4/18
Eroica California
Vintage bike, vintage grape vines
We have a lot of vintage bikes in the shop so it’s natural for people to wonder if we ever ride them.
We sure do. A few of our vintage bikes get dusted off and ridden around town, usually to a coffee shop and back, nothing spectacular. Sometimes a few lucky old bikes (and their riders) get to do a real ride, like the “Eroica” vintage bike ride that happened this month in Paso Robles, California.
The rules of the ride are simple: Bikes, clothing and component technology from 1987 or earlier (the mid ‘80’s is when Lycra, carbon fiber, ski-binding style pedals, mountain bikes and integrated brake/shift levers forever changed our sport). The ride is held in wine country, so naturally the route features rolling hills, some gravel roads, olive trees and most importantly: wine at the rest stops.
It was a great weekend. Keeping with the historic theme, my riding partner Don Schilling and I took the train to Paso Robles.
1978 Exxon Graftek
Gianni Motta
leather hairnet helmet
The bikes selected? I thumbed my nose at the spirit of the ride and selected an early carbon fiber bike to ride (1978 Exxon Graftec). Don rode his early ‘80’s Gianni Motta (coincidentally, so did our friend Jeb Thornberg). Bob Freeman, formerly of Davidson Cycles was there, but we failed to note whether he was riding an old Davidson or one of the vintage Jack Taylors from his collection. Bike historian (and vintage bike collector) Jeff didn’t attend, but he set up Eben Weiss (a.k.a. BikeSnobNYC) with a 1916 Mead bicycle, and Mark Petry rode a new Joe Sales custom steel bike that was outfitted and designed like it was built in 1965.
So how did the ride go? The weather was beautiful. A few hills had to be walked due to soft gravel, steepness of a climb or laziness of the rider. Hands cramped from pulling old brakes and dealing with old handlebar shapes. Modern gear range and shifter precision received renewed appreciation. Toe clips and straps were cursed for the foot discomfort and the clumsiness they instilled. Wool jerseys and leather hair-net style helmets? They were quite comfortable, thank you very much.
The weekend included much drooling over old top-end bicycles and components. We got to rub elbows (sometimes literally) with cycling celebrity (Andy Hampsten, Joe Breeze, David Lettieri, Eben Weiss). We Pacific Northwesterners got to exchange an extremely rainy weekend back home for some California sunshine. We drank a fair amount of wine.
Eroica California was a great way to experience a different era for cycling.