Heroad

Heroad are an Italian 3D printing company that will immortalise your cycling achievements in 3D!

Do you ever get the feeling that people aren’t truly appreciative of your cycling exploits? Get the feeling that they just don’t get how awesome you truly are? If only there was a way you could show them what the route you conquered actually looked like. Well now there is! Heroad are a 3D printing company that will take your GPX file and turn it into reality.

Heroad also produce a library of well known climbs, races and indeed, entire mountains. These are 3D printed from PLA (Polylactic Acid) which is made from fermented corn starch. PLA is touted as a possible environmentally friendly plastic, with the usual caveats, which makes it a good choice.

You can choose from a list that includes climbs like the Stelvio, Zoncolan, Alpe d’Huez or Ventoux. Alternatively you could also have a 3D rendition of races like Flanders, Paris-Roubaix or il Lombardia, amongst others. These come in a choice of eleven colours and finishes, so you should be able to colour match your pain-cave. As an alternative you can have a 3D printed mountain like Everest or Kilimanjaro on your coffee table. While the mountains are only available in one finish, you can get them as a side lamp!

Custom options

However if you really want to impress, then you’ll want to take advantage of the Heroad Custom option. If you choose this option then you can get a truly personal rendition of your effort. The process is straightforward, you send your GPX file off to Heroad’s offices, where it is processed. After a short wait to have it confirmed and to make your payment, the printing starts. This can take around twenty hours and will produce a representation that can measure up to a maximum size of 38cmx20cmx25cm.

Once your sculpture is finished it’s packed in recyclable packaging. Heroad are keen to point out that they are avoiding plastics in their products. This extends to the packaging, which is 100% plastic free. Delivery times are around four days if you’re lucky enough to live in Italy. The rest of us will have to wait around seven days to receive our delivery.

I’m off to trawl through my Strava files and choose a suitable route. Will I go for my favourite climb, or the race that had the most impact on me? Or perhaps I’ll just choose the route that looks the prettiest? Finally, why don’t you head over to the Heroad site and see what you think?