Tenspeed Hero Gallery

This Saturday evening, August 25th, the Rapha Cycle Club San Francisco presents 21 Stages TDF Illustrations by Rebecca Gosling. All the style, color and drama from the 2012 Tour de France will come to life through Rebecca's illustrations displayed in print form on the walls of the Cycle Club. The exhibition comes courtesy of Tenspeed Hero, but what is a "Tenspeed Hero"? We spent a few days with the Heroes in their Chicago headquarters this July in an attempt to find out. Some questions were answered, others were not. But, whatever the case, please stop by the Rapha Cycle Club, San Francisco and see the installation there.

A typical day with the Heroes starts down the street under the awnings of La Colombe Coffee (they also supply the coffee for our Rapha Mobile Cycle Club). There are lists made on the daily. Most of them involving some sort of local sporting event, from the always popular Chicago Bulls to local criteriums to that Grand Tour that takes place every July. This particular race was the topic of conversation for the steamy week we spent with them last month, mainly for the production of what came to be known as the Daily Drawing. These are the illustrations that Rebecca had been doing to highlight particular stages and the dramatic happenings of the Tour 2012.

Rebecca's approach went something like this:

"Who won yesterday and what do we know about him? In the case of Jean-Christophe Péraud it was that not only did he get second in the stage but that he had recently been selected to compete for France in the Olympic Mountain Bike race. Then Greipel's turn was up and he simply became The Gorilla, sometimes the decisions were that easy."

The day would then move into Hero Headquarters where the race itself would be screened and the day's illustration would spring to life.

So, what is a Tenspeed Hero? Maybe they can tell you more about what it takes in person this Saturday at 7pm at the Rapha Cycle Club - 2198 Filbert St. San Francisco, California 94123.