The spirit of L'Eroica Britannia
My assumptions of what L'Eroica Britannia would be and I guess in some ways the spirit of how I would enter, were entirely based on the promotional material of the Italian L'Eroica. The pictures of a beared man on an old bike caught my imagination.
It's only when you rock up to the start that you realise that most of the riders, well in fact nearly all the riders, just ride a fairly normal looking road bike with skinny tyres, while also wearing clothing a little more suited a hot day in the saddle than a long sleeve merino jumper. So although there were times that I was pretty envious of some of the other riders and what they where riding, in fact I hope that the event can push the mantra of being Heroic. As what was a fairly tortuous 55 miles of riding a pretty unsuitable bike for notorious Peak District climbs, was in fact made fantastic by the words of encouragement out on the trails.
The bearded man, was guest of honour and was riding the most heroic of bikes, with brakes made of wood. I caught up with the bike at the Hartington food stop, with the only number it could be and the only number that I saw lower than mine.
A full write of the event coming soon, just to get you all looking for 'vintage' ready for next year.