Eroica's coming to the UK

[mattsccm]

I propose a fun run, on the same day, free. Maybe regional ones. Lets conveniently meet.

 

[Johnsqual]

I propose a fun run, on the same day, free. Maybe regional ones. Lets conveniently meet.

Yeah, I like this. We need to show them that we do this because we love it, and don't appreciate being ripped off for doing what we love.

 

[ugo.santalucia]

I propose a fun run, on the same day, free. Maybe regional ones. Lets conveniently meet.

Yeah, I like this. We need to show them that we do this because we love it, and don't appreciate being ripped off for doing what we love.

That would be good, but from what I have heard these regional rides are poorly attended. I have 4-5 friends with period bikes and we do rides, they are great fun, but they are not the Eroica.
It is nice being part of something great and well organised.
Can you offer this in your regional ride?

The Monsal Trails. All routes go along and through these incredible marvels of Victorian engineering, our own 'Strade Bianchi' - excitingly incorporating a series of outstanding viaducts and tunnels. Enjoy exclusive access into the World famous Cromford Mills Heritage Site, the first water-powered cotton spinning mill in the world also the first to successfully implement the combination of power, machinery and human endeavour which became the basis of modern industrial production. Exclusive: We have gained special permission from the Duke of Devonshire to ride through many of the private routes of the Chatsworth Estate, offering an exclusively private aspect of one of the most famous estates in the UK. Be FIRST to the food stop: each village is a mini gastronomic festival in its own right overflowing with local delights and beer!

It could be all marketing bullxxit, but maybe instead they are going to deliver onthe above and it could be truly amazing

 

[Johnsqual]

Monsal trail is open to the public anyway since it's in a national park.
Chatsworth park seems to have some public roads leading through it, and I think the owners of these estates have some sort of obligation to provide access, even if they don't advertise it (at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire there is a 'secret' gate that gives you free access to the grounds).
Worst of all, their claim about 'exclusive access' to Cromford
Mills is cr@p: it's free to visit the site anyway!

So it sounds to me like they are just puffing up some stuff that is either freely accessible anyway or which has equivalent routes through it. What a load of chancers...

And calling the routes 'our own strade bianchi' is a steaming pile of horsesh!t. The strade bianchi of L'Eroica are unique and have a definite connection to cycling, being the remnants of roads like the ones that people like Coppi, Bartali, Magni, Anquetil and so on would have ridden on.
There are some roads in the Uk that have some historic cycling connections (Box Hill, Shibden Wall, the cobbled road in Haworth that was ridden in the Tour of Britain in the 1950s etc), but the route chosen for L'Eroica Ripoffica doesn't seem to have any such connections.

It may be a nice route, but it's one you can enjoy for free yourself.

 

[joe careless]

tech. question will I be able to use my '82 carlton corsair in this?

 

[Johnsqual]

The usual rule for these types of events is pre-1986 bikes,
with downtube or barend shifters and no clipless pedals.
Steel frames are also usually required, although an exception is often made for bonded or screwed and glued frames as made by Vitus and ALAN.

So in short, yes your Carlton would qualify.

 

[joe careless]

material, age it's alright. it's the ''racing bike'' bit

 

[Johnsqual]

I don't think the organisers of this would be able to tell a racing bike from Raleigh Twenty. If it's got drop bars you'll be fine.

 

[NeilM]

My feeling is that the organisers are just trying to start too big.

As the publicity they are getting is all over social media and cycling web pages, they may well get a good turn out for this edition. Whether the same happens for the second edition is another matter, as the bubble may have burst by then.

I wish them luck and success, but I don't think I'll be there.

 

[Johnsqual]

I hope the events that are now already established will survive if/when the bubble does burst.

There certainly seem to be plenty of people who just do L'Eroica, RRVV etc just the once, but I hope there are also enough to sustain these events because I'd like to be able to do them again.