Dear members,
It's hard to think or write about anything other than the tragic loss of Big Orange rider Rob Dollar this past Sunday. While our thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones, I believe we need to couple that sentiment with actions for change. In a stroke of twisted irony, Rob's club Big Orange has been at the local forefront of such change, stressing rider safety education, in particular over the past year.
This is an area where La Grange can step up and improve. I have called on our board to focus and execute on a rider safety program in 2018. Make no mistake - cycling is an inherently risky sport. But anything we can do to make our club members and our friends in the cycling community safer - even if just a bit - is a worthwhile pursuit. And one we will pursue.
Rob, you are missed.
Annual Banquet and Awards Ceremony
Sunday, November 5 noon
Caffe Roma Beverly Hills
Reminder - our Annual Banquet and Awards Ceremony is coming up this Sunday! Get your tickets now! We will have great food, drink, raffle prizes but most of all, this is a great chance to get together off the bike with your fellow La Grangers. With ticket prices reduced to just $20, the club is picking up more of the tab than ever before. Come join us!
Kits Arrive in December
The debut of our 2018 kit design and our fall kit order was a great success. You should all expect to receive your orders before year-end. Whether or not you want to place your delivery from Castelli under a tree, menorah, aluminum pole or otherwise is completely up to you.
Changes for the Juniors Development Team
After five years of service as the Program Director for our juniors riders and racers, Brian Koester has stepped down. Whether it was introducing new riders to the sport, organizing and driving junior racers to the Valley of the Sun Stage Race in Nevada or grooming National Championship winning junior racers, Brian was tireless in giving his time to our youngest riders and racers. Please join me in thanking Brian for all of the contributions he made to the juniors program.
While we will sorely miss Brian's service, we do have an exciting announcement to make. Matt Wikstrom will be volunteering to coach our Juniors Development Team in 2018. Matt is an accomplished racer and sports marketing and media executive and is the only La Grange member mentioned multiple times in Phil Gaimon's new book Draft Animals. Please join me in welcoming Matt to his new role!
To be clear, Matt will not be replacing Brian - no one could! - as he will be focusing on coaching our junior racers rather than organizing the program in the way that Brian did. We are still working on putting together a juniors program for 2018 - Matt is a very important piece of that puzzle and we are thrilled to have him on board.
The Future of La Voix
While I intend to continue these monthly newsletters, you should expect more and more of our content to be posted directly to our new website. This should make it easier for you to find and digest (some of our prior La Voixs have been quite lengthy!) our content and will also allow us to better share it with the broader cycling community. Members-only announcements like pro deals, special offers and registration links to members-only events will continue by email and in the members-only section of our website, but we want to share what we can with our friends outside La Grange.
Robert Efthimos
President, Velo Club La Grange
www.lagrange.org
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Velo-Club-La-Grange/280123768478
https://vimeo.com/channels/lagrange
http://app.strava.com/athletes/337152
https://vimeo.com/user11846099/videos
Postscript
New member Daili Shang caught on quick and now knows exactly what Easy Pace™ entails
