Little John: Messenger L'hero · 12.10.06
When you see Little John (Mercury) next you’ll want to shake his hand. On October 1st he competed in L’eroica; a 200km ‘period’ bike rally Gaiole in Chianti, Italy.
“It was stupid,” he says excitedly. “I haven’t had that much fun in a long time.” Fun, as John calls it, in this instance includes 110kms of what the Italians lovingly refer to as the “bianca”. Bianca is a shale and gravel road. Rutted, pot holed and corrugated in a way that shakes your brain and your bike so violently that you’re amazed that you both survived. It is also ridiculously steep.
In translation L’eroica means “the Hero”. Appropriately, the organizers have chosen the most challenging and mind boggling roads to make up the course. (Who’s idea was it to make a road straight up a 15% hill, turn 90 degrees and up 19 percent??) Riders are given a maximum of 14hrs to complete the 200kms. It doesn’t seem that hard when you do the sums but in reality L’eroica is a very hard ride.
Things started out rough in Pisa, John’s 1950 Gilliot lost 2 chain ring bolts during transport (thank you Ryanair). A third vanished, before we got to the campsite and the left crank bolt came lose and needed to be replaced before leaving on the 120 km ride to Sena. The plastic bar code from the tub tape box (thank you Condor) became the new bar shim.
In Sena we found the one bicycle repair shop in town and bolts of approximately the right diameter were purchased, coke cans were cut and lock tight smeared. The Gilliot was once restored.
L’eroica is all about vintage. It’s aim is to recreate the stuff of literary legend from the golden age of cycling giants; the hero’s of the road. If doing it in under 12hrs on a 1950 track bike with only 2 gears and a pair of tubs isn’t the stuff of legends, then I don’t know what is…
Jacqui Shannon
- Messenger Appreciation Day October 9th · 9/10 - A sound success +