La Voix - March 2017

Dear members,

It's late here at La Voix headquarters and we're running up against our publication deadline so I'll keep things short this month. Many of us received our goodies from Castelli earlier this month, and we hope you are all enjoying your new kit, whether you are choosing your rides to avoid the rain or tackling the elements. We actually recently met with Castelli and he have some exciting new initiatives (and yes, new kit items!) that we expect to roll out to you later in the year.

Our racers have had some great early season success and more importantly, have been having way too much fun racing their bikes so far this year. If you have ever wanted to give racing a try, just shoot me an email and I can put you in touch with the appropriate race captain. We have juniors, women, men, masters and track teams (and are getting MTB up and running), so there is something for everyone.

Finally, the 2017 La Grange Cup is coming up! Details soon, but the first event is one that any member should be able to handle: riding 500 meters on your bicycle! Yes, that is all it requires. The entire effort should take you between 35 seconds and a couple hours, depending on how hard you decide to pedal. We hope you can make it. There will be food, drink prizes and good times!

We'll see you again in a month and we won't be foolin'.

Robert Efthimos
President, Velo Club La Grange
www.lagrange.org
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Velo-Club-La-Grange/280123768478
https://vimeo.com/channels/lagrange
http://app.strava.com/athletes/337152
https://vimeo.com/user11846099/videos


Upcoming Events March 2017


Mar 2-5: UCI Para-cycling Track World ChampionshipsVSC Carson
Mar 4: Encino Velodrome Swapmeet, Encino
Mar 4: Helen’s MdR Shop Ride, 7:45 am Helen’s Marina Del Rey
Mar 4: Helen’s Monthly Group Ride, 7:45 am Helen’s SM
Mar 5: Island View Classic Criterium, Goleta
Mar 5: CBR 3 of 6 - Free Juniors Race, Dominguez Hills
Mar 5: 626CX Omnium at Cycle-Fest, Azusa
Mar 5: Beaver Gravel Grinder, Vista
Mar 5: Helen’s Cycles / TriFit Beginner Ride, 7:45 am Helen’s / Santa Monica
Mar 5: Bikes and Brunch is Back!, Pedalers Fork Calabassas
Mar 6: LAVRA Monday Night Sprints, VSC Carson
Mar 6: Nutrition from Winter to Summer, TriFitLA
Mar 8: Board of Directors Meeting – All current members are welcome to attend!! 7 pm Yahoo! Center across the street from Helen’s Cycles Santa Monica
Mar 10-12: Tour de Murietta, Murietta
Mar 11: Helen’s Monthly MTB ride, 7:45 am Helen’s SM
Mar 12: LAVRA Time Trial Series, VSC Carson
Mar 14: El Dorado Race Series, Long Beach
Mar 18-19: Keyesville Classic, Lake Isabella
Mar 18: Lake Elizabeth Road Race, Palmdale
Mar 18: SouthRidge USA MTB Race, Fontana
Mar 18: Helen’s Cycles Women Only Group Ride, 7:45 am Helen’s SM
Mar 18: Redlands Strada Rosa Gravel Ride , Redlands
Mar 19: Chuck Pontius Criterium, Valencia
Mar 19: Citrus Sunday – Omnium Stage Race, Redlands
Mar 19: 2017 LA Marathon Crash Ride, Los Angeles
Mar 19: Helen’s Cycles / TriFit Beginner Ride, 7:45 am Helen’s SM
Mar 21: El Dorado Race Series, Long Beach
Mar 24-26: San Dimas Stage Race, Glendora
Mar 26: CicLAvia – Culver City Meets Venice, Culver City
Mar 28: El Dorado Race Series, Long Beach

Special thanks to Joey Santa Cruz for putting this list together


Later in 2017

We've set the dates for some of our biggest events this year. Mark your calendars!

TBD: LG Cup Stage 1 - 500M Encino Sprint
Jun 24: LG Cup Stage 2 - 20K PCH Time Trial
Jul 16: Raymond Fouquet Memorial Nichols Ride
Sep 16: LG Cup Stage 3 - Piuma Hill Climb & Club Picnic
Nov 5: Club Photo & Annual Award Show Banquet

From the Desk of Seth Davidson Law

Bicycle driving license???


By Seth Davidson
seth@sethdavidsonlaw.com
(424) 241-8118, 24/7
Bike Injury Lawyer and 2017 Velo Club La Grange Sponsor
 
You get pulled over for allegedly running a stop sign on your bicycle. The cop asks for your driver license or other identification. Do you have to provide it?

Before answering this question, let’s start with common sense, and common sense says this: It’s always a good idea to have a driver license or state-issued ID when you cycle. Motorists are known for hitting bikes and leaving the cyclist unconscious or worse. Identification in these cases is generally a good thing.

Also, when a cop asks you for identification and you refuse or don’t have any, you run the risk of having your ride interrupted and your bike impounded. You may be vindicated many hours or days or weeks or months later, but standing on your rights when challenged always comes at a cost, a cost that at a minimum will cost you that KOM attempt up Mandeville.

But back to the question: Do you have to provide it?

California law requires users of motor vehicles to provide their license for examination upon demand of a peace officer enforcing the provisions of the California vehicle code. That’s section 12951(b), by the way. However, since a bicyclist is not a driver of a motor vehicle, you may think that you get a pass.

You’d be wrong.

California law explicitly makes the vehicle code applicable to bicyclists. Section 21200(a) says that every person riding a bicycle upon a highway has all the rights and is subject to all the provisions applicable to the driver of a vehicle except those provisions which by their very nature can have no application. In other words, if the driver of a motor vehicle has to show his license or ID to a cop who’s enforcing the vehicle code, so do you.

What this means is that even though you’re not technically required to have something called a bicycle driving license, if you ever get pulled over for breaking the law and can’t produce satisfactory ID to the peace officer, you can be arrested and your bike impounded, which is an end-run around “no bike driving license required” because it does in effect require you to have a license in the form of acceptable identification.

So ride with your driver license if you have one. That’s my advice.

[About Seth: Seth has been cycling since 1982 and road racing since 1984. More than 90% of his practice consists of representing injured cyclists in the South Bay and West L.A.]


The Face Pain Doctor Speaks

What is a migraine?

A migraine is a primary headache, which means there is no other cause of the headache. A typical migraine lasts between 4 and 72 hours, has two of the following four characteristics:

1.    Pulsating
2.    One sided
3.    Moderate to severe
4.    Aggravated with exertion

If it has two of those four qualities, then it must also cause:

1.    Light and sound sensitivity
2.    And/or nausea or vomiting

A study in 2003 asked migraineurs these three questions.  
1.    Has a headache limited your activities for a day or more in the last three months?
2.    Are you nauseated or sick to your stomach when you have a headache?
3.    Does light bother you when you have a headache?

Patients who answer positively to two out of these three symptom questions have a 93% chance of a migraine diagnosis and, if all three are answered positively, a 98% chance of a migraine diagnosis.

Some migraineurs experience an aura. An aura can be visual such as seeing flashing lights, sensory such as tingling, or motor such as slurred speech . Here is a very unique video of a local CBS reporter having an motor aura on live TV. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPy-5PRC6Vs

There are many different options when treating migraines. I’m happy to answer any questions either on rides, at coffee, or at my office. Next month, I will share the story of a club member whose snoring was so bad, he wasn’t sleeping in the same room with his wife. I’m happy to report that after receiving treatment from me, they are back in the same room. 

Dr. Rich Hirschinger
FacePainDr.com 
888.981.8981
Treating headaches, head and neck muscle and nerve pain, TMJ, and snoring and sleep apnea


Roger Millikan Memorial Criterium

Race reports from the Roger Millikan Memorial Criterium on February 12th:

Austin Cooper, Cat 4:

"The pavé is hard, but I am harder…”

Roger Millikan was a crit of firsts for me - I won a prime and crashed. At six laps to go, two riders crashed in front of me and I unsuccessfully attempted to bunny-hop over one of them. If I had done anything else the crash would have included more people. Fortunately, I nailed the bicycle-tuck-and-roll and got up without any serious injuries. Chris M deserves a shout out for asking me if I was able enough to get back in the race as I paced back and forth in anger and shock after the crash. I grabbed my somehow undamaged bike and finished the race.

*Learning moment* Always go back to the wheel pit after a crash, even if the moto-ref doesn’t mention if or tells you to get back onto the pack. I finished the race only to find that I was marked a lap behind the pack."


Ethan Frankel's Cat 3 race report was so big and action-packed that he posted it to his own blog site. You can read it there. Make sure to check back for his Rosena Ranch race report as well. We can't wait to read it - here is a photo of the finish with Ethan duking it out against a Big Orange racer at the line. Who do you think won? Answer below. Way below. Keep going!


Rosena Ranch Circuit Race

Race reports from the Rosena Ranch Circuit Race on February 25th:

f98391fe-9fb5-4753-b039-c1addb012750.jpg

Patrick Barrett, 30+ 3/4 and Cat 3 (8th):

I did the 30+ 3/4 race followed immediately by the Cat 3 race. The 3/4 race was a big field with 3 big teams bringing out many people. I had 9 teammates! A few of us were tasked with being in early moves and doing attacks while Cowan and Thomas relaxed. Later Thomas and Cowan would make a go of it and then I'd sit in and wait for the sprint (if needed). From the get go, I was attacking! I made it into a few moves but I was getting pretty tired trying to cover everything because LG lined up in the back to begin with so backup took a bit to get to the front. Finally James got in a great break, well represented amongst the big teams, and I settled in while the boys in blue worked with BO to hold the pack back. Eventually the break was caught and Thomas went off on his own. I'd been sitting recovering and recovering and when Thomas got caught, I got activated! I came up the right side and didn't see enough bodies to be successful until I saw Jaycee and Palle coming up the left side, so I jumped on! It was a perfect timing! Unfortunately we caught some individuals getting lapped and I had to dodge and start the sprint from ~300m out, taking 8th place. It was such a hard sprint! I couldn't breathe for a long time, nor keep food down.

Time to race again 15 minutes later! I had zero guilt doing as little work as possible as my body recovered for the next 45 minutes. Cowan, Thomas, and I talked about how terrible we felt. But fortunately we had fresh Marco and Ethan to make sure LG was still represented and active. Going over the final roller before the u-turn, I kept telling myself to give everything to get over that hill in position, which had my legs absolutely screaming! But I had to focus on that hill, not the finish, in order to get a chance at contesting the finish. Finally we are approaching the line and all of us are yelling out our positions and we're mostly boxed in. We choose wheels, sit patient, and then at long last holes open and we launch 4 LG riders into the top 10, 2 in the top 5! Stellar!


Austin Cooper, Cat 4 (4th):

This was a fun, tactical race. With three laps to go I made up my mind to stay on the outside of the group so I could carry speed through each u-turn. On the last turn I was able to get into ~10th position and stayed there, watching the riders around me.

As we approached the midway point of the return straight, I recognized two important riders next to me. To my right was the newly-upgraded Monster Media rider who had attempted a solo breakaway with ten laps to go. I knew he was drooling to sprint. To my left was an SDBC rider that recently won the Roger Millikan Crit – a good wheel to follow and watch.

When we reached the midway point of the return straight the Monster Media rider jumped out of his saddle and sprinted for glory too early. The SDBC rider immediately locked onto his wheel and I followed. The lead out from the MM rider was short-lived and I was able to follow the three riders who overtook him. I sprinted out in front as we reached the slight incline to the finish and crossed the line in 4th place!


Liutauras "Leo" Rusaitis, Cat 5 (4th):

Rosena was my first circuit race and therefore I came with little expectations. Looking at the course, I knew the rollers were the only thing in my favor as a climber, as well as the uphill finish. Since the early start I stayed close to Chris Miller and Nick Martinez near the front 10-15 riders. Trying to warm up my legs and test the strength of the field, I went for a breakaway on the second lap with an another rider. Not surprisingly, that lasted only for one lap, as the descents and 180 degree turns allowed everyone to chase us down. I've sat in the remaining 7 laps near the front, and looked for any developments at the last 180 degree turn before the finish. Chris was going strong after the turn - I grabbed his wheel and he led me out near the front 10 riders on the brisk descent. Just as we started turning towards the finish on the uphill, I took an opening around Chris and sprinted towards 4th place.


Cycling on the Internet

Cycling on the Internet
with Matthieu Delcourt

https://tapiriik.com

If it’s not on Strava, it didn’t happen. If the Amazon S3 storage server is down, all your files and Strava history is probably in great danger.

Don’t worry! The March Link Of the Month will save you forever!

It’s time to back up all your files using https://tapiriik.com

It is extremely simple to use and allows you to back up ALL your rides that you have on Strava, Garmin connect and a ton of other fitness websites into a single place: YOUR COMPUTER! All you have to do is go to https://tapiriik.com and just sync Strava, Garmin connect and Dropbox (if you don’t have a dropbox account I suggest you create one) and all your rides will be saved as .gpx or even .tcx files (in case you want to preserve your power numbers as well). Every time you finish your ride, give it about 1h and it will be downloaded onto your computer automatically in the Dropbox folder.

You can even control which service sends the ride and which service receives it, a great way to make sure all your rides are on both Garmin connect and Strava.

Simple and efficient, and a life saver for those of you don’t have backups yet.


The Month in Photos

Maddy Ward continued her winning ways with a huge win in the road race stage at the Chico Stage Race...

Maddy Ward continued her winning ways with a huge win in the road race stage at the Chico Stage Race...

...which saw her don the yellow jersey as the race leader in the Womens 3/4 General Classification. We see an upgrade coming up!

...which saw her don the yellow jersey as the race leader in the Womens 3/4 General Classification. We see an upgrade coming up!

Post-race recap chat between Victor Ayala and Patrick Barrett at the Rosena Ranch Circuit Race.

Post-race recap chat between Victor Ayala and Patrick Barrett at the Rosena Ranch Circuit Race.

Claire Van Ekdom is back racing and went straight to the podium in the Womens P123 race at the Rosena Ranch Circuit Race!

Claire Van Ekdom is back racing and went straight to the podium in the Womens P123 race at the Rosena Ranch Circuit Race!

Ethan Frankel in a photo finish 2nd place (should it have been 1st?) at the Cat 3 Rosena Ranch Circuit Race!

Ethan Frankel in a photo finish 2nd place (should it have been 1st?) at the Cat 3 Rosena Ranch Circuit Race!

Ellen Shinogle and Michelle Cousar land on the podium in the Womens 4/5 race at the Rosena Ranch Circuit Race!

Ellen Shinogle and Michelle Cousar land on the podium in the Womens 4/5 race at the Rosena Ranch Circuit Race!

Maykol Hernandez on the podium in the Cat 4 Roger Millikan Memorial Criterium!

Maykol Hernandez on the podium in the Cat 4 Roger Millikan Memorial Criterium!

Danielle Cooper and Cari Smulyan take 2nd and 3rd at the February 19th CBR Criterium!

Danielle Cooper and Cari Smulyan take 2nd and 3rd at the February 19th CBR Criterium!

Ellen Shinogle lands on the podium with 3rd place in the Womens 4/5 UCLA Road Race!

Ellen Shinogle lands on the podium with 3rd place in the Womens 4/5 UCLA Road Race!

Maddy Ward with another win in the Womens P123 race at the Cantua Creek Road Race. It's really too bad they're not having fun, right?

Maddy Ward with another win in the Womens P123 race at the Cantua Creek Road Race. It's really too bad they're not having fun, right?

Ethan Frankel takes 3rd place in the Cat 3 Cantua Creek Road Race!

Ethan Frankel takes 3rd place in the Cat 3 Cantua Creek Road Race!