Ride highlight of the year is always L’ Eroica Gaiole, and 2023 did not disappoint.

I managed to get Sr Beppe Saronni to sign a Del Tongo team jersey while he was at the Colnago stand, and he later signed a copy of his book for me too…

Photo thanks to my friend, legendary German collector King Thai Do.

For the ride, I took the circle ’76 Tommasini I got near Grosseto earlier on…

Dressed for battle…

At the Tommasini stall I caught up with Roberta Tommasini’s husband and son, left , and my friend, Franz …

I did the medium route, and the bike was as smooth as silk, I never had to walk the walk on the Strada with the compact type gear set up …

Once finished, I managed to find Roberta on her stall , and give her the medal from the ride. A thank you for giving me the jersey for my birthday when I visited the family factory a while back…

It was very kind of Tommasini to put me on their social feed too…

Just after I left Roberta, I bumped into Eroica President, Sr Franco Rossi

I met the legendary U.K. rider “Pepsi Guy” too on the ride…

The day before ( Saturday) was for the long route, and I managed to catch my friend Eugenio Simoncini as he was just finished…

A real deal Tough Tuscan long distance rider, Eugenio is also the 3rd generation of frame builder in his family brand.

Great to see Sr Antonio Colombo and his partner Alessandra, who designed some of the best Cinelli art styles in my opinion.

Also great to see was this unique Colnago Master. Owned by my friend, Masi builder, owner , master artisan and bike collector, Simone D’Urbino Tomby.

Made by Colnago for the Silva company…

Probably the only Master with a flat crown fork..

The seat stay cap is a ‘fast-back’ style, and the least most has four flutes, like a Gilco tube.

Another rarity in Sr D’Urbino Tomby’s collection is this Mario Confente…

Also lucky to see a Richard Sachs in Tuscany…

L’Eroica is best for catching up with friends, and the best part of the weekend was being with legend Libero Colombini, a.k.a ‘Popeye’ , a veteran of 12 long route rides and old school racer. We hadn’t been together since before covid…

Popeye came to my friend Beppe’s stall and told me to come with him. I don’t speak much Italian and he does not English, but we understand each other. We walked through Gaiole to see his personal bikes .

All made to fight the good fight in the Strada Bianca battle, triple cranksets, long cage rear mech’s and knobbly tyres are what Popeye recommends ….

My good friend, Colnago legend, Beppe.

I went to this at the end of May, and took this Eddy Merckx Professional circa 1982, with a Campagnolo Victory Eroica spec set up (compact type).

It was good to bump into old friends, Eugenio Simoncini was in a bar so we had a Spritz…

Eugenio is the third generation of his family working in the family company building artisan frames in Tuscany. This ribbed / ‘stellar’ tubed model he silver brazed and finished in cromovelato…

This was his own bike, for the long route, and with an ‘Eroica’ set up…

I also bumped into Libero Colombini , a heroic Eroica veteran , with 12 long route rides under his belt…

I also bumped into Roberto, aka King Carube…

The Colnago stall was good, nice to see the guys. They were kind enough to give some lugs , and a Gilco tube…

The ride start on Sunday…

I chose the 150 km route, and 90 or so into it , I crashed on a gravel descent…

I got up and carried on, until I came by a man in a van on the road, who was kind enough to put what bandages he had on the wound. Then I carried on to the finish line…

When I finished I got the wound dressed by a kind ambulance crew…

The right side of the bars suffered a bit of gravel rash unfortunately, but I managed to polish out the brake lever scratches some time later…

My jersey handled the impact the most impressively. It was like nothing happened. I designed it as a Giro D’ Italia Maglia Rosa tribute, and it was made by 3M Caverni from Firenze. Available on pre-order…

Once I was bandaged up, I enjoyed the rest of the afternoon…