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All aboard for Eroica Britannia

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Action ambassador Chris Boardman MBE was one of the thousands of cycling enthusiasts who headed to the Peak District earlier this year to enjoy the Eroica Britannia festival.

We’re delighted to be teaming up with Eroica Britannia once again as the festival prepares for its fourth edition. Eroica Britannia 2017 will take place from 16-18 June in the heart of the Peak District with music, glorious vintage, shopping, food, drink, camping and cycling.

Action Medical Research will be the official charity partner for the second year running for the three-day event at Friden Grange, Newhaven, which combines a stunning ride on vintage bikes with a celebration of the best of Great British.

In 2016 more than 40,000 people travelled to join the Great British Adventure, including Chris who helped to start the ‘World’s Most Handsome Bike Ride’, a three-route tour of the region on vintage bikes which riders tackled in outfits as handsome as their well-polished cycles.

In this blog, he shares his thoughts on Eroica and why he'll be returning in 2017...

One of the beauties of being an ambassador for Action Medical Research - apart from the satisfaction of aiding a very worthy cause - is being brought into contact with weird and wonderful activities. This is exactly what happened last summer when I was asked to take part in Eroica Britannia, a vintage bike rally to be held in the lush hills of the Peak District where Action were to be the principal charity.

I ride sportive events regularly so I thought I knew what to expect; hundreds of men in lycra battering around the countryside trying to beat each other without looking as if that’s what they were doing. Kind of a stealth race. This, I mused, would be the same just on old bikes… I couldn’t have been more wrong.

First indications that my preconceived ideas were wide of the mark came when I arrived in the small market town of Bakewell and checked into the B&B. My event pack was waiting for me, a rather stylish musette containing numbers and freebies. But instead of the usual energy gels and water bottle was a selection of cocktail nibbles and G&T miniatures! 

As this was a vintage affair (bikes must be pre-1987) and wanting to get into the spirit of it all, I had agreed to wear some Eroica apparel. This too was waiting for me: woollen shorts, a very stylish woollen jersey, complete with button-up pockets, long black socks and a matching peaked cloth cap to top off the outfit.

Early next morning, resplendent in my new/old togs, I got my father’s classic bike - a 1985 Tomossini - out of the boot of my car and headed for the town centre and the start line. The whole village was heaving with cyclists, not hundreds but thousands of them and their families. The narrow streets were decorated with bunting and the shop windows full of displays, recreating cycling scenes from various eras.

Like myself, most riders were in period cycling costume. It was clear the whole community had got into the spirit of the occasion: not a sportive, I realised, but a true festival, celebrating this wonderful machine and the potential for adventure it afforded.

Of the three distances on offer, I had opted for the shortest (I wasn’t sure if my bicycle would stand up to much more). We set off and up the first gentle hill out of the town. Changing gear was like a lucky dip; reach down, wiggle the lever and see what happens. I needn't have worried. Unlike other mass participation events, this one was adamantly not a race but a shared adventure. We trundled along quiet lanes and gravel tracks, chatting and appreciating the spectacular scenery together.

The journey was broken up with refuelling-stops, again not the usual kind. In place of energy drinks, bananas and cereal bars were cream teas, home-baked fruit loaf and flapjacks. And at the final stop of the day, just a few miles from the finish line, even local ale was on offer. 

The whole experience was a step back in time to a (possibly mythical) civilised era where ladies and gentleman explored the countryside in stately style. No one is timed in the Eroica Britannia, that would be uncouth; the only prize on offer is for the last rider over the line.

After a few relaxing hours, trundling through the beautiful countryside, we arrived back in Bakewell, or rather a huge meadow on the town’s outskirts. We rode off the tarmac and onto the straw-covered field to be met by thousands of families and friends enjoying the unique gathering. And there was plenty for them to do. It was like a fairground, village fete, beer festival and cycling event had collided, resulting in a wholly new genre. 

There were stalls selling everything from vintage bicycle parts to whole machines, period clothing, homemade food and local ales… there was even a very classy gin bar! The sound of live music wafted over from the open air stage and in the very centre was a showground where people paraded in front of judges: best-dressed and dogs were two categories that I ended up judging, a first for me. It was a true family affair and my only regret was that I had attended on my own.

I vowed to return to the Peaks in 2017 for this marvellous two-wheeled celebration, again in my role as Action Medical Research ambassador, but this time I will do so with the whole family and probably the dogs too. I might even go for the next distance up (55 miles) if the weather is fair…

 

For more details on Eroica Britannia and to buy tickets, please visit eroicabritannia.co.uk/

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