Greetings La Grange Members,
Your April La Voix is here! This month we have Race Team news, La Grange event and ride recaps, a Taco social (!), lots of photos, LG member articles and a few save the dates.
Ride safely,
Renée Fox, La Voix Editor
P.S. Have something else cycling-related you think would be interesting or beneficial to our members? Submit here to be considered for an upcoming newsletter.
Letter from the President
Hello La Grangers
Welcome April! This is an exciting season to be a cyclist as the pros take on Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders, our junior race team heads to the Sea Otter Classic and we all get to pedal amongst the green hills of the Santa Monicas.
With the warmer weather, the evening gravel rides are back and more people are showing up at the regularly scheduled weekly La Grange morning rides.
Whatever your cycling plans are this month, please keep safety in mind and help us attract new members by welcoming riders outside of La Grange. With regard to safety, we are soon beginning a ‘Skills and Safety’ course designed to boost skills for seasoned and new riders alike by providing a place and time to work on them together. Read more about it below!
Vive La Grange,
Larry
Racing News
Congratulations to race team captain Aldo Jimenez who recently earned his race mechanic license through the USA Cycling Race Mechanics Clinic! Being licensed means that Aldo will be able to support the LG youth team in any race. May we all take Aldo’s lead and always be learning!
Club News
La Grange Skills and Safety Course
By David Newcombe
Old idea, new effort: train for bike handling skills and safety etiquette, together.
This month we’ll pilot a new La Grange Skills and Safety Course. The goal of the Course is to foster a club riding culture where individual bike handling skills join superior group riding safety etiquette, resulting in safer cycling experiences for all of us.
The Course begins with instruction and space for practicing critical on-bike skills. New riders will certainly benefit; we observe that seasoned riders likewise need refreshing and sharpening of two-wheel control.
We’ll include a group riding component, utilizing traditional training choreography, i.e. the paceline, as a means to isolate and study the safety components of positioning, communicating, responding to road conditions and hazards while in close proximity to other Riders, pacing and spacing, and moving within the peloton.
If you haven’t ridden in an intentional paceline in a while, this is going to be fun. You really have to pay attention! Which is surprisingly refreshing, when by agreement all other Riders in your group are paying attention as well. Noted, this is not the normal state of group riding, yet the experience can help develop awareness of and participation in the advanced teamwork inherent to all good club riding.
We plan to incorporate some (optional) rider-to-rider contact drills. It’s extremely useful to be familiar with the physics and the feeling of a wheel touch or shoulder bump, and how to stay upright should it happen in the peloton.
Sadly safety is not guaranteed, but it is responsibly enhanced by these efforts we take to understand, communicate, and mitigate the risks of road cycling. Together.
(Specific date and time coming soon!)
Save the Date:
Saturday April 18 LG Women’s Ride Route TBD
Saturday April 25 LG 50, Route TBD
April Social at Lee Ziff’s ~ RSVP will be emailed ~
Join us for a delicious Taco Night hosted by longtime La Grange member and sponsor, Lee Ziff in his beautiful backyard. There will be made to order tacos with flavorful fillings, homemade guacamole, and plenty of options for everyone to build their perfect taco (or three 😄).
✨ Special Guest Moment:
We’ll be welcoming Megan Cronin from CAF, who will share exciting updates, our partnership highlights, and ways to get more involved with CAF in the months ahead. And…we may even have a CAF para athlete or two join us!
Event Details:
This is a members-only event (+1 guest allowed) limited to 50 people! Look out for an email coming soon with RSVP link and don’t miss out by waiting to respond! RSVP is required by April 16th.
🗓 Date: Sunday, April 19th
⏰ Time: 5-8PM
📍 Location: Lee Ziff’s House (address provided upon RSVP- coming soon)
Any questions, email Deb at deb.carabet@lagrange.org
Club Events Recap
March La Grange Women’s Ride
Led by Philippa Moore
Images by various contributors
Great job ladies on The March Women’s ride! Led by LG member Philippa Moore, the ride began at San Vicente and Ocean, briefly on PCH, up Topanga Canyon to Old Topanga, and then east through Calabasas, Tarzana and Encino. The group descended via Roscomere/Chalon/Bellagio, returning for well earned beers at Santa Monica Brew Works. This ride is always a no drop ride. Come ride with us Ladies!
March La Grange LG 50 to El Pascador Beach with Busch and Point Dume Detours
Led by Rich Hirschinger | SAG by Larry Goodman and Frank Whitelock
Images by various contributors
Saturday’s LG 50 ride was a scenic 58 mile route along PCH to El Pescador State Beach in Malibu, with detours on Busch and Point Dume for a total of 58 miles with 2,380’ of climbing. The group began at Helen’s Cycles for coffee and ended with beer at Santa Monica Brew Works.
Spring Social at Homestate
Our spring social was a festive gathering with delicious food and beer at Homestate Santa Monica. Can you say brisket tacos with pickled jalapeños?! A sweet foster dog named Wendell brought by Susan Gans stole plenty of hearts. We hope you find a forever home that deserves you Wendell!
Member Features
Tour de Palm Springs & Tandem Clinic news
By Sonya Chapnick
Thanks to Cheyenne Meyer who flew in from Dallas for the ride, I was able to complete the Tour de Palm Springs Century! Cheyenne and I are in the first photo above with Palm Trees behind us. In hopes of participating locally in more LG rides, I’ve also been training potential sighted captains. The most recent captain-in-training is Lynn Wartz Dodd, (second photo above) who I hope will be able to join me on the next LG women’s ride!
In cooperation with Wayfinders Family Services, I help facilitate an ongoing Captains Training Clinic once a quarter - third quarter 2026 date & info to come soon! Meanwhile, there will be a Tandem Community Event held on Sat, April 11 at Syd Kronenthal Park in Culver City. Click HERE for details and registration.
Winter Paralympics
By Deb Carabet
In March I was incredibly fortunate to attend the Winter Paralympics in Cortina and Tessero Italy. I knew a couple of the Para athletes and wanted to cheer them on as well as support their hard work. In addition, I became a new member of the US Olympic and Paralympic Foundation and joined in some of their fun as well.
As many of you know, I coach para athletes. I coach non-winter sports so I was excited to see our Team USA winter para athletes in action.
Watching Oksana Masters win her 24th Paralympic Medal(she also competes in the Summer Paralympic Games) was so exciting. She won 5 medals in Cortina followed by Kendall Gretch who won 3 medals (Kendall also competes in the Summer Games in Paratriathlon.) Our Sled Hockey Team won the gold against Canada making Team USA the first of any country to sweep Men and Women's Hockey and Para Sled Hockey all in the same year! Our Para Nordic, Alpine and Snowboard teams brought home the Gold and Silver in their events.
The weather was warm and made snow conditions a bit mushy for snowboarding and alpine skiing. The courses were constantly being salted down. There are only 6 sports in the Paralympics and Team USA medaled in 5: Para Cross-Country Skiing, Para Snowboard, Para Biathlon, Para Ice Hockey, and Para Alpine Skiing.We missed the Bronze in Wheelchair Curling. All told Team USA's Paralympic Team brought home 24 medals, upping our game from 2022 and moving us into 2nd place for most medals from a single country.
The experience was exciting, magical, and so community oriented. Everyone seemed to know each other or have a connection via a friend or family. Even families from other countries all cheered and had a lot of fun watching the Para athletes race together. The Paralympics unify countries from around the world and shine a light on these incredible elite para athletes. There were moments of heartbreak and moments of extreme joy, the emotions that always make sport and the Games so interesting and exciting.
I did manage to sneak in a day of skiing in the beautiful Dolomite Mountains of Cortina. It had snowed most of the night so the snow was fresh. Lots of fog made it a bit difficult to see but I had some nice skiing and it was only $57 US for a lift ticket!!
I returned from the Games excited and fired up about the upcoming LA2028 Paralympics. LA2028 will be here before you know it and the buzzing will be loud. I highly suggest you get tickets to a Paralympic event or two, you will love it!
If you want to learn more about the Paralympics or Para Sports in general, feel free to ask me anytime. I love the Para Sports Community and what I do. It is my heart and soul.
Para athletes show the world that "Anything Is Possible" Cheers, Deb
Members:
Please take a moment to ensure your contact information is up to date. Visit https://www.lagrange.org/member-dashboard#myaccount to confirm that your phone number is current, and double check that your emergency contact name and phone number are accurate. This helps La Grange improve vendor access to membership verification and ensures that, in case of an emergency during a ride, a board member can quickly notify your emergency contact. If you have any questions or concerns, reach out to us at membership@lagrange.org.
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