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Gravel Rides

Gravel is considered one of the hottest new style of bicycle travel. Why? Gravel riding is popular because of the variety of adventures you can do and it because it increases route options and finally our gravel routes have often zero cars on them.

The white gravel roads, strade bianche, characteristic of the Italian country side, provide the unique character of our gravel rides. They are usually country lanes and farm tracks, called strade bianche or sterrati in Italian, twisting through the hills and vineyards of the Chianti region. Some of the dirt roads are flat, other sections include steep climbs and winding descents, testing riders’ climbing abilities and bike handling skills. Others like our Lucca to Rome are historic gravel rides that follow historic pilgrimage routes

How to Say It

Strada is road in Italian but it’s strade “stra-day” in the plural and bianche is “bee-an-kay”. The term strade bianche is a poetic licence and locals call the roads sterrati.

Our participation on The Eroica, the ultimate Gravel ride

At the end of the 8 day ride Vintage Tuscany and L’Eroica, we join over 2000 cyclists on the L’Eroica.  L’Eroica, which means heroic, is an amateur gran fondo with a special twist of history, passion, traditional specialties and passionate cyclists from all over the world. Participants  ride bikes that are at least 25 years old so it is retro fest of cycling. It’s also close to Italy’s “slow food” movement as the race takes time to appreciate the scenery and the rifornimento food stops supply chianti wine, bread and prosciutto.

 The ride has soared in popularity and entries are now hard to come by but Ciclismo Classico every year has secured spots for all our riders. This once in a lifetime experience is an immersion into cycling’s most beloved era of wool, steel and leather. Most cyclists dress up in retro kits, have bikes that are at last 25 years old, some come with bikes that are even much older.

Gravel riding takes you off the main roads and directly to your cycling adventure. Ciclismo Classico was born from a desire to show off parts of Italy by bicycle that were outside the radar of the local tourist destinations so our expansion into riding on.

Gravel biking lets us take that mentality one step further. You will leave the typical paths on well-traveled roads, to seek a new off-road adventure. 

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