Velo Club La Grange 2020 Kit Design

After many hours, many samples and more iterations than anyone cares to know about, Cary Breezy presents the LG 2020 kit. In the design of this kit we tried to keep all of our members in mind…the ladies, the men, the racers, the gravelers, and everyone in between. We tried to highlight 2020, the year of the future, by choosing a bright jersey contrasted by our classic navy blue bibs. There is no doubt in our mind that this kit will stand out in any peloton you’re riding in, as well as give drivers fair warning that you’re sharing the road with them.

Please be aware of the device you’re viewing this on. Colors always appear differently when they’re backlit by a screen and also will look different depending on the brightness of your screen and the mode your device might be on.

We will be opening the Castelli order store soon, and will let you know when the fit kits are available to try on at Helen’s in Santa Monica. In the meantime, feast your eyes on the 2020 kit and we hope you all have a great Thanksgiving feast, too.

Presenting the Velo Club La Grange 2020 Kit

Presenting the Velo Club La Grange 2020 Kit


La Voix

2019 Annual Club Banquet and RAAM Raffle

The annual club picnic will be held at noon on Sunday, November 10th at noon at:

HOTEL MdR ~ A DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel
13480 Maxella Avenue
Marina del Rey, CA 90292

Please click here to learn more about the banquet, the raffle, and registration. Remember, you must login to register.

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Renée and David's October 50 for 50 Anniversary Ride

Renée and David's ride was an adventure in the Hollywood Hills. A group of La Grange ladies led out the ride at 8 am from SVO to where the ride separated into two routes: the Mt Olympus Route, and the Nichols Canyon Route. The routes came back together on Nichols Cyn Rd and then it was onto Griffith Park, to the helipad, and then back through the city to Santa Monica Brew Works. Many thanks to Gina and David for the SAG support.

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2020 Board of Directors Election Results

The following four members were re-elected to the Board of Directors for a 2-year team.

  • Jaycee Cary

  • Jan Datomi

  • Robert Efthimos

  • Rich Hirschinger

Top row, Jaycee and Jan. Bottom row, Robert and Rich

Top row, Jaycee and Jan. Bottom row, Robert and Rich

2019 Hill Climb World Championships

Race Report - CycloCross Style

October 26th 2019: Lake Casitas - Spooky Cross!
Mens 35+ B’s / Mens B’s

It was already starting to get hot when I did my course preview lap, so I knew I’d want to do something to mitigate the heat, but the course itself was looking good. Last year this course had lots of loose sharp turns that could be taken quickly but you risk getting passed at each one. The course this year had one corner like that but not 5 - there were plenty of straights where I was hoping my flat our power could make up for my mediocre CX skills. I had a teammate in this race, Warren Sutton who had just done his first CX race last weekend, winning the C’s (Cat 5) and getting 2nd in the B’s (Cat 4) race so I was hoping we’d both be able to do well. We lined up and my win at the Simi Cross was enough to get me 5th callup. Cross racing is very much about getting placement early and then defending it, so if I could get the holeshot it’d make the rest of the race much easier. At the whistle, I fumbled my clip in and a couple other got in front of me, but luckily I was able to put in a hard dig and make it to the corner first and hold it until the stairs. I knew that would be a heavy traffic pile-up area on the 1st lap so being able to ride it at my speed was key. 2 laps in I had a solid lead, and I could see Warren sitting in 4th behind a guy in a Tuxedo speedsuit and an echelon rider. With 4 togo I wanted to see if we could get Warren on to 2nd spot, so I slowed my efforts with the goal being to slow down Tux enough that Warren could catch us and then we could work together to get 1st and 2nd. But after letting Tux catch me and trying to ride slow and block in the corners Warren was nowhere to be seen then I see the echelon rider on the side of the road having crashed out. I kept blocking Tux for another lap but had no idea where Warren had gone, and at this point, I kept expecting to see him at the LG Tent but I wasn’t sure. With 1 lap to go I knew he wasn’t going to catch us so I put in some hard efforts on the straights and put a good buffer between me and Tux. Turns out Warren had crashed but not enough to pull him out of the race, but it put enough of a gap between us that he wasn’t going to catch the leaders. But he held his spot and managed to get 3rd.

The next race was the open B’s which is always a harder race than the masters races because you’re racing kids with rubber bones. I had a similar strategy for this race, I managed to get in front and was leading halfway through when I heard someone shout “Let's go Max” to the kid on the MTB behind me. I recognized the name as the current ‘fastest lap’ holder and knew I wasn’t going to be able to out power him and since he was on an MTB he could corner faster so my only chance was to play defense and keep him from passing me. During the second lap I boxed him out on a corner, hoping that he’d be intimidated, but he was having none of it. He put me into the tape in the middle of the 2nd lap and then took off and that was that. I caught back to him for a bit but that extra effort took everything I had and I couldn’t maintain the needed pace. Warren was also in this race, but got a bad start and was feeling the effects of the 2nd race of the day and was stuck in ~7th. Now my goal was just to hold on to 2nd. I had about the same gap between 3rd that Max had on me for most of the race, but on the last lap I looked back with 100 meters togo and 3rd place was coming up hot. I was able to hold him off, but if I hadn’t check i could have lost 2nd.

Special shoutout to Guy Dutton and Nigel Stewart - They went up Friday night and setup Ft LG with the best view and right by the barriers for peak heckling real estate.

If you want to see this whole cross thing in person, the next targeted LG race is in Sylmar Nov 16th. That’s only a 35 min drive from Santa Monica! Hope to see you there!

Men's B 35+ Podium Sam Selfridge in 1st and Warren Sutton in 3rd.

Men's B 35+ Podium Sam Selfridge in 1st and Warren Sutton in 3rd.

Cross Panda (Nigel) and Guy in full Spooky Cross mode at Ft LG.

Cross Panda (Nigel) and Guy in full Spooky Cross mode at Ft LG.

New Members

Welcome to the following new members who joined in September and October

J. Marvin Campbell, Tommy Thornton, Warren Sutton, Sean Nass, Sheru Pastiya, Craig Eggers, Oliver Lorenz, Jason Siegle, Marc Lewis, Alex Kim, Mina Napoleon, Alissa Mills, Keene Kopper, Tyler Bojarsky, Etesh Mangray, Pablo Gil, Paul Kobielus, Andro Torres, and Fandra Chang

2019 La Granger of the Year Nominees

Here are your 2019 La Granger of the Year Nominees in alphabetical order, along with the statements that were sent in nominating each member.

Dan Funk

  • I am probably not the best person to be nominating since I’m not very active these days but I think that Dan Funk is such a phenome - he jumped into riding and then racing with such gusto and yet he’s a super nice guy!! These are the qualities that a gal like me cares about.

Dan Funk

Dan Funk

Tina Grant

  • My vote is for Tina Grant - or ‘Captain T’ as I fondly call her. She is such an amazing race captain - she pushes us, defends us, but always reminds us to have fun. She’s become a great friend off the bike too which is what cycling is all about. I wouldn’t be racing or a member of La Grange if it hadn’t been for Tina.

Tina Grant

Tina Grant

Zach LaBry:

  • I wish to nominate Zach LaBry for his excellent leadership skills as a captain and execution of the La Grange Grand Prix.

  • Zach LaBry is everything we could ever ask for in a La Granger. He can rip your legs off (Overall Winner of the 2018 La Grange Cup), but does so with humility. He has served as a Race Team captain and has been instrumental in the club's support of local racing, in particular track racing (no better way to learn how to race fast, smooth, and clean) and women's racing, as one of the club's strongest advocates for demanding gender equality in local racing. With all that, in 2019 he stepped it up another level and made the inaugural 2019 La Grange Grand Prix at the Porsche Experience Center a resounding success. As LGGP Race Director, Zach was able to lead a great team of La Grange volunteers in pulling off something that quite literally ** no other bike club has ever accomplished ** - a bike race at a Porsche race track. A man of many talents, Zach LaBry is my pick for 2019 La Granger of the Year.

Zach LaBry

Zach LaBry

Thomas Larson

  • I would like to nominate Thomas Larson. With everything he has been through he still thinks of others. Dan funk sent a message out about a member needing to borrow a cross bike and Thomas has graciously lent me his cross bike. A genuinely good dude with amazing perseverance.

Thomas Larson

Thomas Larson

Dani Monahan

  • I wish to nominate Danielle Monahan for La Granger of the year. Dani’s overwhelmingly positive attitude shines in her participation as a racer, team captain for the women's race team, and relationship builder inside LG and building relationships with outside clubs as well. Dani is a tireless teacher on rides and at races. She encourages everyone to feel and do better, sharing her unshakable outward positivity as a self declared humanist.

Daniele Monahan

Daniele Monahan

Sam Selfridge

  • I nominate sam selfridge.

  • I wish to nominate Sam Selfridge. I travel a lot for work so I don’t get to many LG events these days. But it seems like every thing I’ve attended this year has been run by our awesome board members and ... Sam!!

  • I nominate Sam. He’s a super active participant in every single event, seems to take a genuine interest in other people having fun and improving their riding. In addition, he’s a phenomenal rider himself. Lastly, more often than not, he’s seen in Lagrange kit (when he’s not wearing the hideous other stuff :-)

  • I would like to nominate Sam Selfridge since he has been such an incredible supporter of the 4/5 race team, cyclocross, and all member events. He does some great vids as well!

  • I nominate Sam Selfridge. He is a great rider, super friendly, helpful, talked to me about joining La Grange, put on a great cyclocross clinic, has a bell on his bike and an all around good dude!

Sam Selfridge

Sam Selfridge