L'Eroica 2010 - ride report

novekili":91jsuz72 said:
Great job, but next time get in touch with me or Andreaviola from this forum... he's one of the organisers, while I live near Montalcino.... If you aren't fed up with our "strade bianche"....

Shame I didn't think of doing that before :oops: , would have been great to meet up.

Definitely not fed up of the 'white roads' and, anyway, by next year any less favourable memories of riding them in the dark will be long gone.
 
well thats just marvellous - could you give us an idea of budgets? Flight costs change but to give us an idea of total costs etc would be helpful in case I get a pass for next year.
 
excellent!

Pray tell, how did the choice of gearing go? What do you reckon would be a suitable bottom gear for an average racing-club-type cyclist of say 13 stones?
And are clips and straps a must? I'm ok with external cables, downtube levers etc, but wouldnt want to revert to toeclips and the associated faff. the look pedals I have predate '87.
 
Super effort Ed, sounds a truly epic day in the saddle. All creidt to you for finishing despite the various set backs. Riding again next year?
 
legrandefromage":2oiuj6sp said:
well thats just marvellous - could you give us an idea of budgets? Flight costs change but to give us an idea of total costs etc would be helpful in case I get a pass for next year.

I reckon the 4 day trip cost less than £350 which includes flight, airport parking, accommodation, car hire, entry, food etc. I hadn't added it up until now though and that sounds a lot! You could cut down on costs by not hiring a car and camping I guess.

Overall well worth it I think and would likely go for a week or so in future and make it a family holiday in Tuscany with the event included.

pigman":2oiuj6sp said:
Pray tell, how did the choice of gearing go? What do you reckon would be a suitable bottom gear for an average racing-club-type cyclist of say 13 stones?

I saw triples but it was mostly regular 52/42 with a decent sized freewheel, I reckon 28t is a minimum (also probably a maximum on a freewheel!). My bottom gear was 36x28 and I needed it as I saw many walking. Fraser had 42x28 and also rode all the climbs but he's pretty strong.

pigman":2oiuj6sp said:
And are clips and straps a must? I'm ok with external cables, downtube levers etc, but wouldnt want to revert to toeclips and the associated faff. the look pedals I have predate '87.

We didn't have our bikes closely inspected but I reckon you need to go with the spirit of the event rather than what you can get away with - I did see an immaculate Colnago Super in Molteni colours with a mint Super Record groupset. The rider however was using modern Looks and carbon soled shoes. Epic fail!

I'd say that clips and straps are a must although some people wore trainers rather than cycling shoes (for the walking mainly). Obviously some of the very old bikes just had cage pedals but no toeclips.

To be honest using toeclips was less of a faff than I expected but then I did have 13+ hours to get used to the idea.

John":2oiuj6sp said:
Riding again next year?

Certainly want to return next year although will depend on OWMTBC11 to a certain extent.
 
Wow! Long course deserves a long description!

It's a lovely area- but would I be encouraged to enter ?????? Probably not ......but may persuade Tiny Ti and my aging legs over a carefully selected (read not too steep) section if it's signposted when we visit next year!

Very well done though, despite the record "mechanicals" count.

Does completion of the long route qualify you as a retrobike cycling hero?

(Note to John .....suggest "Retrobike Cycling Heroes" need a special star bar above the avatar..!) :LOL:
 
Ed
Great write up, just makes me want to do it next year all the more.
Do you think it possible to get a Retrobike team together for next year?
 
A couple of extra photos

1) The sponsors vehicle.

2) Forgot to mention that Fraser was also a media star and got interviewed.....

3) The orange and white Legano was possibly my favourite bike although the shortlist would have run to several hundred. Easily.
 

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