www.chechurubiera.info - an online magazine for fans of Chechu Rubiera
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHECHU
27 January 1973
Querido Chechu,
Te deseamos con todo corazón un cumpleños muy feliz.
Aunque te encuentres en plena concentración, estamos seguras que soplarás las velas de un espléndido pastel rodeado del cariño de los tuyos y que así, esa temporada empezará entre risas, champán y ternura.
¡Feliz cumpleaños!
Un fuerte abrazo de Nicky, Rebecca y Cristina
BIRTHDAY MESSAGES
Happy birthday too you, happy birthday too you, happy birthday dear Chechu, happy birthday too you !!! Greetz -Xxx- VERA PETERS
Just wanted to send you best wishes on your birthday!
ANDRE MESTETH
Féliz Cumpleaños, Chechu. Te envío un gran saludo. Que hoy pases un día genial.
ROGER, BOULOGNE, FRANCE
Dear Chechu, Seeing your beaming face at Solvang made me excited for the cycling season to come. I believe this could well be a banner year for you and for Discovery. A very happy birthday!
LARRY MARTIN, KANSAS CITY
Chechu, Wishing you a Happy Birthday! Hope this coming year is healthy and successful for you and your family. Ride on.
STEF & CHRIS HILL, CALIFORNIA
Best wishes to you Chechu, may you live a hundred years! Best regards.
SA MARIS, FRANCE
To Chechu, Have a fab Birthday, I hope you have a REALLY fab season and win lots of races!!
(Of course you will!)
ALICE ORR, EDINBURGH
Happy Birthday. Have a good season. Are you going to be riding the Algarve race this year? I'll be watching some of the race on the Wednesday and Thursday. I’ll also be in London for the start of the tour. Hope your year is a good one. Best wishes.
GEORGE BLANCHARD, ENGLAND
Chechu, Just wanted to say happy birthday and goodluck on the 2007 season. Happy Birthday.
KEITH ELLISON
Happy Birthday Chechu
MIKE MILLER, USA
REMEMBER 1973
1973. A vintage year with big clothes and bigger hair. Platform boots and glam rock exploded on our TV music shows. We recorded it all onto C-30 cassettes, using a handheld microphone with its awkward little switch.
Take a wander down memory lane to the year that Chechu was born. Read more
DID YOU KNOW ...
Rebecca writes, Chechu shares his birthday with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart? Mozart was born on January 27, 1756, in Salzburg.
Mozart the composer is thought of as Apollonian-- disciplined, well-balanced, with every note carefully placed--however many benders he enjoyed in his private life.
Chechu's professional image is Apollonian as well: hard-working, reliable, graceful, cheerful. As to Dionysian rites--party on, Chechu! It's your birthday!
AQUARIUS: THE WATER CARRIER
I know … yuck. It’s a birthday so let’s look at horoscopes. But when I spotted this headline last week, it was just too good not to delve further. Were there more relevations about Aquarian cyclists to be found in this Sunday newspaper freebie, called Zodiac Heaven or Hell?
Aquarius is the fixed air sign of the Zodiac. Air represents the mind and the ability to think. Fixed air is a metaphor for fixed opinions.
According to my little book, the key characteristics of the Aquarius personality are:
communicative, cooperative and dependable, scientific, strong beliefs in humane reforms, independence of thought and action, intense interest in people, loyal friendship and inventive.
The Aquarius male is apparently taller than average, long bones, broad hips, strongly built, has a distinctive facial profile and a high, broad forehead. Perhaps they're thinking of Quasimodo.
Also he’s friendly, fair-minded and moral, an intuitive thinker although unwilling to reveal his feelings.
In love matters, Aquarian men seem to be a bit disappointing. Apparently, they’re afraid of deep emotional involvement. They enjoy a living-apart relationship. Thankfully, they are loyal and faithful in marriage.
Apologies if this is a delve too far ... but sex for an Aquarian is an intellectual experience rather than an emotional one. And it doesn’t get any better – assiduous about hygiene, prudish, self-searching, verbal rather than physical. Yikes!
Aquarians have many friends but few confidants. Their friends have intellectual interests and enjoy the unusual and radical. Aquarians make great friends, and are a constant source of mental stimulation, information and practical help.
If you want to keep up with an Aquarian, you need to like music and controlled exercise, witty comedy, flying, scientific or creative hobbies and local politics.
Is this quite interesting? Or simply tosh-tastic. Actually, the book is quite nice about me, the Cancerian safe harbour ... apart from the crab-like head bit! And I'm completely incompatible with Aquarian and Sagittarian men. So Chechu may be safe from my attentions, but unfortunately, my husband (19 December) will just have to put up with me.
FOOD AND DRINK
TURRÓN - SPANISH NOUGAT
It is rumoured that Chechu has a sweet tooth. Let's hope Discovery has an enormous cake on order for today.
Talking of sweet treats, Spain's traditional sweet is turrón, a nougat made with honey and almonds. It's a Christmas treat, but when I look after my neighbour's house when she's at home in Madrid, she brings me a brick of turrón, at every time of year.
So, if you'd like to have a taste, here's the recipe for the original variety, brought to Spain by the Moors.
Basic ingredients: 1kg honey, 500g sugar, 2 egg whites, 1.5kg ground almonds, 1 lemon
Steps: Heat the honey in a pan over a low heat.
Add the sugar to the pan and stir using a wooden spoon.
Beat the egg white until stiff and add to the honey and sugar mixture in the pan.
Remove from the heat and stir for 8 - 12 mins before placing the pan once again over a low heat.
Continue stirring until the mixture begins to caramelise (it will turn brown).
Add the ground almonds together with the zest of the lemon - mix everything together and then set aside to cool for a few mins.
Put the mixture into a metal tin lined with grease proof paper - set aside to cool for 2 hours.
Once it has completely cooled it is ready to eat - if you want to store it use an airtight container.
So get cooking. But is it as good as Scottish fudge? Or even marrón glace from Paris. Despite my best efforts, even Señor Rubiera hasn't commited himself on this matter ... yet.
CELEBRATIONS
Chechu isn't the only one celebrating this week, it's our first anniversary too. On 23 January 2006, Rebecca sent this email,
Hi Nicky,
You're the only other English language message in Chechu Rubiera's guestbook ... so I thought, here's another Chechu fan! You have great taste in cyclists, and so do I, because I just think Chechu is fantastic.
Chechu's birthday is Friday the 27th. I'm planning to cook fabado, his favorite dish, as stated in his 10 Questions interview. I know this is silly, but, are you celebrating?
Email me if you want. It would be fun to talk.
Fun! ¡Y el resto! We are all having a ball! And then along came Christine, a wonderful lady who breathed vitality and personality into the website.
Hi girls,
I am French and delighted to learn you have created a new site on Chechu. I have been a fan of his for the last few years. I meet him regularly when he races in France, at the departures of stages. He is such a darling, always smiling and in a good mood, always ready to pose for fotos and sign autographs. I made some good shots of him which I can share them with you if you are interested.
So that's how it started.
BIRTHDAY ALBUM
We've each chosen our favourite photo of last year and here's why.
There are lots more in the GALLERY.
Rebecca's choice :
A defining feature of Chechu is his smile. Perhaps it sounds trite to say that his smile is like the sun. But it is like the sun, in that it shines brightly and often, it's warm, and it benefits the climate all around him. In this picture, Liz Kreutz has given us the full light of Chechu's smile, and a look into the eyes of a great athlete and an admirable human being.
Christine's choice :
This was in Mons, Belgium at the departure of the first stage of the Giro 2006. It was freezing cold, foggy and raining heavily and all the riders were hurrying to the podium to get to the signing-in book and leave as fast as possible to get to the departure line that was far away.
But when I saw Chechu and called him, he stopped by me, took the time to put his bike against the barrier next to me as I asked him to do because I wanted to take a few shots of it, and posed for me in the rain.
After the signature, I took some more photos, we said goodbye and he asked if he would see me during the Tour de France.
He spent a good 5 minutes, before and after signing, chatting and posing, always smiling, under the pouring rain, and I thought that was the sweetest thing in the world! That's exactly how Chechu is. Always in a good mood, charming and nice to everybody. Christine
Nicky's choice :
Liz Kreutz takes the very best photos of Chechu and this shot is my favourite of the year. Liz captures Chechu's power and momentum as he comes off the ramp at the start of the 2006 Tour de France ITT.
I love the action and colour, and the sense of spectacle. Best of all, there's great anticipation, I just want to be there. Although this year's Tour wasn't a happy time for Chechu, he stuck with it and demonstrated such determination and loyalty. How can you not admire this quality? How can you not just love him?
Happy Birthday, Chechu. Nicky
Photograph by Liz Kreutz