mech986 

Note: See post #84 for a list of current BF member participants in Eroica California 2018. Please post any updated info to this thread and I'll add it there. Additional internal communications via a google groups set up for BF participants at Bike Forums 2018 Eroica California participants here:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/bf_eroica_2018

Hello all,

One recurring theme I am trying to push, especially for C&V riders, is to support and attend the Eroica California 2018 ride this year. Its a really fun time with so many like-minded bicycling people, but you don't have to be a huge C&V fan to have fun. People bring all kinds of older bikes out to ride, and the fun is in the people, the machines, and the great ambiance of Paso Robles, home to award winning wineries, the California Central Coast, and the challenge of the 4 different routes.

Putting on this huge event, all the logistics, and supporting the local HOSPICE SLO COUNTY programs means getting as many riders and attendees as possible and continuing to grow and sustain the event. Last year there were about 850 riders, and I'm hoping it grows to over 950-1000 vintage riders (at least 10-15% growth). They can host up to 1500 riders this year.

This can only happen if we spread the word and ask / encourage others to come and participate. Whether we agree with everything in the rules and regulations, have a bike that reasonably conforms, or the cost and logistics allow, I think we can agree that the only way to keep C&V alive is to expose more people to it, and the general idea of having fun on vintage bikes. So spread the word to your vintage or modern friends, bike shops and rides, and help / assist with anyone needing a bike to ride. There will also be vintage bike rentals available from Wally's Bicycle Works in San Luis Obispo:
NEWS. EROICA CALIFORNIA | PASO ROBLES CA | 14-15 APRIL 2018

Housing can be had via hotel / motel, AirBnB, VRBO, etc. and bikes can be shipped in and out via Bikeflights.com. I know Gugie is organizing a big PNW contingent to come down. Airflights can be arranged into San Francisco / San Jose (3 hr / 2.5 hour drive to Paso), Monterey (2 hour drive), Santa Barabara (2 hour drive), or San Luis Obispo regional airport (via connections fromm Alaska, American, United airlines). There is also Amtrak train routes to SLO, unfortunately doesn't stop in Paso for baggage service though.

I know people from Portland / Seattle and Phoenix / Tucson / Albequerque are coming, and I hope more will from all over the country if possible. I encourage all on this thread, the vintage rides, and any of your like minded friends to spread the word. Registration is currently $150 till March 15, then $175 till March 21, and $200 from April 1-7.

Also new this year is Nova Eroica, an event the same day for modern bikes that will be held on 89 mile Coastal Route but in different, more competitive timed format. Eroica California is aiming for 200 riders under a different format so let all your modern bike friends know too.

EROICA CALIFORNIA | PASO ROBLES CA | 14-15 APRIL 2018

REGISTRATION. EROICA CALIFORNIA | PASO ROBLES CA | 14-15 APRIL 2018

Nova Eroica

As some have alluded to, it would be great to set up a Bike Forums group meeting, activity, or tent for Friday or Saturday before the ride. Classic Rendezvous group members are doing just that, so hopefully BF members will also be out in force and numbers as well. Its always great to put faces and handshakes (plus bikes) to member names and avatars.

Bartley Yee
La Habra, California USA

mech986 

IMO, the following is a purely optional activity. I for one would be willing to kick in $50 as a part of a BF C&V group donation to Eroica California as a way to support this event, and selfishly to hope that it helps encourage Eroica to carry on with this vintage bicycle event. The more entries and donations they get, the more likely the event will continue, prosper, and support the good work of Hospice SLO County. A 25 year old friend on a vintage audio forum I belong to, Audiokarma.org, just lost his mother to metastatic breast cancer and was also in hospice. I lost my mother-in-law, half uncle, and a number of friends to cancer's curse-ed disease. Hospice allows them to be at home in dignity during their final days. So I think it appropriate to further support these two great causes. To be clear, donations would be made to Eroica California, and they would decide how to manage those proceeds for internal use and Hospice donation.

We could pool our donations and donate together under the BF C&V banner, if we like, or donate separately. I think as a group though is much more powerful.

To kick things off, along with my $50, I will match the first $50 donation that comes up via BF. Donate publicly or privately, any amount will help, I can tabulate or someone else here at BF can tabulate. (I'd actually prefer help with this so as not to co-mingle donations from CR and BF). God and life have been good (aside from my solo bike crash last Saturday) and I'm thankful I am healing and can give back each day. We're not getting any younger, I can tell you that.

If you are attending Eroica California 2018, I hope to personally shake your hand for your donation above and beyond registration. If you are unable to attend but donate anyway, please accept my thanks in advance for responding. Again, IMO, this is a purely optional activity. I am unsure about tax deductibility if anyone cares.

PS - anyone up for donating some vintage parts for the auction on Saturday?

Regards,

Bartley Yee
La Habra, California USA

mech986 

Also, can we use this thread to see who exactly is going to Eroica California this year?

rccardr 

I'll be there in April; this will be my third L'Eroica California. Always a fun time and well worth the travel from Virginia. Great group of people, lovely roads, super duper food and wine and an excellent vendors mart on Saturday. Not to mention all of the amazing bikes being ridden, on display, and for sale.

Our family is a big supporter of the SLO Hospice, in memory of all four parents who were fortunate to receive hospice services as they approached The Finish Line.

Bradley, are you at all involved in the official organization of this year's event? I'd like to get in touch with Wes about something and do not have his contact information. If you (or anyone reading this) have it, please PM it to me or send to rccardr@cox.net.

Classtime 

I don't get this: "... I think we can agree that the only way to keep C&V alive is to expose more people to it..."

And let me put this out there: Eroica C&V riders are very likely to eat their on-the-bike-food and put the wrapper in their pocket. Modern "racers" are more often the riders that toss their goo, gel, and powerbar wrappers on the side of the road. This has been a problem on some timed century/gravel rides where there is local pressure to not allow the return of an event due to the trash that lines the route after the event. I hope that us long route riders leave early enough that we won't see the trash left behind by the nuvo riders.

Kabuki12

Doc, Great hearing from you! I am glad that I am not the only one who is already counting the days. I met you in 2016 and said hello again in 2017. You posted a great picture of me at one of the both talking to a fellow C&V fan. I think it was 2016 when I rode my Kabuki Diamond Formula. This is a fabulous event and I have been telling anyone who will listen. Last weekend I rode into Ventura on my 1972 Super Mondia and while I was having coffee a man wanted to take a photo of my bike to send to his buddy in Los Angeles. I told him if a Mondia gets him excited, then he should make the trek to Paso Robles in April. He is building an old Frejus to ride! Got two more riders to sign up! Love this event and look forward to seeing you there maybe a pre-ride? Joe

Kabuki12

ME!!!!! i will be there. Joe

Oldairhead 

I believe that you can contact Wes thru the EC Facebook page.

davester

I will definitely be there. Also, unless the weather is bad I'll be hosting the third annual Pre-Eroica ride in Marin County (just north of San Francisco), informally known as Marinica, the w eekend before Eroica. This ride, though generally a relatively small group, has received significant accolades. Not sure yet whether it'll be Saturday or Sunday...depends on the participants. So, if you're planning to come through SF before Eroica please join us for a wonderful ride through rural west Marin.

rccardr 

Davester, remember this from last year?





We had a blast riding more or less together for the Coastal Route, would be great if we could put together one or more groups of BF C&V'ers to enjoy the ride this year!

gugie 

I'll kick in $50. Can you set up a Paypal address?

gugie 

You driving down? There's room in the magic bus RV...

VRC

Hubby and I are going for the first time. We'd love to be kept informed for the Marinica too.
OP you sound concerned that not enough people will participate...is that really a concern? I guess the marketing is good because I felt enough urgency to book everything already!

davester

I appreciate the offer but it looks like I'm driving with friends and staying at the Melody Ranch Motel.

gugie 

I'm pushing participation for the magic bus trip...there'll be plenty of people there for the weekend. If you're anywhere from SoCal or the Bay Area, it's not a long drive, but if you're flying in, you'd be flying and then renting a car, plus a hotel...the RV sounds like an economical and fun way to go.

VRC

We are going to drive down and hotel. Another question: is there fun/interesting stuff at the starting-finish line for non-riding friends and relatives to entertain themselves?

obrentharris 

Downtown Paso Robles is a nice spot to goof around if you like galleries, boutiques, restaurants, coffee and a central plaza. If any of your friends are quilters there's an eclectic fabric store in which my wife can easily spend a couple hours. There are also wineries within a few miles that offer tasting and tours.
Brent

Classtime 

My wife didn't ride and she had so much fun hanging out while I did the long ride that she wanted to come again this year. (She told me she'd like to ride the short route but we'll see.)

mech986 

I am not affiliated with Eroica California officially, just a happy rider and participant. The 2018 Eroica ride is the 4th and growth needs to continue because there are real costs, logistics, and materials and people to harness to make this all happen. IMO, more people participating, the more likely the event will continue.

The biggest issue is that bicycling in the US is not as ingrained as in the UK, France, Italy, etc. The US was taken over by the auto culture decades ago and bicycling has only had a resurgence (in various ways) over the past 20 years of so after the bike boom heyday of the 70's. So getting people to remember and use vintage bikes is difficult.

Also, growth makes the event more lively, popular, and eventually self-sustaining. The UK Eroica Britannia for example had over 4000 riders in just their 3rd event in 2016. 2017 had over 4500 riders and 10,000 (!!!!) visitors per day for the 3 day festival in just their 4th event!! Now it really helps that Great Britain is 3/4 the size of Califronia or roughly the size of Oregon, and the British are really heavy into bicycling of all types, and really love nostalgia, plus many come from a few hours away or less so there isn't that much cost in travel or accommodations. So there are some lofty goals to set.

If Eroica California Paso Robles had even 1/2 of that, it would be HUGE, but there's just a big gap in vintage bicyclists and concentrations across our vast country. If we were magically able to transport and house people for say $400 total for the weekend from all over the country, I think a lot of people would be up for it. Some flights can be had for that little, some housing can be had if shared for something close (roughly $50-100/person/night in some cases). And of course, in the UK event, there's a lot of shared community events where a lot of non-bike related stuff is also happening.

So at this point, just trying to get as many people aware of Eroica California, and the wonderful California Central Coast and very nice weather. Its a great vacation experience as well.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/ga...16-in-pictures
Six reasons every cyclist should enter the Eroica Britannia vintage bike ride - Cycling Plus Magazine


Travel Paso | Paso Robles

https://pasowine.com/?_ga=2.13752421...332.1516235429

bike ? Central Coast

jcb3

I’ll be there again on the Coastal- and Hopefully we do the pre ride on Sat. Only 3 did it last year

Joe

DE97D5EB-37E1-4700-A349-7612FBFB86B0.jpg

Cassave

I'll be there and riding the coastal route this year.

mech986 

Sorry, been down with a bad cold since last posting.

Donations can be sent to mech986 at yahoo dot com. Please include a message of "BF donation for Eroica California 2018" so I can be sure to tabulate it correctly. Let's see what we as a group can do to not only meet up, but make a meaningful impact on Eroica California this year and for years to come.

Hope to meet all of you in Paso!

Regards,

Bart

Oldairhead 

If there was a way to identify BF members attending EC at a glance it could add to the social aspect of the gathering. Say if there was a colored ribbon on the bike or jersey you could spot a BF member right away. As it is unless you know someone personally they are just another person in the crowd. Thoughts?

Oldairhead

Andy_K 

I'll be the old guy riding the old bike. Oh wait.... (And at a mere 48 maybe I'll be the young guy riding the old bike. )

I like the idea though. Maybe some kind of arm band. Or maybe just a pre-ride gallery of what we look like and what we'll be riding.

Andy_K 

What's the weather typically like down there in April?