Greetings La Grange Members,
This month’s newsletter includes recaps on our first LG Safety Course, LG 50, womens ride and spring social at Busby’s, member feature by Ryan Schmidt and June dates to remember. As the Tour de France approaches I’ll leave you with this question… Will the 19 year old Paul Seixas be in the La Grange Jersey (aka French Nationals jersey) at the Tour de France? So excited to see this young professional race against Tadej this year at the tour! Thanks again to Amy Hutner for your support in gathering content for this month’s La Voix.
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,
We closed out May with amazing weather and a super fun LG 50 ride to Griffith Observatory. As we look to June and beyond this might be a good time to set some cycling goals. And to come together as a club supporting each other in the club and larger cycling community.
Simple hellos, and sharing comments like “you are riding strong” can carry lots of positive energy that are just as powerful as that sugary gel, banana, or aero part.
Let’s all have an amazing and safe summer riding our bikes and regaling the accomplishments and beauty of the day together afterwards.
Vive La Grange,
Larry
Racing News
US Elite Track National Championships Bound
By Morgan James
Hi everyone!
I wanted to share a quick training and racing update as I head into a big stretch of UCI track racing this summer. Thanks to the incredible support from Velo Club La Grange, I’ve been preparing for a major block of international competition over the next several weeks. Next weekend, I’ll head to Pennsylvania for the UCI C2 Fastest Woman on Wheels, followed by my first-ever UCI C1 competition at the Carnival of Speed in Trinidad. After that, I’ll return home to race the UCI C2 Summer Slam at the VELO Sports Center before focusing on the US Elite Track National Championships later this August. I’ve been building toward this season since last September, and I’m excited to finally put all the work to the test.
One of the biggest turning points in my preparation came last November when I attended my first development camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. The coaching staff encouraged me to make a major adjustment to my training by reducing some of my track-specific work and significantly increasing my aerobic base training and Zone 2 riding. Over the last six months, that change has made a huge difference in my fitness and confidence. While I no longer race for La Grange on the road, I’ve had a strong road season with several podium performances, and I’m currently leading the CBR race series in the Women’s P1/2 field with both the yellow and green jerseys heading into the finale in early June. In fact, I’ll be stepping off the plane from Pennsylvania and heading straight to the CBR finale that same day!
I’m incredibly grateful for the support La Grange has provided throughout this journey. Racing internationally and competing at the national level would not be possible without the encouragement of this community. I’m proud to represent the club this season and can’t wait to share how the racing goes over the next few months!
Velo Club La Grange! stay tuned for Morgan’s exact race schedule so we can show up in numbers to cheer for Morgan at the Velo Sports Center later this month and early July! The events are free to the public and really fun to watch.
Club News
Club Kit for Armenian Cyclists
By Michael Kludjan
Getting rid of old kit as new spring kit arrives? Arrange a meet up or drop off. I’m in Cheviot Hills and have a big porch where others have dropped off stuff. Helmets, shoes, kits, old equipment, anything bike related is acceptable. I’ll be making another trip to bring cycling gear soon. Reach out to me at 310-817-3299.
Thanks so much for your donations! The gear is greatly appreciated by the kids. They love the stuff.
Save the Date!
LG Women’s Ride: Saturday June 20
June LG50 Ride: Saturday June 27
Edgar Burcksen Memorial Santa Barbara Century: Saturday August 1
Club Events Recap
May Spring Social at Busby’s Santa Monica
By Deb Carabet
Images by various contributors
A great time was had by all who attended our May Social at Busby's West. Members played miniature golf, a little shuffleboard and enjoyed food and drinks while listening to our special guest speaker, Charles Aaron.
Three LG sponsors were present. Kevin Culpepper of ACTS Law educated us about the recently proposed measures by Uber that could significantly impact the rights of injured victims, including Los Angeles rideshare accident victims, drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists. Rich Hirschinger of Gentle Jaw added context to Kevin's update and David Newcombe from John Fox Fine Painting provided an update from our recent Skills and Safety Clinic. It was so great to have our sponsors with us.
Guest speaker Charles Aaron shared his background racing as a young cyclist and how he got his start owning and managing pro cycling teams over his long career and why he decided to focus on women's pro cycling. He shared Human Powered Health's goals, news about their women's team and thoughts on returning to our cycling roots with the younger generation to bring pro racing back to North America.
Thank you for joining us Charles and for picking the winner of the Rudy Project Sunglasses raffle, which was won by Ryan Schmidt and his son!
See you all at the next social!
La Grange Skills & Safety Course
By David Newcombe
Skills Course, cont’d. The goal, we recall, to make group riding Safety a topic to which we devote club energy, as part of our culture of looking out for one another.
Starts at 8. There is a little stretching, off the bike, to be honest, a little reaching and twisting and balancing, of which we can expect mastery from those who propose to operate bicycles at speed in close proximity to us, no?
We inspect our tires. The instructor says, “You may be surprised by some damage you didn’t know about.” Then promptly finds a large hole in his own rear tire.
That’s what learning is! A constant surprise, what you don’t know, right?
Or, what we don’t pay attention to. Or what we don’t have shared words to talk about.
We address these constraints thus: we test our brakes, hard, around the building at Helen’s and in the little parking lot. We try riding a straight line while turning to look behind, each side. We corner one-by-one past a moving pedestrian obstacle, the fearless Geoff Loui, studying our decreasing line by mental effort to not look at the obstacle. To not hit Geoff.
We ride smartly in a neat double line up 26th St. We frame our rubric as “rider responsibilities.” You are responsible for your line, your spacing, your speed. Your focus.
We all need corrections, and encouragement, too. In the Skills Course, we offer these objectively and kindly, while carefully tending our fragile paceline around the golf course clockwise, amidst the usual foreseen and unforeseen madness we call “the road.”
A few of our LG junior racers, animating our pace line, demonstrate the future of road cycling, and the continuity of the Velo Club La Grange vision.
May La Grange Women’s Ride
By Amy Hutner
Led by Amy Hutner and Philippa Moore
Images by Philippa Moore
On May 16th, the Women's Ride met up at Ocean and San Vicente for a social-paced ride up PCH to Topanga and up and over Topanga Canyon, Old Topanga and Mullholland to Pedalers Fork and back. In addition to some 'regulars" on this ride (Cate, Philippa, Janice and Kirsten), we were joined by a few friends of Philippa's - Molly and Jolene. Topanga was lush and beautiful. While Amy and Kirsten both had to turn around before Pedaler's Fork, the hardy remaining crew were able to make it to Pedaler's and enjoy a coffee and pastry before heading back over Topanga and back to Santa Monica. A good time was had by all, new friendships forged, and solid time in the saddle logged!
May La Grange LG 50 to the Griffith Park Observatory
Led by Marco Fantone | SAG by Renee Fox & David Newcombe of John Fox Fine Painting
Images by various contributors
Saturday’s LG 50 ride could not have had better weather to trek across the city to the Griffith Observatory.
The ride started from Helen’s in Santa Monica where Jay and Adam opened the shop early for cyclists to purchase any nutrition and gear needed before the ride. The LG van was gleaming from a thorough detailing by Marco, David, Amanda & Renée. A few words on safety and the route were spoken and the group departed with the van following closely behind. As the peloton climbed Sepulveda, David spotted Rich Hirschinger with a mechanical, pulled over and used the tools in the van to help Rich get back on the bike so he was able to catch up to the group and finish the ride. The group had the usual small regroups near the start of Mulholland near the temple and also at the 101 freeway where Mulholland ends with the main regroup/ SAG stop at Travel Town just inside Griffith Park. Renée & David provided quite the spread with the usual fare plus sandwiches that fueled the cyclists for their final climb up to the observatory. A large group made their way to Santa Monica Brew Works after the ride for some well-earned beer and snacks.
Member Features
Mallorca 312 Bicycle Race
By Tom Hill
It was the end of April 2023 when my nephew Marcos from Argentina contacted me about a bicycle race on the island of Mallorca in Spain. He said I should come to Mallorca and do this race the Mallorca 312.
Marcos left Argentina twenty one years ago and moved to Mallorca to follow his dreams and passion for sailing. After earning his education in the boating industry he became a Captain and found work sailing private yachts owned by wealthy foreigners. Mallorca is a beautiful island and has attracted many famous people. Some of the homeowners on the island include Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Michael Douglas, Sir Richard Branson, Pierce Brosnan, Claudia Schiffer, Rafa Nadal and many others including Bradley Wiggins a winner of the Tour de France.
After a little research I was excited to enter the race the following year in 2024. Registration opens in October for the following year race. You have to be fast on the computer because once entries opened up they sell out 8,000 entries within ten minutes! I did not get my entry in time so I hooked up with a British Cycling Tour company that had some extra entries and got in.
There are three distances offered. The short version is 104 miles and 8,100 feet of ascent, the medium version is 140 miles and 13,000 feet of ascent and the longest version is 193 miles with 16,500 feet of climbing. I did the short version in 2024 finishing in 6 hours and totally drained crossing the finish line.
I registered in 2025 and was looking forward to the race again until I got a knock on my door January 7th at 10:15 a.m. by a neighbor who told me there was a big fire heading our way. I climbed on the roof of my house, made a quick video of it then came back inside. At that moment I froze deciding what I could get out of my house before the mandatory evacuation. After loading up my car with all I could take, Clyde (my dog) and I headed out to Sunset Blvd. to sit in bumper to bumper traffic to escape the fire as it kept getting closer and the smoke became thicker. Needless to say I missed the race in 2025 as it was a lost year relocating many times and living out of my car. I promised myself I was not going to let anything get in my way so I could return in 2026.
This year I chose to challenge myself and signed up for the longer distance race of 140 miles and 13,000 feet of climbing. I put in some longer early season rides to prepare for the longer race. Most of my rides were 5 to 6 hours long, though this race would be about 10 hours long. At 5:30 a.m. 8,500 riders lined up for a 6:30 a.m. start of the 16th annual Mallorca 312. It was a cold morning and I was shivering waiting in the dark for the gunshot start. The field of riders were mostly all Europeans with the majority from Spain, England and Germany. Every year the event draws top racers and some famous ex pros. This year brought Jan Ullrich from Germany and Miguel Indurain from Spain both past Tour de France winners. Indurain is the most famous Spanish racer having won the Tour de France 5 times.
I was placed in the last group of 5,000 riders and did not cross the start line until 18 minutes after the official start. The pace was fast once we got going on the flat section of about 10 miles before reaching the first major mountain pass. I tried to hold back knowing it was going to be a long day but it was hard not getting caught up with all of the others and adrenaline running high. There was also a time cut at mile 60 which I did not want to miss. Having started in the back and losing 18 minutes at the start made it that much harder. I rode steady and fast passing hundreds of riders over the first two major climbs and thankfully arrived 15 minutes before the time cut so I could continue on the longer course. It was a beautiful day, sunny and temperatures in the low 70’s most of the day. The mountain passes were very scenic and great ocean views. My goal was to break 10 hours. After 13,000 feet of climbing and 140 miles I crossed the finish line in 8 hours and 55 minutes and finished 4th in my age category.
It was my longest race and required all my effort. I was happy to beat my goal of breaking 10 hours. My finishing time will allow me to move up to another group next year so I can cross the start line sooner.
I would highly recommend cycling on Mallorca, it is truly the Mecca for road cycling and should be on your bucket list!
Until next year!
Cheers, Tom
Springtime Portland West Hills Ride
By Ryan Schmidt
Warning: If you bring up an epic ride in conversation with Renée, you may end up writing it up for La Voix.
Last April, I traveled to Portland on the first flight out of LAX on a Thursday, hoping to get a bike ride in that afternoon. I knew that I needed to get going as soon as possible as I was attempting the route for the De Ronde PDX 2024 ride. This ride occurs annually as part of The PDX Classics - Chasing Lions series (http://www.RondePDX.com and The PDX Classics - Chasing Lions Club on Strava). It is an open road event that is intended to mimic a Belgian classic, such as Liège-Baston-Liège, that is challenging for its up and down profile that is never flat.
I skipped lunch to head over to the Cycle Portland bike shop and start riding, relying solely on The Feed nutrition (orange Skratch gummies, blackberry pie bar, SIS Beta strawberry lime gels). The bike was ready to go thanks to an easy online reservation process, and I was able to store my shoes at the shop. I got a Giant carbon road bike with tubeless 32 mm tires and subcompact chainrings allowing for a 1:1 gear ratio for the smallest gear, which turned out to be perfect for the combination of rough pavement, gravel, and steep sections ahead of me.
The ride took me up and down the West Hills, which is a small mountain with panoramic views overlooking downtown Portland and the surrounding areas. They say that you can see around 4 volcanoes within the Cascade Range from the West Hills on the right day. I didn’t look that hard, but I could easily make out Mount Hood in the distance.
The route took me through an industrial area to enter Forest Park for some shaded gravel climbing punctuated by funky art installations. From there, I rode through beautiful neighborhoods built into the hills with well-kept landscaping that was in full bloom. Navigation was challenging as there must have been around one hundred navigation points. One eye was kept on the road, and the other on the Garmin. Apparently, you can follow lions painted on the street, but I only saw them once. The developer of this route was a true master operating at the level of a symphony orchestra conductor. I went past major landmarks (Pittock Mansion, the Zoo, and the Rose Garden), through parks and small paths connecting streets in unexpected ways, and even a cemetery! There was one set of antennas at the top that I approached from every possible direction. In the end, it may have been too much for the Garmin to handle. In the neighborhood that includes Portland State University, I entered a Bermuda Triangle where I lost the route and kept doubling back on myself. Apparently, I was supposed to climb a steep one-way street that is the width of a single car against traffic for approximately 600 feet (SW College St). Maybe this would be have been more obvious on the top-end bike computer models. Who knows?
At this point, I was low on energy, nutrition, and water, so I decided to head back to the bike shop. I was satisfied with my 37.7 mile ride with 5,935 feet of elevation gain in around four hours. I quickly downed a Mexican Coke, which was conveniently available at the shop and bought some socks for my daughter. From there, I headed to an outdoor food cart pod and ordered a sope de carnitas and a beer.
Life is good on the bike!
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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Support Our Sponsors
La Grange members receive a 20% discount on all retail Pedal Mafia clothing and accessories. Please see the PM membership benefits page on our website for the member only discount code.Thank you for supporting Pedal Mafia.
Created in Collaboration with Caleb Ewan, this signature series is a reflection on a career defined by speed, precision, and years at the highest level of professional Cycling. Designed alongside the PM team, the collect6ion acts as both a celebration of Caleb’s journey in the sport and a representation of the next chapter, moving beyond the intensity of professional racing while still maintaining a strong connection to the bike, family, fitness, and the lifestyle surrounding cycling, keeping a connection to cycling long after racing itself.
We encourage you to support our clothing sponsor of the last two years, Pedal Mafia, provider of high quality, performance oriented cycling wear for men and women. Stop by their shop conveniently located on Santa Monica Blvd and check out the newly released Caleb Ewan range and ride in the kit of the world tour!
La Grange members receive a 20% discount on non-mechanical components (ie: chain lube, bar tape, etc.) and a 10% discount on bikes, frames and components.
La Grange rides often meet and start from Helen’s in Santa Monica. Be sure to go to Helen’s for all of your bike maintenance and gear needs!
THANK YOU to all of our sponsors!
ACTS Law, Personal Injury Lawyers
APEX Law, Real Estate and Business Litigation
Caffe Luxxe, Artisanal Coffee Roasters Gentle Jaw, A passive stretching device for acute and chronic tmj and jaw pain John Fox Fine Painting, Exquisite finishes and bespoke murals Helen’s Cycles, Local Community Bike Shop
Lee Ziff, Real Estate Pedal Mafia, Killer Cycling Apparel Rudy Project, Italian-Made Helmets and Eyewear The Feed, #1 Source for Performance Nutrition TriFit LA, Fitness and Performance Center
4iiii Powermeters, Harness the Power Santa Monica Brew Works, Santa Monica’s First and Only Brewery
