Video: Brooks release L'Eroica film - watch it here

In the first of a video double header Brooks have released a seven minute documentary about L'Eroica as part of a series of films highlighting some of the cycling communities they support (quite literally). For those that don't know L'Eroica is a randonee run every year in Tuscanny in which riders compete on classic bikes… so you can guess whose saddles they like.

Indeed Brooks have been sponsoring the event, which started in 1997, for many years, the brainchild of Giancarlo Brocci whose heroes were Coppi and Bartali who raced on the strada bianchi – the white gravel roads of Tuscanny, Brocci started the race in a bid to save the last of those gravel roads for future generations.

In early editions of L'Eroica bikes of any era were allowed, but such has been its success in attracting riders from around the world that these days riders are limited to bikes built before 1987, that means down tube shifters are the summit of technology allowed (although many riders don't use anything so modern) and nearly all the bikes are steel. Although L'Eroica attracts many big name riders, Francesco Moser and Andy Hampsten turned out for the 2009 edition it is the ordinary riders, and their bikes, that make it and this film special a special mention has to go to the Belgian duo who only found out that modern bikes weren't allowed a few days before the off, so setting their carbon fibre steeds to one side they dug a 30 year old tandem that belonged to one of them's father out of his garage and rode it on that – the stoker was a big lad too so chapeaux!