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Old 05-06-22, 01:59 AM
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Andy_K 
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Originally Posted by merziac
I'm going to chime in just to say Eroica CA will be a loss when it goes. I was not overly impressed this year but for all the complaining, be careful what you wish for.
I was talking to @gugie about this. I thought maybe a more relevant comparison would be Eroica CA vs Fauxroica (the self-supported ride that a bunch of people did when the official event was cancelled last year. He convinced me that the self-supported version has a lot potentially going for it, most of which are imitations of Cino offers.

In theory, everything I love about Eroica (the people, the bikes, the courses) could be replicated without the official organization, and a few of the things I don’t like could be fixed in ways they can’t be with the official event. I do have some fear though that even the gathering of people (the absolute heart of the event) wouldn’t work out. It’s possible to find a date that works for a very small number of people. Once that number gets over a dozen or so, it becomes impossible. But when the number is in the hundreds it’s kind of possible again, for at least enough people to make it a great gathering. I would go down every year just to hang out with the five people I shared a house with, but also meeting a bunch of other people that I didn’t expect to meet makes it really special. It’s really hard to get the critical mass to make that happen.

On the surface, the things we’d lose without the organization are the dinner, the concours, the vendors, the route support, and the swag. I could do without all of that, and the concours is the only part I’d really miss. But the intangible beyond that is the singular event that draws people in.

And I guess maybe that’s why Eroica vs. Cino is worth talking about. Cino is an event. And, yes, it is a totally different kind of event, but that’s kind of the point. If the Eroica organization throws the towel in on Eroica CA and those of us who have enjoyed it wanted to keep it going in some way, what kind of event would we want it to be? Something just like it is? Or something more like Cino?

I hope it sticks around because even if I don’t go, I like the idea that a thing like this exists. But if the right group of people said, “Hey, we’re going to go down to Paso Robles a different week and just get together and ride,” that’s what I’d be doing.
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