Style Not Speed: The Eroica In Chianti

Each year in Chianti, Italy, a beautiful middle-Italian wine-producing region buried deep within the hills of Tuscany, a cycling race takes place that cares very little about performance and results. For each of the last 14 years, the "Eroica" has taken place in these very hills, paying tribute to an era of vintage bikes, vintage clothing and Italian cuisine.

The race, which takes place the first week of October, this year featured 3,500 riders and cycling enthusiasts from around the globe who took to the hills of Gaiole in Tuscany. The only prerequisites for the race are steel-framed bikes from before 1987 or newer models fitted and assembled with vintage accessories and hardware. The clothing must also be vintage, and it helps to have an appreciation of fine Italian wine from the Chianti region and mortadella, capicolla and prosciutto-stuffed paninis. The 24-mile route is littered with spectators and enthusiasts wearing vintage clothing themselves, handing out paninis and large goblets of Chianti, remembering an era when for many, cycling was the only distraction from the rigours of everyday life.


In Italy, cycling is considered to be a national sport, and the people take a great deal of pride in not only the sport, but their own national heroes who have defined it in the past. For many of these enthusiasts, the Eroica is a means of remembering the nostalgia of an era in cycling when the playing field was level, and blood-doping was only a pipe dream of sorts. Here fans of cycling legends such as recently accused Spanish rider Alberto Contador can race while consuming native Italian meats without worrying about the prospects of a tainted sample affecting blood-test results for doping. According to Roland Wolbold, 65, a racing mechanic from Stuttgart, Germany, the Eroica is a throwback to a time when "doping meant red wine with eggs."

Racing vintage bikes that require far more effort for a lesser result than the newer models on steep gravel roads with a bellyful of wine and cheese - sounds like an amazing experience no? Sounds like a rather heroic feat, which makes perfect sense as 'Eroica' is Italian for heroic.


I can make all of my readers a guarantee - next year's first post of October will be of yours truly racing the hills of Gaiole on a vintage bike with wooden frames, knickerbockers and purple lips.