Vive el Ebro - Episode II

Escalada-Trespaderne

I lost my sunglasses (sorry Beth) and my camera between yesterday and today.

10 years down the road, this is the day everyone will remember. The first long ride, the first  time the group is split, most taking a low a wild single track, while others took took to the hiway with 15% steep climb, and the first day of pouring rain. Needless to say most bikers were cold and miserable, and support vehicles, including myself had a long day helping out.

Today I met Jon, from Bilbao, a lovely man, musician on his way out; as it happened, he did not have any rain gear, so when he reached me, he was so cold he changed to dry clothes and stayed in the van with me. He offered to drive the van, which was unfortunate, as that was when the “Guardia Civil” appeared and handed him a ticket for driving to slow. We had to protect our bikers from crazy speeding trucks, for only 4 kms the group was forced to take a hiway. While authorities along the way have been quite collaborative, this was a very young brain-dead asshole, that was thriving on power abuse, and putting a damper on the day, apparently the rain was not enough.

Regardless, the scenery was amazing the entire way, but because of the extra time needed, as the group found a bar to seek refuge waiting for the rain to slow down, by the time we reached Trespaderne and had dinner, the afterdinner roundtable was near midnight.

Trespaderne-Frias-Miranda de Ebro (57 kms)

This morning was also rainy, not as much. It was important to keep the group together, as arriving in Frias, a gorgeous medieval town in a perfectly maintained castle, the local ecolistas group was waiting for us to do a brief presentation on  Pueblos de Transicion (Transition Towns, only not Rob Hopkins TT, while they have a few similarities, this is based on a book written by Pablo, one of the guys in our group, and is much more political in nature).

An hour later we ride together with the locals, just a mile down the road, to Garoña, a very well guarded nuclear power plant, where we stood to protest and had local news groups to report.

The rain stopped in time for an outdoor picnic lunch. Jordi drove the van in the afternoon, to give me a chance to ride the bike, and conditions were good for me (sun, downhill, short mileage).

Arriving in Miranda de Ebro, we rode around critical mass, and came to the main plaza to join the 15M group (May 15 was the day people through social networks occupied plazas all over Spain, calling themselves, us, “indignados”) to open conversations and talk about different issues. Followed by a little food.

Miranda de Ebro-Haro-Baños de Ebro (50 kms)

Today I’m riding a bike, the entire day along the river and grape vines, and Jordi can catch up on some work, phone calls. We took a 5 kms detour, to stop and protest a dirty quarry just before our first stop is in Haro, the epicenter of the Rioja region, plenty of good wine, and a different variety of tapas, which I love to try out.

We gather in the main plaza/town square, and sing our Ebro song for the first time, created by Marta, an energetic and very positive soul from Madrid, femenist group, and teacher to teen kids. I made another elderly freind, who told me how a small town was forced out when they placed the quarry and messed up the river. Then we went wine tasting, in the famous small street, and enjoyed some different kind of tapas, rolls made with hot peppers and a ball of sheep stomach.

My younger freind Carlos (9yr old), who enjoys speaking english with me, injured his shoulder, so he, his bike and his 7month old puppy Draco jumped in the van with Jordi. I forgot to mention that Draco had one of his toes amputated yesterday, as he caught his foot in the spokes of his mom’s bike when he unexpectedly jumped out of his basket.

The group had left by the time Mamen and I got back to the plaza, but a small group of 8 stayed behind with Julio, our local guide, and we found them having more wine, which made for a very entertaining ride, as I discovered Marisa “la Medica de Cantabria”, is hilarious, and a fan of graphic novels like myself, as I saw her wearing a Tshirt of her own creation with El Corto Maltese.

We continued on to the castle town of San Vicente de Sonsierra, which is known for an anarchist revolt of 33, but more so for the Picaos of Good Friday (flogging). Lunch at the main plaza, after which we visited the castle walls, where we observed some odd looking flues/vents by the ground floor of the stone homes, which we found out are venting the wine storage caves below. An old roman bridge stands dividing La rioja and Navarra.

Back on the bikes, now towards Baños de Ebro, which is actually back in the Pais Vasco, as the river twists and turns, and we camped out by the town municipal swimming pool.

Baños de Ebro-Los Ciegos- Fuenmayor-Logroño

Back in the van along with my injured companions Carlos and Ibai. Yes Ibai fell hard yesterday and received some nasty scrapes, luckily we happen to have a couple of doctors and a vet in the group.

We stopped by an old little church by the side of the road for lunch, and while some were practicing the old art of “siesta”, much needed in order to avoid the hottest time of day, others, like myself were having a “styling” session, as Mamen, is not only a mom to Carlos and puppy Draco, but she is also a hair stylist of 30 years, that was forced to retire early due to chemical sensitivity, some people know it as “bubble boy syndrome”, and she often wears a breathing mask, when surrounded by people wearing shit like perfumes, soaps, detergents, etc. She’s considering dropping out because she’s afraid that more bad juju may happen after Draco’s amputation and Carlos’ dislocated shoulder.

Polet, Josep and Jon came from the Delta with their traditional hand made wooden boats, a unique design flat bottom from the Delta area, which is famous for it’s fertile land and excellent cooking rice. They 

started in Fontibre, and have been following the route with us on the river, although they have many obstacles along the way. Jordi, and I joined them this evening with the canoe on the river for another manifesto, where later the 

bikes that had been riding around the city of Logroño and joined by the local group, will join us along the pedestrian bridge. Polet, who is a neverending source of stories, told us about this simple weed many uses throughout it’s lifespan; when young it will feed sheep, later it will hide insects and spiders that feed the birds, older it serves as cooling shade, and he makes these awsome tiny boats.

We made it to the Poli by 

11pm, tired and hungry, road our bikes to the “Casco Antiguo” for a bite. We couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw the sea of people “picoteando” (eating tapas and drinking wine), each bar specializing in some food (mussels, jamon, etc).