When I shared a Vimeo video of L’Eroica with a good friend, he suggested I might rather ride a three-stage tour in Wisconsin if I wished to rip my legs off.
With all due respect to our more competitive riders, here is my answer:
Those who ride in L'Eroica must ride steel bikes built before 1984 with down tube shifters and no clip-less peddles. 11-speed electronic transmissions on carbon fibre bikes need not apply.
Those who ride L'Eroica sport kits like Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali. Wool, not spandex, is de rigueur. Even modern helmets—though extremely important for safety—appear out of place.
L'Eroica's routes are over white gravel roads -- strade bianche. The Triple Crown no doubt is all tarmac.
L'Eroica is one stage only -- but one may choose grand 200K route to fill the day.
L'Eroica is a "happening." Triple Crown is a race.
L'Eroica is in Tuscany. Parma ham n cheese come from over the Apennines maybe 50 miles away, and the chianti is picked, pressed, aged, and bottled locally. Need we say more.
Ci vediamo a Gaiole in Ottobre 2012.
