La Voix April 2024

 

CLUB NEWS
Meet an LG Member Interview: Sonya Chapnick

 

Hey LG! Please meet the new LG Member, Sonya Chapnick. Interviewed by Renée Fox.

Welcome to LG Sonya, nice to meet you at Helen’s night last month. Please tell us where you are from originally?

I have been living in the Santa Monica/West LA area since 1996. I was born in Boston and lived there until age 11. Then my family moved multiple times to both Ohio and Michigan. College days were spent in Wisconsin. After graduating, I moved to Nashville, Tennessee where I worked as a biologist in an environmental consulting firm for 7 years before I finally settled in glorious Southern California appreciating the pleasant climate.

What do you do other than bikes?

As an avid lover of nature, I spend time gardening, hiking, going to the beach, and appreciating all the wonders of nature. In addition, I am married to my husband Adam, have two teenagers and we have a full life. Despite the fact that I’m legally blind, I love to cook, “watch” movies, and “read” books. I also am the founder of YogaGently, a private yoga therapy practice focused on helping older adults cultivate an empowered sense of their own health and wellbeing, specifically improving mobility and overcoming chronic pain. My website is www.yogagently.com.

What drew you to the sport of cycling?

I have loved bikes since I learned to ride them as a kid. I stopped being able to ride bikes due to a rare degenerative retinal dystrophy I was diagnosed with after college, resulting in the beginning of visual decline. My husband and I were gifted a tandem bike in 2004, but used it minimally. Recently, I became interested in increasing my heart health, so I wanted to dust off my tandem bike and put it to good use. I was able to find some pilots through Cycling Blind, but I want to take my love for the sport to the races. 

Please tell us about your bike(s).

I currently own one tandem cycle, which is a Tandemania commuter bike. I also spend time riding with my friend on a Co-Motion tandem - the greatest cycle I’ve ridden yet.

When did you join LG and why?

I joined LG at the beginning of this year to meet more people who love cycling, to connect with riders who know interesting routes, and to be involved in racing opportunities. But most of all, I would love to find a female tandem captain who wants to ride regularly!

Please share a cycling story for LG.

My favorite ride so far was a tandem ride I did with my friend where we rode from Venice Beach to the Palos Verdes golf course all the way up the strand to the top of Temescal and back down to Venice. It was the most fun, I wasn’t even sore afterward, and I hope for more experiences like that this year. 

Do you have favorite bike-friendly spots in LA you would recommend to the club?

Since I’m still discovering cycling, I don’t yet have any favorite spots, but I’m eager to learn!

What would you like to have La Grange do as a club in ways that would make the club experience better for you?

Helen’s Night was really fun, I would love to have more opportunities to meet more La Grange members. Maybe LG could offer a new member's event or mixer in the near future.

 

New Members

Please say hello to our new members who joined in February and March 2024 (you can find them in our Member Directory):

William H, Noé S, Sean K, Doug S, Martin S, Michael B, Peta T, and David S.

Welcome everyone, La Grange is proud to have you with us!

IN THE NEWS

Training: How Soon Can You Exercise Again After a Bout of COVID-19?

 

By Becky Upham at Everyday Health

Is it safe to work out right after recovering from the coronavirus — or even while you’re still a little sick? Experts offer answers to common questions.

 

Cycling in LA: Access to Hollywood

 

By Michael Charboneau for LA Times

Hollywood Boulevard is perhaps the most famous street in Los Angeles. Council District 13’s Access to Hollywood program has the goal of making this iconic corridor a more welcoming street and improving the experience for people walking and bicycling along the Walk of Fame and attractions along the entire corridor that make the communities of Hollywood shine. Access to Hollywood is the name given to a related series of projects that will improve the safety and mobility along Hollywood Boulevard. It also refers to related capital improvement projects and potential funding programs such as the Hollywood Vine Visitor Center and Restrooms and Hollywood Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District. Click here to learn more about the efforts that will help transform Hollywood Boulevard.

 

Cycling in The World: E3 Saxo Classic, Mathieu van der Poel Takes Stunning Solo Win

 

By Barry Ryan, Stephen Farrand for Cycling News

Jasper Stuyven finishes second place while Wout van Aert takes third after a long pursuit of the Dutchman. Read the full article here.

 

From Cyclocross to Spring Classics - Fem van Empel Debuts at Gent-Wevelgem

 
 

By Kirsten Frattini for Cycling News

”I am curious to see where I am in my first race of the year”, says Visma-Lease, a Bike contender. Read the full article here.

Just When We Thought TT Helmets Couldn't Get Any Weirder: Giro Leaves Us Speechless

 

By Josh Croxton published March 4, Cycling News

Visma-Lease A Bike use an 'innovative' helmet at stage 1 recon.

In the world of time trial helmets, things have been getting weird for a couple of years now. But as of today, you can forget the Specialized TT5 and its accompanying 'head sock,' and you can forget the Sweet Protection Redeemer 2Vi which broke cover with Uno X last season. 

They both had a reputation for looking a little bit, well, mad, but thanks to Giro, there's now a whole other league.  

At the start of Tirreno Adriatico, the Giro-sponsored Visma-Lease a Bike team have unveiled the brand's latest model, complete with an enormous visor, massive protruding leading edge and wide wings at the rear. 

Like the other wild helmets of late, it is bulbous in its shape and size, but the defining feature is undoubtedly the extremely protruding leading edge, which extends upward from the rider by a good 20cm, perhaps even more. 

The top-down view shows a totally smooth leading edge, save for a small black wedge shape across the top. It's unclear what the purpose of this is, or whether it can be removed for airflow. 

It also shows a total width at the trailing edge that is about the same as the rider's shoulders - Attila Valter's, in this case.

An increased overall size is becoming common in time trial helmets as aerodynamicists look to push air off the smooth leading edge and around the rider's not-very-aerodynamic shoulders. 

The first to toy with this type of wild design was POC, whose Tempor helmet was first unveiled way back in 2012 ahead of the London Olympics. It fell out of favour very quickly, before gaining popularity among time triallists as the understanding of aerodynamics became more widespread. 

Over the past few years, that understanding has seemingly made its way back to engineers and designers, and the popularity has helped them create wilder designs to cheat the wind. 

At the 2022 Tour de France, Specialized unveiled the TT5, complete with internal 'headsock' which smoothed out the rider's faces. Notoriously unusual - some might say ugly - in its design, is garnered plenty of publicity for the brand, and for the big helmet movement. On the same day, Filippo Ganna rocked up with Kask's Bambino Pro, complete with an unusual lens deflector that helped further to push air around the rider's shoulders and body. 

Soon after, Sweet Protection, working in conjunction with the Uno-X Pro Cycling team, unveiled the Redeemer 2Vi to a similar amount of uproar and attention. We questioned if that was "the wildest one yet," and if it was, we're pretty confident this new Giro helmet has usurped it. 

Quite frankly, it has left the team here in the Cyclingnews office speechless, with one colleague likening it's tall frontal face to a "double-decker London bus," - probably not the aero accolade Giro was going for.

Regardless of our jestful opinion, Visma-Lease A Bike are notorious for testing every piece of equipment they use, and Jonas Vingegaard and company wouldn't be using it in today's opening time trial at the Italian week-long stage race if they weren't sure of its aero credentials.

 

SOS - Support Our Sponsors

 
 
 

Caffee Luxxe

Enjoy a visit to any of the 8 locations and receive a 15% discount on your entire purchase (excluding gift cards)  when you present your La Grange membership card.

Locations include:
925 Montana Avenue & 225 26th Street (Santa Monica)
11640 San Vicente Boulevard (Pacific Palisades)
15200 Sunset Boulevard (LA) 22333 Pacific Coast Highway (Malibu)
6420 E. Pacific Coast Highway (Long Beach)
1028A Coast Village Road (Santa Barbara)

New: 904 Manhattan Ave, (Manhattan Beach)

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ACTS LAW - APIR, COHEN, TREYZON & SALO, LLP (ACTS Law)

Founded by four premier trial attorneys (Apir, Cohen, Treyzon & Salo), ACTS LAW handles high-stakes litigation in the areas of catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, insurance bad faith, employment law, construction defect, business litigation, and much more.

La Grange members receive access to free track certifications at the world-famous VELO Sports Center. 

Apir, Cohen, Treyzon & Salo, LLP (ACTS Law) specializes in cycling-related personal injury cases. They can be reached at 310-793-1400

 

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