jcb3

Case in point, Cayucos to Santa Rita Road (summit) took me 1.5 hr after 90 miles, but over Thanksgiving, I did it in one hour after zero miles.

Salamandrine 

Oh, I forgot there will likely be lots of forumites there. Thanks for the reminder. For me it had been of hinging on whether any of my friends are going. Still on the fence.

Also, stupid as it is, I no longer have any toe clip appropriate cycling shoes, at least none that I'd care to ride 120 miles in mountains with. ~$150 for those, plus two nights of motel, plus entry fee, and it gets kind of expensive. Wondering if it's worth it.

davester

I just took the cleats off some standard 3-bolt cleated shoes. Seems to work OK.

rccardr 

I used indoor soccer shoes. Got 'em from a Skecher outlet for $35. Look just like bike shoes once I snipped off the traction spikettes on the sides.

jcb3

I saw a few guys in Adidas Samba style shoes and one guy with a cowboy hat and timberland high tops

If I do it again, I would go with the Samba - easier to to walk

I did it with a pair of vintage sidi, but walking the hills in with slick leather soles and cleats was not ideal

velomateo

I'm super excited to ride do this ride. My friend I will be riding the coastal route. He will be riding his freshly restored Ciocc Mokba, that looks amazing. I'm going for the "patina" look on my Scapin, missing paint and all - but it will be mechanically clean. I haven't been able to take any finished pics yet, but here's a teaser.



I scored a set of "like new" Lotto shoes, with the cleats too. For Christmas my sons bought me a beautiful Molteni jersey, to wear, and my daughter scored me some Velo Orange toe clips. I only need to find a set of toe straps. I would prefer some used Alfredo Binda's, which now go for about $30 on eBay - I have used so many of those for different applications over the years, never thinking I would ever need them some day.





So, what will you be riding this April?

merziac

This, 1978 Jim Merz

pic281.jpg

or this, 1974 Jim Merz that was his.

Picture 034 copy.jpg

without brifters.

merziac

Also just scored some Giro Republic's canvas version in black. Very comfortable shoe, may be able to leave the pads on for old school clips or they unbolt if not. Very funky cool retro vibe with these and they walk very well also and should be good if you have to push it up a hill.

Bikegeek1968

A friend of mine has been making these.

Corsa Cleat

It is a slotted cleated with float that fits on a 3 bolt modern shoe. I have used them in Italy 4 times and CA twice. They are not actually for sale to mass market, but I think he will be making a few pairs in the lead up to Eroica CA.

Choke 

I'll be back again, almost certainly on the Losa.

velomateo

Nice pic. Too bad the Mavic support vehicle wasn't hauling vintage rides.

Classtime 

The idea is to suffer. Do the Coastal Route at a minimum. I did the long route and had a blast. I walked part of an early morning gravel climb and two parts of Kiler Canyon -- chickening out in a rutted section and not being strong enough on the upper section. While I was suffering, I made plans to be stronger this year and use the same 13-24 and 42-52. (I should get started on that.) Make sure all your stuff is well strapped in. I lost my saddle bag and a lot of guys lost bottles and other stuff on the way to the morning wine stop. Many guys are using compacts, triples, touring cogsets, and it's all good. BUT, the fun part for me is riding along with and often getting passed by skinny tubed, skinny tired, NR bikes with corn cob freewheels.

elvezia

I'm coming out again from the Blue Ridge Mts of Virginina (Charlottesville). I thoroughly enjoyed the ride last year, and the rest stops were fabulous, particularly with what I'm used to in most mountain centuries/fondos I do - fresh made-to-order burritos & margaritas in Cambria! Wine at the early stops, & last stop! I rode my all-original 1969 Legnano Roma Olympiade (NR gruppo, antique Clement Grifo sewups/Fiamme Red Labels/Campy hubs) last year, may be bringing my 1982 De Rosa Professional this time. Having the advantage of training in the hills constantly and being naturally skinny, I was able to ride everything with a 52-42 and 14-28. Having signed up for the 85-mile route, I did an 11 mile warmup - I don't like starting straight off with a climb, as the Coastal route does. I started with the 2nd group of 120-milers, headed back to town after the first gravel section (made a nice, simple loop) and then started up Kiler Cyn. Started picking up folks pretty soon (but had a clear road for the one wet switchback that I heard got congested) and was mid-pack by the top. Ended up in Gruppo Andy Hampsten/US Nat team older dudes at Cayucos - obviously a blast! Loved being on Andy's wheel down the last climb, no worries about something going wrong! Hoping for the "normal" Cali sunshine this time - ride day turned out alright last year, but was dodging rain all that week, very strange weather system for that time of year...

rccardr 

We should definitely do a BF dinner on Saturday! If they are doing the same pre-ride dnner and auction on Saturday night, we could get a table or two.

JoeBass

I used the Giro's when I rode the 1st year Eroica, CA, and they worked perfectly. Very comfortable for those times when I found myself walking. I recently took the pads off and "shoe-goo'd" the underside of them to get them to fit in the toe clips a bit better, but removing the pads didn't help all that much and I could just as well have left them on. I usually ride my vintage bikes with vintage shoes and old style cleats (slit) but those would certainly not work well on a ride with lots of walking in dirt and gravel.

primo123

How much does registration cost? I cant find it on the website?

Classtime 

150 dollars until march 15 when it goes to 175.

merziac

Tx Joe, good to know I got them to have a pair of real cycling shoes and thought they would fit the eroica bill well also as I am using some fairly stiff soled nike's that work well but aren't going to last forever. Hoping real shoes will help get me down the road better but have'nt tried them yet, been too wet for my canvas version while they are new. Going to get some clips worked over to fit them soon and try them out.

merziac

Going this year?

JoeBass

Probably not. I wasn't thrilled with the ride for the money they charged, and I'm not a real lover of dirt/gravel.

merziac

I hear ya, I am mainly going for the show and will ride anyway. Can't justify the time and travel and not go on the ride. Definitely spendy so we'll see.

Oldairhead 

Well, it is primarily a Gravel Ride on vintage bikes. The whole concept emerged as a way to preserve the "Strada Bianca" (white gravel roads) in Italy and the heritage of racing on them during the "heroic era". The concept is so popular that it has expanded to 9 locations on 5 continents. Many of those selling out months in advance!

California is a difficult location to put on an event like this. Many of the costs are driven by permit requirements demanded by the bureaucracy. You can thank California state and local jurisdictions for the high entry fees, not the local organizers. The event costs so much less to enter in other locations, they are not greedy here!

California is a beautiful state, I was born there! But, I left years ago because of the hassles of living there. I still go back and ride though, as often as I care to, and I don't have to pay taxes to that bunch of crooks!

JoeBass

This might make sense, except for the fact that I participate in several annual, organized, fund raising century rides in California every year that charge half of the Eroica, CA entry (Chico Wildflower, Foxy's out of Davis) and they have much better rest stop food, support and free massages at the Wildflower.

guygadois 

But do they have the awesome olive oil at the end and wine at every stop! In all seriousness, you can't ride the Eroica on your own time (without breaking the law because some of the routes are on private property). The other rides you named are on public road and you can usually ride those any time. Is it cheap? No. I'll skip Starbucks a few times and it will pretty much pay the difference. Do any other of those big ride afford the opportunity to see some of the coolest vintage bikes in their native habitat (the road, not hanging in a garage or website)? If you are into vintage bike riding there really aren't many better rides in California (maybe USA) than the Eroica in Paso.

By the way, Solvang century is $125, Chico Wild Flower $75, Foxy is $90, Levi's Gran Fondo is $210, Eroica Paso is $130 (comparing all early registrations). The Eroica really is fairly priced IMHO.

GregU

I am looking forward to this event. I'm coming in from Maryland and my friend is coming down from the Seattle area. I have just finished putting together a 1985 Vitus 979 w/full Dura Ace (down to the pedals). It's tough getting decent miles here in Jan-Mar but I'm still hoping to do the Coastal Route. This will be the most climbing I've ever done (life-long flatlander) so I'm expecting to walk some. The bike came with a 52/42 and 13-26 and I'm not planning on modifying it :-)