For those in the know, Eroica South Africa is a classic steel bicycle celebration held each year in the picturesque town of Montagu. There are 3 routes to choose from, 2 that can only be ridden on classic frames : the Hero (173 km) and the Classic (68 km). And a race for modern gravel bikes too, the NOVA (173 km). Not only is the weekend a very social event, but it’s a pretty tough ride too. Nick McIntyre travelled from Ireland to Cape Town to ride the 170 km Eroica Hero route in April 2023. Here he reminisces about the trials and tribulations of choosing to ride his Hansom fixed gear track bike on the rolling gravel roads of the Karoo.
I didn’t doubt my ability to finish the Hero route of Eroica South Africa until my 25c road tires hit the gravel roughly 2 km outside of the town of Montagu in the Western Cape. Up until this point, I had convinced myself that taking the fixed gear would be enough to get me through 170km of dirt roads. Rain was coming down and the medic car which we had followed until this point was about to drive off and leave us to our own devices. Our own devices being a jol over Ouberg Pass and the rest of the way that followed.
Having spent a few months in Cape Town at the end of 2022, I got introduced to quite a special bike scene there. Some of the events that happen down there have a completely different atmosphere to many bike events I’ve seen before, whether they’re a quick morning hill dash or an Ultra around some mid-country oasis. I returned to Ireland at the end of 2022 with a frame built by Gotti Hansen. The sharp blue 53cm Hansom track frame practically landed at my feet and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to represent some South African steel in Dublin.
But there was one event in particular that had me hooked – Eroica. So much so, that I knew I would commit to coming back down for it. With its roots in vintage steel cycling, Eroica was a perfect opportunity to tick some boxes – I could experience one of South Africa’s great gravel races on a frame built by one of South Africa’s great frame builders. I paired my frame with a 47t Sugino Zen chainring and a 16t rear cog. The Pista Navigator wheels that I have commuted on for the last few years had a set of 25c Panaracer Ribmos on them, which I deemed sufficient. Eroica has a somewhat strict criteria of what you can and can’t run on a vintage bike, I got a pass on the down tube shifters and the Pedal cages because I was riding fixed. Although I did have to run drop bars and my brake cable was routed outside the bar tape (I decided to run a brake after a stern warning from Stan Englebrecht the day before the event). I didn’t do anything crazy to prepare this bike for 170 km of gravel, I just wanted to ride it as far along the road as possible.
Not long after the 5 AM start, I started to feel some of the effects of the rough roads paired with a steel fixed gear. My bottle cage rattled loose and had me stopped at the side of the road only 30 minutes in. After tightening it up I was back on the road, eagerly waiting to see a glimpse of the start of this climb that every rider on the long route feared. Ouberg Pass is a mean one, even more so when you don’t have gears to fall back on. Climbing and trying to concentrate on keeping some traction in the loose sand heated me up fairly quickly and I needed to stop to take my jacket off (really just an excuse to take a breather). A creeping front light from the rider behind me kept me moving up the climb with a few more breaks and some walking to boot. I had two thoughts on my mind for the majority of the way up – how hasn’t my chain snapped – and, how sore the blister that was forming on the palm of my right hand was going to be for the remainder of the route. I crested the top of the pass just after the light came up, listening to a Rodriguez album. I had put in a shift to make it up Ouberg in one gear and I was relieved to be at the top. But I did also consider how much effort it had taken and how little freewheeling was ahead of me.
I rolled into Hoek-Om after taking 2 hours to cover the first 35km. I went straight into the medic tent to get my blister wrapped up. It looked like I had been to hell and back already and that was not too far off the truth. The fire pit and coffee at this rest stop were very warmly welcomed and it was even nicer to hear about other’s experiences of Ouberg Pass, especially those doing the NOVA race on modern bikes as Ouberg, top to bottom, had been part of the segment they were racing. The rest stops are the real highlight of Eroica, and not just for giving your legs a chance to stop. Each stop has such an imitable atmosphere which is a credit to the farmers and local families that man them. Although when I reached Hoek-Om, I couldn’t stomach much more than a few bananas at that hour.
People started to filter out onto the road again for the big loop and I followed soon after. I wanted to stay near as much of the pack as possible to catch sight of some familiar faces. I rambled along with the Basson Brothers for a bit, completely stumped by the sights around me. The 60 km from Hoek-Om was where some of that doubt that I experienced at the start of the race started to creep back in. Gravel roads are fairly unforgiving on a fixie, and the climb up Ouberg was starting to come back around to bite me. My energy levels were zapped and the long stretches of flat road were killing me. Everything would get a bit dreary for minutes and then I would hit a pass, where mountains would practically pop up out of the ground and encapsulate me, and I would come around for another bit. The remoteness of this place is astonishing and makes for some surreal highs and also some frantic lows.
At this stage, it didn’t feel like any gels or food was working, and the coffee at Nouga farm almost made me feel worse, although the friendly faces did help. You take what you can get from anything on a day like this, and seeing what other people were going through also gave me some relief. I was also very grateful at this stage that my legs were holding up alright, probably due to the lengthy commutes I’ve had to do each day in the past few years. A blessing in disguise. I rolled out of the Locarno snack stop with my pal Mostert, whose legs weren’t feeling as good. Despite Mostert’s legs cramping, it was still nearly impossible for me to stay with him. Although I was telling myself that I was going at my own pace, subconsciously I must have been trying to keep up with him. With only 90 km done out of a total of 170, the thought of having to come back around to Ouberg was making me nervous, and these nerves were getting to my head. I had to let Mostert go on and took a few minutes walking to compose myself. If I made it to the next stop at Lettas Kraal, at least there would be some coca cola to settle me. Anyone who has ever been on a bike knows the effect of that mid-ride drink!
I was in an interesting position with 15km to go to Letta’s Kraal. I’m not sure if it was the single gear on the track bike that caught up with me, or just how tough the course is in general. I really couldn’t see how I could finish, seeing as I was just over the halfway mark. I knew if I made it to the rest stop, I would feel somewhat accomplished and would be relatively happy to call it a day. Getting picked up on the road was a no-go for me, although I was going through some bouts of dizziness and wasn’t sure how much longer I could cope with that. There’s a certain stubbornness that comes with even attempting a race like this on a fixed gear, and luckily that same stubbornness can carry through to moments like this. I’m not sure what time I made it to the rest stop, but I rolled into an amazing little house and went straight for the couch. I wasn’t thinking much further than that.
After an extended stay and some much-needed pancakes, I got back on the bike and rode through some of the most beautiful sections on the whole course – and these were my favourite few moments of the entire day. I passed through some sandy dried-up riverbeds, one in particular still had some water and was backed onto this mass of rocks that wouldn’t go amiss in an Indiana Jones movie. I was stopping and starting, and the Olympus XA2 that had been with me along the way was finally seeing some use. I had told myself that I would go at whatever pace was needed to make it to Ouberg, and if need be, I would walk up.
On my return to Hoek-Om, I grabbed a quick banana, but was feeling good enough to keep moving. I felt the real spirit of this event when Thiery Deniel rolled up on a Standert bike with a Chris King headset, despite having started the day on a Pinarello with a Quill stem. He had been having issues with his tubular tires all day and was thrown a lifeline when another rider pulled out of the race and offered his bike for Thierry to finish on. Even had to borrow the shoes – too good! We both moved on to hit the last few climbs, leaving this insane landscape behind us.
I was faced again with the pass that had taken a lot out of me a few hours earlier, but it was so good to see it in the light of day. I had nearly convinced myself that I was going to walk back up the pass just to conserve energy for the tricky descent on the other side but as I rolled up to one of the hills, Tyrone Bradley appeared at the top, brandishing a camera. After all that back and forth in my head over the last 40 km, walking was now all of a sudden not an option, for fear of it being caught on camera. We laughed about it at the top, and it was just another small story that I added to the list of things to talk about over a beer later that night. I descended Ouberg, skidding about and exercising use of the front brake that I had so nearly left off. It leaves the brakeless debate open for another year, and possibly another person. I had ridden a vintage track frame, which was hand built in South Africa, through the HERO route of Eroica. It’s a celebration of all vintage bikes, but in Montagu that weekend, there was definitely a homage paid to that rich frame-building history, and so doing it on my Hansom just felt right.
I rolled into the finish at De Bos after 9 hours and 8 minutes of non-stop pedalling. The hugs and the catch-ups with everyone else who had finished, along with tales from the 70 km booze cruise route made light of what had been by far my toughest day on a bike. I was more than glad to see my stamp book filled up, but ultimately, I was more grateful to have experienced Eroica South Africa – a truly special event.
Register for Eroica South Africa and join us for a weekend of celebration and good gravel riding. 12-14 April 2024 Montagu, Western Cape
