2014-06-20 to 22 L'Eroica Britannia

Back in London, but still on a high from such a fantastic weekend. The 55 mile ride was lovely, and definitely felt as epic in both scenery and hills as the Tuscan version. The food stops were amazing - beer, sausages, cakes, ice cream, not to mention the Pimms and sparkling wine at Chatsworth House. The Hero Makers and all the marshals and volunteers were absolute superstars. One of the most memorable moments was when we emerged from the darkness of one of the tunnels on the Monsal trail to be greeted by choir of ladies singing their hearts out!
Was great to meet so many fantastic people, including Sansovino who kindly shared some of the gin he won for being a very well dressed cyclist with us. Can't wait 'til next year!

Still buzzing after a great (albeit slow) ride on the long route. Couldn't find Hefty's VW unfortunately but did bump into BillundBen (I was the chap with the ponytail and beard talking to you about your Hetchins/my Hetchins in a probably quite dull way on Saturday afternoon.

Anyway, a great day and would definitely do it again.

Ha, think I saw that Hetchins get together on Sat, and also spoke briefly to BillundBen at the finish on Sunday (my mate had the Pug you commented on). Took me 10 hours to get around the 100, including leisurely food stops - my first century, so more than happy with it. One missed turn towards the end added a couple of extra miles and few hundred feet of climbing, but the signposting had been excellent up to that point.
I can only echo all the previous comments on the fantastic atmosphere, route, organisation, food - even reasonable drinks prices onsite! Unbelieveably perfect weather too. Definitely intend to return, and probably camp next time.

Superb weekend. A huge chapeau to the organisers. At £55, my ticket was ridiculously good value. My girlfriend was surprisingly impressed too.

As for the ride, there's something weirdly cathartic about taking bikes that cost thousands of hours/time and then thrashing them down a 1/8-gradient bridlepath made up entirely of rocks.

Good to meet some of you too. Was with S&B when his rear mech snapped. Assumed he'd get a lift back to camp and was mighty impressed to find him at the finish line - even more so when I discovered that his chain had snapped too. That's L'Eroica, I guess.

Couldn't find Hefty's VW unfortunately but did bump

I saw your camp, but you were never around to say hai to.

A fab weekend. Well done to the organizers for putting on a great value and stunning event The hero makers were brilliant right from the start, camp site was clean and well located, lots of families having a great time in a safe and beautiful environment. The vintage dress on saturday and sunday was embraced not only but the riders but also by visitors, friends and partners which surprisingly gave us a a style victory over the Italian event. We met lots of international riders who were genuinely blown away by the location and event.

We did the 55 mile after being warned off the 100 by some locals but to be honest, though there were a few nasty climbs, the route was alot less punishing than the Strada Bianca. We added on part of the 100 mile route half way round to take it up to around 70 miles ( I guess ) to make us feel reasurringly knackered and sun burnt by the end.

The Stilton Sausages and local ale (no Chianti here) early on and Pimms and fizzy wine at Chatsworth House were welcome treats and the welcome back at the finish line was brilliantly organized and exciting. We stayed on to cheer many others home, drink the local beer (Handsome beer was, well, Handsome :-), ogle the bianchi ladies, eat pork pies and potted meat, drink G'n'T, more beer and fall asleep in a deck chair to some retro tunes.

The only low moment was a poor chap laying on the floor on the long decent before Chatsworth with a very nasty head wound. Hope he has pulled through ok.

But great work guys, thanks for all the impressive freebies, hope you made some dosh and do it again next year,

a very British event (that was very cool)

Neilx

Seriously good weekend, very much helped by the glorious weather. We hired a lovely cottage minutes from the festival but some mates camped and it was really well-organised; chapeau to the L'Eroica team. We rode the 30-mile route on the Saturday and the 56 on the Sunday. Both really well-thought-out but with some challenging hills and terrain considering the bikes. Everyone from the riders to the locals to the people manning the (well-stocked) feed stations were super-friendly. Really happy I decided to go.

Riding both seems a good idea, to get a bit more cycling in...

Overall I had a great time, the route was fantastic, the atmosphere among the riders was good, the marshalls and volunteers etc were all very friendly and well placed. The locals seemed happy to have us and the weather of course was fantastic.

Next time I like the food options slightly altered. On the 55 miler the first stop was bountiful with beer, sandwiches, cakes, water and fruit. But it came at around 10am and only 20 miles in so I didn't want to tuck in as it was too early. Then for the lunchtime stop there were only sweet items, which seemed a bit odd as most people would be arriving around midday and it seemed a good point to refuel properly, and importantly get some salt back in on a very hot day. And then the third stop had merely meat sandwiches, no good for us vegetarians.

I made up for it with a extra glass of champagne and pimms.

But that was a minor grumble on what was a lovely weekend of cycling in The Dales.

Yeah, that would be my only bit of slightly negative feedback too.

Bacon rolls at the first stop was great on the 100 miler, but after that it was all cakes and biscuits until Chatsworth.

Unless I missed it we didn't get any beer, nor any fruit. I was rather hoping for some nice panino and other Italian niceness.

There was beer & fruit at the lunchtime stop on the 100 mile route (Hartington? The one with the pond in the middle).

Yeah, that was our 20 mile/ mid morning stop. Would have been excellent for a lunch stop!

Was there?

The one where you exited over a little bridge?

I clearly wasn't looking carefully enough.

No that was cromford, by the canal and the sewerage works... Just cakes and ice cream there.

What a FANTASTIC weekend!

I have to say I was a little sceptical of the marketing at first with terms such as 'Heroic' being bandied about and did openly chuckle out loud when I read in the riders notes that it would take 10 - 12 hours to ride 100 miles. Surely it couldn't take that long?
It also seemed to get off to a false start with having to close the ticketing system for quite some time.
All of this suitably lowered my expectations and as we all know, the best times you have are the ones you aren't expecting to be very good.
It's really hard to sum up but it was kind of like a better versions of the Goodwood Revival & the Tweed Run all rolled into one bikecentric event
I arrived with the girlfriend and 7 year old daughter in tow on the Friday evening and camped in the camping ground.
The festival has something for everyone and plenty to keep easily bored children entertained.
Caught up with Hefty on the Saturday afternoon for a few beers and once again laughed at the fact that it wouldn't take 10-12 hours.
Rolled out of camp for the 100mile ride at 6.10am with Hefty. As above, my choice of steed was a 67 year old Hobbs of Barbican with a 4 speed internal hub which was going ok till I was putting the power down(?) going up Mam Nick and the rear wheel started to rub on the chain stays.
A short walk to the top of Mam Nick and some roadside bicycle maintenance saw me right however I was unable, for the rest of the ride, to get the bike to stay in the lowest gear and no matter how much I twiddled the gear selector cable, I just couldn't get it right..
This resulted in having to walk up pretty much anything greater than 10%!
The food stops were great, and thinking about it now, the breakfast at 10 miles was a master stroke and fuelled me for the rest of the ride.
In my opinion, the route planner falls somewhere between a genius and a lunatic with some fairly steep and dodgy off road descents where solid rubber brake blocks on alu rims with old style levers meant speed was scrubbed and stopping optional.

I think Prolly sums it up quite well with the following:

"We would be traversing dirt roads, blasting 1-track and yes, even tearing down rutted and steep maintenance roads. Dave and I opened it up on one descent, not giving a fuck and passed mountain bikers, disc brake “adventure” bikes and the like on our vintage road bikes with 23c tires with practically no brakes. I’m telling you, it ain’t the equipment…"

The only shitty thing, was when Hefty went down. I rounded the corner to see him with holding the rear wheel in one hand thinking he'd had a puncture. I then looked down to see his torn garms and bloody elbows and only then did it register that he'd come off. Heal up soon dude and thanks for waiting for me at the top of the hills.

One of the most enjoyable things for me was the road descents which were long enough to get up plenty of speed (unlike those in the Kent lanes) . I must say I always ride with a helmet on however chose not to for this event for 'period correctness/style points' and kind of wish I had worn one given the large amount of off-road terrain and the high speeds (60kph) that were
achieved bombing down the hills.

If you'd asked me if I'd do the 100 miles again next year straight after the event, I would have said 'no way' but that's now certainly changed to a 'hell yeah but not on a bike with a 4 speed internal hub'

Oh and the total ride time over 10 hours with 8:31 of riding time :)

Dave and I opened it up on one
descent, not giving a fuck and passed mountain bikers, disc brake
“adventure” bikes and the like on our vintage road bikes with 23c tires
with practically no brakes. I’m telling you, it ain’t the equipment…

+1 to that!

No that was cromford, by the canal and the sewerage works... Just cakes and ice cream there.

Oh. I reckon the pond one was one we skipped then. :(

The only shitty thing, was when Hefty went down.* I rounded the corner to
see him with holding the rear wheel in one hand thinking he'd had a
puncture.* I then looked down to see his torn garms and bloody elbows and
only then did it register that he'd come off.* Heal up soon dude and thanks
for waiting for me at the top of the hills.

The spill just added to the adventure.

I can't quite see how I broke a rib, I guess I must have landed on the bars, but it'll be right again for the Dynamo I'm sure.

Thanks for the company.

I missed out on this and am regretting it now.. ! Does anybody know when the entries will open for next year?

Just posted my photos up on Flickr ...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/29051501@N08/sets/72157645370333785/with/14508539155/

Great photos Mike. Pretty sure I saw you and commented on your osgear setup as I went by.

Have done a report on the event for The Times, featuring S&B's mechanical saga in the intro. Sadly you'll need a subscription to read it - or just take out a free trial or summat.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/life/onyourbike/article4129212.ece

Great photos Mike. Pretty sure I saw you and commented on your osgear setup as I went by.

Cheers.
I wish I'd seen this thread before we went, but I had my head down getting the bike ready. Would be good to put a few faces to names! 7ven, sorry if I bored you talking gears ...
Almost took my Hobbs as well, but it needs a little TLC. I've had so much fun getting the Jim Guard on the road I'm going to give the Hobbs the same treatment ;-)
The Cyclo Ace gearing worked really well, which surprised me. I was expecting to have to fettle it all the way round, but it pretty much worked out of the box.
And if I had a quid for everyone who came up and said 'Wow, an Osgear!" ... ;-)

And that reminds me, I quite fancy some of those rubber shockstops you fitted to your Hobbs brake levers ...

Now, after reading all your reports on the Hundred, I need to seriously up my game next year!

Have done a report on the event for The Times, featuring S&B's mechanical saga in the intro. Sadly you'll need a subscription to read it - or just take out a free trial or summat.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/life/onyourbike/article4129212.ece

destroyed your own draft have you? ;-)

And if I had a quid for everyone who came up and said 'Wow, an Osgear!" ... ;-)

You wouldn't have a quid from me.

I went past you a couple of times and thought about asking what was wrong with your drivetrain, but didn't in case it was supposed to be like that.

Looks like I saved myself some embarrassment there.

You wouldn't have a quid from me.

I went past you a couple of times and thought about asking what was wrong with your drivetrain, but didn't in case it was supposed to be like that.

Looks like I saved myself some embarrassment there.

I'd never even heard of it before I got the bike a few months ago ... :-/ Of course, I now pretend to be the worlds expert ...

I might do a project thread on here, but I was a bit reluctant as it wasn't from London, or a fixed gear ... Balls, I'll do it anyway ...