Team Ride - Saturday May 1

What: LG 4/5 Team ride
When: Saturday April 30, ROLL OUT at 7:30AM (Roughly 3 hours round trip)
Where: Meet at San Vicente and Ocean, ride to Trancas and back, mellow pace. Riders can split off into climbing rides after Trancas if they want.

Pre-ride coffee at 6:45, Peets @ Montana and 14th

Thanks, hope to see you there!!

Joe

Mulholland repair

Progress on Mulholland repair photographed March 14 by Brooks Paley.

Cat 3/4/5 2010 Race Planning Meeting Info

WHAT: LaGrange Team 4/5 2010 Race Season Planning Meeting
WHEN: Wednesday, January 20th at 7:00 PM
WHERE: Tacos Por Favor (chosen for low-key atmosphere, inexpensive menu, and access to seating for everyone without getting rushed out)
Olympic Blvd and 14th Street, Santa Monica
Map: http://tinyurl.com/lg45tacos

power geeks

In an attempt to balance fitness with overeating over the holidays, I got on the relatives' treadmill. I know, specificity, running VO2Max doesn't equal cycling VO2Max. I found I was in Z5 at 6-6.5mph, or 500+ cal/hr. Gone are the days of 7 minute miles.

I found a cool site which you can plug in your parameters.
http://www.mne.psu.edu/lamancusa/ProdDiss/Bicycle/BIKEcalc1.HTM
In short, 24mph requires about 280W, and about 1000 cal/hr, significantly higher than running. FWIW, the power estimates for this calculation are higher than analyticcycling, so YMMV. Time to ramp up the training.

-Giao

Simi Ride!

From team ride guru jaycee:

December TeamLG Ride:

The Simi RIde
This Saturday, Dec. 5th.
Total Distance: 69 miles

Meet in the parking at the SE corner of Valley Circle and the 101 Freeway (near McDonalds).
We roll from here at 7:30am sharp. We will ride an easy-ish 15 miles to the official start in Simi Valley around 8:40.
This allows a low-pressure warm-up and puts our cars very close to the official ride end.

Directions:
101N exit Valley Circle. LEFT at top of ramp onto Valley Circle (name changes immediately to Mulholland). Cross over 101 and pass the light. First left into the parking lot. Bear left and I'll be there before you reach McDonalds.

It may be cold so dress warmly.

The Ride:
We will be doing the long route which is about 54 miles with a fast pace and a couple of climbs to keep you honest. I suggest everyone do this route and not the short version. Many of the guys on the long ride are faster than you and you may get dropped (either temporarily or completely). That is all part of the Simi experience. The goal is to progress until you DON'T get dropped. This ride is like a race and is great training. Your goals should be to hang on to the 1st or 2nd group, utilize some road race strategy and most importantly have fun!!

There is a SHORT re-group at mile 30 with bathrooms and water. Do your business quickly and be prepared to roll or you will be left behind.

You will likely be done by 12 noon.

Any questions? Otherwise, let's rock this thing!

Jaycee

La Grange racing video by Bill Cordero

The Kahala La Grange Racing Video from Bill Cordero on Vimeo.

Team Camp was awesome

Thanks to all the guys that made it up to Solvang for our 4/5 Team Camp this past weekend. It was an amazing weekend of riding, hanging, soaking, eating, and Jenga. For those who missed it don't worry, we'll do something like this again for sure.

Pics are posted and can be viewed here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2043898&id=1428378796&l=c37c1484f3

See you guys on the Simi Ride in December!

JP

Solvang Team Mini-Camp ride routes/start times

These are the rides we have planned for the weekend. Remember, don’t be put off by distances or elevation, we will be taking these rides nice and slowly. No KOMs, no sprints, no TTs. Just a bunch of us out there on beautiful roads riding as a team. If the group splinters because of climbing pace, we will regroup regularly. Scenic overlooks will be stopped at. Pictures will be taken. Fun will be had.

Friday afternoon fun ride/warmup/scenic stroll

Happy Cyn/Ballard 1-2 hours, 1PM Start
30 Miles/900 Ft. climbing
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/ca/solvang/372124573576070080


Saturday epic team ride!

Jalama Beach – 5+ hours, 9AM Start (to accommodate those driving up Sat)
Alisal Canyon start, Hwy 1 to Jalama road, Beach and back through Santa Rosa. Beautiful stuff!
78 miles/4000 Ft. climbing
http://www.mapmyride.com/route/us/CA/Solvang%2C%20CA/847125796772033597


Sunday Classic Team Camp Ride- tougher but we will take it nice and tempo!

Mt Figueroa Loop – 4 hours, 8AM start
45 Miles/4200 Ft. climbing
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/ca/solvang/13151696

Team LaGrange Winter Mini-Camp! UPDATE w/LODGING DETAILS

What: Team La Grange 4/5 (3’s welcome too!) 2010 Racer Mini Camp
Where: Solvang, CA
When: November 13/14/15 (Arrivals anytime Friday, rides Saturday and Sunday)
Cost: Two nights in spectacular vacation ranch house with pool: only $75 a night per person (two night minimum). Just add food and gas, and it’s the cheapest weekend you can do in Solvang, and way nicer than staying in a motel!

Details about the camp:

There are a lot of killer scenic routes for us to do, and it will not be an all-out hammer-fest. The idea is for us to have some time away from the usual routes we all ride, get to know each other a little better, and talk about what we want to get out of racing next year, both individually and as a team. And most importantly, have a great time on the bikes in beautiful surroundings.

The revised structure of the weekend will now be to arrive anytime on Friday for those that can come up. We can have a meal at the house to accommodate the fact that people may be arriving at varying times. Those arriving first will have dibs on the beds and sofas in the house. I will be able to bring two aero mattresses and sleeping bags and I would encourage anyone else to do the same.

Saturday morning we will get started reasonably early but late enough so that anyone driving up Saturday morning can get there in time to have a moment to get situated before we head out for our main ride, the world famous Figueroa Mountain. This is the same ride that the pro teams do in their camps. It has a lot of climbing but remember, we’ll be riding as a complete team and no one will be left on their own at any time. We would finish later in the afternoon and head to our accommodations to relax before regrouping for a killer team dinner in town.

On Sunday we would do a more chill route through the beautiful rolling countryside around Solvang. Then lunch and caravan back to LA.

Details about the house:

I’ve reserved an absolutely beautiful new ranch house in the hills above town (off of Ballard Canyon Road). I’m including pics below of the actual house. It has a pool, jacuzzi, huge kitchen with Viking appliances, two fireplaces, bocce ball, foosball, and ping pong! It has five beds and tons of floor space to accommodate us all.

I am estimating about 15 of us coming to this camp, so I’d like to see if any of you who have expressed interest can pay for the lodging before the camp to help offset my expense in booking it. The house is $1,000 a night (down from $1100) plus $375 in taxes and cleaning fees. That divided by 15 is roughly $80 a night per person but I am willing to round it down a little to get as many people as possible to confirm. In the interest of keeping the costs down for everyone I do have to ask that everyone pay the same amount, regardless of how many nights they are staying in the house. I highly recommend coming up Friday night and waking up in Solvang!

***If you know you are coming, and can confirm with me now, please let me know. I can give you a PayPal account to make your payment to. I know we have a lot of excitement about it but I don’t want to be left high and dry with a giant house all to myself!

It’s going to be an amazing weekend of riding and planning the season ahead. Looking forward to kicking off a hugely successful season for Team LaGrange with this unique experience.

Hope you can make it!


Joe

Langone Wins and now leads SoCal Urban CX Series

The ABC game

The ABC Game - Object to complete the alphabet first. When on your next trainig ride, as you see the letters on billboards & license plates you shout out your letter and point. Once a letter has been claimed other riders cannot use the same letter. Make it harder by limiting to only license plates or billboard signs.

Epic Video

Courtesy of our man from Amsterdam, 'Epic Editor' Byron Smith.

Epic hwy 39 - our man from Amsterdam from Marc Thomas on Vimeo.

boonen moment

this is what happens when you become a cat 2...

bad service at races suck

another great freakin' quote from steve tilford...

"Anyway, when I checked the results driving home, they had left myself and a Nick Coil out of the results. Had us down as DNF’s. I don’t care, but I do have an issue with bad officiating. Nature Valley two years ago they said I DNF’d and I was in the top 20 overall. On a hilly criterium. I had a photo of the finish with the finish time on it. Then Cyclo-X Nationals in Kansas City last year there were officiating screw ups in lots of catagories. Including the Elite men. Now again. I think that in events of this caliber, the best officials should be there and the errors shouldn’t occur. It is more common than not. These stage races cost around $200 to enter. This money is to pay for a service. The service is to provide the venue and infrastructure to compete in a bicycle race. But this service hasn’t been performed with they don’t have correct results. Even worse, when they say you didn’t finish the race when you obviously did. Maybe a good remedy would be for the race to have to refund the entry fee of the riders that haven’t been given the results they deserve. For alot of the Pro riders, it doesn’t matter. But, for the weekend warrior, it is very important and something that needs to be addressed. That’s my 2 cents worth."