L’Eroica 2011 by Mark Reber

An incomparable vista. Riding the twisting, gravelly tracks of Chianti at L’Eroica. (Photo Dustin Nordhus, Cicli Berlinetta)

The dust has quite literally begun to settle once again in northern Italy, where a few weeks back Gaiole played host to a couple of thousand cyclists set on recreating the feel of a bike race entirely devoid of Carbon Fibre, Synthetic Isotonic Potions, System Pedals, or any other development conceived over the past thirty years to make a ride last less long.

Of course we’re talking about L’Eroica, and Brooks was once again a proud sponsor of the event. Shortly before this year’s instalment we managed to get in touch with our good friend Mark Reber, who was making the trip over from the United States. He kindly agreed to collect some of his impressions of the weekend and commit them to paper for us, while taking many fine photographs (MR), some of which are interspersed below with those of his friend Rodger Lynch (RL) and Dustin Nordhus (DN). Now read on…

We Can Rebuild It. The Six Million Mark Bicycle.

Inflation in 1920′s Germany would have made this a Six Million Mark Bicycle.

A bike restoration project is one of those happy undertakings in which those involved frequently wish they’d never started, yet secretly hope will never end. In this regard we have some good news, and also some bad news reaching us this morning from Hamburg, Germany, where Nico Thomas and his two sons have recently applied the final revitalizing touches to a machine first ridden over 80 years ago.

Crowdfund This. “Genre de Vie”.

Documentary makers Sven Prince and Jorrit Spoelstra.

There is no better way to get one’s bearings in a city than by cycling around it. Recently two Rotterdam residents have taken this truism and expanded upon it in order to tackle some of the more glaring social questions posed by Early 21st Century Metropolitan Living. And now they intend to make a film, perhaps providing some answers.

Our 2011 Brooks Employee of the Year

Malgorzata Krawczyk, 2011 Brooks Employee of the Year.

I returned from my most recent trip to the Brooks works at Smethwick last week having had all sorts of news- as well as some fascinating arcana pertaining to venerable English leather saddles- kindly imparted to me. In due course, we’ll be sharing all of it here.

First up on the Order of Business is the result of this year’s Employee Of The Year. Normally reported on in our annual paper, The Brooks Bugle, it appears that at the time the Bugle was going to the printers it wasn’t immediately clear which of the nominees had in fact been awarded the title.

Production Supervisor Barbara Lawrence was kind enough to introduce me to the winner on my visit. And Barbara’s a good judge. She has been a cornerstone at Brooks for over thirty years, as was her mother before her.

Office Manager Steve Green has been around at Brooks a while too. We let him take up the story…

A Blossoming Corn Poppy Flower – Malgorzata Krawczyk

B(r)ooks. Cycling Spring Classics

Finally, the gloves are coming off! And the mufflers. The overshoes too. But a century ago, north Italian winters, for example, were somewhat longer than they are nowadays. We were reminded of this recently, when a book landed on the desk at Boultbee Towers, exploring with beautifully translated words, and pictures worth one thousand of each of the aforementioned words, the history of springtime one-day racing on the Continent.

CMWC 2010 in the Brooks Bugle

Andy Zalan, one of the organizers of last year’s Cycle Messenger World Championships which took place this time out in Guatemala, has written a piece for the 2011 Brooks Bugle about the experience.

Pugilistica | Movember

John Sholto Douglas, 9th Marquis of Queensberry           Joe Goss fought them all

Most good stories tend to contain a beginning, middle and end. But even the bad ones all have a beginning…

And ours places us on a cold November evening propping up the counter of a congenial, smoke-filled tavern called The Black Bull on Scholefield Street, Birmingham in 1901. Our landlord is the ageing, heavily moustachioed and still powerfully built “Gypsy” Jem Mace, storied champion of England and the World, whose reign uniquely straddled the switch from illegal bare-knuckle fights to those held under the Queensberry Rules.