2014-06-20 to 22 L'Eroica Britannia

getting there tomorrow just before lunch... hitting the jumble, checking out the bikes... then beer tent, where I plan to remain until I am refused service... see you all tomorrow!

Hopefully I'll be there tomorrow...wearing a replica Holdsworth shirt....looking out for bits for my build.

(Travelling up early on my BMW R1200RT)

Here and chilling. ..vw in orange...fum 625t

36x28 megaultrabailout gearing fitted today.

Weather looks promising.

I'm all excited.

Expecting to rock up about midday tomoz.

Just about to load up on the train. Very exciting.

think i'll ride over from sheffield this afternoon to have a look at all the bikes and a bakewell pudding. lovely day for it.

Well that was nice.
Best bike was either an all white gazelle chanmpion mondial or the French (I think) lady with pink evian jersey and matching head piece wigh a blue colnago with lots of pantographed bits.
Did a double take when I saw Prolly, looking forward to seeing his photos.

Saw S&B's monostay Gazelle from afar as I was leaving, lovely bike Sir.

not going sadly, my lack of driving licence has proved frustrating this weekend as I'll be staying in yorkshire unable to get to bakewell.. have fun though!
t

I'm heading out around 8am for the 55mile if anyone wants to join?

That was awesome. amazing weather fantastic route and enough beautiful bikes to last a lifetime. pics when I'm back in civilisation.

Hi to Howard, fred, ben, bill, tony and any others that I missed others

That was a great event. The setting (certainly beats schlepping up and down South London traffic light filled hills), weather, (camping) facilities and alllll the little touches/freebies, and what a way to finish a ride! The PA name calling and crowd was awesome, and gave a nice, erm, hero-y touch to everyones ride!

Was a great idea to shift it away from nerdy bike-orama (though there were a number of beauties, and great to see UK builders representing) and more of a a vintage fair for all. Might even be able to convince the cycle-hating missus next year.

The organisers must go to bed tonight with a whopping sense of achievement/pride. They nailed it.

Epic weekend of vintage, good food and stunning tracks to ride.

Best things were seeing so many great British frames and meeting lots of people from different parts of my cycling life.

Locals seem to have really got behind it too.

Definitely back next year.

your Hetchins was very nice, as was the pink Woodrup it was with. My cousin said ''ooh i like those bits" referring to the curly seatstays

I will write a ride report tomorrow and I'm pretty fucked right now but in summary, it was an awesome weekend. Rode the hundered slowly with Hefty today.
http://www.strava.com/activities/156753996

Until then, a few pics:

Hefty's sweet VW and our bikes

Stop for bacon roll/cob/buttie after only 10 miles:

Big hills:

Hefty aka Sean Kelly

Rapha coffee caravan giving out free espresso at the top of a remote hill:

About half the ride was off road and some bits weren't rideable

One of the castles or stately homes:

That's Ilam Hall, it's a youth hostel

Back home after the 55 mile route,outstanding event,excellent weather,loads of interesting bikes and a really good atmosphere to the whole thing.Some stiff climbs for sure and a colossal descent just prior to Chatsworth,one poor guy had come off pretty heavy on that,looked bad,here's hoping he's ok.
100% be back next year!

Back home after the 55 mile route,outstanding event,excellent weather,loads of interesting bikes and a really good atmosphere to the whole thing.Some stiff climbs for sure and a colossal descent just prior to Chatsworth,one poor guy had come off pretty heavy on that,looked bad,here's hoping he's ok.
100% be back next year!

This sounds like Beeley Moor, one of my favourite ever climbs.

Who needs to go abroad when we have hills and sun and scenery a few hours north.

Some managed the hills better than others :

There were also some nice scenic flat bits, as demonstrated by 7VEN and his Hobbs :

It was mostly a lovely weekend.

Except the bit where I fell off.

Given I went bouncing down the road "like a rubber doll" according to a passer-by, just a couple of grazed elbows, some torn lycra and road rash on my back seemed like a good result.

I thought I'd pulled a muscle in my side too as that was a bit sore.

But this morning it looks a bit more serious - my ribs are fairly bruised and I can barely breathe without wincing.

I've just been to the doctor and am off shortly for an x-ray for a suspected busted rib.

I'm just grateful I wasn't wearing a helmet, if I had been I expect the helmet would have dug into the road and snapped my neck. #helmetannecdotes

The 55 mile event was seriously good with plenty of challenging hills and beautiful scenery. Sadly my Gazelle didn't come off too well. After the first feed stop in Hartington my rear derailleur back plate bent and snapped along with the cable bolt mount. I could just about ride in the middle of the block without the cage slamming into the rear wheel.

All was fine until I came to the next hill and was forced to do a bodge repair with 2 chaps on a tandem who bent the backplate back into place with the back of adjustable and a spoke key. But having any rear gears was out of the equation.

Shortly after leaving Tissington my chain snapped on the first hill. ARRRGGGGHHHH!!!
The last option was to go single speed for the remaining 45km. Holy shit that was hard work on the hills. 6hrs later after setting off with plenty of repairs on the side road I made it over the finish line. This has to go down as the best/worst ride I've ever done. Amazing event! amazing atmosphere! some seriously nice bikes followed by awesome company! roll one next year!!

That was a glorious weekend, and apparently a great success - looking forward to next year already. Good to meet billundben and tapsandbath, having spotted their lovely bikes.
100 hilly miles in the heat and a long sleeve wool jersey definitely took their toll, but fizz and pimms at the Chatsworth stop picked up the spirits.
There were still a few old fellas grinding up the long drag from Ashbourne about 5.30 as I headed home - got to admire their tenacity, and hope all got back ok. Would love to do Gaiole next year.

Just been looking through some of the bits i picked up at the event and came across this,similar(though smaller i imagine) event in the Lakes in a few weeks,thought folk might like to know.
http://sportivelakes.co.uk/the-old-way/

Brilliant weekend.. Took the family and even managed to meet up with my dad as he was staying with friends in Chatsworth.

I had forgotten how beautiful the Peak District is. It was the perfect setting with tough hills, open white gravel roads and the three sections of disused railway lines - including long tunnels - giving an excellent parcours. Though throwing in a section of 23% right at the very end after giving us loads of Pimms and champagne on Chatsworth's front lawn was a little bit off..
The Beeley Moor descent was fantastic fun; alone, going full bore on sweeping curves in glorious sunshine, with the heady smell of bracken all around. Perfection.

The Continental held up really well, though a couple of adjustments were needed to keep the full complement of 10 gears available. Great to see so many other Peugeot clad riders out there and to chat with so many people from near and far.

Forum peeps - sansovino, hairnetnic, mands, billundben - and a load of Tweed faces made it feel like home from home.

John Prolly has an excellent photo gallery here

Great weekend. Marco and co really put on something special. I was talking to him after the ride and he was barely able to speak, but he was obviously chuffed to bits. He said that it had been a big financial commitment and at one point the entries v finance equation wasn't looking too rosy, but they kept faith with it and got rewarded with three days of mega attendance.
I seemed to spend most of my time sitting in the Hendricks Gin bar listening to the Movember DJ and watching rakes of talent walk by. Gaoile in Chianti it wasn't, but that was no bad thing. Claudio and Luciano from l'Eroica Italy were there too and we rode with them for a bit. They looked gobsmacked at what the Brit crew had done with their brand.
The 55 mile ride was great for me. The first 20 miles with the off-road section over the tops was breathtaking. Just great scenery. I will be doing the 100 mile next year if I can drop two stone.
Having read the all the anti-banter on RetroBore before the event, I'm glad the negativity was put firmly to bed.
Roll on 2015!

Absolutely top event; will book next year as soon as they announce.

The flat-out descent to Chatsworth was the best bit of cycling that I can recall.

I was relieved to discover 40 x 26 bottom gear was just enough to climb everything.

Even my manager and daughter were talking about signing up for the 30 next time.

Here's Gary (L) - a great guy we met on the way round, de Selby and my bro-in law Dave (R) at the finish.

Chapeaux to all involved!

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I was out on a ride with my club and went past a lot of this, we were a bit dismissive at first, but once we saw how much fun people were having got into the swing of it! Saw a group on what looked like downsized penny farthings, something beautiful in a pinky/purple chromolevato, and a fair few tandems. Looked like a great fun ride!