Borja Fernández and Jesús López: the skills and initiatives of two Aurum Bikes professionals at the service of Bicis para la Vida by Škoda

The Bicis para la Vida by Škoda project is based on donations of material from individuals and institutions. Thanks to the SEUR Foundation, the bikes are delivered to the Contador Foundation project at no cost to the donors. At the project’s facilities in Pinto, each bike is supervised and tuned for its subsequent reception of a second life of service, and sometimes a third or fourth, through a project of a socio-community nature or in a group at risk of social exclusion.

In this process of mechanical adjustments, in this workshop work, Bicis para la Vida has counted and counts on the fundamental collaboration of institutions such as the AMP Association of Pinto or the Good Samaritan Foundation, two entities that with their support have contributed to the growth of the project. At the same time, in recent months, specific collaborations have been developed with companies within the framework of their corporate social responsibility projects. This is a field with a lot of scope for action and which allows, above all, the strengthening of Bicis para la Vida.

In this sense, the last two months have been very relevant with the intensification of the collaboration of Aurum Bikes with the project through the growing and intense participation of two of its mechanics and fitters, Jesús López and Borja Fernández García. Both had already volunteered for the Bicis para la Vida by Škoda project in the past, during a previous work experience at the sports retail giant Decathlon. During that time they had the opportunity to meet and collaborate with him.

“As a fan of cycling and Alberto’s career, I have always been aware of everything that was going on within the Foundation, including Bikes for Life. When I worked as a workshop manager in the Decathlon shop in Ortega y Gasset I thought it would be good to be able to hand over materials that were being withdrawn from sale if there was that possibility. I liked the idea and it was possible to sign an agreement and set it up. Eventually I also offered to lend them a hand on a personal basis”, recalls López.

“As a project, Bicis para la Vida does a very nice job. It was Jesús himself who told me about Bicis para la Vida, I liked the idea a lot and I also came with him on occasion to tune up bicycles,” adds Fernández. The power of the bicycle. That through something so simple you can help people who really need it, providing them with a means of transport or a tool to improve their health is something that should be emphasised. And then the environmental reading, which goes unnoticed: you are reusing a product, you are giving it a new use. Bikes for Life has many possibilities: in the end, the bicycle is a universal means of transport, used by people from all social strata and for the most diverse and multiple uses”.

Jesús and Borja’s voluntary work goes beyond the mere tuning of the bicycles, it also affects the rationalisation of work spaces and their organisation, the ever important optimisation of material resources. “In the end we only try to contribute ideas based on our experience. We make suggestions. In this sense, we have created three independent workshop stations with all the tools that we consider basic for both the adjustments and the main needs that are encountered on a day-to-day basis,” explains López. “The main objective is for the workshop to be an independent, autonomous entity, so that each person who comes in can work intuitively and with all the tool or material needs at hand,” he adds. “And in the end it’s another way for me to express my passion for cycling, and to do it in a way that is useful to others. The bike is my way of life, I love bikes and, at work, I dedicate myself to them. My daily life, my environment, our environment, is a cycling environment. And in this context, helping Bikes for Life is a real pleasure.