Way back in 2014 I rode in L’Eroica–the one in Italy, no less:
I rode it as a guest of Brooks, makers of fine dead cow bicycle saddles, and apart from the aforelinked post everything I wrote about it was for their blog, which no longer exists.
They say the Internet is forever, but as someone who’s been writing on the Internet for a long time now, I can assure you that a lot of what you put on there completely and irretrievably vanishes. (Though if you get fired from your corporate job for your next social media screed don’t blame me.)
Anyway, L’Eroica was easily one of the highlights of my blogular career. Not only was the ride itself fantastic, but I also hadn’t yet discovered I had a weird middle-age-onset wheat allergy, and I ate all sorts of bread and pasta with a wanton abandon–and none of it gave me hives! This might prompt those of you prone to social media screeds to surmise this is because Euro wheat is full of natural goodness and USA wheat is full of chemicals and GMOs or whatever, and maybe so, who knows? All I do know for sure is that it was a brief but delightful cycling and eating tour of consequence-free decadence, and perhaps one day I’ll get to do it again. (Or, you know, just go to Tuscany myself and ride an old bike, it’s not like you need to sign up for a special ride to do that.)
In addition to the ride itself, I also appreciate the bicycles it celebrates, and I even ride one that’s L’Eroica-compliant:
Okay, well, that’s not entirely true, since currently it has clipless pedals and aero brake levers on it. Here are the L’Eroica criteria, in case you’re unfamiliar:
Still, I could easily get it back into L’Eroica condition at a moment’s notice…or maybe several moments, but definitely inside of a day.
L’Eroica started in 1997, and I assume at least part of the reason it became so successful was that the people nostalgic for classic bicycles had reached the age where they now had the money and time to partake in lavish cycling vacations, and maybe still had that old Colnago in the basement, even if they now rode a Calfee with Dura-Ace or whatever. As for me, as much as I loved the ride and still love the bikes, I can’t say it’s born of nostalgia. The Cervino is from 1982, and at that time I would have been riding a Schwinn Scrambler BMX. Even in 1987, the L’Eroica bike cut-off, I was still riding BMXs and skateboards, not road racing bikes or the nascent mountain bikes, and while some people in their early-to-mid teens do in fact transition from BMXs and skateboards to road bikes and mountain bikes, I was mostly just transitioning to mosh pits and cigarettes, and I didn’t take up road-type cycling until the end of my college years. And by 1997, when the first L’Eroica took place, I was definitely not looking backwards; I was still in the first half of my 20s and in the throes of Fred-dom.
But a lot of time has passed since 1997–29 years in fact, if my math is correct. Now my peers and I are entering Peak Nostalgia, as evidenced by the fact that all the bands I used to go see during my smoking years are touring, presumably because their aging nostalgia-addled fans now have money to spend, as well as children of their own who are old enough to be left at home alone while their parents stand around not smoking and watching the surviving members of the bands they used to idolize as teenagers limp around onstage.
Given this demographic, it seems to me the time is ripe for an updated L’Eroica–not to replace the current one, but to complement it. Think of it as a L’Eroica, Jr., or perhaps a Meh-roica. So what would the bicycle criteria be? Well, as far as a date range, I’d say a Meh-roica bike should be from between 1990 and 2009. This covers the period between the introduction of the Dura-Ace STI lever to the advent of Di2 electronic shifting, which obviously marked the beginning of the end for bikes. As for materials, this was very much a transitional period, so I’d say Meh-roica should allow anything from lugged steel:
To titanium:
To crabon:
To aluminum:
And yes, obviously sloped top tubes would be allowed, since that look eventually came to define the era, and you might as well ban bell bottoms from a ’70s revival night.
Similarly, while you’d of course be able to use your traditional wheels…
[Pic from here]
…this was also the dawn of the Proprietary Wheelset (for better or worse), so feel free to show up on anything from ass-ploding Spinergys (shown here on an otherwise non-Meh-roica compliant bike)…
…to Mavic Cosmics, which were my first proprietary wheelset, and which I thought were extremely cool because they said “Cosmic” on them:
[Pic from here]
You’re also welcome to use anything from classic bend aluminum handlebars to period-correct crabon wing-style ones to early integrated systems like this one:
Though if you need a new pin-up for it be warned, they ain’t cheap:
However, this isn’t a total free-for-all, and the following are all banned:
- Integrated headsets
- Integrated bottom bracket systems (threaded only)
- 11-speed drivetrains or above
(I shouldn’t even have to list dick breaks, and if you show up with those your bike will be destroyed in the on-site crusher.)
And yes, plenty of bikes had integrated headsets during this time, but once you start in with that things get all funky. Same with the 11-speed, which started just before Di2. And yes, Meh-roica bikes must have integrated shifters, though a single downtube shifter for the front will be allowed à la Pantani and that guy with the podcast who rode a bike like this:
Finally, yes, you can use a triple, like I have on my own Meh-roica bike:
Perhaps I should organize a Meh-roica ride myself.
