hurrengoa
burning oil edu lartzanguren   I  edu lartzanguren “Burning oil” is an expression commonly used by bikers to mean the bike is “racing along” or is otherwise used in any situation to say “let it rip”. I haven’t ridden a bike, but tonight I have really burnt the midnight oil with these road hogs at the Chopper motorcycle clubhouse.

“They call me Grey Wolf” one of them says to me, and he leaves me wondering whether he hadn’t chosen his nickname for himself. He proudly tells me that he once flattened a car in the middle of the road with a truck because the driver had “pissed me off”. “They fined me half a million pesetas”. He wore it like a medal.

Yep, Quadrophenia comes to mind unbidden. Especially that anti-climax, when the main character finds out that the Prince of the Young Mods, Sting, works as a porter at a hotel during the week: “Bellboy, bellboy!”.

But no, unlike those scooter mods, these Harley guys do not lead a double life: in the same interview Alaitz speaks about her fruit business and her last bike (her sixth). “That girl really burns oil” says a bearded biker. When he’s not out burning oil, Xabi is the mayor of a small nearby village. He tells me his complex theory regarding the next possible strategic moves by the characters in the TV series Game of Thrones. I don’t really get what he’s saying because I lost
track of who was who in the show a long time ago.

Sarah, daughter of the man who invented the chocolate bar the Kit Kat, is also here. According to her, ever since Nestle bought the family business she left England and has been wandering here and there. A rambling biker.

And these biker guys get more elegant the older they get: the wrinkles or the long greying beards make them look more legendary. Against the darkness of the night, the smoke of burning oil and the lights in the bar, they have turned into mythological creatures before my eyes. It’s true I’ve had a few drinks. But getting drunk… I don’t
remember that.