Rapha Rides L'Eroica

Last weekend Rapha sent a party over to Tuscany for the vintage-style sportive L’Eroica. Ridden partly along the ‘strade bianche’ or white gravel roads of the Chianti, Valdarbia and Valdorci regions of Italy, this ‘free excursion’ harks back to the heroic days of cycling where spare tubes were worn round the shoulders and woolen shorts were king. The majority of participants hail from Italy and with an atmosphere of tradition and occasion, this really is pure cycling nostalgia.

Rapha hosted a boutique at the start village displaying the more vintage-inspired wares of the range and then participated in the undulating ride through the lush Tuscan countryside. The Rapha riders also, of course, enjoyed a glorious array of meats, pasta, dolce and vino. Troppo Brava.

J. Sutcliffe, A. Massey, B. Brown, Z. Craster, S. Huntsman

VINTAGE VELO AUCTION

The regulations of L’Eroica stipulate that only road bikes comprising of technology dating before 1987 qualifies a participant. The rules state that bikes with “switch lever on the oblique tube loom, toe clips and belts, external brake wires” are accepted.

Rossin, Koga Miyata, Bianchi, Gazelle

Rapha sourced some beautiful vintage machines to ride the event. Four of these bikes, provided by London shop Tour de Ville, will be auctioned at rapha.cc beginning Friday.

Auction page on the site coming soon

Menu

~ Coppa, salume and crostini with Tuscan Pate ~

~ Ribolitta ~

~ Penne ragu ~

~ Tuscan sausage and beans ~

~ Plate of fresh fruit ~

~ Van Santo and Cantuccini biscuits ~

And, of course, Chianti;

(Thanks to John Sutcliffe for the menu)

Pictures on Flickr

Some Pictures