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Tomorrow I’m heading out for another dose of Australia to document the Melburn Roobaix for FYXO. I know there are a bunch of events happening while I’m there, like this party and other rides, so if you’re planning on being in Melbourne, I’ll see ya there.
I’ll have plenty of products with me to hand out, so don’t be shy (of course you won’t be, you’re Australian)…
Themed rides are quite popular. You know, where you dress in vintage clothing, on a vintage bike and the whole time you ‘gram with a brand new iPhone as photographers shoot away on the best DSLRs available. These rides take you, en masse around a town as on-lookers wonder what brought all these people to their streets. You ride for a little while, drink for a long while and head home, remove your garments and pack them away for the next ride.
The L’Eroica is not a themed ride in that sense, although many of those traits apply here. You must ride a vintage bike older than 1987. Your attire should be of similar age, as well as your shoes, gloves and other accessories but don’t be mistaken, this is no casual jaunt around the park. This is no leisurely stroll, only sated by a cold beer at a pub. The L’Eroica Britannia is a ride for cyclists.
The L’Eroica Britannia was born from its mother event, L’Eroica in Italy, a race where vintage rules everything and aside from the random cell phone in the palm of a rider, everything is period correct. Brooks England brought various media sources out to ride on their team and I was lucky enough to score a position.
Here in the UK, the event is in its first year and with a crowd of over 2,000 riders in attendance, they need a place to call home base. Located in the town of Bakewell, UK, riders have set up camping tents in the pleasant valley along the river.
Rolling hills and picturesque landscapes await, but until then, there is music, drinks and food to be had.
We began our morning with a cold-start descent from our cottages at the top of the hill range, down to town for a sausage sandwich, pudding and some coffee – at least that’s what they called it… From there, we rode out to Chatsworth to tour an old estate, showcasing art that was “procured” from around the world before ending back at the festival for late-afternoon food and drinks…
Today the 2014 L’Eroica Britannia awaits.
The e r t z u i ° film team just sent over this beautiful video they made for Rapha’s EU Continental:
“Back in April of last year, RAPHA commissioned us to document the second ride of the European Rapha Continental “Hidden Europe – HOLLAND”. Our initial thought was: Where is the “hidden” in Holland? But after Frank from the Pristine bike shop in Amsterdam presented the route and we took some time to do some research on the ride, our doubts soon transformed into curiosity. Another unstable factor was the weather, which after dealing with a long winter that year, spring was far away and that meant: The crappier the conditions to film, the more epic the footage…”
Check out all the photos at Rapha’s Flickr and the full story at Rapha!
Nice is the home base for French cycling apparel company Café du Cycliste. They know the roads, climbs and descents like the back of their well worn in cycling mits. The surrounding Alpes Maritimes region offers some of the best riding in France, and is accessible by numerous scenic roads.
CdC want to welcome you to Nice by laying it all out in the ultimate local’s only guide. Head over to Café du Cycliste to see their Guide to Riding in Nice and the Côte d’Azur.
Two friends crossed Great Britain during the coldest March in written history… See this movie at the Bicycle Film Festival!
The Road to the Schwarzwald Giro: Freiburg
Photos and Words by Kevin Sparrow
Freiburg is a quaint little town nestled on the edge of the Black Forest near the French/Swiss border. The city is rich in historic buildings and churches. The streets are covered in cobbles, train tracks and tiny canals on the sides of the streets. Bike lanes are everywhere, cyclists and tourists fill the streets for most of the day. The food is cheap the beers are tall…
Acre recently relaunched their photo editorial piece by British photographer Andy Waterman on riding MTB in the English Lake District. Head on over and check it out, it’s well worth the revisit.
The Road to the Schwarzwald Giro: Amsterdam
Photos and Words by Kevin Sparrow
The Schwarzwald Giro is a yearly ride in the Black forest of Germany. Phillipp of Europeantouches.cc invited me last year while I was living in Paris. It was such a great time I couldn’t miss the 2014 edition. I hopped on a flight to Amsterdam with the plan to drive to Frieburg with Sammy and Frank of Pristine Bike Shop.
Amsterdam is the bicycle mecca of the world. With 300 bike shops and 1.5 million inhabitants its no wonder why it’s the city of bikes. There is this beautiful buzz of freewheels in the air and the people are some of the friendliest I have ever encountered. They say the average resident of Amsterdam has 3 three bikes. One that kind of works, one locked up somewhere they forgot, and one in the bottom of the canal. I only had one day to explore this time and with my wife and daughter in tow we made the most of it.
My buddy Jon (@twotoneams) generously set us up with a bed and a bakfiets to explore the city for the day. So I loaded up my girls and headed out to get a taste of what this great city has to offer…
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Follow Kevin on Instagram and check out photos via #schwarzwaldgiro
In celebration of the The 2014 Tour Divide mountain bike race, Ty is selling prints of some of his favorite 35mm photos from his 2013 run. He’s only selling five of each and doesn’t plan on selling them again. Head over to Tytanium Life to order.
If you’re interested in tracking the 2014 Tour Divide, do so at Trackleaders.
The above photo, entitled “First Day” is one of my personal favorites. See four others below.
Somewhere down the line, I developed a curse. Not unlike something a gypsy would bestow upon some unfortunate vagabond. My curse, however is related to cycling, specifically, any kind of ride or trip that involves camping…
Team Dream Extreme Volume 01: The Backboner
Photos and Words by Sean Talkington
Lyle from Acre recently moved to LA from SF and has been talking about “secret trails” near my home in Topanga for some time now. He kept saying that they were easily the best thing he had ridden in our area. I had skeptically tried to find the “secret trail-head” to the “secret trail” multiple times and always ended up lost. A few months ago I thought I had found said trail, so two buddies came with to rejoice in the new super secret discovery, only to end up trailblazing for 2 hours & schlepping bikes over loads of rock faces. I was bummed, my friends were bummed and I began to secretly hate these secret trails. ..
Don’t miss out on this ride. It’s gonna be a lot of fun. I wish there was some way I could make it.
All-City and Pearl Velo know how to party!
Next week, I board a plane and hop the pond over to the UK. It’ll be the first time there with a bike and while I’m not bringing anything from my personal stable, I’ll have something vintage to ride, donated graciously by Brooks England.
The mainstay for the trip is the L’Eroica Britannia, a new take on the classic Italian event, at home in The Peak District, UK. Over 1,600 riders will depart on three rides (33 miles, 50 miles and 100 miles) on pre-1987 steel bicycles.
You should check out this interview at the Brooks England Blog and more information at the L’Eroica Britannia website. Maybe I’ll see you there?
Now’s the main thing on my mind: what do I wear?
The Mountain Plays Burzum
Words and Photos by Cani Sciolti Valtellina
“Hey, whenever I look at your Tumblr or Flickr I envy you so much…”
This is the same old sentence that comes out from the mouth of my Tuscany friend Fano every time we meet. That’s because we can easily open the door and ride on the Alps, where we live, and where the history (and the present) of cycling has been written in sweat, tears, pain, joy and suffering. To ride the Alps are probably one of any cyclists’ biggest dream. Or at least it was Fano’s…
… make for the best photos. David from the Rapha Mobile Cycle Club Tillie is in Austin and we’ve been soaking in the local riding. Last night, we caught the last bit of daylight in the hills.
Shooting with an iPhone is still the best!
I’ve been a long fan of Cadence for some time now. Over the years, they’ve been huge supporters of PiNP and The Radavist, so when the new Flow kits dropped, I wanted to do something special to commemorate them. I knew from Cadence’s Instagram that they had just ridden from SF to LA and TCB Courier‘s John Daniel Reiss was trucking along taking photos, so I reached out to them to do a Reportage on the trip… Below you’ll see the ride unfold.
When Erik and I committed to riding the Oregon Outback, we didn’t want to absolutely kill ourselves, but we wanted it to be tough. On paper, 360 miles is totally doable in three days without crushing your spirit. Hell, I think we could have done it in two and we still would have been ok but that’s not the point.
I had a responsibility. One that I take seriously and that’s documenting this trip. Granted, most of the time, I didn’t want to stop to shoot a photo, or hop off my bike, I just wanted to keep going…