This years festival was a little different , I got a little ‘behind the scenes’ action .
Instead of riding , I helped my good friend on his stall , and catching up with everyone …
My good friend Beppe , proprietor of the best stall of the festival … here with fellow trader , colleague and friend , Matteo….

Some of the treasure in Beppe and Matteo’s corner …

An Art Decor Colnago C35

A rare Ortelli , made by ex rider Vito Ortelli from Faenza , Vito taught Masi and Cinelli how to build frames …

A Cinelli Pista and Super Corsa …

I also managed to see my friend Paolo at his stall , full of prestige vintage treasure , here with a rare Colnago C35 MTB…




Paolo also had this show stopping Colnago Oval CX ….


And this very rare Colnago Mexico ‘Moscow’ Crono bike , the only Mexico produced with ribs inside chain stays …



plenty of treasure on other stalls in the market too .. like this F Moser Crono 
I said ‘Hi!’ to the organisers of Eroica , the founder , Mr Giancarlo Brocci ….

legendary Mr W N Hakateyaman …

Seen again here with my good friend and colleague from Retro Velo Romania , Alexandru

And Mr Amedeo Polito..

Also caught up my friend Joshua , (far right) who has arguably one of the best life / work balances I know , Campagnolo global communications , and who very kindly introduced me to Mr Davide Campagnolo , the third generation of his family running the legendary prestige Italian cycling components brand ….

Joshua also kindly introduced me to the author of legendary derailleur blog http://www.disraeligears.co.uk , Mr Mike Sweatman , with whom my legendary colleague Alexandru had a great chat over beer with …
Alexandru and I working hard …


I also had the pleasure of seeing Mr Marco Gios and his father Aldo , of Gios bikes ,,,


At the Gios stand a new gravel bike was on display , which Marco let me ‘ test ‘ …


Also attending the festivities was the legendary Mr Irio Tommasini …

It was fantastic talking with him ,he spoke of the Super Prestige model , we talked about the Diamanté model with it’s asymmetric Columbus MS tubing , Mr Tommasini also spoke of his regard for U.S.A builder Mr Richard Sachs , and for my friend Simone , Mr Alberto Masi’s frame builder and business partner , I asked if young Simone is “the new Mario Confente” , to which Mr Tommasini replied ” Simone is better, more dynamic ”
This is Simone D’Urbino T’omby , the youngest artisan frame builder in Italy at just 22 , he started learning his trade aged 10 from the late , great , Mr Dario Pegoretti …

The day of the ride , it was raining when we started opening up Beppe’s stall at around 6 am , by around 9 am , things were better ….Even though I was not riding , I still had a great time , down for 2019 Eroica Gaiole certainly .
More photos here and here
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