In these strange days, I have decided to tell you little by little what is behind Bikefriendly. How I met them, who they are and what stories led them to turn their lives around and dedicate themselves completely to an idea that many considered, at first, somewhat strange: the promotion of cycle tourism, the design of bike trips and the specialization of accommodation and territories to welcome cyclists in search of new destinations to explore by bicycle.
This is the first chapter.
It all started one day in October 2014, when Esteve Ripoll, director of the MountainBiker magazine, he called me and said: “Alberto, prepare the suitcase and the bike, we're going to Ordesa. There are people who have set up a cycling route there and promise".
Like so many other times, I packed my suitcase and loaded the bike into the car with the purpose of heading to Huesca and writing a new article. It was one of many, but over time I discovered that that article would change an important part of my life. As in the book 'The Hobbit, an unexpected journey' I was heading towards an unknown territory where a mystical mountain would be the protagonist. He Monte Perdido, whose name is already quite suggestive, was waiting for us.
Carlos, the great host
As soon as we arrived at Fiscal, our departure point on that occasion, my partner Esteve and I met Carlos Avellana, one of 'the 4 of Bikefriendly'. The place where we had met was Rio Ara hostel, a beautiful place where the smell coming from the kitchen warned us that we were going to have a very good dinner that night. It was time to prepare the bike, store it in the Bikefriendly space and enjoy dinner. It was cold outside and we were tired from the trip, so we were looking forward to getting into bed to rest warm. At 8 in the morning the next day Carlos was waiting for us in the dining room to give us a briefing and explain all the details of the route. He would act as our guide and show us every corner of an area that he promised we would love. And he was not wrong. We loved the route, the places were spectacular and Carlos explained to us all kinds of details and curiosities about the area.
Despite not finding gold under the mountain like in 'The Hobbit', we did find a treasure. The treatment that Carlos gave us on that first trip made that route seem different to all the others we had done to date and I decided to return the following year with my friends. If, as Carlos said, “we are all like that in the company”, we had discovered a company that was worth repeating.
The following year I returned with my friends and we were so happy that we repeated all the routes they offered for years.. Bikefriendly had us hooked like a ring to Frodo and his Bikefriendly spaces in hotels They had fascinated us. Being such a good and necessary idea, how could it be that no one had thought of it before? Understand the needs of the cyclist, even before the cyclist himself needs something, is what Bikefriendly understood from the beginning. We no longer wanted to cycle to another hotel that was not Bikefriendly.
Over time I went back to MountainBiker to write new articles. each new Bike friendly route It was a new article and as time went by I learned who was behind Bikefriendly. I knew a little more about them each time and, over the years, I got to know them personally. Their stories, so different from each other, had something in common: passion for work and improvement. These values, as important as they are rare, remain intact today in the company and that is the true matrix of Bikefriendly.
The 4 of Bikefriendly, pieces of a cycling puzzle
With 'the 4 of Bikefriendly', although it seems like the name of a pop group, we refer to the 4 founding partners of the company. Carlos was the first person I met and I spent a lot of time with him on my first trips, but with him were Luis, Ruth and Raúl. Each of them has a different character and plays a fundamental role in the company. The four of them form a solid group, very united and with different characteristics that complement each other perfectly.
If we say that we spent the first kilometers with Carlos in Bikefriendly, we remember his proximity. In all my years traveling with the magazine, I have met few people who treat their clients so attentively. Carlos is all attention, all details, and he makes you feel comfortable traveling and makes everything perfect. No one understands cyclists like him and knows how to make their stay perfect. He is the ideal host and his knowledge of Huesca and its mountains means you will never get bored with him. He knows the towns, stories and folklore of the area like a true local of over 80 years.
Luis, the mind in the shadow
Luis, whom we did not meet on the first trips, is the mind in the shadows. Luis is a human computer, the person who manages and accounts for all the details of each route and each client. He does not miss a single detail and detects errors where no one has seen them. His ability to control all the company's processes is fascinating and he is the person who gives the green or red light to many projects. Putting numbers to ideas is not easy and Luis does it every day with unusual ease.
Raúl, the ideas machine
Raúl is probably the most visible face of the company. Raúl is all ideas, all opportunities. He always has an awake mind and is always thinking of new “stories” to get into.. It doesn't matter if it's a new route, a new project or signing up for a 24-hour Raid. Raúl is the one who constantly keeps the group motivated and the one who intermittently bombards the company with new projects and crazy ideas.. Do you have a project in mind? Talk to Raúl and he will surely find a way to shape it and move it forward. But he watches, if you are careless and without knowing how, you will have a number hanging and you will be about to start an ultramarathon race.
Ruth, healthy sanity
Luckily for Bikefriendly and for everyone who works there, the company has Ruth. She is sanity, the person who stops the euphoria unleashed after a new idea that requires thousands of hours of work and that no one has thought about that could go wrong. She is the one who takes care of the company, who makes everyone comfortable working and who remembers that life must be enjoyed. Working, but enjoying. If Carlos, Luis and Raúl get together, a crazy new idea will surely come out, but the one that reaches Rut puts them all in their place. Her good taste is another of the details that characterizes Rut, but that is something that only those who have visited the Bikefriendly headquarters know.
Many years have passed since I met Bikefriendly as an editor and I can say that, today, I am part of this great little company. The human, family and friendship treatment that I noticed as an editor in my first articles is the same that I continue to notice today in our daily lives. The company has grown a lot, we employ more people and we work all over the country, but the important thing, what fascinated me in that cold month of October 2014, remains intact. This is Bikefriendly, a group of friends who really enjoy working for cyclists.
Alberto Roncero
Biker, editor and adopted son of the Bikefriendly family
