Dave Hobson has placed signs along the Elkhorn Classic route to alert drivers. He and his wife, Claire, have helped with the bike race since their son, Nathan, started it five years ago. They've helped in almost every capacity, from handing out water bottles to the thirsty racers to guarding corners during the criterium downtown. (Baker City Herald/S. John Collins).

By LISA BRITTON

Claire and Dave Hobson don’t just sit and visit.

Don’t get the wrong impression they have lots of tales to tell. Who wouldn’t have stories with a family of 13 children, 33 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, with one more on the way?

andquot;We could go on and on with their achievements,andquot; Claire says with a laugh and a shrug. andquot;With 13 kids, it’s somebody’s getting married, somebody’s engaged, somebody’s having a baby.andquot;

andquot;Somebody’s in a ball game,andquot; Dave adds.

Sitting still isn’t in the Hobsons’ natures.

In the course of a conversation, Claire, 76, leaves her seat countless times to retrieve snapshots of her family, and Dave, 79, hops up to search for a handmade birthday card from his son or a chunk of quartz embedded with gold flakes he found in Baker County dirt.

And you barely make it through the front door before Claire points to a shiny red bike parked in the entryway.

andquot;It’s my beach cruiser. Nathan wanted to get me a racing bike, but I said no,andquot; she says with a grin.

Their son, Nathan, you see, likes to race bikes.

He likes it so much, in fact, that he founded the Elkhorn Classic Stage Race four years ago in Baker City where he grew up riding trails, roadways and highways.

andquot;I was riding with my little brother, Jason, on the Stage One route six years ago and decided then and there to host and promote a stage race in Baker County,andquot; Nathan said.

None of Claire and Dave’s kids or grandkids lives in Baker City, but on the weekend of the Elkhorn Classic you’d be hard pressed to pass through the crowd without running into someone with the Hobson name.

andquot;When Nathan decided to do the race, it was all family who helped,andquot; Claire said. andquot;It’s fun for us because it’s like a mini family reunion.andquot;

Claire and Dave and the rest of the clan have helped hand out water bottles to thirsty riders, guard corners during the fast-paced criterium, drive the support vehicles, put up signs along the rural routes to warn drivers of the race and clean downtown streets of accident-causing rocks.

andquot;I’ve swept that route by hand many times,andquot; Dave said with a smile.

He also brings up the rear of every stage.

andquot;Make sure there’s nobody, no trash, no sign that the race was ever there. The whole route at a slow pace,andquot; Dave said.

They learned the lingo of bike racing pretty quickly.

andquot;We didn’t know anything about a peloton or criterium,andquot; Claire said. andquot;We’ve learned all that.andquot;

(A peloton is a pack of riders; a criterium is a multiple-lap race on city streets.)

This year’s Elkhorn Classic begins Friday and continues through Sunday. About 370 racers have signed up to compete and four of them bear the Hobson name: Nathan, 42; Jason, 35; David Jr., 44; and Roland, 29.

andquot;We’re base camp,andquot; Claire said with a smile, pointing to a road bike parked in the dining room.

Claire and Dave Hobson moved to Baker City in June 1962.

He’d grown up in Portland; she in New Bedford, Mass. They met when Dave was in the U.S. Navy, and were married in 1947.

Gold enticed them to Baker City.

Well, Dave was the one who sought the gold at first.

andquot;We found you couldn’t eat it and it was only $32 an ounce,andquot; he said. (He later became an insurance agent.)

Claire, who grew up near Boston, wasn’t too keen on moving to Eastern Oregon from Denver.

andquot;When I first came to Baker, it was culture shock,andquot; she said.

Mention of that move makes Dave laugh as a story comes to mind, a recollection that causes Claire to roll her eyes and give a good-natured sigh.

They had eight children at the time, so they loaded their possessions into two cars and took off together.

The two cars were to meet up at the next town.

Claire never showed up, so Dave started checking with the state police and hospitals.

She and the kids were nowhere to be found, so he continued north, leaving notes at gas stations along the way in case she was behind him (he knew which gas station credit card she carried).

andquot;I’d pull in for gas and they’d bring notes out to me,andquot; Claire said with a smile.

She arrived in Baker City a day after Dave.

andquot;I took a wrong turn,andquot; she said.

andquot;She’d gone 150 miles toward Yellowstone,andquot; Dave said with a laugh.

She redeemed her road-trip worthiness several years later when she loaded 10 kids in a station wagon and headed east without her husband to visit family in Massachusetts.

andquot;Nathan was just a baby I gave him lots of bottles of chocolate milk. He still doesn’t like chocolate,andquot; she said.

But it’s David Jr., who was 4 at the time, who is the star of that cross-country trip.

andquot;I lost him in the cornfields in Iowa. He’s a towhead, and so’s the corn,andquot; she said. andquot;Course, we found him.andquot;

When they weren’t on some epic road trip, the Hobsons stayed busy around Baker County.

andquot;Every weekend we’d do something we’ve gone hiking, biking, camping, backpacking. Even if they didn’t want to go, they still had to,andquot; Claire said.

Staying active, though, doesn’t seem to be a problem for this family.

andquot;They were always into sports, music, band,andquot; Dave said.

Then Claire turns in her chair and points toward the kitchen door where, 40 years ago, a metal bar was bolted into the frame for chin-up competitions.

andquot;The other big accomplishment was to jump and touch the ceiling,andquot; Claire said.

Where one Hobson child went, the others were soon to follow, she says.

andquot;You have to understand, if one starts something, the other one does, then another one does,andquot; she said. andquot;Nathan started into road biking.andquot;

That was six years ago.

andquot;From there it has evolved into a full year-round commitment to training and racing,andquot; Nathan said. andquot;I ride 200 to 300 miles a week and between my children four of them and myself we have 24 bikes in the garage.andquot;

Both David Jr. and Jason started racing bikes about five years ago.

andquot;Nathan was the one who got me into racing and riding bikes on a consistent basis,andquot; Jason said. andquot;I bought a mountain bike in early 1991 and rode it around the trails and dirt roads while going to college. I progressed to road racing in an attempt to keep up with Nathan and David.andquot;

Roland also credits his racing to Nathan’s influence.

andquot;I started cycling about three years ago when college football was over and I needed a dose of a healthy lifestyle and some good competition,andquot; Roland said. andquot;I started talking with Nate about getting into cycling I then bought an entry-level bike and I’ve never looked back since.andquot;

This weekend, Roland will race in the men’s Category 4/5. David and Nathan will be in the Master’s 40+, and Jason will compete in the men’s Category 3 group.

andquot;Nathan, David and I have competed against each other, but it isn’t my favorite thing to do,andquot; Jason said.

His brothers agree.

andquot;I love riding with my brothers, but that feeling of really wanting to beat someone is reserved for others,andquot; David said.

Though Claire and Dave enjoy watching these road races, she can’t help but worry when the riders fly by, wheel-to-wheel, at speeds of 30 mph or more.

andquot;I like the bike races, but sometimes I get a little worried,andquot; she said. andquot;I just tell them no matter what, stay on the bike.andquot;

When her boys call to tell her about a race they finished, her first question is: andquot;Stayed on your bikes?andquot;

She gets the details after she knows they came through without lasting injuries.

andquot;Then I ask how they did,andquot; she says with a smile.