Official BF Eroica California 2022 Roll Call! Apr. 29-May 1, 2022
 

Heh, Too soon? May as well get started and set up a placeholder thread for the newly rescheduled Eroica California 2022. Let's hope health conditions improve markedly to allow the event and us riders to make this happen. It certainly gives us a lot more time (8 months) to prepare multiple bikes, drivetrains, legs, hearts, and lungs to tackle any route you choose. Plus I'm hoping many of you out there would be willing to support or help in some way (even just moral support) to make the event a success, either in preparation, planning, or execution during the event.

I know many of you have been disappointed multiple times, and treated rather poorly, I get that. Like a dysfunctional relationship, its hard to know if three times will be a charm, and certainly the definition of insanity "doing the same thing over and over and somehow expecting different results" will apply. Still, a lot of things were out of Eroica California's control, while most assuredly, much was in their control, at least from an event planner to event participant standpoint.

So hopefully, this thread can be somewhat optimistic looking forward, and we can share our revised schedule of plans, builds, training, parts swapping, and hopefully overall good health and well being. I hope all of you use any and all methods of health protections (that work) to avoid getting infected, hurt, or otherwise rendered unable to attend involuntarily. I know a few of you have been injured recently or had scheduling conflicts so maybe this extra time will allow you to heal and be possibly ready for the 2022 event, conditions willing. So much will depend on California and participants continuing to become safer public health wise.

Updated: the event has been rescheduled for April 30-May 1, 2022. Here's the info and registration info:
Eroica California 2022, April 30-May 1, 2022 is on. Hopefully, the slowing down of the pandemic and easing of masking rules will allow this to happen and we can all have a safe and good time.
https://eroica.cc/en/california

I'll kick off by saying my training has been fairly decent with 50-70 miles per week (yeah I know that's not much compared to many of you!), 800+ miles this year since March, a lot more hill climbing, and longer rides in general. I was able to switch out my previous Suntour 14-18-22-26-30 freewheel to an NOS 14-18-22-28-34 mated to a 53-42-28 front Campagnolo Record triple and a new KMC Z51 full length (116 link) chain plus Campagnolo Nuovo Record RD with Soma Rally long cage mod - now shifts a little clunkier but very solid shifts. Over the past 2 months I've been able to climb much more effectively in the 28-22, and tackling the 5-7% grades with 28-28 on 700C-35 Extralight Compass/Rene Herse tires (which negatively affect gearing). Feels pretty good to have one bailout gear left for the steeper 8-12% bits, we'll have to see if its enough and if my legs can handle it. I still climb slow though and have not gotten used to trying to spin more to climb. Maybe a matter of climbing the hills technique.

My left knee had been giving me some trouble, light swelling and tenderness when trying to stand upright or walk, surprisingly little to no pain while riding though. This is very likely irritation of my ACL and MCL ligaments, or possibly signs of early osteoarthritis, haven't check an X-ray yet. I iced regularly, took additional magnesium for muscle tightness, and stretched more often. I resisted for quite awhile but 4 days ago started back on some meloxicam long acting anti-inflammatory meds and have noted a drop from the 5-6/10 discomfort to now about a 3-4/10 discomfort and about a 20% improvement in the swelling. We'll see how additional cockpit adjustments and training make any impact on my knee.

I'm still planning on attending. I think I have have the fitness to ride the Heroic route currently. We'll see if I can maintain it until April. I have to admit, I'll be switching back to Speedplay pedals and probably revert back to some thinner tires/lighter rims for a while. The twenty degrees of float has always served me well and switching between toe clips and clipless is a recipe for disaster (as I almost learned on Monday when I took my Colnago out for the first time after riding the Bob Jackson with the toe clips exclusively for a couple hundred miles). Hopefully the last minute cancelation won't be a deterrent for a lot of you to attend.

I’m In
 

April fits my schedule so much better! I was a little bummed out by the most recent postponement because I had transferred my registration to Caliwild. Caliwild kindly handed it back to me, my base miles are adding up, and I will be ready for the Spring Classics of 2022.

I am in. My oldest brother and I have made it a tradition of sorts.

This years "Ghost Ride 2021" we are going to be riding a Faggin and an Olmo. Next year, who knows? We ride something different every year.

I'll be doing FauxRoica this year. I'm burned out on Eroica right now, but give me a winter of PNW wet weather and I may change my mind.

I'm planning to be there. I have to admit the postponement was a blessing for me personally. I was registered but would have had to bail. As I mentioned previously, I dislocated my shoulder in early August and haven't ridden a bike in a month. On top of that, a good friend and former jr. cycling teammate (and former World Jr. MTB Champion) passed away recently. There is a memorial ride and get-together at his parents' house that same weekend. I wouldn't have wanted to miss that. I hope to be able to at least start the memorial ride but wouldn't have been up for Eroica. And that's not even mentioning COVID considerations. I'll be ready for the reboot in the spring.

As of now, I expect to be there. Maybe I'll even feel up to tackling something longer than the 40 miler. I wouldn't bet on it, though.

Me too! I’m in , let’s hope the ducks line up for a successful event. April can be sketchy weather wise but what the hell. That’s what plastic saddles are for!

Does anybody have a local registration contact email? I am registered for the Sunday classic ride and would like to add the Saturday Nova ride. The website has no option for this and the only email I have goes to Italy and is never answered.

Keith, I'm pretty sure that you can't do anything like that without going to Italy. You have tried from your "My Eroica" ?

I plan on going, but which route I can ride, or even if I can go at all, will depend on what happens in the next month or two. I've had two surgeries on my scalp in the last 6 weeks and I'm currently waiting to see if it's healing properly.

I'm on immunosuppressants for a kidney transplant I had back in 1998. While the transplant is working fine, the extended use of the immunosuppressants has caused an ongoing battle with squamous cell carcinoma for the last 9 years. I've had it in several areas of my scalp, the lymph nodes in my neck (2017), and in my lungs (2019). I've been going to M D Anderson Cancer Hospital here in Houston, so I'm in good hands. I had a moderately large MOHS surgery for another SCC on my scalp in October of 2020, which was followed by another round of radiation (my third on the scalp) to keep it away. Unfortunately this resulted in a new type of cancer (atypical fibroxanthoma) caused by the radiation treatments. I had surgery to remove this in April of 2021, but due to the prior radiation treatments, it refused to heal. I spent most of 2021 training for Eroica with bandages covering a silver-dollar sized area of exposed skull. This needed to be taken care of.

On October 12, I underwent a free-flap scalp reconstruction. I thought this would be a simple skin graft, but I was wrong. A skin graft gets its blood supply from the tissue it's placed on, but since much of my scalp would be completely removed, they needed to get tissue from somewhere. What the six-hour surgery entailed was removing the latissimus muscle from the left side of my back, placing it in the graft area and microsurgically connecting the vessels of the muscle to the vessels in front of my left ear. Once this was done, a skin graft was taken from my left thigh and placed on the muscle. I spent 5 days in the hospital and all was well. I would not be allowed to wear a hat or helmet until the graft healed, which would take at least a month, so no riding outside.

After being home for a week or so, we noticed an area of the muscle was starting to turn dark. I sent photos to the doctors and, though they said it looked worrying, there was nothing to do until my follow-up appointment several days later. At the appointment, the doctor confirmed that the rear 1/4 of the muscle was dead and would need to be removed. His theory is that the radiation I received in 2019 for the lung cancer damaged the vessels.

I underwent a second surgery on October 29 to debride the dead area and to cover the resulting hole with a synthetic skin graft. If this survives, a real skin graft will be taken from my thigh to cover it in a few weeks, so I have that to look forward to. If it doesn't survive, they need to take a portion of the latissimus muscle from the right side of my back and basically start over again. My follow-up is Wednesday the 24th so I'll find out then what will happen.

On a better note, the doctor has allowed me to start riding a stationary bike, so on November 10, I started riding on Zwift. My watts are down quite a bit, but I'm riding 35 miles every other day at this point. If everything goes right from here on, I should be able to ride the 81 mile route I signed up for. If I end up needing the more involved surgery, I feel I can at least get in good enough shape by that time to do the Piedras Blancas route. I've been keeping my sanity by completing the refurbishment of my 1972 Legnano, and searching for parts for my 1940s Ciclo Piave. I'll post more on those at a later date.

PS: You should thank me for not posting photos.

Ya. Thanks for not posting photos. You got the proper attitude and while your stuck inside, a set of rollers makes could make it interesting. See you there.

I went to my follow-up on Wednesday and the doc thinks everything is looking good. That's the good part. The bad part is that he may want to add another layer of the synthetic skin to give the real skin a bit more thickness to bond with. It'll probably delay me getting on the road for another 4-6 weeks, but should be better for the long run. I'm not fond of riding in the winter anyway. It's a good thing that I have Zwift.

Well, my burnout on Eroica lasted just a few months, and as expected, the PNW rainy season has already got me dreaming of 2022 rides. Since I've been paid up for Eroica California for over 2 years, and @rccardr invited me and a few others to a VRBO rental in Cambria, why not? It's a chance to see a lot of old friends, and I have yet to get to the top of the Cypress climb without walking part way.

Well L'Eroica has been holding onto my $ for almost 2 years now so I gotta go ride it. So Yes Im in.

I learned a valuable lesson on the FauxRoica ride, I need a bigger Freewheel to get up those short steep climbs in the Cambria area. My 42 X 28 setup isnt cutting it on some of those steep sections, Im glad Rick Denman and John Howard steered us in the direction of those steep hills on what was supposed to be a short and flat little ride out to the Lighthouse . ( I was going so slow I almost fell over) UGGGHHH.

Anyway, I purchased an old Suntour long cage derailleur and a bigger freewheel and chain for next year. I shouldnt have any gear issues climbing anymore... I dont recall having problems climbing Azusa Mountains with a corncobb back in the 80's,,, what happened.

It's hard to breath properly when wearing a shrunken jersey.

:beer:

Doc’s Rules of Direct and Inverse Proportions:
Rule #1: The size of the largest cog on your freewheel/freehub is directly related to your chronological age.
Rule#2: The size of the smallest chainring on your crankset is inversely related to,your chronological age.
Rule#3: You are only as old as you allow yourself to be.

I haven't made my reservation yet but will definitely be attending for the first time. My uncle recently restored a 1972 Raleigh Professional with my guidance and he has a beautiful beach house in Cayucos. He rides at least 100-150 miles per week with his retired buddies, and will definitely be fit enough for the task... It's me that's just made a career change and had to start riding fresh a few weeks ago after getting my life back! But I'm sure by April things will be spiff and we're both looking forward to the event - I'd mentioned it to him in the past but the stars never aligned.

Really looking forward to it, and am also hoping to have a fully restored late-'40s British lightweight (secret for now) that I can enter in the concours!

-Gregory

Just signed up for both the Eroica and Nova Eroica rides... Will give me a reason to start training. I miss Cambria so I'm hoping it goes forward this time. And it looks like Hearst Castle will hopefully be open by then...

Hearst Castle for a side trip? Or with Nova on Saturday, you'll be going short on Sunday?

I have my plane tix and my carried over registration. Vague plans for spooning Gugie wherever that may be in Cambria.

Any Los Angeles peeps need a wingman for the drive up to Cambria? I’m flying into LAX late AM Friday

Pretty sure Doc is writing up the rules for Palazzo Nuovo II, check with him on that.

@rccardr

You’ve got a reservation. Spooning…optional.