Dear members,

If you are reading this, then congratulations, you made it to 2017!

2016 was a heck of a year, both in and out of the cycling world. On the bike, we saw Peter Sagan repeat as World Champion and a bunch of you broke 20 minutes on Mandeville Canyon. Off the bike, we saw the debut of Pokemon Go. Was there anything else newsworthy that occurred?

Nevermind all that - what will 2017 bring?

The new year will really kick into gear for La Grange on January 30, when we will have our annual Helen's Night. This is one of the high points of the year for us, as we get together and interrupt our post-holidays diet to chow down on Pitfire Pizza, enjoy some amazing one-night-only discounts offered by Helen's Cycles and spread good cheer as we gather to hang out with our fellow La Grange members and sponsors.

As far as the rest of the 2017 calendar, we will be working on that next week at our January 10th board of directors meeting (same time and place as always - 7pm in the Colorado Center food court, right across the street from Helen's Cycles Santa Monica). Like all other board meetings, all members in good standing are invited to attend. We will be planning out the dates for the 2017 La Grange Cup as well as lots of other great events, including happy hours, LG Van-supported epic rides, our annual picnic, banquet and lots more. We'll be sharing those significant event dates with you in the next La Voix so that you can mark your calendars accordingly.

Here's to a fantastic 2017. Ride and abide and vive 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

Upcoming Events January 2017

Jan 5-8: SCNCA Junior Development Camp, Redlands
Jan 7: Helen’s Monthly Group Ride, 7:45 am Helen’s Santa Monica
Jan 8: Helen’s Cycles / TriFit Beginner Ride, 7:45 am Helen’s / Santa Monica
Jan 11: Board of Directors Meeting – All current members are welcome to attend!! 7 pm Yahoo! Center across the street from Helen’s Cycles Santa Monica
Jan 14: Helen’s Monthly MTB ride, 7:45 am Helen’s SM
Jan 15: Ontario “Ice Breaker” Crit , Ontario
Jan 21: Helen’s Cycles Women Only Group Ride, 7:45 am Helen’s Santa Monica
Jan 22: CBR # 1 Crit  , Dominguez Hills
Jan 22: Helen’s Cycles / TriFit Beginner Ride, 7:45 am Helen’s / Santa Monica
Jan 27-29: BWR Survival Camp, San Marcos
Jan 28: Santa Barbara County Road Race, Sisquoc
Jan 28-29: US Paralympics Track Cycling Open, VSC Carson
Jan 30: Helen’s Night, 7:00pm Helen’s CyclesSanta Monica

Special thanks to Joey Santa Cruz for putting this list together

From the Desk of Seth Davidson Law

New Year’s Resolutions

By Seth Davidson
seth@sethdavidsonlaw.com
(424) 241-8118, 24/7
Bike Injury Lawyer and 2017 Velo Club La Grange Sponsor
 
This is the time of year that everyone does all the things that make them need resolutions on January 2. So I thought I’d get a head start with these gentle suggestions.

1. Start riding with a bright headlight and a bright tail light all the time. It’s the single safest way to stay off the hood of a car.
2. Get a MIPS helmet. These have special linings that diminish the risk of getting a concussion.
3. Ride with your Driver License or California ID card.
4. Max out your underinsured/uninsured motorist coverage to $500,000, minimum. If your carrier won’t provide that much coverage, switch carriers.
5. Wear at least one piece of clothing that is really bright, hi-viz yellow or hi-viz orange. I’ve got a buddy who always wears super bright, hi-viz yellow arm warmers. They clash with everything but somehow are super visible.
6. Swear off downhill KOM attempts on Strava.
7. If you don’t have good health insurance but you have a super nice bike, re-examine your priorities.
8. Don’t drink and ride.
9. Check your tires and replace them before the threads start showing. You know who you are.
10. Enjoy the ride!

[About Seth: Seth has been cycling since 1982 and road racing since 1984. More than 90% of his practice consists of representing injured cyclists in the South Bay and West L.A.]

Race Report

CBR Criterium
December 11
by Roberto Hegeler

Cat 3:
I went to the front of the Peloton right from the start and from then on stayed there with the plan to stay under my FTP and not let anybody escape to create a break, except a single rider. So whenever there was a breakaway attempt, what happened every second lap about on the backside of the course, as there was the headwind, and it must then feel very easy in the field to hang on if I am doing about 300Watt in the headwind section. There where a few single rider attacks, but they survived not much more then 1 1/2 laps until the field got them back and then I went back to the front. I am doing this, as I am wearing the leader jersey of the CBR-Upgrade-Series (Neon-Yellow), and I need to come in third in the sprint to secure the overall. At one point Liutauras Rusaitis and Thomas Rennier created a two-rider breakaway, so I maintained the speed at the front, and on the downhill slowed things even down a bit. It took a couple of laps to catch them, and they did get some sweet money primes up to then. After that I went straight back to the front, two Laps to go launched Thomas for a prime (which he just missed), recovered and then started the sprint to the finish before the last curve, coming in third.

Cat 3/4:
This started the same way as the first one, and I again controlled the speed at the front. This kept on going about ten laps, then Thomas Rennier went alone for a prime. I thought that he may be doing some 400Watt for a while, so I went back to the rhythm of 260 to 280W and on the headwind part to a bit over 300W. This gave him a cap of about 1/8 of the course. There where then attempts from riders to bridge. Again always on the backside where the headwind section is. I jumped in on third to fifth wheel on any attempt and went to the front again always on the start finish line. This happened about every second lap. There was then one strong attempt from a single rider, so I let him go and maintained my speed. He made it in the end between us and Thomas and was not able to close the gap completely. I let him there for three laps, then there was an attempt to bridge from three riders, so I jumped again on them. As soon as they reached the rider between us and Thomas they had "mission accomplished" in their mind, or just happy to be on some others wheel now. I went to the front again and maintained a steady speed. From here on there where no attacks for a few laps, and Thomas gotten over the half of all the primes up to then. I say it was not 3/4 through the race and then some people tried to bridge again and this time they managed to do so. Thomas though recovered a bit again, and I picked up the pace at one point and Thomas even collected another prime. The race then continued the same way, me going to the front and maintaining the speed again and getting ready for the final Sprint. there was a two men break-away then, and they where quite strong, so I bridged that with Bąđĕŕ Āqîł from Big Orange on my wheel, two laps to go. Launching him then into the last Seth Davidson Money Prime. The group then though caught us and I then recovered 1 1/2 laps and went into the sprint, already a bit wobbly in the legs, but made it third and also tock the overall of the 3/4 CBR-Upgrades (only because Christian Molina from Velosport missed the Start, was warming up to long)

Was two great races and La Grange took home the most money!

Cycling on the Internet

Cycling on the Internet
with Matthieu Delcourt

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/veloviewer-strava-plugin/kdgpnlmocdpeckamipkkdblnfcpkgbno

Last year I introduced you to Veloviewer which takes all your Strava data and does all type of analyses of your rides, efforts on all segments and can help you track your own progress including your power data. To make it easier for you this year, Veloviewer came up with an add-on you can install for free on your Chrome or Firefox browser. This will make your Strava experience more enjoyable by linking your rides, segments and routes you created directly to your Veloviewer account to better analyse them. If you don’t have a Veloviewer account, get on it now, it’s free!

Here is the add-on:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/veloviewer-strava-plugin/kdgpnlmocdpeckamipkkdblnfcpkgbno

Happy New Year 2017!

The Month in Photo