L'Eroica
November 14, 2011 
The Tweed Run's cool. L'Eroica is cooler.
L'Eroica is the brainchild of Gaiole in Chianti native, Giancarlo Brocci. Brocci explains: “This is not a race, but a ride. It celebrates the pioneers of modern cycling and also my beautiful region. I wanted to save the historic Strade Bianche from being paved."
Ridden partly along the ‘strade bianche’ or white gravel roads of the Chianti, Valdarbia and Valdorci regions of Italy, similar to the Flandrian cobbles, riders are restricted to road bikes comprising of technology dating before 1987. The rules state that bikes with “switch lever on the oblique tube loom, toe clips and belts, external brake wires” are accepted and the excursion harkens back to the heroic days of the sport when spare tubes were slung across the shoulders and woolen kit was the technical apparel of the day.
