Hamburg, a cycling city?
Depends on how you look at it: "The cycling situation in Hamburg is a bit contradictory. As a city, it is very well equipped for cycling, with a bike lane extending throughout the city, including several streets exclusively for cycling. In addition, the government encourages cycling very actively and with a free rental system for anyone, not necessarily a citizen of Hamburg. I would say that anyone in Hamburg has a bicycle," Borja begins.
On the other hand, "cycling as a sport in terms of number of members is not in the majority, although it is true that since the pandemic began it has become more popular. Nowadays you can see more people dressed like real cyclists on the roads around here," he continues.
Borja Cruz is one of the four founders of Grupetto Hamburg, a cycling community that grew out of the city and has a large number of members. "Maybe we also have a part to play in the growth of cyclists in Hamburg," he says proudly.
It all started barely a year ago: "The name Gruppetto came about at our first meeting, which was still unnamed. It was three days in the French Alps. We got together eleven cyclists who at that time hardly knew each other.
We had been riding together for a couple of months," Borja continues. In one of those shoots the idea of doing something in the mountains came up and without thinking too much about it we organized the trip. The name comes from the fact that in that group of friends, the level was very different. We had from a sailing Olympian to a rowing Olympian, including long distance triathletes, my case, an amateur cyclist, etc...".
It was not a problem, from the diversity came the group: "We agreed to go all together and help each other to complete the three stages, as demanding or more than the hardest stage of the Tour de France.
A story of camaraderie on wheels from which the name "Gruppetto" was born.
"In cycling slang, the gruppetta, or the Gruppetto is the group of cyclists who always lag behind the favorites, especially in the hardest stages, and whose aim is to reach the finish line before the cut-off timeregardless of which team you belong to. In the Gruppetto we all help each other because the goal is always the same: to finish and be able to start the next day".
We are a company, a team, a community of inclusive cyclists," Borja adds. Everyone is welcome, regardless of their level or experience. The only thing you have to have is the desire to ride a bike. As we are such a large community, we offer different levels on the outings, we separate groups according to the speed at which they will ride and we try to make sure that everyone has a good time, that everyone can have a good workout, that they "suffer a little", but above all that they enjoy themselves and want to ride with us again".
It all started with the four members who planned the trip to the Alps. The structure also includes a racing team of eight cyclists.regulars in races such as the criterium or the German championships.
The brightest part "is the community that we have created with more than 600 active cyclists. We invite anyone who wants to ride a bike to join us, come one day, meet us, ride with us and feel part of the community. We have three channels where we publish our events".
Gobik Custom Serviceson the recommendation of Alberto Contador
All this frenetic activity is dressed up in GobikI know them through Alberto Contador. I have dealings with him, and in one of the outings I saw him with a jersey from Gobik and I asked him about the brand and he gave me the best references, so when we founded the company and wanted to have our own cycling apparel, we had no doubt. As soon as we received the sizing kit, we knew he was the perfect supplier for us."
There are three collectionsThe one we call "Gruppetto Community Kit"in blue color composed of the jersey CX PROthe bib Limited and the vest Plus blue to match. We did it this way because we wanted to paint the roads of Hamburg in the typical Hamburg color of the sea and offer people quality equipment at a "democratic" price, as many are new to cycling."
We moved into the good weather with the summer kit. Borja describes it as "the jewel in the crown, with the bib Gravity in black and the jersey Attitude in white and wink to the three grand tourshence the three stripes in yellow, pink and red".
We close with the winter kitconsisting of the bib Absolute length and the jersey long-sleeved Atomic Pro next to the jacket Tempest "for colder days with some rain.
Last but not least for the competition teamour most adored Racing Suit Brooklynwhich we are all in love with".
Cycling in Hamburg
Going back to cycling in the city and its region, it must be admitted that "going out for training or touring in Hamburg can become very boring and routine, since the great majority of cyclists go out on what we call "Deich" - in English, the dike - which is a 70-kilometer round trip road, which you can take from inside the city. The truth is that it is very comfortable, but as I say boring, in 70 kilometers the difference in altitude can be 30 meters".
"Deich is the route we do every Tuesday and Thursday in summer at 5:00 AM, yes, yes, at 5:00 AM. The people in the community love it and so do we as founders. It's what we call our Early Birding (Early Bird + Riding) because there is nothing better than to start riding your bike at the same time the sun starts to come up and finish our route at 7:00 AM drinking a Flat White with some of the gruppetta.
Another important outing is on Wednesdays after work. We call it the "Speedfest".only for the fastest and fastest riders. also created as part of the training for our Gruppetto competition team. Racing Team.
And on weekends, the "Social Ride: “Longer shoots either northbound, towards the coast, or southbound, below the river ElbeWe already say it's southern Germany. Here we have up to 1,000 meters of positive elevation gain over 140 kilometers.
But it's not all about cycling: "In addition to cycling, we do cycling-related events, whether it's workshops on mechanics, cycling behavior, bike fitting and nutrition events, or training plans for cyclists.
