mech986 

I also have a prepaid registration, it’s for the medium ride but I don’t think they will be checking carefully which ride you go on

if anyone knows the process for transferring, I would be willing to do so. Any part of the race or registration stuff you don’t want, I would like that after the ride. You’d be welcome to keep what you like as a momento of your ride, especially if you complete the medium ride, a real accomplishment.

contact me at 909 two three eight 85 zero 4

mech986 

what was the process for transferring registrations? Hopefully if anyone needs mine, I can still do it.

Classtime 

See post 281. I did it.

Andy_K 

I think that's their standard verbiage on clothing. I haven't seen it actually enforced, but I think people who dress the part get more out of the experience than people who don't.

mech986 

From Robert Volz who is attending and used my registration:

Friday taking a leisurely stop in Santa Cruz on his Birthday:




Saturday in Cambria:
Me: Hey Robert, did you make it to Cambria, did the reg transfer work out, and what’s it like today at the festival?

Robert: A few shops, a few sponsors, I see lots of friends, which is nice. They didn't even ask to see the (transfer) letter. They simply said what is the name and handed me the packet.

Me: Well, that's the famous Italian Eroica security and privacy in action!






Me: Nice to see a decent vendor and swap turnout. I understand the weather is cooler than usual (mid 60’s) in Cambria. Wind can pick up in the late afternoon.

One of my friends Matt Gorski is usually there for the swap but was unable to travel this year due to scheduling.

Have you seen a lot of riders or did you ask the registration people how many they have signed up or expect to come?

Were you able to see any of the Nova Eroica riders finishing their ride today?

Robert: Sorry, there’s zero Internet or phone coverage in Cambria. I’m sure a lot of the people are on rides today so the swap area wasn’t very crowded. Some of the regulars were there, Andy from Olympia, Van from Portland,



Me: Understood, it is a problem in certain parts of the town. Where I stayed the last few years just east of Moonstone beach there was Zero cell signal so had to use the house wifi for calls. Is that Andy Kaylor (AndyK)?

Robert: Yes.

Sunday, Short ride









Looks like everyone there is having a great time. Wish I was there but the pics help.

Link to Robert’s Eroica California 2023 pics thread:

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...oica-pics.html

Kabuki12

I wonder if the light house was accessible. There was some confusion over whether it would be "open" to the event. If not , where was the support and turn around? I sure wish I could've been there. To me , it looks like attendance was down this year.

Manny66 

Saturday L'Eroica Dinner at Linn's . As usual Aaron Linn was quite the Host and the wine was flowing , maybe a little too much flow as i felt it on Sundays Santa Lucia route. A great time was had by all in Attendance. I was fortunate to meet BradL and his lovely Wife. My new buddy Frank was also on hand for the Dinner and Saturday's Cayucos ride and also the 73 Mile Santa Lucia route. BIG thanks to Him and Bill for keeping me company and helping me out as I was clearly cooked.

Manny66 

The start of Sundays Santa Lucia Route , Lots of happiness at the Start and the Finish,, but not so much during ,, Brutal Climbs , Scary descents and rough Terrain. But it's L'Eroica and its supposed to be tough that's what makes it Heroic.


The START !

The top of the first climb .


When You're climbing so slow and you reach down to unstrap ,,and fall over! I got a little rash , But hey , the bike didnt get a scratch !

When you're going 4.6 MPH on loose gravel , well it didnt go too well for me.

The Top !





Just under 7 hours with a few rest stops. Ill take it .

tmnguuyen 

I did the Heroic route on Saturday and the baby route on Sunday with my wife on the Tandem. The weather was a blessing. People were pleasant and friendly. Bikes were cool. Medals have correct year on them this time. Participation is somewhat low particularly on the long route. Nice to see some of the people I met last year again (@Vitma, @Brad_L, @Thalia949, @merziac) and some new ones this year. I think, there is less than 20 on the Nova and even less on the 'beauty of fatigue' long route on Sunday. The amenities were basic but adequate. No Halter Ranch stop, Olea farm was more of a delay than a refueling stop. I could do without. Lunch box at midpoint for the long route riders in Templeton. The wind was blowing like mad and the cloud was pulling in when we got to the top of the Cypress mountain.
One young lady kicked our butts on the first Santa Rosa Creek climb. Her name is Katrina, and she rode like a hurricane. She may be the only female on the Nova long route.
Another female rider completed the Heroic route on Sunday.

Access to the lighthouse is not allowed and it is unfortunate, but it guess we must protect our environment. The organization should think about how to open it up again since it is the main highlight of the CA event.

A huge thank you to all the volunteers.

Photos of the two ladies that completed the long route. Katrina is between me and my wife in the photo.


Last 2 riders (Thanh and Mike) to the top of Cypress. It was windy and cold. 4 others were SAGed back because they didn't make the cut off time.

Our group before we part ways at long/short split.



Me and Mike, last two old moss to finish Nova


Scenaries:






Some of these photos qualify for the empty roads thread.

fvernon

You have a surprisingly speedy way of showing that you're cooked, Manny! Well done organizing & leading the Saturday morning ride and tearing through those last dozen or so miles on Sunday



-Frank

Caliwild

Wow, I'm very impressed with anyone that did the medium or long ride on their vintage bikes. I did the Nova Eroica 72-miler and can't imagine that final descent with old school brakes. Even with hydraulic brakes, my hands were sore at the bottom! Bravo!

Manny66 

Well Im easy to please so I can say that I had a VERY wonderful time at L'Eroica , Same as you Than .
Improvements ?,,,For Sure . But I do it mainly for the Comraderie in suffering and Friendships made along the way that only Cycling can give. I had fun and I WILL be back next year.

Manny66 

Frank !! Great times out there with You and Bill , There was a small group of Us that kept each other company along the roads and Im glad for it. I was envious of your bike with that cool gearing as I saw you riding up those Hills !! I did start feeling a little better towards the last 20 miles or so but I felt weak.. No More drinking Beer the night before a 73 mile ride.. No Molto Benne !

merziac

"It is what it is"

I am surprised they did it at all and am glad they did, could not have been prudent.

Lackluster, yes, worth it, yes, had a great time Tx to Rich at Velo Cambria, @Manny66, Greg Davis, @Robvolz and Myronda, @bikingshearer, @tmnguuyen, Amadaeo?, @Brad L, and many others.

Anyone that relies on the organization to make the event is missing the point, we are the event.

If you're going to rely on someone else to make you "Heroic", you'll never get there.

I may not go again but that doesn't mean I won't want to.

Ungaro

Thanks for starting this thread. I don't know why the date was moved from April to September, but it does make it difficult to participate in some of the other Eroica events going on in Italy. I did 2017 & 2018 Eroica California out of Paso Robles and enjoyed both of them very much. In 2017, we were able to do Gaiole in the fall. That is not going to happen now, with the two events weeks apart. Is Wes still involved with it? He did a great job in the past, and I can't imagine why participation has dropped off so much.

merziac

I don't think Wes is still involved at all and may have been ostracized for trying to keep it right and was shot down in flames I think.

Paging @mech986

mech986 

Wes is not currently involved and has not been directly managing it since 2019’s first Cambria event. My understanding is although the events in Paso Robles were very good, the city of Paso Robles was unhappy with the use of the Downtown Central Park, the “damage” that putting tents and vendor booths caused (even though they permitted them to be used), and charged Eroica California for the cleanup and repairs of the grounds. Also, Paso Robles had given Eroica some Bed Tax money to seed the event but decided to drop the funding after the 2017 or 2018 event. This forced the 2018 event to move to the Fairgrounds which was not optimum but Wes made it work.

I also understand that although city center merchants and hotels were happy about the event and its revenues, quite a few residents did not like the event because the influx of people, cars, and bicycles caused residents headaches in getting around on Saturday and Sunday plus used up much of the park grounds and parking. Outside of the Paso Robles city center, many merchants, stores and restaurants has no idea the event was happening, or did they seem to care much.

I know Wes as a Paso resident worked very hard behind the scenes with the city and was aided by the local Hospice and volunteers. Some say he had very high expectations (due in no small way being a member of a famous Italian Sports Car club and its concours events), and tended to micromanage and not delegate enough. Many of us are like that when we are passionate about things and events.

Although the Paso events did go off pretty well, I think the Italian organizers and powers that be in Paso saw waning support for it staying in Paso. The positives in Paso are better and more varied, “affordable” lodging (although 5 years later that may have changed for more $$$), more things to do, a bit more city like with more stores, supermarkets, and gas stations, plus Hwy 101 proximity. The downsides are competing with the regular influx of weekend visitors from both Northern California / SF Bay area / Monterey Peninsula and Southern California, costs, loss of Paso Monetary support, resident complaints (and some redneck harassment of cyclists), and lack of a better site than the Fairgrounds. In some respects, Paso Robles is pretty upscale and more city like than the towns in Italy where the Gaiole events are held although the surrounding wineries and back roads are very similar.

The push to move to Cambria and add ocean, coastal, and smaller town support came from Aaron Linn and others, including the Italians who maybe wanted more control over the event? I think many things about Cambria were “better” - more small town casual feel, ocean riding for everyone, much less hectic, and a bit more community awareness. But the downsides were changes in the Italian organizers, much less local volunteers, less affordable and numbers of accommodations but lots of very good restaurants, and limited sizes of venues - the old Dog Park was “ok” but dry and dusty and out of the way. When that was used for other purposes, the move to the Lions Club Pinederosa grounds made sense and mostly works, but really crowded (good and bad), but the Veteran’s Hall for the dinner was too small for the numbers that signed up. Organization of the ride itself suffered a bit and summit water or food support was “good” in 2019, and missing in 2022. I haven’t read about this year yet. Halter Ranch stop was very good in 2019, so-so in 2022, I suspect due to costs and number of riders. I know nothing of the long ride stops. The short Ride with Piedras Blancas Light Station stop and support has had long running problems due to, IMO, (and you’ve heard this before from me who checked it out twice, poor Eroica organization and understanding of the BLM permitting process and the effort, costs, and manpower needed to get it permitted and approved, then to run it correctly, same as the summit water stops. Cayucos Stop has been uniformly excellent IMO, and well supported by the Cayucos Chamber of Commerce and the great folks at the Sea Shanty Restaurant who did the fabulous catering. Riders complained about lack of early morning coffee for the long and medium riders, tough bean is what I say, yeah, it would have been nice but you could make your own too in the morning.

After the 2019 event, where we had a big Italian contingent, pro photographers and videographers, a no-show Italian swap container, and lots of kudos and lots of concerns and complaints, there was a lot of work to do. To his credit, Amadeo was working on the organization and hired Kaori Peters, an event organizer and photographer, plus 3-4 other people to team organize the event. It was moving along well, I spoke to Kaori a few times as did Jo and others, and then the pandemic hit 2 months before the April event, causing cancellation and postponement. It was super unfortunate for everyone.

The rest you know, the event didn’t go off till April 2022, 2020 registration money already collected had dwindled, Eroica the International ride Franchises itself had been sold to an Italian bike seat conglomerate, and everyone was still reeling from the Pandemic crisis. IMO, it was a real challenge to get the 2022 event off, if you had high or reasonable expectations, you were disappointed, if you had low or no expectations, you were pleased because the ride, swap, most of the concours, the camaraderie, and the BIKES and ride (aside from route marking and summit support, was ok to good. The short ride ran into the same problems, organization and poor volunteer support both from the local Community and participants made the event difficult at best. Still, I had a great time because I made the most of it plus prepared to self support just in case. Aaron Linn did a fantastic job of food support way beyond the call of duty, but may have been burned on costs and remuneration, I don’t have first hand knowledge of that.

The lack of local delegation, decision making, budget, and planning to interested and passionate volunteers, complicated by, IMO, Italian and American culture “clash” or lack of mesh understanding, Italian issues with sharing financial, budget, contact, registration, and even rider numbers, would make local organization and logistic difficult if not impossible. Amadeo heard this and more, but for some reason, did not seem to respond to this concern. And as many of you found out, international customer service, registration and payment support, email response and communication, plus transparent information and communications doesn’t seem to be a strong suit yet.

Yes, most of us here in the US were expecting effort, organization, planning and budget for a first class event, presented as such, and raised expectations for what we paid, and what was “promised”. Because the event in many areas fell short, a lot of people soured on the event and did not participate or go this 2023 event, plus the Sept. postponement date conflicted with other commitments.

I would like anyone to tell me what the highest registration number was that they saw on the Nova and Classic rides, to suggest the number of riders who came. Plus size of crowds and estimation of participants, pics included. What was your expectations, experience, and how did you think it went? I really hope folks had a great or good time, and that needing to overlook some shortcomings did not dampen that too much. So your comments and observations would be appreciated.

I hope Eroica California under its new ownership and future plans takes all of this to heart. You guys and gals know I’ve been passionate about this event, believe it CAN be a gratifying if not World Class event, and can be successful with the right mix of effort, planning, execution and budget. It would be a huge shame if we lost this event. I’m actually surprised another additional US Eroica event couldn’t also happen in another venue.

We ain’t getting any younger!!

Bart

Erzulis Boat 

My number was 293. I picked it up the morning of the ride. Are the numbers pre-assigned or sequential on sign in?

If it's sequential as you sign in, then I would estimate 500 , but that seems high unless the lion's share did the lighthouse? We rode basically alone the entire ride. I did see a 500 something card at the swap now that I think about it.

Still had a great time! We are already planning our bikes for next year. We have done every ride except the first one.

mech986 

Manny and Than, congrats to both of you for
completing your rides, getting through the climbs, and repping the SoCal contingent. I hope to hear more stories from both of you at future VeloRetro rides.

Manny, I had the same problem with slow climbing speeds and almost falling over multiple times, saved only by a well placed foot and rubber soles. My saving grace was being better able to balance in 2022 using a 24F/34R granny cogs to keep spinning revs up even at 5 mph. That and I think my wider tires gave me a little more stability on the dirt climbs. I’m glad you made it with just a few scrapes. Did you fall on Santa Rita or Cypress climbs?

That damn Cypress descent is still darn scary to me and really tested my brakes and hand strength in 2019 and 2022. I thought for sure I’d crash at least 3 times due to excessive speed.

Ungaro

Bart,
Thanks for the recap. I do recall the issues with the Paso Robles merchants and city govt. I thought the last venue there would have taken care of the issues, but I’m also looking forward to making it to Cambria.Sorry to hear that the management has been less than stellar. Hopefully, that can get ironed out and the event can continue.

In other news, I see the parent brand is marketing Eroica Cuba! I mean, what could go wrong?…..

tmnguuyen 

Yeah, i was excited to see Eroica Cuba. They may be able to put on a better show since the cost of doing business there is way cheaper. I think this is part of the CA event issue. The cost of doing things in the US, particularly here in CA, is high compared to other countries.

Bad Lag

For me, this is a grail bike. You are lucky.

Bad Lag

Congratulations to all who attended!

repechage

No accounting most likely of the number who signed up and paid but were not able to attend for whatever reason(s).

like those gravity storms some endured and adjusted priorities.

mech986 

Well, it may not be scientific but it’s a data point, here’s a photo from Wally’s Bicycle Works Facebook page post Eroica showing many of the bikes they loaned or rented out for the weekend. If you look closely, you’ll see one bike with rider rage #519. Hopefully that means more than 500 classic riders. That would still be a pretty good turnout, all things considered.

edit: well, per Thanh, over 300 would be a reach. Apparently some high number were given out but they were not in sequence. #293 was mentioned below and picked up the morning of, again, not sure if in sequence or not. Oh well.

I don’t have info on what happened with Nova Eroica, did they ride separately on Saturday as originally planned or did they ride with the classic riders? Did they use separate Nova numbers or the same as Classic? That way we can see if there were additional Nova riders not counted among the Classic numbers.

edit: yes, the Nova riders did have separate numbers, you can see in Than’s Nova pics his number 56 is visible with a different color scheme. I do wish they printed all the numbers on both sides instead of one so you could catch it viewing either side. Will look for other Nova pics.

Wally’s Facebook link won’t post for some reason or at least I can’t see it below. Check Facebook and look for Wally’s Bike Works.