It’s Groundhog Day. What does that mean? Well, today is the same as yesterday, and the day of the week doesn’t really matter. “Safer at Home” orders are still in effect. All outdoor cycling events are canceled so there are no races to report, no LG50 monthly ride, no shenanigans on Nichols, Mandeville, Piuma, PCH, etc. to report. No new members signed up in April 2020. In other words, I got nothing to report. So go binge watch something online. If you have Netflix, they released “The Least Expected Day,” which is a 6 part series that follows the Moviestar team during the 2019 Giro d'Italia.
La Voix
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Cycling is Prohibited in France, Italy, and Spain
March LG50 Ride
Castelli Kit Update
Cycling “Safer at Home”
Race Reports Tour de Murrieta
Virtual Racing by Tina Grant
New Members
Cycling is Prohibited in France, Italy, and Spain 😱
Sign of the times. Photo captured on Sunday morning, March 29, 2020. If you have to ask where the photo was taken, you have never ridden the World Famous Sunday Nichols Ride. 😎Having said that, the photo has been Photoshopped. The first La Grange member to contact me who identifies what part of the image was Photoshopped wins a free 2020 La Grange cycling cap.
Yes, it is April 1, 2020, and I wish the headline was an April Fools joke but it is not. Think about that. Cycling is prohibited in France, Italy, and Spain. If you are reading this you must be interested in cycling, and you know that cycling has three “Grand Tours,” which are the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, and the Vuelta a España. These are three-week bicycle races in France, Italy, and Spain, and they are beyond difficult. Cycling in these countries is a major part of life. The Grand Tours draw some of the largest crowds of spectators for a sporting event in the world. Yet, all three countries have prohibited cycling for sport, for leisure, and for physical exercise, and as of press time, the Giro d’Italia has been postponed to a tentative date in September.
You might be asking yourself why cycling was prohibited during this pandemic. The reason is very simple. When a bike crash happens it might injure a rider severe enough to require medical attention. The first stop is the emergency room and all three countries are in a war against the coronavirus, and all human resources and hospital equipment need to be available for victims of this very infectious disease. In addition, the last place anyone who does not have the virus or works at a hospital wants to be is in the emergency room.
The experts to listen to are the epidemiologists and infectious disease specialists. There is a reason this is called a pandemic. It is extremely contagious and it is infecting humans on every continent on Earth except Antarctica. There is no socioeconomic class that it is not affecting. We all need to continue to practice social distancing, and should consider that everyone we pass walking on the street, or see in the grocery store might be infected, and give them space. If you want to attend a large public or private gathering, or go back to work, and disregard social distancing before the experts say it is safe to do so, you are putting yourself, your family, and your friends in harm's way. It is for these reasons the Board has decided to suspend all of our weekly group rides.
If you decide to continue to ride outside during what is one of the worst healthcare crisis of our lifetime, be extra careful and do not ride in a large group. There are less cars on the road so drivers are driving faster. Please, be safe and make wise decisions. Normalcy will return but that completely depends on all of us doing our part to prevent the spread of the virus.
This is a historic time. Truly historic. Let’s hope that we all get through this and can meet for coffee after a ride and talk about how we survived, and what we did to help.
Rich Hirschinger
President, Velo Club La Grange
April 1, 2020
Here are some interesting links to view:
https://www.cyclist.co.uk/news/7904/france-latest-country-to-ban-recreational-cycling
https://www.bicycling.com/culture/a31913269/cyclist-diagnosed-with-coronavirus/
https://vimeo.com/399733860 A very good video from a physician who works at a hospital in NYC with 1,200 beds that is exclusively treating Covid19 patients. He explains what he has seen and what to do to protect yourself and your family.
March LG50 Ride
The ride was canceled due to the coronavirus but the Board, on behalf of all its members, made a donation to West Los Angeles Meals on Wheels. Please consider helping out this tremendous non-profit, or similar organizations, that help people who need help in this time of need. If you would like to help volunteer with Meals on Wheels, even by making calls at home, please view this PDF for more information.
Castelli Kit Update
Valued Castelli Family,
Thank you for choosing Castelli for your team. We hope that you and your team are safe and healthy in this very challenging time. While cycling and triathlon events across the country have been delayed or canceled due to the COVID-19 virus, we understand that your team is still anxious to receive your new kits—even if they’re going to be used for indoor riding for a while. We want to update you on the status of our custom business and the impact that it will have on your order with us. Please share this information with your team members. We will continue to update you as the situation develops.
Status of our custom business:
Production: As of 03/18/2020, the government of El Salvador has required all factories to close for a minimum of two weeks; this may be extended to four weeks. Unfortunately, this has impacted all of our custom orders, including yours. We will communicate the status of our production as information becomes available.
Materials: While we keep several months of materials on-hand, we have experienced some delays in the delivery of fabrics from Italy. This may have some impact on our production schedule.
Shipping: This week we will receive additional custom items completed and shipped before the factory closure. In the interest of getting your team your products as early as possible, we will ship partial orders over the next two weeks. We will ship the remaining product as soon as it arrives.
Customer Service: While most of our team in Portland is required to work from home, we are continuing to receive and process orders, process new team artwork, and provide great customer service.
Please direct any questions or concerns to your local sales rep, or to custom@castelli-us.com. We will provide you with any information that we can about your order.
Thank you for your patience and understanding. Best wishes, and happy and safe riding.
FOLLOW UP
Some additional production information by styles based on the latest production reports (as of 3/17), show the following: (Please note due to the factory closure on 3/18, this 3/17 update is our latest production update available at this time)
Pending Completion
Wind Jacket
M Team LS Jersey - Mexico
M San Remo 4.0 Speedsuit
M San Remo 4.0 Speedsuit - Mexico
M Team LS Jersey
W Free Aero Race 4 Bibshort
Shipped from Factory prior to closure (shipped from El Salvador 3/17)
Team Pro Mesh Sleeveless Baselayer
M Free Aero Race 4 Bibshort
W San Remo 4.0 Speedsuit
Shipped to Membership
All other styles
As noted in the business update, the items that shipped from the factory prior to its closure will be shipping out to membership in the upcoming week. We are continuing to monitor this situation with our production facility to find the soonest opportunity to safely continue production. We will continue to keep team leadership in close communication during this time and will be sure to provide them with any updates as we can.
Hope this information helps! Please don’t hesitate to reach out if there is any further information or assistance we can provide in the meantime. Thanks and hope you are all staying safe and healthy!
Best regards,
Mike Clodfelter
Cycling “Safer at Home”
Two virtual rides to inform you about:
Castelli Virtual Rides
Castelli will be hosting Zwift ride sessions every Tuesday at 10:25AM PST (being hosted by Castelli global team so time change gets us a bit). Some information on this series can be found via the following link: https://blog.castelli-cycling.com/2020/03/26/zwift-ride-it-out-with-castelli/.
La Grange Virtual Rides
Our first two LG Zwift rides have had some small growing pains but overall they have been a success. We had 17 riders on the first weekend, 11 on the second. We rode different courses as well.
The first ride was on Saturday, March 21st at 8 am was Sand and Sequoias course, which is 13.1 miles with no real climbs. I had a tech issue with my AppleTV that morning, which caused me to miss the start of my own meetup! I was able to grab my laptop and get Zwift fired up, but I missed over half the ride.
We had our second ride, this past Saturday, March 28th that was also 8 am start. The route was "Our and Back Again," which is a 25-mile ride with two climbs towards the end. We had 11 riders, out of 32 invited. As our ride started at 8 am, we were quickly swallowed up by another Zwift group ride of over 200 people...so much for staying together. We broke up into small groups, and I found myself with four other riders; Dan Cooper, Steve Kang, Jimmy Whippet, and Geoff Loui. We managed to stay together and were maintaining a 2.0-3.0/watt per kilo pace. This was higher than I had hoped it would be. My goal was to keep the pace slow to keep everyone together, but with the chaotic start that didn't happen. So be it. We rode together for the next 40-50 minutes until we reached the top of the Volcano climb, at which point I slowed to try and pick up riders who had fallen behind. I managed to find one other rider, Giao Nguyen.
Both of these rides have been 1-1.5 hours in length, a great workout, and a lot of fun. Right now our LG rides are "meetups" on Zwift, meaning you must follow the ride organizer---in this case, me, for an invite. To do this, you find and follow me on the Zwift companion app. Once that is done, I can invite you to the ride from the list of followers. You will see a notification on both the companion app and the Zwift game itself (in the upper right corner) that the ride is coming up. You should RSVP either way and if you plan on riding, you can set reminders for the upcoming ride. Ideally, you should log into Zwift 5-10 minutes prior to ride time, and you will see the option to join the ride. If you log in later than the start time, you may not be able to join. Once the ride begins, there is a yellow ride beacon for the ride leader. Ideally, our group stays together following that beacon.
As we all come to grips with our radically changed daily lives, Zwift is proving to be a fantastic resource for people to get together, ride, meet-up and even talk with the use of the Discord app, which allows group conversations while riding. Now we just need a virtual Peet’s Coffee for after the ride! As we still in the beginning stages of these LG Zwift rides, there is definitely room for suggestions. Routes, times, days are also open to discussion.
A huge thanks goes out to Geoff Loui for all his help. If you need any other info or want to reach me via email at andrewevanr@gmail.com.
Thank you,
Andrew Rosenfeld
Screenshot of Andrew Rosenfeld on Zwift in his LG50 kit.
Race Reports: Tour de Murrieta
Morgan James wrote us a poem!
Race kits were red
The sky was blue
A crit full of shenanigans
But the circuit was too
If you thought that turning was safe
Your line might be cut off if you were too late
Flat tires and road rash and frustration galore
I’m still surprised that cyclist don’t start war
Early morning breakfast and teammates to adore
La grange went beast mode and I couldn’t ask for more!
-----------
Tyler Scott writes more long form:
Woke up at the crack of dawn Saturday morning, quickly off to breakfast to stuff my face! Once I had topped the belly off it was a very short drive to the Crit course in downtown Murrieta. Got my numbers and had Daniele Monahan and Trevor Jahn help me put them on. Quickly got onto the course for a 15 minute warm up while also finding ideal lines and clean track.
Come race start for my group (Cat5), whistle blows and were off! Race had a decently fast start but settled in after about two laps. By settling in I mean instead of 800 watt surges it was only 500 watt surges every 15 seconds. Of course 10 wide down the straights, 4 wide with brakes into corners, you know typical cat 5 stuff.
Race didn't have much pace only averaging about 24mph, but the surging killed me. I learned from my first ever race not to let the front group go in cat 5. So I stayed about top 5-10 the whole race. Come the last lap The legs are pretty smoked and my heart rate was decently high. There was a big jump in pace coming down the back straight which used most of anything I had left in the tank, but I held good position through the last two corners. Then come the front straight, as soon as the last corner ended guys were out of the saddle in full sprint. I knew I simply didn't have it and just kept decent pressure on the pedals and watched 17 guys pass me. Overall great race got 24th out of 43 riders I believe, should have been top 10 but my legs failed me after all that surging.
Day 2 Circuit:
Sunday was about the same as previous with 1hr less sleep. 😁 Got to the road course unloaded and got to warming up quite quickly. I did a single lap of the course about 4 mile to read the course and have an idea what I was getting into. Overall great course for me personally. I'm not a road racer but If I have to this would be the course I would choose. Race got off to a VERY slow start, like social group ride pace. I said well, I'm not complaining that's for sure, All just stay in the top 6-8 and chill out. Then the surging commenced. 😅😅 Still legs felt good and heart rate stayed down.
Here's where the shenanigans begin. After about two neutrals 5-7 laps in two civilian cars got onto the course and really threw a wrench in the whole operation. 😄About 15 guys from my field charged the cars and when around after one of the thinly spread Marshalls had said to "hold pace". I guess people didn't realize you shouldn't pass cars on an open course for safety reasons and they should be treated as a neutral. Regardless, cars were passed, Marshall lost any voice that she had left exploding into rage and disbelief. A head shake from myself and then the race continued a few miles down road.
Come last lap I was in great position about top 15, lost quite a few positions on the back side of the track knowing I would make them up in the following final turns to come. Sure enough I made up about 20+ positions in 3 turns. Tried to give it what I had to the finish line (wasn't much) and got 17th place.
Best part of all of this is the Marshalls decided to DQ the entire cat5 field due to the car incident So my best road race finish to date is not, and will not be on paper. Great training ride I guess.
All and all I performed better than I expected and placed better than anticipated overall. Good weekend for me and learned a lot on racecraft. Sorry for the novel, but I can't speak shortly. 😴
Women's P1/2/3 Tour de Murrieta video recap
Beautiful start for the women's 3/4/5 circuit race at Tour de Murrieta.
The women's team cheering on Liz in the P1/2/3 TDM grand prix.
Women's team meeting.
Danie pedal shark in her second race of the day at TDM.
Morgan charging down the straight.
Sarah cruising into turn one at TDM GP.
Women's team at TDM.
Peter takes second at TDM!
Pre race rituals, Trevor and Pablo pinning on numbers.
Men's cat 3 coming into turn 1.
Garnett and Peter doing a little race recap.
Top step for Alan at TDM!
Virtual Racing by Tina Grant
Racing and riding outside is always going to be my personal preference. It gives us energy, confidence and frankly pure bliss. When we'll be able to return to our usual cycling routine is unclear so until then we need to look to alternatives. This week I've partnered with the San Diego Bicycle Club, Machines for Freedom and Zwift to create events for us to get together to celebrate our sport. Targeting virtual rides and races will help connect us while keeping us fit. If feedback is good we'll continue targeting other events in the future. Have a favorite virtual social ride or race? Please pass it on! If members have questions about smart trainers or virtual training platforms I'd be happy to set up a zoom chat to discuss.
La Grange and SDBC race team captains Tina and Pat working together in a virtual race on Zwift.
La Grange looking sharp in their 50th anniversary kits on Zwift.
New Members
Welcome to the following 4 new members who joined in March 2020:
Peter, Nell, Jim, and David
La Voix
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2020 Castelli Kit Order Update
2020 La Grange Cup Dates
February LG50 Ride
Team Camp Report By Cara Applegate
Race Reports
New Members
Castelli Kit Order Update
The original shipping date for the 2020 kit was the end of February, which has come and gone. Castelli has been providing the Board with updates on the delay. The bottom line is that some items will be ready to ship within a few days and some items will not be ready to ship by the middle of April. Castelli wanted to know if we thought members would prefer to wait to receive all of their items at the same time or y’all would prefer to receive an item as soon as it is ready to ship, which means most members will multiple shipments, at Castelli’s expense. The Board communicated to Castelli that we thought members would want to receive items as soon as they are ready so everyone will be receiving multiple shipments from Castelli.
2020 La Grange Cup Dates
The dates have been tentatively set for the 2020 La Grange Cup Series. The dates are:
20k TT: Saturday, May 30th
500 Meter Sprint: Sunday, August 2nd
Piuma Hill Climb: Saturday, Sept 26th, with the annual club picnic following at noon.
In case you think it is too early to start training, you might want to know that you are probably racing for 2nd place in the TT since one member, in particular, has been putting in some serious training with his self-tracking drone.
February LG 50 Ride
LG 50 is the name of the monthly La Grange social rides that started as the “50 for 50 rides. Marco Fantone created the route, which was ridden in reverse, through the city, up to the Griffith Park Observatory, west on Mulholland to Skirball and down Sepulveda to Santa Monica Brew Works. Thank you to Jaycee Cary for the ride leadership, to Marc Lewinstein for providing SAG, and to Geoff Lui and Emily Conant for providing the photos.
Team Camp Report by Cara Applegate
The new year is well behind us and many cyclists are deep into their carefully planned 2020 bicycle training journeys. Team Velo Club La Grange, fully aware that rubbing's racing, intervals for flat tire changes can be just as important as VOmax efforts, and nothing beats the wiley perils of the choice of not one but two post-ride apple pie shoppes, hosted a team camp in the mountain mining town of Julian, California the second weekend of January. Guys and gals of varying racing categories and backgrounds gathered together to celebrate all things bicycle, build and strengthen relationships, and learn learn learn about bike driving, road racing and each other. A successful weekend away from the hustle and bustle of the teeming city we call home would give each and every La Granger present more insight into the vastly complicated, always nuanced, and deeply woven web that is the world of cycling. Apart from being fun as all get out, a successful team camp lays the baseline for victorious team coordination in races, securing more accolades for VCLG in the future, and having way more fun doing it because you know your teammates inside and out.
Our paths for the weekend were expertly designed by Captains Tina Grant, Zach Labry, Danie Monahan, Sam Selfridge, and Steven Walter. Comfortable housing secured, delicious and healthy food coordinated, eager helpers enlisted... conversation flowed as liberally as the sparkling water, tasty meals were shared, victories both large and small celebrated, epic defeats commiserated. The custom designed team van was tested to its limits as follow car, snack hub, and heating room. Mock races, pacelining, sprints, wheel rubbing, and rider contact were amongst the many on-bike activities that occupied the intrepid riders' time. When not on the road, either on Saturday's 60 mile adventure or Sunday's skills and drills extravaganza, the team spent the vast majority of its time talking about - you guessed it - bikes. We were even treated to a powerpoint presentation on innermost time trialing secrets - an incredible opportunity rarely shared with the general population! (hint: aero is not a myth)
El Camino Real - the Royal Way - was a road, the King's Highway, stretching from Baja Mexico to San Francisco, connecting the 21 Spanish missions, sub-missions, presidios and pueblos in California. El Camino is a coupe utility muscle car, as well as a community college in Gardena, California, and the name of a Breaking Bad movie. But for members of Velo Club La Grange, El Camino is Le Chemin, because we have french roots, bien sûr! and The Way of the Velo Club La Grange cycling team comprises myriad things like fitness, education, fraternity and camaraderie. With a solid weekend of teambuilding setting the pace for the 2020 season, the VC La Grange racing team is well-positioned to show pelotons all over the world just how incredible this "way" is!
Race Report - Santa Barbara
I began to win, why the hell not. 461. Over the “hill” we went two times - the hill we’d chalked still said LG LG LG LG and SHARK ATTACK and b! That last one was for me, I raced invisibly detached into the second lap. Then on really fast shit Bang! SSSSSSS! a pinch-flat blowout shouting around me FLATT!!! racing the aluminum rim to a narrow asphalt edge. My fault for too-low tire pressure and riding a bit blindly on the badly broken road.
David Newcombe
First race of the season and not long after team camp, the Santa Barbara Road Race was an exciting start to the new year. There were other firsts; team tent with the LG van, David racing with the team, driving out early to preview the course, chalking the road for our teammates like pro race fans, new teammates, learning techniques for bottle hand ups at the feed zone, my first crash in a race...
Renee Fox
The first attack presented a textbook case of the shock-and-awe subtype in which two Big Girl Cat 1s explode effortlessly from the pack in the steep middle of the climb. These two were going to stay away. The pack was all set to ignore them gracefully. I knew this, I did. The correct answer is for me to (a) stay put and, optionally, nod in grim respect such superior power and preparation. The incorrect answer is to (b) tow the pack up, over, and all the way down all while giving an excellent impression of a Labrador chasing a stick. At least we dropped all the sprinters.
Danie Monahan
CBR #2 Men’s Cat 4
I'm still recovering from a back injury, but I've been on a few NOW rides with reasonable success. I expected to hang in the front 1/3 of the pack, and was physiologically capable of doing so yesterday. After about six or seven laps, I was right behind a crash and had to pull off. This caused me to lose the group, and I couldn't sustain the necessary 27 ish MPH needed to catch them. Regarding the crash, a young racer started wide, and then cut into the corner. Meanwhile, a rider in the middle of the pack was swinging out wide in preparation for the turn (instead of starting wide, or just staying in his lane.) They collided, which caused the crash. I was fine, but it demonstrates the importance of picking a line and holding it. People were also not really staying on the line of the wheel directly in front of them, making cornering unpredictable. Also, races are safer when the pace is faster; this one had periods of slowing to ~24 mph in which the field would widen to six to eight riders, making a very unsafe cornering situation. When that happens, I think the only decent place to be is right at the front, even if it costs energy.
I think at the next criterium I race, I will work to be in the front 5 to 10 riders until I can no longer sustain that pace. I would rather be at the front, taking a good line through the corner, than behind folks who are going to crash and effectively take me out of the race. There were two other crashes in this race.
A buddy of mine stayed up front at this race, and was well positioned. But on CBR west going clockwise, the real sprint starts at the second to last corner. He hadn't worked his way to the front yet, expecting to use the bump to do so, and ended up taking 11th.
Cheers to being upright!
PS I'm told with new upgrade rules, riders can now opt into cat4 without doing their 6-10 races or BRP. So we should all be on the lookout for potentially unsafe riders, and should probably try to go to races with fewer than 60 people. I would still encourage new racers to take their time in Cat 5 - it's a great opportunity to make mistakes, learn, and eventually get some hardware!
Mike daSilva
CBR #2 Women’s 4-5
Result: 3rd of 21 🔥
Report: My goal was to do as little as possible work until the final lap, and I managed it until the last half a lap and took it home in the sprint, having positioned myself reasonably well on that final corner. Definitely some wobbly riders who would pinch right in at corners, so opted to ride further out knowing I would need to pedal further (but you know, staying upright is job number 1). The neutralising with the W P123 field was actually totally fine. Told my legs to drop the hammer on the final sprint and it seemed to work and no one could pass me, woo hooo. Jasmyn from Sisterhood was better positioned than me on final stretch though so couldn’t catch her...next time I plan to!
Sarah Jones
Sarah, #99, navigating in pack.
Sarah made it to third step on the podium!
Rock Cobbler
“What on earth have I signed myself up for?!” – Lee
Katie making Rock Cobbler look like a Sunday coffee ride.
The Rock Cobbler gang!
Sam’s recovery ride.
We’ve been cobbled!
Valley of the Sun
Steven Walter about to launch!
Couldn’t have made the trek to Valley of the Sun without our amazing sprinter van!
Sunset leg openers with Trevor.
Tina brought a knife to a gun fight for the Valley of the Sun time trial.
Charlie looking sharp in Acacia’s kit.
Daniel plotting out some race strategy.
Garnett pinning on some numbers before the road race.
Fort La Grange!
The Valley of the Sun gang.
“This is what an hour and a half off the front looks like.” – Trevor
Tina loving those crit course corners.
New Members
Welcome to the following 8 new members who joined in February 2020.
Alipasha, Andy, Garnett, John, Kevin, Kory, Monika, Renee.
