“Every time we think of a port, ramps, percentages, you will be there.” «Today the summits cry and their crazy followers we remain empty». His colleagues from the magazine ‘Ziklo’ and from the world of cycling in general are in mourning for the death of the Bilbao cyclist Juanto Uribarri, at the age of 68, on May 29. His death, after suffering a heart attack, occurred doing what he liked the most: riding a bike. Considered one of the great specialists in high altitude cycling, his website ‘altimetrias.net’ had become a reference for thousands of fans before facing a route that included a mountain.
Despite being considered a kind of walking bible of altimetry on two wheels, Juanto began to enjoy cycling, already 30 years old and married, when he was asked to climb the Orduña pass. In fact, his mother-in-law told him: «But Juanto, where are you going? That you are no longer old for that ». He was wrong, because since then this Deusto fan has done nothing but climb the toughest slopes to become a true expert in the field. First with the invaluable help of the ‘Cateye’, a rudimentary meter with which he took data every five metres, and later with GPSs, Garming and typographic maps.
Until his retirement, this Geography and History teacher at the Balmaseda institute was in the first edition of the Bilbao-Bilbao and climbed thousands of slopes not only in Spain, but also in France and Italy to find out their altimetry while enjoying the experience of touring them by bike with that added suffering that makes it so addictive. One of his favorite ports was the Italian Nivolet: «When I got to the top I stopped. You see the mountain, what you have climbed, the lakes… I was moved. And I saw that the same thing happened to some of those who were arriving. They began to cry », he recalled in an interview for this newspaper.
“Lead by example”
In it, he also confessed his fondness for, together with his friend Josemi Ochoa, going “on every paved road that we see. Those who go up to a farmhouse, a hermitage, an antenna… Almost all have ramps greater than 20 percent ». In this sense, he considered that he was left with “the twenty-odd different climbs that Artxanda has.” A whole living encyclopedia about the world of two wheels thanks to the fact that “you knew how to lead by example and there are many of us who have learned with you”, remember his colleagues.
“Whenever they ask me what my favorite port is, I say the one I don’t know, the one I’m going to climb tomorrow,” he always pointed out. Ports that will surely miss him, as well as his family, friends and the many fans of cycling to whom he advised: «We will always be missing something, but we also know that we will always have a moment to remember you. Thanks a million Juanto”, reads the message from the APM website shared on social networks. His funeral is today, Wednesday, May 31, at 7:30 p.m. in the El Salvador parish, Calle Fontecha y Salazar, 7, in Bilbao.
2023-05-31 08:08:49
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