L'Eroica, Tuscany, 2014

[jpw]

It's L'Eroica 2014 on the 5th of October.

I'm wondering if anyone would care to share their personal experiences of the event and if they have any helpful advice on the getting there, equipment and packing, accommodation and cost, the ride itself, and any other issues that they encountered?

Thanks, Jason.

[cnighbor1]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/8379107@N03/collections/72157602416016544/
Deanna and I traveled self-contained by bike in Italy for two weeks in Sept-Oct 2007. We started in Florence, and rode through Castellina in Chianti, San Gemignano, Volterra, Massa Marittima, Civitella Marittima, Sienna, Gaiole in Chianti, where we rode in L'Eroica, then to Mte Ste Michelle, and back to Florence. A great trip with perfect weather, challenging riding, wonderful accommodations, delicious food and wine, and new experiences around every turn. Tuscany has the most challenging hills we have ridden anywhere, but we were geared for it. We can't wait to go back! More pics of L'Eroica here in Dale's pics

www.flickr.com/photos/oroboyz/sets/72157627848549658

[tiretrax]

What a great trip. Thank you for the links to your pictures. It's funny to see one guy on a mountain bike - I assume he picked the wrong course to ride that day. What were the logistics on the bicycle(s) you rode on the trip?

[Tim Porter]

Jason: I did it two years ago for my 60th birthday. There's a long thread I started about the whole process "across the hall". The photos I had inserted early in the thread were on a photo storage site that went buh-bye, so my photos only kick in in the middle of the thread, but you'll get the idea. I think there's a lot in there that you could pick up generally about L'Eroica.

http://www.velocipedesalon.com/forum/f11/leroica-tuscany-26789.html

Here's a sample pic:

http://i1285.photobucket.com/albums/a583/porterphoto1/file_zps62b18ee8.jpg

[jpw]

Jason: I did it two years ago for my 60th birthday. There's a long thread I started about the whole process "across the hall". The photos I had inserted early in the thread were on a photo storage site that went buh-bye, so my photos only kick in in the middle of the thread, but you'll get the idea. I think there's a lot in there that you could pick up generally about L'Eroica.

http://www.velocipedesalon.com/forum/f11/leroica-tuscany-26789.html

Here's a sample pic:

http://i1285.photobucket.com/albums/a583/porterphoto1/file_zps62b18ee8.jpg

Hello Tim

Ah yes, i think i now remember that you did L'Eroica, on your Sachs if i recall.
I'll head over there. thanks!

[Buzz]

I did L'Eroica last year with my wife and two friends. It is a bit of a logistical challenge if you traveling from the US but well worth it for the unique, one of a kind experience.

First, you need to get into the event. The event has grown wildly in the past five years and now has thousands of riders. There is lottery system for spaces and also unlimited entries for women and those over 60 (at least last year) however that didn't apply to three of us and we didn't get in through the lottery. However a friend in Italy was able to pull a few strings and we all got entries. 35 euros.

We were planning on shipping our L'Eroica compliant bikes but as we got deeper into planning this option became more and more unreasonable. First, cost of shipping a bike on airline and then the bigger issue of what to do with four bike cases let alone one once we arrived in Italy. We were also planning on a week of non cycling activities and the problem of having bikes and what to do with them became too big a problem to overcome.

A friend tried to ship his bike to Italy and it never arrived or then got hung up in customs. So he ended up having to get a rental at the last moment.

We ultimately rented bikes but this was difficult to do especially because we needed two very small frames and one big frame one of the48 cm frames we rented turned out to be more like 52cm when we arrived to pick up our bikes the day before we arrived causing a lot of problems.

So, the lesson is that you have to plan this out six months in advance if you are renting bikes. By the way the bike rental was about 300 dollars. Ouch. But really less expensive than shipping, storage, having to rent a much larger vehicle to accommodate bikes, etc.

We stayed in Sienna which was a relatively easy 45 minute car ride from Gaiole. We thought that we be less than ideal but it was actually fine and we enjoyed our stay in Sienna

The day before the event is a lot of fun. Unfortunately it poured that day and put a bit of damper on the festivities and outdoor market.

There is a lunch / BBQ put on at the local community center and we are sure glad we went. Good food served by the local kids and attended by all sorts of interesting people. A must do.

We were blessed with a beautiful blue sky day and ended up doing the medio distance which was quite challenging especially because we were riding old gearing with a 23 cassette. If I we're to go back I would want to do the longer distances just because the roads are really neat on that end of the course.

The riding is really beautiful, the dirt roads which we feared would be mud pits drained overnight and were really great to ride on. Lots of steep hills though that become more challenging as the day goes on due to the gearing. We are all spoiled now with our compact gearing....

Great atmosphere all the way around with all the old bikes, old cyclists, wool jerseys and various snacks, food and wine along the route.

In the ideal world I would use some type of cycle touring company to do all the arrangements for you including entries and eliminate all the logistical issues so you just concentrate on maximizing your experience.

There area lot of options for this. Here is one that I know does a first class premium job: http://ingamba.pro

Hope this helps.