#deleted facebook
No, we're not making a political statement here. As always, whether and how you choose to use Facebook and other social media is completely up to you. What we can tell you is that at midnight last night, we deleted the "Velo Club La Grange" Facebook page and will now be using the Facebook group "La Grange Cycling" fka "La Grange Lounge" as the club's single FB presence.
Why delete the page and keep the group? First, two FB pages made it harder for you to find LG content on Facebook. Second, the "page" only allowed LG admins to post content directly to the feed. The group lets all members post directly to the feed. It's more conducive to community-generated content and discourse. So the group lives on, and the page was put out to pasture. Now you have one-stop shopping for your LG Facebook needs. Assuming you haven't deleted the app and bookmarks on your devices.
The Waiting is the Hardest Part
A couple updates on goodies in the mail.
If you ordered a helmet at La Grange Night and don't have it yet, Helen's expects to have them next week. The new Vanquish helmet proved more popular than Giro projected, and so as a result their initial stock was low. But from the Vanquishes I have seen out on the road, they look great! I can't wait to get mine.
For all of you who ordered Castelli kit in our recent spring order, you will get your stuff next month! As always, Castelli will send you a shipping notice with tracking number and from there you can sit in front of your computer hitting "Refresh" every few minutes to see when your kit gets delivered to your door.
2018 La Grange Cup
We've already had to reschedule the Encino 500M in order to avoid a conflict. Here are your updated dates for the 2018 La Grange Cup:
[TBD]: Encino 500M
July 28: PCH Time Trial – Trancas to (Almost) The rock
September 15: Piuma Hill Climb
Each and every leg of the La Grange Cup is open to ALL current members and is 100% FREE and once again, all participants will receive free CUSTOM SOCKS thanks to sponsor Seth Davidson Bike Injury Lawyer. You have plenty of time to train, not train… just show up!
Race Report
UCLA Road Race
by Matthieu Delcourt
The UCLA Road Race is a one of the hardest races of the season, starting immediately on a long climb that we would have to ride two more times. It was also my target race for the year. LG showed up in force with six riders in my field, the men's 4/5 35+: Martin, Mark, Yudai, Eli, Nick and me. We came with the goal of putting as many of us on the podium as possible. Our 7am start was forecast to be very cold, rainy, and windy. We were ready for the worst but it didn’t rain at all!
The first lap wasn’t too hard because of the strong headwind and we were happy not to set the pace. That meant we could keep as many La Grange riders as possible with the field over the top of the climb. The descent was fast and we all froze when a coyote crossed in front of us while we were doing 53mph. On the false flat we let one CBS guy do most of the job for us until he sprinted for the KOM at the end of lap 1. We didn’t contest it and were happy that he got some reward for his hard efforts. Plus, that would motivate him to work more in the wind! LOL
Eli then went to the front on the second climb to set a high tempo which strung out the pack. Near the top, few guys started hammering and the selection happened at the back with people dropping off one by one in the crosswind. There were no solo breakaway attempt and Mark and I ended up in the first split and decided to keep the momentum in the rollers. Looking back in the downhill I could see Martin descending pro-style and closing the gap to us so I told Mark we should wait for him so we could have 3 LG in a group of 7. At that point the chasers behind us seemed pretty disorganized because the peloton had shattered. Our group tried to keep rotations relatively smooth in the crosswind to secure our advantage. The third and last climb was again done at a high pace and it mostly stayed together because the wind was pretty discouraging. Near the top, Mark attacked from second wheel and I jumped right away on his wheel and we quickly realized that only 2 riders could follow the move. That’s when I decided to keep the pressure on and go really hard until the top and make sure nobody could come back. At that point we were 2 LG in the top 4 and that looked pretty good. The four of us did a good job at rotating in the descent and the flat part. One guy was hanging at the back and we dropped him in the wind for a little while but he managed to get back on. At least he burned one match doing so.
Mark did a good job in the last mile uphill by setting a hard pace. The wind had picked up a lot as we had the finish line in sight and 2 La Grange were battling for the win. I decided to start the sprint 150m to go with whatever energy I had left and took 1st while Mark took 2nd. We were both cooked but happy how the race turned out! Great effort from everyone on the team!
by: Daili Shang
