• Eroica Route. Picture: Supplied

  • Eroica Route. Picture: Supplied

  • Eroica Route. Picture: Supplied

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I LOVE cycling, everything to do with it, says Johannesburg bike messenger Mpho Moloi. That simple statement probably sums up why anyone would want to get on an old, steel racing bike and cycle the dirt roads of the Karoo.

That is what those who take part in the Eroica ride — it’s not a race — in April will be doing. Rules are strict. Riders must preferably be on a pre-1987 bicycle with non-aero brake levers and down tube shifters. Retro cycling clothes would be preferred — leather shoes and wool jerseys. In fact, the rules are so restrictive that in SA, where bicycle collecting is not much of a thing, race convener Stan Engelbrecht has negotiated with L’Eroica’s Italian organisers to add a second category, pre-1999 steel racing bikes.

The L’Eroica rides started in Italy 1997. Since then these noncompetitive cycling events have been "franchised" across the world. This is the first year the rides — there are three distances: 140km, 90km and 50km — will also take place in SA.

Art Logic, a company that specialises in small fairs, bought the rights to the Eroica rides for SA. Engelbrecht was roped in as organiser because he had already organised a noncompetitive ride on old bikes, across the Karoo. It is the 700km six-day Tour of Ara that Moloi participated in, leading the field last year.

"It’s hectic, but it’s a nice ride. Challenging. The route is difficult," says Moloi.

Difficult is what it’s all about, for the L’Eroica organisers. "We want people to rediscover the beauty of fatigue and the thrill of the conquest," says L’Eroica creator Giancarlo Brocci in a video on the ride website.

For Brocci the Eroica rides are about impressing on people today just how difficult cycle racing was. "The message is fundamental," he says. "The stories we hear are heroic because of the exertions of those cyclists."

Because of that L’Eroica insists the eponymous rides have an element of toughness and hardship, that they are a challenge.

Engelbrecht says he started the Tour of Ara as the antithesis to the usual South African cycle race scene. "All those sponsors, the energy drinks, all the branding … I find it quite grotesque. There is no community involvement, even if the races are in small towns."

Tour of Ara, in contrast, makes use of local food spots and accommodation. Riders have even been entertained by local school children in some of the spots on the route from Franschhoek through Robertson, Montagu, Towsrivier, Laingsberg and on to Sutherland and Matjiesfontein. While only a smidgeon of the distance, Eroica follows a similar ethos. The ride will start and end in Montagu.

"Montagu is the idea place for it, it has a Mediterranean climate (and the original ride was in Italy)," says Petrus Jansen, chairman of the Montagu-Ashton Tourism Association. "It’s more of a festival, there will be food, craft beer and craft wines, and local musicians."

While there are other festivals in the area that are bigger — the Montagu Makiti Family Heritage Festival, the Breyten Breytenbach Book Fair — Montagu is looking forward to another addition to the yearly round.

Engelbrecht is hoping the Eroica can be spread over two days next year. This year it is a single-day event, for which around 50 people have already signed up.

"All these guys are kind of bike nerds," says Justin Fiske, another Tour of Ara finisher.

He describes the Tour’s route as "difficult, but beautiful. You come back a bit altered, and skinny."

"The Tour of Ara is much more poetic (than cycle races)…. It’s a poetic gesture, a sporting event with old-world values that predate consumerism. It’s not about selling anything, or winning anything."

Tour of Ara demands not only an old steel bicycle, but an old steel road bicycle made in SA during the heyday of bicycle manufacture in the country, among them: Le Jeune, Du Toit, Alpina, Hansom, Peugeot and Peter Allan. "That’s the thing, you have to hunt, research. You learn so much," says Engelbrecht. "It’s part of the fun and it appeals only to a certain kind of person."

"For me," says Moloi, who also rode Tour of Ara in 2014, but dropped out due to a knee injury, "the best of Tour of Ara is getting to know the places. That and pushing harder, getting stronger."

Eroica South Africa
Tour of Ara