Dear CR Friends : I finally got the time to process the pictures of the event, they are mostly at social gathering of the American group of riders this year,and other pics. of the swap met and the arrival of the mini-eroica. My wife Lourdes and I would like to thank you all in the group for the great times we shared ,It feel like a group of old friends event thoug it was the first time around .Thanks to "the embassador "Bob Freitas and his wife Rita,also to Dale Brown for all the support before and during the trip I hope to ride with you guys any time in the near future.And perhaps repeat the l'eroica.
By now, every body knows how wonderful is l'eroica , but don't forget to mention how difficult those roads are....the bianchi hills and descends . The excitement of all the big party won't replace a proper training. My experience at the event represent one of my happiest bicycling days,but it was not easy .. The beginning was like been living in a dream , hard to describe this emotion ; riding in the middle of this never ending group of passionate people all sharing that joy, that re-affirmation of courage and love for the steel bicycles....we ( the Americans group ) were lucky to start at the front of this big package, going trough narrow roads, it was great to start warming up with Bob Freitas, Dave Martinez among the other riders it was all social pedaling, I have achance to talk to an Italian Cinelli guy, and then run briefly with LucianoBerruti ( the face of l'eroica ) a great guy, with his mental encyclopedia of cycling. Then came the first bianchi section ....the group start to stretch going up hill,then : ! welcome to the crazy descends ! ,no more social ride... I start to pass people...is better to clear the road , I found momentarily Peter and Jan Johnson dealing with the busy road and some screaming riders.....then slowly the gap start to increase. I know in advance that the harder part of the race was towards the end, more experimented riders said " save the energies for the end....( if you can ) so I just set my conservative pace, expecting a re-grouping soon or later. Then came more hills, more bianchi roads; slowly burning energies, made you feel every next hill a bit harder , the incredible shaking on the descent made loose some parts of my bike, some minor mechanical problems occurred...the road keeps feeling harder , the legs start to hurt, and I wonder what a crazy idea was to be there...so much previous excitement, but by now it was just plaint pain, I checked the heart monitor and is blasting way too high for my age...ooops ,just take it easy....some Beatles songs came to my mind and give me some company, by then I was a very lonely rider, the small groups that pass me occasionally didn't brought any of my friends at one point just approaching the food stop, was finally time to used the controversial (oh,my God ) third chain ring. Here I was so glad to had this option...at that point I couldn't care less for had broken the rules of the vintage bicycles. That 3rd ring was a saver two more times dawn the road. ....Then suddenly there was a crowd on top of a hill having fun at the food stop, I got my pass-port stamped ...welcome to heaven...tons of food, drinks VINE...and the kind presence of Dale Brown, who was very help-full with me. WATER....Water water , and slowly start to recover the energies.I can see the joy on the faces of all those riders , all is a big party, good waves of energies. There,I got interviewed by some German TV reporter,more water and hit the road again..... At departure I realized it was forgotten to re-set the computer and kind of screw-up the distance reference, but it doesn't matter much, Is time to face the real deal section.....very soon there it is " the walking hill " , very steep and slippery, I saw only very few riders been able to negotiate the hill riding the bikes,every body else " time to walk " , nice 1/2 mille with bicycling shoes.....not even the 3rd ring work for tired legs..This was the famous climb to Volpaia Then things go back to the average inclination, more hills and finally we encounter a good surface road,the down hill was phenomenally fast, I pass a couple of cars, a good number of riders, it feels like in my golden years every thing looks good.....well,suddenly the road goes up again, just a hundred meters or so, I start to feel cramps on one leg, a minute later is both legs in trouble......there is my friend Tony sitting on the road rubbing the convulsive legs......some of theriders a passed before, reach the spot and said in Italian " crampy - crampy " and I answer back " Not Campy...." when I open my eyes there was a car of the officials taken pictures of this guy sitting on the road surface......I said "please not like this or in the toilet...." they left with some kind of smile... Luckily the drama ends in few minutes, and about 30 minutes later, I was finally arriving to Gaiole.....check the time : 1:32 pm . It took +- 5 long hours to get there .......really tired , but proud of finishing. I'm standing in line to get my pass-port stamp, when the German reporter is calling my name and asking " would you doit again ? " I tough this question was similar to ask a just delivered mother if she would like to have more babies........ Well guys , I apologized for the bad English,but I hope you had follow the story...it may be good reference for the future " first timers"
The pictures can be seen at :
http://www.flickr.com/
Thank you,for your attention
Tony Bohorquez
Los Angeles- California