this goes well beyond that – or at least at Orbea we want it to. This classic yet innovative format is a window to special messages we want to share. So we want this magazine to be viewed not just a communication tool, but as a meeting point. A place where we connect to our roots and draw the map of our future. A place where we project our identity and share ideas with the greater Orbea community. A place where we can talk about many things, especially cycling. From the first, hesitant pedal stroke to the road that leads . . . wherever you want. We want our new Orbea Magazine to be a tribute to those of you who identify with, and feel part of what we’ve been doing for the past 175 years. That is to say, all of you.
Review 4
WHEN WATTS TALK A few months ago, we began testing the earliest prototypes of the Orca 2015 on the road. But it was only recently that I joined my usual cycling group with the latest prototype. Beyond the design, which is what first catches everyone’s attention, there emerged the three magic words you can hear or read most frequently in connection with road bikes: aerodynamics, weight and stiffness. Joseba Arizaga Road Product manager.
I insisted that they can’t be taken separately, for great bicycles, it’s not solely the difference of a few grams in weight, the level of stiffness, the construction methods, or the shape of the tubes that make the difference - it’s all these things mixed together that translate the watts we apply during our pedaling strokes, into maximum speed. So what we should really be talking about is efficiency. EFFICIENCY: WATTS RULE.
The best racing bike is the most efficient racing bike, the one that goes faster with the same watts, allows for greater handling control and saves seconds in every bend, climb or fast descent. In conjunction with this, in our search for efficiency we also look to the concept of ‘ride quality’; that is, a bike that gives us positive feedback and makes us feel we’re in control. Ride quality isn’t just about lighter weight or higher stiffness, but just the right combination of both, enabling the rider to manoeuver and the bicycle to respond when you need it to, under a wide variety of circumstances and over variable terrain. Bikes with only the right degree of stiffness will be good in very specific situations. On rugged terrain, speed is more difficult to maintain, as anyone who rides a bike will know, as the rebound effect reduces momentum. Designing a structure, which delivers adequate torsional stiffness and a high degree of vibration absorption results in the bike ‘floating’ on the road, lessening significantly the retarding effect
of road chatter, and reducing the power you need to move forward. Also, on the typical mountain descent, a bike that is too light or too stiff is more difficult to control, even when you’re an experienced rider. This makes going downhill a far more stressful event.
“THE BEST RACING BIKE IS THE MOST EFFICIENT RACING BIKE, THE ONE THAT GOES FASTER WITH THE SAME WATTS, ALLOWS FOR GREATER HANDLING CONTROL AND SAVES SECONDS IN EVERY BEND, CLIMB OR FAST DESCENT.”
Review 5
IN WATTS WE TRUST
WEIGHT
LIGHTEST OR STIFFEST ISN´T THE FASTEST It’s quite obvious that the lighter your bike, the faster it’ll be with the same force applied in climbs. When racing, a lighter bike saves energy, which you can use to launch an attack or change the pace. However, this energy will only be effective if your bike is stiff enough: a light bike is useless if it doesn’t respond when you need it to, or if too much of your pedaling energy is being absorbed in bending the frame and not to propel you forward.
STIFFNESS
AE R O DYNA M I C S Stiffness is the rigidity of an object, the extent to which it resists deformation in response to an applied force. We tend to believe the stiffer the bike is, the better, but this isn’t always so. There are multiple stiffness points in a frame. They can be grouped into three standard types: bottom bracket stiffness, vertical stiffness and torsional stiffness. Bottom bracket stiffness has to do with the force you apply for pedaling to transform itself into
Aerodynamics is concerned with the motion of air and its interaction with a solid object. When you ride a bike, approximately the 75% of the air resistance comes from the rider’s body rather than the bicycle. Therefore, the riding position is much more relevant than tube shapes when it comes to improving aerodynamic performance. This is why pros work so hard on their position on the bike, studying flexibility and performing wind tunnel tests.
movement. The stiffer the bottom bracket, the better optimization of your efforts on the bike and, therefore, the greater the acceleration and speed. As for torsional or lateral stiffness, it has to do with bicycle stability in descents or at high speed. With adequate torsional stiffness, your bike won’t flex, keeping its balance. On the other hand, it’ll be very responsive, which means you’ll need greater handling control. So torsional stiffness is a factor
you can regulate depending on the type of bike you want. Finally, vertical stiffness is your bicycle’s resistance to vertical forces, as in a pothole. A bike with high vertical stiffness doesn’t neutralize potholes and hurdles adequately. This makes riding more uncomfortable and inefficient.
STIFFNESS + AERODYNAMICS + WEIGHT =
RIDING QUALITY CONTROLLED POWER
From here to... 6
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FROM HERE TO‌
JAIZKIBEL Text and pictures by Douglas McDonald, BasqueMTB (www.basquemtb.com)
The Basque coast is a wild and beautiful place, bordered by the incredibly green mountains and the wild blue Atlantic Ocean and filled with perfect singletrack which just begs to be explored by mountain bike. This coast is also special geologically; it is a book whose pages were formed from sediment on the bed of an ancient sea and then spread open when the Iberian and Euroasiatic tectonic plates collided, leaving 60 million pages of history open for reading . That same massively violent, yet incredibly slow collision formed the Pyrenees, the Picos de Europa and some of the Maritine Alps.
All along the Basque Coast the layers of sedimentary rock on the sea bed were pushed up, forming ridge-like mountains running parallel with the sea. The types of rocks and the angle they were pushed up varies as you move along the coast, giving the coastline huge variety and meaning that there breath-taking view lurking around every corner. A personal favourite mountain is Jaizkibel where the old sea bed is titled through a range of angles and juts up from the sea in stunning stratified slabs reaching up to the summit at 525m from the sea. The combination of the rugged, beautiful coastline and this network of trails makes this area fantastic for
mountain biking. There are multi day routes that can be done, linking up the traditional fishing villages, or we can ride shuttles and spend the day descending down to the coast on perfect sandy, rocky singletrack. One of our favourite days is a point to point ride along the coast linking Hondarribia to San Sebastian. There are lots of different ways to do this route, and we will keep some of the best ways secret for our guests, but one way of doing this trip is to follow the Camino de Santiago all along the coastline, and all you need to do is to keep the sea to your right and you will find your way.
From here to... 8
We start this trail in the beautiful fishing town of Hondarribia, a mini version of San Sebastian. The food in Hondarribia is easily a match for San Sebastian and the historic walled part of the town tells a chilling story of old wars through the battle scars in it’s ancient walls. On one side of Hondarribia the Bidadsoa estury meets the Atlantinc Ocean and on the other side the ridgeline of Jaizkibel stands proud. It would be a shame to leave Hondarribia too quickly so make time, arrive early and take a coffee in one of its lovely seafront cafes on the Paseo Butron. Leaving here you can follow the biddagorri, keeping the water to your right, and gently warm your legs up as you cycle past the marinas and beaches of Hondarribia. Very quickly you will arrive to the fishing harbour where the biddagorri ends, leaving you with no choice but to climb sharply up on a tarmac road which you can follow all the way to Faro de Higer where you will get your first views of the open Atlantic ocean crashing in upon the Basque shores.
“IT’S GREAT TO BE RIDING THESE TRAILS ON A BIKE THAT WAS BORN SO NEAR TO THEM AND THE RUGGED, TECHNICAL SINGLETRACK OF THE BASQUE COUNTRY HAS DEFINITELY HELPED SHAPE THE NEW ORBEA MOUNTAIN BIKES.” At Faro de Higer you can leave behind the tarmac and start to follow a fireroad. There are several ways here but to ease your legs into the journey I recommend following the fireroad for the first few km’s, keeping the Atlantic Ocean on your right hand side. After a while you will come to a cross in the fireroad, where it starts to climb sharply and here you need to drop down, quickly arriving to a little bay where you have no choice but to hoist the bike up on your shoulder and climb sharply on singletrack. This singletrack follows the Basque shoreline for miles, sticking right next to the coast and giving amazing views all the way to Bilbao on a clear day. It’s great to be riding these trails on a bike that was born so near to them and the rugged, technical singletrack of the Basque country has definitely helped shape the new Orbea mountain bikes. As you roll along you might see whales in the bay if you are very lucky, you will definitely see “Pottoka”, the wild horses that roam the green lands around here and help to keep the pastures
open for grazing cattle and sheep. Vultures are a common sight and if you are lucky you might catch them feeding on a Pottoka or cow that has missed its footing on the more exposed parts of these trails. Keep your wits about you and don’t make a mistake here or you might end up being their next meal! There are various options to climb up but climb up we must and leave this beautiful coastline behind for a little bit. You can follow the arrows for the Camino de Santiago but we recommend leaving the steep singletrack behind for the easier option of climbing on fireroads. Soon you will reach the tarmac road and here you continue until, after a short descent, you will see the arrows of the Camino de Santiago crossing the road once more. Here you can continue to follow the Camino which will take you all the way to Pasajes. Again there are lots of options for descending, some which the guides at basqueMTB have spend time clearing themselves and we will keep these secret for our guests, but if you follow the markers for the Camino you will find a fun descent all the way to Pasajes. Here the singletrack is technical,
“AFTER THE FANTASTIC RIDGELINE SINGELTRACK, AND A SHORT SECTION OF CONCRETE YOU WILL ARRIVE TO PASAJES ON A SERIES OF STEPS WHICH WILL BE BIG TECHNICAL CHALLENGE TO MOST RIDERS.”
Donostia End of the track. It´s time for some pintxos and beers.
From here to... 9
Mar Cantábrico
Respect pedestrians, the mountain is for everyone.
Hondarribia Don´t forget to have a breakfast before the departure.
During all the track there are nice landscapes to photograph.
You can follow the “Camino de Santiago” but always is funnier to get out the line.
Pasaia
rocky and fun and the challenges come quick and fast. Less experienced riders will find challenges in just getting down sections while more experienced riders will be challenged to try and carry speed. Remember that these tracks are shared with walkers and that walkers always have the right of the way over us bikers, the default position is for us to stop but we should always slow down even if walkers clear the track for us. Also, please try to keep to the track and not cut the corners or avoid the harder bits, unfortunately some other riders (and walkers too) aren’t so considerate and new lines are forming which miss out the harder sections. Some people need to commit to learning some new skills and tackle these harder bits. After the fantastic ridgeline singeltrack, and a short section of concrete you will arrive to Pasajes on a series of steps which will be big technical challenge to most riders. Stick with it, keep your weight central on the bike, let the wheels roll and you will be absolutely amazed at what the bike can cope with. Learning to pivot the bike on the front wheel will help you on the tighter corners here! In Pasajes there are lots and lots of options for eating, so long as it isn’t a Monday when many of the local restaurants close for a rest. After lunch you have one of the coolest parts of the day as you load your bikes into the small ferry to take you across the bay to San Pedro. From here if you follow the Camino de Santiago you will find yourself
confronted with a big series of steps to climb up. It is beautiful but really not that much fun and we recommend cutting through the town and working your way up to the lighthouse above on the tarmac roads. From here the Camino re-joins the coastline as you work your way across Ulia. Nobody apart from the best and strongest riders will manage to ride the entire trail, it is technical and steep in places but the scenery is amazing and the easier sections of the trail have an amazing natural flow to them. Eventually you arrive to a viewpoint above San Sebastian where you can see why many people say it is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. If you follow the camino you will descend down into San Sebastian on another set of steps which are challenging but fun. Again, there will always be walkers here so you should be very considerate and remember that a bike ridden fast down steps will make a lot of noise and can be alarming for walkers. We don’t have any issues here with trail access, lets keep it like that and make sure we can continue to enjoy unlimited access to the Basque coastline on our bikes. Arriving to San Sebastian you should make your way to Gros Beach and complete your journey properly. Afterwards there are a bunch of bars where you can take a beer and a pintxo to relax.
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CHEERING THE ROADS
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ON FROM SIDE
The passion for cycling is deeply rooted in the Basque Country. Fans love this sport as an integral part of their culture, and the world salutes them for their enthusiasm. Text by Alain Laiseka Photos by Zigor Alkorta
Pedaling 12
IT ALL BEGINS IN A BOTTOMLESS TRUNK, THE ONLY PLACE WHERE YOU CAN KEEP EVERYTHING.
THE EYES When she opened her eyes, Regina had them filled with bikes. The eyes of Regina – her mother gave her that name so that they’d always remember the grandmother in her – and the eyes of her older brothers, Markel and Oinatz. Through the endless tunnel of their eyes, they soak up everything. Children are like this. They’re sponges. They keep everything they see. And everything they hear.At home, Markel, Oinatz and Regina can hear people talk about cycling just as they talked about the weather – that is, all the time. Bicycles are just one more home appliance. They’re more common than brooms and more useful than a water heater. Regina is always on her bike. The bike is as familiar asher favourite teddy bear – a trusted friend. They first met when the girl was two. Now, being four and riding without stabilizers, she climbs all the way down from Gatika to Mungia (5km) with her parents to the baker’s. She also rides to school with her brothers every day, complaining that the cold air on wintry days hits her hands and face. But her complaints vanish into thin air. She has to pedal her way to school. Her mother, Joane – the great Basque cyclist Joane Somarriba, winner of a World Championship, three Tours de France, two Giros d’Italia, and many other races – feels tempted to tell her what you feel up there in the mountains, in the Pyrenees or the Alps. She
wants to show her daughter how that resembles happiness, or at least how it made her and her husband, Ramontxu González Arrieta, happy. Ramón is a cyclist too, winner of the Classique des Alpes and teammate of Indurain in his golden age in the early 1990s. But she doesn’t say anything. She wants Regina to discover it herself, and so Regina’s eyes get filled with bikes. ‘Just like mine,’ Joane says,picturing a girl standing by the road from Bermeo to Sollube in the Vuelta a España in the 1970s. The girl is her. Her father had taken her there to see the riders. He was a sailor, spending long months at sea. When he came home, it was as if a mighty wave pushed the door open and every room got flooded with the two-wheel spirit. ‘Dad loved cycling and he passed his passion onto us. Everyone talked about cycling at home; my childhood memories include a lot of cycling images.’ ‘May was the month of the Vuelta a España. In the ikastola (Basque school), we rode our bikes the way Eddy Merckx, Marino Lejarreta or Bernard Hinault did. It was a big challenge,’ Joane recalls. It was the age of adventure, so she got on a small motorbike with her sister to follow the Tour of the Basque Country, only to come back home in the rain, soaked to the bone. And then they had to listen to their angry mother and face the music: ‘To your room, now.’ But they were so happy…
“THIS WAS SO COMMON IN EUSKADI… THE CYCLING TRADITION WAS SO STRONG THAT IT WAS TRANSMITTED FROM ONE GENERATION TO THE NEXT, AS IF WIRED INTO OUR DNA.” Joane Somarriba Professional ex-cyclist.
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“CYCLING MEANS PAIN, SUFFERING, HUNGER, THE MAN WARNED. BUT PASSION CAN’T LISTEN TO COMMON SENSE” Antón Barrutia Professional ex-cyclist. (1953-1966)
They’d go to bed and dream of bikes and riders.
Customs and traditions.
‘This was so common in Euskadi… The cycling tradition was so strong that it was transmitted from one generation to the next, as if wired into our DNA. Our passion for cycling had a lot to do with watching and listening to our elders. We inherited the passion and also the admiration for cyclists: the sacrifice they made, the time they spent on such a tough sport…’
The father of Antón Barrutia (Iurreta, 1933) would have none of it: ‘With one good-for-nothing in the family, we have enough,’ he said, when the boy told him he wanted to be a cyclist like his brother Cosme. Antón was 16. He was working at the stone quarry, making 2,500 pesetas – twice as much as his father. ‘Cycling means pain, suffering, hunger,’ the man warned. But Antón wouldn’t listen. Passion can’t listen to common sense.’
This admiration and the associated toughness Joane could experience herself, for cycling fans just loved her. ‘I can still remember how the Col du Tourmalet was packed with people, people from home, and how I had no strength left but I hanged on because of them. They encouraged me to keep going.’ This is a common picture among cyclists: An empty roadside gets you down, while one filled with eager eyes boosts your adrenaline. This is what Somarriba felt in the Tour de France 2001, whose starting point was Bilbao. ‘It was unforgettable, something larger than life.’ The roads were lined with fans. ‘I’d never seen so many people in a women’s race, and I never saw them afterwards. And it wasn’t just me. Every rider was amazed. They couldn’t believe the atmosphere, the crowds cheering each and every rider on, not only me (Joane was their hero, of course, defending the French Tour title with the start line at home).
‘And if there was someone to blame, it was him. He was always talking about races, about Fede Ezquerra, Cipriano Aguirrezabal, Martín Mancisidor… And then there was my brother, too, who was already riding a bike. My father instilled the passion in me; my brother paved the way.’ In the 1930s (the years of the Spanish Civil War) and then after the war, in the 1940s, you could only listen to the races. ‘We used to gather round the only radio we had in town to hear the news from the Vuelta a España. We clenched our fists and got closer when the riders were approaching the finish line. We pictured them in our minds. We thought of them not as heroes, but as noble men, training hard in hot or cold weather, fighting against the elements.’ Antón worked at the stone quarry in the morning, carrying bricks. In the afternoon, he got on his bike and went to watch the Gran PruebaEibarresa or the Subida a Arrate.
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‘There were lots of people, many more than now. And they went on foot, with their sandwiches and their bottles of wine. There used to be no other means to get there. But there were so many cycling fans… Why? Because the riders were really good. We had Ezquerra, Dalmacio Langarica and many others. We’ve always had great riders. That’s what drew so many people. There were lots of races, too: Vuelta a España, Gran PruebaEibarresa, Subida a Arrate, Gran PremioOndarroa. I remember that many riders who weren’t Basque – Mascaró, Company, Poblet, Serra, Masip – couldn’t believe their eyes. The people loved us locals, but they cheered everybody on.’ It went on until the rivalry between Jesús Loroño and Federico Martín Bahamontes – a milestone in Spanish cycling. ‘They split the fans,’ Barrutia recalls. It was the rivalry between a rider who was ‘sort of nuts’ and a hard-working fellow like Loroño, who caught his opponent’s wheel
and kept telling himself, ‘You won’t break away from me, you won’t break away from me.’ They aroused love and hate beyond the sports sphere. When Langarica, who was the coach of the Spanish national team, chose the members of the Tour de France squad in 1959 and left Loroño out to have Bahamontes as single leader, they broke the windows of his bike store in Bilbao and called his wife names on the streets. ‘But they were always kind to me in the Basque Country,’ Bahamontes recalls, grateful. ‘There were so many fans and they were so enthusiastic. They were famous even before you met them. Races like the Subida a Arrate drew so many cycling fans. You just can’t imagine. They came from Eibar, from San Sebastián, from Bilbao… they liked me. One year I wasn’t taking part in the Subida a Arrate because I was ill, so the late Juanito Txoko (the heart and soul of cycling in Eibar) called me and asked me to come.
“THERE WERE SO MANY FANS AND THEY WERE SO ENTHUSIASTIC. THEY WERE FAMOUS EVEN BEFORE YOU MET THEM.” Federico Martín Bahamontes Profesional ex-cyclist. (1954-1965)
Pedaling 15
He said I drew lots of people.’ ‘People have always loved a good show,’ Barrutia adds, ‘and Bahamontes, like many others with him, knew how to put up one. People appreciated that. And so they lined the roads.’ ‘Let’s go race in the Basque Country,’ said the Moliner team coach once to Pedro Delgado (Segovia, 1960), then a junior rider. They came and went back home without racing, angry and tired. ‘So my first impression was a negative one. I came back home thinking, “What with Basque people! Who do they think they are? Not letting us race…”,’ says the rider from Segovia, whose child’s eyes are filled with bikes and landscapes from Castile, with parched, empty fields reaching into the horizon. ‘We used to race alone here, for occasional onlookers who just happened to pass by,’ he recalls. ‘They say the best fans in Spain are in the Basque Country. And they’re right. I learned this the second time I went there,
because then I was able to enter the race. Being used to riding for no-one, the crowds on the roadside struck me. They were everywhere: by the road, in mountain passes, at the start and finish lines… I’d never seen something like that before. And then I learned it was always like this. No matter the race, no matter the category, the crowds were always there. And they weren’t just any crowd: they were a qualified, critical audience. They knew about cycling, they understood the rules, they were familiar with the riders (all of them: juniors and veterans, even those who were still in their teens), and they had well-informed opinions. When they spoke, you knew they were valid interlocutors, even when they were criticizing you. You knew you could have an interesting conversation about cycling with them,’ Delgado says. Like Bahamontes with Loroño, he shared the setting (both the mountains and the decade, the 1980s) with Marino Lejarreta, the rider who
was greater than his record sheet. Fans just loved him. ‘People liked a show,’ Delgado explains. And Marino knew how to give them that. He was an astonishing cyclist, winning followers – or should I say devotees? – over as he lost races. He rode his heart out. He let his soul speak, express itself, feel free to attack - and lose. His defeats felt like victories. Standing on the podium, mostly on the second place step, the ovations were always for him. ‘But they also thanked us, his rivals, appreciating it if we were able to put on a good show. I’ve always felt they liked me in the Basque Country. And riders like Vicente Belda, who were ready to die on the bike too. That’s what they wanted,’ Delgado insists. Marino made huge efforts on the bike, but he was also close to the people, an ordinary guy, flesh and blood you could touch, someone you could talk to if you came across him on the
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“THE PYRENEES TURNED ORANGE, THE COLOR THAT’S BECOME SYNONYMOUS WITH BASQUE CYCLING – A SOCIAL PHENOMENON TO BE FOUND NOWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD.” Jean Marie Leblanc
Ex-director of the Tour de France (1989-2005)
street. He embodied everything that Basque fans loved. Jean-Marie Leblanc, General Director of the Tour de France from 1989 to 2005, says Basque people like cycling because this sport stands for the values they cherish: courage, determination, boldness, dignity… This is what cyclists mean to Basque fans, irrespective of the jersey they’re wearing, the name they have or the colors of the flag they defend. This is what they admire in their favorite riders. In a thank-you note to his Basque fans, German pro Jens Voigt praises their loyal support: ‘They’re always there, in rain, shine or snow, always ready to cheer you on when you’re in pain. They’re encouraging to both the leaders and the last riders in the field.’ This is probably what Roberto Laiseka felt too when he won a Tour de France stage in Luz Ardiden, back in 2001. ‘I can’t remember many stages where suspense and symbols were so powerful,’ says Leblanc. ‘The Pyrenees turned orange, the color that’s become synonymous with Basque cycling – a social phenomenon to be found nowhere else in the world.’ In the words of Delgado, ‘It was a powerful idea, identifying Basque fans wherever they went. But a word of caution is in order: the huge tide of Basque cycling fans didn’t emerge when they got dressed in orange. They existed way before that. In fact, they’ve always been there.’ Right from the cradle.
The tour of the Basque Country and the Tour de France are the principal events for the Basque fans.
Some people say that Spanish cycling was born in the Basque Country. That the Vuelta a España has its origin there. Some of the best, legendary teams certainly do: Kas, Fagor, and others. And boys and girls from the Mediterranean and from
the Castilian plateaus traveled north to become cyclists, in a sort of forced migration to their two-wheel university. That was the path Delgado followed. And many others like him: PacoMancebo, Carlos Sastre, Joaquim Rodríguez, Alberto Contador… All of them. Or almost all of them. Paulino isn’t a rider. He’s just a pensioner who spends his days under the sun of Castile, his homeland. In the 1950s, the dark years after the war, he migrated to Euskadi – not to become a cyclist but to find a job. And he did find one, in a manufacturing plant in Mondragón. Being there, he stayed for the show: the Subida a Arrate, the roadside packed with people. A superb picture. According to Antón Barrutia, the passion is weaker now. It’s not the same. According to Pedro Delgado, audience shares soar in the Basque Country when they broadcast a race on TV. Paulino is neither here nor there. He remembers Bahamontes and Loroño, of course. He grins when he thinks of Juan José Sagarduy and his slipstreaming. He says he’s seen it himself, that nobody told him about it. Meanwhile, Regina rides down with her parents to get her family’s bread in Mungia, and her eyes are filled with bikes.
Inside 18
XABI NARBAIZA THE EYES OF A LYNX, THE HEART OF A USER.
If you ride an Alma, an Oiz, an Occam or a Rallon, you’ll be able to hear a fine tune as you pedal, around a bend or up an impossibly steep climb. It’s a tune composed by a jazz ensemble conducted by Xabi Narbaiza, MTB Product Manager at Orbea. Text and photos by Jon Saez
Inside 19
We don’t need Xabi to talk about the bikes he makes for us to believe in them. He could be talking about a piece of furniture, the bread he got this morning or his little girl’s toys for us to realize that this lanky body possesses eyes with microscopic precision and a mind obsessed with detail. This is what you can see behind the cables or the geometry angles of Orbea’s range of mountain bikes, or embodied in the Grouchy Smurf that comes to the surface when care or attention aren’t up to the desired level in a project. Despite being in his mid-thirties (he was born in Eibar in 1979), he’s been with Orbea for a while -12 years - cultivating his passion and love of bikes. If you ask him about this, he’ll reply, ‘It has it all, especially in MTB: sport, nature, friendship, travel, mechanics, engineering, adrenaline, technical difficulty, physical challenge…’ And the list should probably go on and on. As the French psychologist Théodule-Armand Ribot put it, ‘Passion is a long-term emotion.’ However, passion is something you both enjoy and suffer. In 12 years, Xabi has learned a lot, being in constant evolution and spending ‘a few nights not sleeping a wink.’ When you ask him about the raving reviews the latest Rallon got, he dodges the question and says, ‘It’d be a mistake to get too confident and rest on our laurels. We’d be breaking away from the way we’ve done things so far, even from the way we are.’ Then he adds that the credits aren’t just for him: ‘It sounds like a cliché, but it’s the result of teamwork.’ Perhaps one of Xabi’s main achievements at Orbea is to create an environment where communication and work flow naturally between the members of the MTB development team. Mikel, Beñat and Aitor are the backbone of a team that cuts across the Orbea organizational chart. Together with their ‘spiritual leader’ – as Aitor calls Xabi –, they ride trails and test bikes on Fridays after work. Without making a caricature of themselves, they still admit that they’re
‘a little freaky’: ‘We sleep with a bike suspension under the pillow’.
“THE PASSION, ENERGY AND HEART OF OUR USERS ARE LIKE FUEL TO US. THEY MAKE US FEEL WE OWE THEM.” Xabi Narbaiza, MTB Product Manager. Now and again, Xabi and his boys highlight the importance of having bike users in the team: ‘First-person experience helps us speak the same language, understand the challenges, grasp opportunities and achieve our goals. It helps us comprehend the importance of even menial tasks; to learn why customers need this piece to be properly assembled or that graphic design to fit the frame. I think all this is easier if you’re involved,’ Xabi explains. However, far from relying on this alone, they listen to external users as a key – ‘sacred’, they’d say – part of their development processes: ‘The passion, energy and heart of our users are like fuel to us. They make us feel we owe them; they spend entire afternoons with us, and we feel we must live up to their expectations.’ Narbaiza is so passionate about his job that the word ‘workaholic‘ crosses your mind, but he dismisses the association: ‘You have to strike balance yourself. Now there’s the idea that you have to unwind at some point. I have goals to meet, but I don’t feel a lot of pressure. My life is well-balanced in terms of likes and obligations, both personally and professionally. Sometimes you have to get away from it all and see things from a different perspective, though,’ he admits. But, away from it all, is still never far from his passion.
Making of 20
MAKING OF Orbea means ongoing improvement. Orbea is in constant beta testing. Orbea is sweating – always on the rivet. Orbea is 24 - 7 - 365. This is what we want to communicate through these images.
/ Almost one tonne of meat About 950kg meat cooked with great care to feed 6,700 participants in the 14th Los Monegros Marathon.
/ Artisanal Manufacturing In bike making, state-of-the-art technology and innovation have to be supplemented with human subtleness and a keen eye for the process to be successful. Orbea mechanic Javi Lorenzo applies his eye and soul to this Alma.
Making of 21
/ Love at first sight Euskadi team riders Jon Larrinaga and Illart Zuazubiskar can’t avert their gaze from the Orca 2015 during the shooting of the promotional video.
/ Sheriff Orbea CEO Jon Fernández can be quiet and earnest, but he’s also ready to set up feeding stations or hand out racing numbers if necessary.
/ On the screen The oldest movie theater in the Pyrenees, located in Isaba, is the place chosen to introduce our latest range of bikes to our dealers and the press.
/ Wind Tunnel Under the gaze of Joseba Arizaga and Scott Warren, triathlete Andrew Starykowicz helps improve the aerodynamics of the Ordu OME in the North Carolina wind tunnel.
Pedaling 22
ROAD
New / Orca 2015 Light weight, stiffness, performance and racing geometry.
Objectively, the 2015 Orca is the best roadracing bicycle ever developed by Orbea. With frame efficiency and ride quality in mind, we’ve come up with a bike that is 20% lighter and 24% stiffer than its predecessor. Today,more than ever, Orca remains synonymous with racing andthe highest levels of performance. Discover it in www.orbea.com
/ Orbea R10 The R10 is the spearhead of the updated range of Orbea helmets. It’s the result of a completely reconsidered helmet concept: an integrated system bringing extremely lightweight, efficient ventilation and optimized aerodynamics together with a removable shell to minimize the effects of drag whenever necessary.
TRI
/ A New Baby Born in the Ordu Family: Ordu OME This new member of the Ordu family is a bike for amateur triathletes. It’s versatile and affordable, without giving up what triathletes seek above all else: aerodynamics. Discover it in www.orbea.com
/ Prologo Saddle Working with renowned saddle makerPrologo, Orbea has designed X (name of saddle),with an extensive testing programme, in both the wind tunnel and out in the field. The new saddle is available with all Orbea triathlon framesets.
Pedaling 23
/ Rallon: Huge Success
MTB
/ Oiz 27 and 29
The fourth chapter in the Rallon saga hasn’t gone unnoticed in specialist magazines. It was one of the few enduro bikes to consistently get raving reviews from the market’s most authoritative publications.
The bike whose very prototype won an XC World Cup round has been updated with versions utilising both 27” and 29” wheels. Oiz showcases all the technology and innovation Orbea is capable of, underlying what many consider to be one of the most spectacular MTB bike designs on the market.
“Rallon is is definitely one of the few bikes that deserves to be described as a real enduro bike.” pinkbike.com
“Pointed downhill, holy moly! The Rallon rallies! The calculated combination of the geometry and BOS suspension really make this bike come alive, and it was truly an eye opening experience for all three of us. It begs to be ridden faster and faster and launch higher and farther, and we never felt as though the bike was overwhelmed.” vitalmtb.com
/ New Members for the Alma Family The Alma Hydro, the little sister of the Alma introduced at Eurobike 2013, is coming out one year later, offering all the technology and innovation of its race winning carbon sibling, but in a hydroformed alloy frame.
ALL USE
/ All Use Urban The new speed bike from Orbea was developed to help you get around town in style. An affordable, efficient bike that you can lock outside if you’re at work, having dinner or shopping. That is, if you can ever get off it! With ergonomics for less demanding users than those of the Dude or the Carpe, it strikes a harmonious balance between comfort and sports performance. You can ride your bike at ease or crank it up. This is what the new Orbea bike is like for riders getting around the city every day: essential and powerful yet affordable. Urban is designed to help you enjoy your urban rides.
/ TERNUA Sharing so many values with this outdoor clothing brand, we wanted to reflect this on the clothes worn by the Orbea staff at Eurobike 2014. ternua.com
www.orbea.com