L'eroica 2014

so are your bikes ready, all?

mine's almost finished, it's a 1970's Remy from Ossendrecht, a small village in the (rich in cycling history) southwest of the province Brabant I live in. Equipped with Campagnolo Nuovo Record, planning to put on a Specialites TA chainset for the steep climbs though.

1 Attachment

if any of you has a TA 36t chainwheel you'd not be bothered to part with... http://www.lfgss.com/conversations/254989/

after 3 hours of reading up, tinkering in the spares box and combining a hammer with a rolling pin I think I have the 33.5 jack brown tyres fitted with enough of a gap, totally changes the ride

I managed to get my rear derailleur tangled in the spokes on a test drive around the yard. In addition to bruises and cuts the derailleur hanger is probably bent and a spoke needs to be replaced. Still waiting for a Cinelli stem and handlebar combo to arrive so there is still some work to do. Is it forbidden to ride on non-tanwall tyres? My only pair is 25mm and I thought something wider would be better.

25 is fine, the first time i rode 135km on 20c and it was actually the most fun i've had! this year my 33.5 is just for shits and giggles really

Ok, Good to know. I already managed to wrangle on some 28mm gatorskins so I will propably just end up using them. What's the parking in Gaiole like? There is really nothing about that on the web site. Someone mentioned having to hike up a hill up to the village.

I parked pretty close to the starting (main) street last year, got there at about 6AM. the later you arrive, the higher up the hill you'll have to park, but I think there will be enough space for all. getting back up to your car after the ride is the tricky bit ;-)

If I understand correctly there is no dedicated parking lot and you just park along the road? I guess most of the 5000 participants would be arriving by car. I'm considering spending the night sleeping in the rental car. I don't see the point of booking a hotel for a couple hours of sleep. Having to negotiate myself to Gaiole that early in the morning sounds difficult. I might be too old for such foolishness, but it is supposed to be an adventure. This is going to be epic.

yes there are parking attendants though, pointing you to a spot. and if you arrive the evening before, you will probably have a good spot anyway. and of course, epic it will be!

Ok, I guess I will figure it out on the spot. So many things to worry about. I rode my chosen bike to LBS and managed to OTB on the way . The rear derailleur is pretty shot and I will propably need to change it once the hanger and wheels have been trued. It would be good to get some miles in before the event.

Hello everyone.

Is anybody driving down to Giaole in Chianti from England or flying into Bologna and then hiring a car?

If so, can I have a lift? I live in Modena, about 40km from Bologna. If you give me a lift, you can stay at my place on Sunday night, and i'll happily make a contribution for the petrol.

Let me know if you are interested.

getting excited now, had to swap out my bb tonight and i've retaped the moustache bars into a new brake position which meant angle grinding the stainless cable outers to a new length but all good.
going to ride tomorrow first thing to give me time to order any new bits if needed.
anyhow,We fly into venice monday afternoon and travel down to gaiole on the friday -
up for a little lfgss ride on the saturday from gaoile up to one of the vineyards for a drink then back?

@tapsnbath and I are staying at the usual hotel (thanks for the recommendation a few years back). We'd definitely be up for a spin on the Saturday.

Probably doing the 135kms as long as there is no epic rain on the day.

That's the Vos, right? Fantastic picture.

yes she's on the list, http://eroica.it/elenco-partecipanti

just like team mates Anna van der Breggen and Annemiek van Vleuten, who both crashed in the Worlds TTT so I doubt they will be there next week. A famous sprinter from days past will also participate:

the bike is finally 98% fettled with - ready to dismantle and pack up now as we fly tomorrow

i rode through poo today though so need to give her a wipe down :(

new rear tyre for better gravel clearance (rivendell ruffy tuffy), shorter stem from the toolbox, better lever position, new silky smooth bb the right width so no spacers, a headset swap, bell mounted to left of the stem and a mopha tool roll for the essentials. Popped by spa cycles in the hope that i could get a new cassette and chain as i'm missing a couple of gears but closed on sunday so it will have to do for the moment. see you next weekend!

is anyone flying into Pisa on Saturday morning (easyjet Bristol) ? or cycling from Siena in the afternoon ?

Can anyone tell me whether or not silk jerseys are permissible on the ride?

Permissible is perhaps the wrong term - People did them with shitty Molteni sms nylon tops - the question is whether you'll get the stamps (and therefore the pasta/bottle opener gift etc). I can't remember seeing one last year (or ever tbh!?) though if you can convince them it's period correct I think you'll be ok if the rest of your outift/bike is similarly correct.

@HillyBen I wore this in 2011, it is a 'silky' stretchy club jersey from the 1980s so I guess it was period correct enough

@tilover sweet bike!

annoying upload fail is getting annoying. tinypic to the rescue again:

It's getting close now. I was supposed to do a final prepatory ride yesterday and it didn't really go quite as planned. I managed to snap the front derailleur cable and the italian threaded bottom bracket started unthreading itself. I guess in a pinch I could get away with just 42t ring, but I hope bottom bracket holds up now that I've added some threadlocker. Anyways here is a pic of my bike.

https://chinarello.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/img_6868.jpg

For parking there's a field, which is pretty handy. Head right up into Gaoile and then hang a right when you start to see barriers. Take another right and then the field is up on the RHS.

Thanks for the jersey advice chaps, see you on the Sunday unless there's a….

forum meet up!

I'll be wearing a black "Cicli Chinarello" merino jersey in memory of Giovanni Pinarello. Meet up would be nice, but it would be cool to have somebody to chat with on the road as well.