What a weekend. Unbelievable, awesome, rad, mega, ace!
Having never been to L’Eroica and only having seen pictures on the internet I didn’t fully know what to expect but what came was among the best all-round cycling experience I have ever encountered. The atmosphere the whole weekend was electric, where 3000 like minded, fanatical individuals descend upon Gaiole in Chianti for two days of pure cycling nostalgia. Woolen jerseys and steel bikes aplenty, any man interested in the traditions of the cycle race can certainly find his fill here.
Day one on Saturday sees the flea market come into town, I say flea market it is a great big cycle jumble in English terms. Stretched out either side of Gaiole’s main road this jumble is big and not only is it big, it is good, very good. Everything you ever needed for your period build and all the accompaniments to go with it can be found here. Even the rarest of the rare is on the tables, it seems that the cream of Italy’s cycle merchandise dealers have landed in Chianti for the day to bless all of the hungry with their wares. You simply do not get a selection this good in the U.K.
If you are unhappy to ogle pantographed cranks and embroidered jerseys all day then you can visit the museum, where books, posters, videos and actual race bikes will greet you. Maybe taste and buy some local meat, fresh pasta, wine made in these hills, the food here is, well it’s just the absolute epitome of rustic goodness. This is, after all a cycling ‘holiday’ so it must be approached as such, take your time, see the sights, chat to the locals and the not so locals. Sometimes trying to speak to someone about your passion for cycles and cycling can be tiresome, remember though that every one here, each of the 3000 are more than happy to exchange verses on the virtue of the spoked wheel and tubed frame for they too are here for the exact reason you are.
The evenings see most people go off to their hotels or chalets to eat food and wine bought that day but we saw Le Coq’s Citroen HY van, looking fabulous in red, white and blue crank up the soundsystem for a grappa fuelled ipod party, but not after food with the stars. A sit down dinner with speeches from Italy’s cycling greats, it was like come dine with me with Fausto Coppi, yes, these were very old men.
Day two sees the cycle race along the fabled white gravel roads and Le Coq Sportif, my hosts, did a perfect job of organising cycles for everyone ( I rode a Campagnolo equipped 1977 Paletti ) and the registration procedure was just seamless. You need a number on your back, one on your bike and a stamp card and you are good to go, good to enter ‘race mode’ or ‘sportif mode’ for a day jam packed full of excitement and surprise. Depending on how your legs feel you can choose to ride either 38km, 75km, 135km or 205km but every one will be as pleasurable an experience as the next. Should you have any technical difficutlies someone will be along to help you out soon enough, such is the kinship on the road.
The roads ridden upon are made up of mainly white gravel paths called the Strade Bianche, fairly narrow in width and rutted like an ice ravaged mountain pass these roads are not to be taken softly. I have never ridden them but I can only imagine it to be like the cobbled straights of the paris-roubaix. Hang on tight, it’s going to get bumpy!
Along your way you will find a handful of food stops fully stocked up with local edible delights and alcohol too should you have the stomach.
Is it a race? Is is a ride? Who knows? But there are all levels out on the road, from the locals who hurtle past you and the vintage service car in front like a roller coaster coach direct and unrelenting to 90 year old men in full woolen suits being pushed up hills by boys half their age. This ‘race’ is legendary and I now know what the fuss is about. The moment tickets go on sale next year, I am buying one, or two.
Not long been back from this, an amazing trip and currently juggling writing up my report and editing photographs.
In the meantime get your chops round these movies and if you look closely you will see me somewhere looking cool as ice in Black wayfarers.
Huge thanks go to Le Coq Sportif for inviting me out and making it all happen, you guys did an absolutely stellar job, to my roomy Matthew Sparkes of the Guardian, to Andrew and Phil of the Ride Journal, to Woody of Tea and Cake for being an awesome host, to the guys from Hanon and to everyone else involved. Thank you!
Yup. That’s it. Tonight I leave for L’Eroica 2010 and I am now at a level of almost hysteric frenzy.
Expect plenty of words and photographs this weekend as I blog and tweet ‘live’ from La Caravan do Coq in Chianti and also a full report upon my return.
Have a great weekend folks and good luck to ‘our boys’ in this weekend’s world road champs.
I am going to L’Eroica next weekend to do some work for Le Coq Sportif. I am riding the 74km route mostly on white gravel roads and I have a bike there waiting for me. I wonder what it will be? The De Rosa above should suffice.
My excitement is becoming almost unbearable. More info on my travels to this weekend’s L’Eroica to come.
Stage one of the Rapha CCC Alps ridden by all. Some fast riders at front, setting a fierce pace. Interesting to see if they are still this competitive in eight days time. Some stragglers at the back, but they should be able to ‘get round’… Some have already gone into survival mode. Could be a long ride…
The Giro d’Italia starts very soon ( the 8th ) and even though my viewing opportunities will be sparce I am still very much looking forward to it.
On Saturday, Amsterdam will witness the prologue as a time trial around it’s beautiful city, so lets hope the pros stay off those w**d cakes and get on with the matter at hand. That said those w**d cakes are extremely good!
If you couldn’t tell from these drawings then you should know that Gilberto Colombo played a significant part in some of the most advancing bike frame designs in history.
Professional road bike from Pinarello, Treviso with Columbus SL framework #I813 finished in candy red metallic. Equipped with Campagnolo Super Record group, Cinelli bar/stem, Mavic SSC tubular rims, 3ttt saddle, etc. Several special finished parts.
Tiziano Zullo was born in 1952 in the North of Italy. He started racing at the age of fourteen and in the early seventies came into contact with the world of frame building through some of the Italian builders. He began building frames, under his own name and for larger brands, and in 1978 he started to export the Zullo brand. By 1985 he was the frame supplier of the Dutch TVM team, a relationship that lasted until 1992. Zullo frames were ridden on the Milan San Remo, the Northern Classics and the Tours De France, Giro díItalia, La Vuelta and World Championships. He experimented with Aluminium and still has a custom Carbon frame but the range is still predominantly steel.
Seems that if you’d never heard of Apple Computer (let alone, seen the ‘1984’ commercial, had a PowerBook 100, first-edition iPod, spent thousands on iTunes, etc.) but happened to walk into one of their stores, put your hands on any of their products and started using it, you’d know that they were both different and, in my opinion anyway, better.
Seems like a lot of people feel exactly the same way about Campagnolo and stuff they’ve been making for 70-plus years. Surely Campy is no Apple. They generally deliver late, are rarely consistent in their marketing between their home country and foreign outposts, have made a lot of products that didn’t come anywhere near their mark (Syncro shifting? SGR clipless pedals?) and seem generally inefficient in their business practices. Yet their design, packaging, history of innovation, crispness of marketing, passion for their chosen subject matter, connection to riders and unrivaled race wins definitely inspires the same kind of dedication.
This is a short excerpt from a nice little written piece called ‘A Crush on Campagnolo explained’. Read the rest here.
