On Tuesday, July 7, 2020, Velo Club La Grange hosted a virtual Town Hall where a number of local Black cyclists shared their perspective and experiences and engaged in an interactive question and answer session. We invite you to watch this critically important conversation.
La Voix
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Velo Club La Grange believes all Black lives matter
Castelli Fit Issues
Group Riding Update
New Members
Velo Club La Grange believes all Black lives matter
The senseless killing of George Floyd in Minnesota followed a long line of acts of intolerable violence against Black Americans. As cyclists and persons of conscience, Velo Club La Grange stands together in solidarity with our Black members, other Black cyclists, and the entire Black community, as we commit as an organization to address violence and racism against Black Americans.
As a club, we will not be passive in our condemnation of racism, injustice, and violence. It is in times like these when we need to come together to drive essential change. As the first step in our efforts to listen, understand, and take action against racism, on Tuesday, July 7 at 7 pm PDT, we will be hosting a virtual Town Hall where a number of local Black cyclists have agreed to share their perspective and experiences and then engage in an interactive question and answer session. While hosted by La Grange, the Town Hall is open to all. Please make a note on your calendar to attend the Town Hall on Tuesday at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83247567737. We hope you will join us for this critically important conversation.
Castelli Fit Issues
We hope you and your family and your teammates are all safe and healthy during this uncertain and challenging time. We also want to thank you for your team’s continual partnership with Castelli again for this season.
It has been brought to our attention that following a production facility change we implemented with the start of the year there have been some fit specification issues, affecting the following styles from your team’s order:
M Free Aero Race 4 Bibshort – Bib strap length/fit issue
W Free Aero Race 4 Bibshort – Bib strap length/fit issue
Team UPF Sun Sleeves – Overall Fit Pattern Issue
If you are experiencing an issue with one of the above styles and proven issues, please contact Marco Fabrizio at L.Marco.Fab@gmail.com by July 5, 2020, to arrange a rebuild to meet proper specification at no additional cost to you. Any product that has already been delivered is yours to keep in the meantime as well. Any inquiries on styles other than listed above will need to be reviewed independently against specification expectations. Inquiries outside of the provided deadline are subject to meeting reproduction minimums and will be placed as they hit the 5 piece production threshold accordingly.
As always Castelli fully stands behind our products to meet your expectations. We are happy to replace any issue products during this time to ensure that you and your teammates continue to have the best experience with your La Grange products. We are very excited to be partnered with our new facility as well and have taken additional investments and steps to ensure these issues will not continue. Additionally, this new partnership is allowing us to offer lowered minimums and will allow even quicker production turnaround (once fully back up to speed following the current COVID-19 crisis – the goal was to get closer to 5 weeks of delivered completed product and only 5 piece minimums).
We have been in continual communication with the Velo Club La Grange Board to ensure we are best able to resolve this issue for the team. Please reach out to them with any questions but don’t hesitate to reach out if we can assist further in any way. We greatly appreciate your and Velo Club La Grange’s continual support and your understanding of this unfortunate hiccup. We look forward to resolving these issues for you and your teammates quickly. Thank you and stay healthy!
Best regards,
Mike Clodfelter
To Southern California Cyclists:
We all love riding in groups, and no matter whether it is because of the camaraderie we share, the ability to race with others, better safety and support, or just the enjoyment of suffering together, it has been difficult to give up group rides during the pandemic. I commend all of you that have stopped riding together so we can do our part to slow the spread of COVID-19. As a club or group leader, I care about the safety of my members. You are my friends, teammates, and riding partners and I want everyone to be safe so we can enjoy riding together again once this is behind us. The leaders of the cycling organizations in the area agree that safety is paramount and the undersigned are in agreement with the following principles.
I. Cycling is important and we encourage our members to ride, indoors and outdoors, during the pandemic, but we encourage members to follow social distancing protocols.
II. At this time, clubs and groups are not promoting group rides. If you choose to ride outdoors, please ride only with those that you live with. Please do not ride in groups. Beyond the obvious health risks, the potential social and sponsor backlash could cause unforeseen problems for all of us.
III. Do not use our social media (i.e. Facebook, Strava, website, etc) to announce rides and please do not post photos of large group rides to social media.
IV. Group rides are not expected to resume until city, county, and state guidelines permit them. When group rides resume, there may be limits on group size and distancing that we will have to follow.
V. When riding outside please follow COVID-19 cycling etiquette:
1. Always have a face mask with you in case you need to enter a closed space, are riding through a city that requires one, or come upon others.
2. Always check behind you or pull off the road or trail when you sneeze, cough, or expectorate. Better yet, carry a handkerchief.
3. Be considerate when passing other riders, runners, and walkers by giving them a wide berth.
4. Temporarily slow when other riders are passing you so they can get by you more quickly.
5. Do not congregate at stoplights or trail crossings, keep social distancing.
6. Keep in mind that social distance increases as your speed increases.
7. Please ride safely, a trip to the hospital now could be bad for everyone.
As cyclists we know we can endure discomfort to reach our goal. Right now we are facing a very tough climb, but together we can do this. I look forward to your support.
Signed,
Rich Hirschinger, Velo Club La Grange
Marco Fantone, Velo Club La Grange
Marc Lewinstein, Velo Club La Grange
Eric Arentsen, Big Orange
Greg Leibert, Big Orange
Greg Seyranian, Big Orange
John Heffernan, Big Orange
Don Wolfe, Big Orange
Joann Zwagerman, Friendly Donut Ride (FDR)
Mario Obejas, Beach Cities Cycling Club
Gary Parsons, Beach Cities Cycling Club
Matthew Peck, Beach Cities Cycling Club
Laura Watts, Girlz Gone Riding (GGR)
Wendy Engelberg, Girlz Gone Riding (GGR)
Mandy (Norman) Genato, AdoboVelo
Mhel Mojica, AdoboVelo
Tasja Hwong, All Mountain Trail Riders (AMTR)
New Members
Welcome to the following 6 new members who joined in June 2020. TJ, John, Ben, David, Blake, and David
La Voix
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New Kit Day
COVID Coffee Closings
CombineLA
2020 LZ Cup #1 Crit City
New Members
New Kit Day
This is “Must See TV. Enjoy!
COVID Coffee Closings
COVID-19 has had a profound effect on the coffeehouse landscape on the westside of Los Angeles. Y’all know we lost the La Grange “clubhouse” location when Peet’s closed their Brentwood location but just this past Wednesday, Peet’s permantely closed both their location in Westwood Village and their location on South Beverly Drive. Peet’s is not the only coffee merchant to close some stores. The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf has closed their Beverly Glen and Santa Monica Blvd. location as well as their 3rd Street and La Cienega location. We will all survive but cyclists clearly love their coffee and we now have fewer locations to meet at. 🚴♀️🚴♂️☕️
The former location of Peet’s in Westwood Village, which served as the post-Nichols Ride coffeehouse.
The former location of Peet’s in Beverly Hills on South Beverly Drive, which served as the post-ride coffeehouse for the La Grange Thursday crew.
The former location of The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on the corner of Beverly Glen and Santa Monica Blvd.
The former location of The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on the corner of 3rd Street and La Cienega Blvd.
CombineLA
LG members Steve and Naomi are spearheading a non-profit called “CombineLA” that creates and distributes free face shields to medical professionals.
Site: https://combine.la/
GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/personal-protective-equipment-for-la-hospitals
Amazon Wish List: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/AEXVX1RK97A0/ref=cm_go_nav_hz
WHAT:
CombineLA crowdsources people and institutions with 3D printers to create face shields for frontline medical professionals. These shields are durable, cleanable, and donated for free. Steve sees CombineLA as an organization that will transcend the COVID crisis and offer flexible and agile assistance to local and regional entities during future crises.
WHO:
CombineLA is funded by private donations through a GoFundMe site and corporate donors such as Verizon and Northrop Grumman. The “makers” are supported by the UCLA School of Engineering, the robotics teams from local high schools, and private individuals.
PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION:
CombineLA typically assembles and produces approximately 2000 shields per week. The printers are typically running 24/7 creating components. They currently have requests for nearly 10,000 shields.
THEIR CRITICAL NEEDS:
1) A semi-permanent space where they can store materials and perform assembly and boxing.
2) Materials
3) Money
4) Volunteers
HOW LA GRANGE CAN HELP
1) Spread the word to our membership through official LG communication channels
2) Solicit donations, materials, and volunteers from our cycling community
3) Increase awareness
Please email stephen@ambestfood.com with any questions or click the links above to donate and help!
2020 La Zwift Cup #1
The virtual La Zwift Cup is underway. Please enjoy this video of LZ Cup #1 Crit City
New Members
Welcome to the following 8 new members who joined in May 2020. Bennett, David, Brendan, Paul, Saul, and Isaac.
