Eroica Part 1 Ottobre 2011

L'Eroica is a classic Italian bike race. Actually, it is far from that. It is an unique event in this world. It is called "The Heroic" and has been established about 20 years. It involves over 4000 riders from all over the world attempting to taking on some really tough Tuscan roads in old old bikes. I really want to use Anchorman here and say "old old wooden bikes" but there would be no humour as it is true - more on this later!
The bikes have to be pre-1987 - that is: gear shifters on the down tube, no hidden cables, no clipless pedals, etc etc. And they are extremely tight on this, any non-qualifying bikes will be kicked out. The race takes place on the first Sunday in October, when it is still just about warm, and takes in 205 km of Italian white roads. Yes, 205 km, of which 125 km are off road on the famous strada bianche - the unpaved white roads. In fact, the event was set up originally as a tourist thing to help save the white roads (more on that later). And now there are permanent brown signs of a percorso ciclisto turistico. There are official guides and they say that a fit person can comfortably achieve the full course in 3-5 days!!
There are other options - 38, 75, 125 and 205 km but that is just cheating, unless you are doing something like attempting it on a penny farthing in which case it is allowed.
Before the event there are days of preparations with fantastic markets of old bikes, and yes - old, old wooden bikes. Particularly old wooden-rimmed wheels - apparently this was how it was done in the past - insane! Lots of pictures attached.

The bike I was using was a Peugeot Esprit 1984, kindly found by Stuart on freecycle, sorted out by his mechanic and posted over. I received it and tried to get the tyres and inner tubes sorted and this was when the fun started. I got it set up and running, took it out for a first ride and after about 300 yards the rear tyre exploded. Well, it wasn't the classic old white wall tyre but the inner tube. I'm glad it happened after 300 yards because I was wearing flip flops and was topless! So I changed the inner tube and took it for another spin, this time taking in some white road. I came across a roundabout and as I was going around, rather gingerly (obviously!) the rear tyre exploded. This meant a 3 mile walk home in the blazing sun, this time I was wearing shoes, but still had no top on! After one more go, and another explosion I gave up and took it to my mechanic. When I went in, and told him I was planning on doing the grand fondo he started laughing and almost never stopped. So I left the bike with him for a week...
A week later I came back, he had done nothing. Git. So I stood with him whilst he fixed it. First he swapped the rear 6-casette from a 23 tooth to a 28 tooth. This made the world of difference, he changed cables, and spent a long time truing the original wheels. He then put on the same tyres they use in the Paris Roubaix - €66 each. In all it cost over €200 :( I got it back, took it out and the front tyre exploded. At this point I lost my temper and lobbed it across the street and beat it up a little. I had done that with my Claud Butler earlier in the year, regretted it, and not learnt my lesson.
I jumped into the car, and haven given up with my mechanic, drove 75 km to a good shop I knew to see if I could buy a new bike. I got there and there was nothing, so eventually I ended up buying a new, old-looking wheel. I got it home and all was ok.
I spent a long time in the final week, tweaking and changing and poking and sorting. Maybe two hours per night. I hate to think of the money that I and Stuart spent on a bike that I used once and will never use again. In fact, when we were at the market before L'Eroica we found the world's most amazing mechanic who worked on it and found some more problems and fixed them all for free - a wonderful man, it was amazing to see all the crowds stood just watching him work in the street - he was amazing.

The market had all sorts of great stuff - retro clothing, belts and wallets made out of recycled tyres and inner tubes, classic old bikes, and classic clothing. Some of the old bikes were incredible, self oilers, manual gear changers - some that you had to reach to the rear derailleur for, wooden wheels, brakes that pressed down from above onto the actual rubber of the wheel, and all sorts... However, strangely enough it was the two water bottle holders, purchased for £5 each including water bottle from his local shop that was getting the crowd going. Tens of people were stopping and looking at Stuart's bike and taking photos. Preparation was complete, but had not been perfect. Bikes had been shit, and our final ride the day before had not been fun with Stuart having bike problems (see data below). I had been ill for a month and had not trained and Stuart had had a chest infection and was still on antibiotics. However, the weather was amazing - still over 30 C, and the scenery was fantastic. Start time was 05:00 the next morning from Gaiole a mere 20 miles away from my house, and we were riding with Riccardo from my office. We had matching retro campagnolo tops at the ready. We were ready! http://app.strava.com/rides/1814701
To be continued...