GGR would like to welcome http://harlotwear.com/ to our list of sponsors for the October 20th GGR festival!

Harlot wear provides bike shorts and active wear to athletes. All made here in the USA!

Please follow them on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/harlotwear

GGR is proud to welcome DIRTY JANE as an event sponsor for the GGR main event Oct 20th, 2013 AT Malibu Creek State Park.

Dirty Jane is an Online retailer of gear and apparel specifically designed for girls who love action sports on land, water and air. Online Shopping: www.dirty-jane.com

Please support our supporters! Dirty Jane!

https://www.facebook.com/DirtyJane

https://twitter.com/DirtyJanes

LADIES! Please join us at Cycle World Chatsworth May 4th at 4pm for a very special Product night! I need sign ups and bodies at this one! This is also to ensure future offers for GGR!

Kali Protectives invites GGR & SOCALENDURANCE Ladies to a special Kali product night on May 4th, Saturday at Cycle World Chatsworth. http://cycleworldbikes.com/. Finger foods and beverages will be served. They are offering us some amazing savings on their products. So time to get ready for spring riding!

Kali: http://www.kaliprotectives.com/bike/ is offering us huge discounts for a very limited time on their awesome helmets and protective gear. We are taking orders effective April 15th up until May 10th. The orders will be placed after the 10th and will be coming from Morgan Hill, CA, so it won’t take long to be delivered to Cycle World. Order form and prices to be uploaded in a separate document or you can email kimberly@girlzgoneriding.com or wendy@girlzgoneriding.com for the price list and order form.

This is a limited engagement sale and won’t happen again until the GGR main event in October. So NOW is the time to purchase your new helmets and protective gear for spring!

There will be raffles too! You must be present enter and win! Order your products BEFORE this event, and get 5 extra raffle tickets!!!!!!!

Prize #1: GGR jersey (custom made, will order when we know the size of the winner) retails at $75!
Prize # 2: Kali Amara cam helmet blue: retails at $89!
Prize # 3: Kali Amara cam helmet green: retails at $89!
Grand Prize: Kali Full Face DH helmet: small blue: retails at $279!

AND………………..If you want to make a day of it….myself and some of the other GGR members are pre riding the Over The Hump course in Castaic that morning with the promoters of the race. It’s our own special viewing. GGR members and jersey’s required to pre ride due to pictures, or you can also wear your SOCAL Endurance ladies kit.
Please sign up early for this event! Let’s also make this a MEET & GREET for GGR! Learn about Kali products and mingle! The price list and order form to start ordering now will up uploaded in a separate document of you can also get it emailed from myself or Kimberly Cofield. We are both taking orders now as well as the night of the event.
kimberly@girlzgoneriding.com
wendy@girlzgoneriding.com

This past Sunday, April 7th, GGR held it’s first workshop at Pasadena Cyclery. Heading up the workshop was Matt Lay of Pasadena Cyclery.

We were provided with wonderful hand outs that included a diagram of everything on the bike as well as what we were going over for the day. And Sue’s hubby even brought over STARBUCKS for us!

The morning started off with some basics, good tips and reminders of everything from what is the difference between a trail bike and an XC bike to why we need zip ties in our packs! (I know! ask me the story, I will tell you in person..never ever leave your pack without zip ties)!.

Leading into the advanced scenario’s of what can go wrong on the trail, we were each handed a piece of chain and not only asked to break it, but put in a new link. One of the most common things that happens I find on the trail is your chain breaks or we have to make the bike into a single speed so we don’t have to walk it out, but can ride it out. Personally, I hate to say..I didn’t even know how to use the tool. I was trying to copy Olivia (one of our brilliant high school girls who seems to be figuring it out. Then Lisa stopped me…”no, no, no, no”, would you please let me show you? Too funny…when did I become so helpless?? I was trying to be patient with myself which is tough to do. I think Matt saw that and came over and helped too. Well, we all finally were able to use the tool properly, pop out the pin to break the chain and insert a new link. PHEW!!!!!!!!!!

We then spent the remaining hours going over: Derailleur/Shifting Problems, Wheel Problems, Brake Problems, and Suspension Adjustments. We closed the day learning to replace the derailleur hanger and feed the chain back on.

You can spend days on any one of these items……..but we managed to squeeze everything in.

I want to give an enormous thank you and shout out to:
Pasadena Cyclery for hosting this workshop:
Matt Lay for his time, dedication and sharing his knowledge with us (I know he needed a lot of patience and he did a great job!)
Libby
And of course the fabulous Jenny Johnson who coordinated everything.

Thanks to those who attended. I hope you enjoyed it and learning a good deal. We will have another one at the end of July.

Until the next OPEN ride….be fabulous my GGR ladies!

GGR Girl Wendy!

Supportive, happy, sincere and anxious to answer our questions was how the hour began. I had my notebook of questions ready! WHAT an opportunity!

A big shout out, respect and thank you to the incredible Tessa Treadway, of both GGR & SOCALLADIES Endurance team! Tonight, we were treated to an hour of knowledge shared by one of the world’s best endurance athletes….Miss Rebecca Rusch!

This was a free, one hour video cast where we could post our questions to Rebecca and she would answer and comment on each one.

Rebecca started out by giving us a brief low down of who she was, what exactly she did and a few of her accomplishments. (Listed below).

The questions were all over the board from how she trains to get ready for Leadville (4 time winner!), training in altitude, nutrition before, during and leading up to events, bike fit, saddles, cramps, blood testing, how to best utilize rest stops…DON’T STOP! Practice eating and taking your coat off ON the bike, how she still trains in the snow, weight training, yoga and cycling when you are on a time limit and work full time and O soooo much more!

This was such a great opportunity to be able to ask whatever we wanted and KNOWING we are getting an answer from a woman who has done it all and experienced everything we are going through. She was patient, sincere, caring and really gave us some good direction and explanations with our questions.

On a personal note, as another women in her 40’s who occasionally rides smaller endurance events (50 miles mtn and 70-100 road and has to train months and months just to FINISH), she reminded all of us not to be so hard on ourselves as women. I need to work on this! We are pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones and it’s OK to be last sometimes! This is hard to accept for me, especially when I work so hard, but many times, I am just thrilled to finish and can’t believe the amazing experience I just had and succeeded at! Then at the finish line I can be a girl and just start balling with emotion! Gosh…does ANYONE else do that??

Ladies, if you are going to be at Sea Otter, please make sure you check out the SRAM tent/schedule so you can visit AND ride with Rebecca and many other incredible women. Rebecca is doing some really wonderful things in her own community of women as well. Please check out the Gold Rusch Tour – http://www.goldruschtour.com/. For more info!

Thank you again Rebecca for being so generous with your time and sharing your knowledge and experience with us! I took lots of notes! I hope you can join us one day for our Oct GGR event in Malibu! Best of luck in your season this year! We are so very proud of you!

Ladies…here are some websites we would like you to take note of and check out!

http://www.goldruschtour.com/

http://www.rebeccarusch.com/

http://www.spreecast.com/channels/rebecca-ruschs-channel

http://www.socalendurance.com/SOCALLADIES.html

DITLO.com – http://ditlo.com/2013/03/27/rebecca-rusch-2/#st

Thanks girlz, until next time…..

GGR Girl Wendy…….

Rebecca’s sick, awesome highlights!
• 4x Leadville 100 winner, and women’s record holder (2009,2010,2011, 2012)
• 3-Time 24 Hour Solo Mountain Bike World Champion (2007, 2008, 2009)
• 24 Hour Team Mountain Bike National Champion (2008, 2009,2011)
• USAC National Singlespeed Champion: Sun Valley (2011)
• 2010 Singletrack.com Mountain Biker of the Year
• USA National Marathon Championships, 4th (2008)
• Idaho Short Track State Champion (2008)
• 24 Hour Solo Mountain Bike National Champion (2006)
• USA Cycling Ultra Endurance Series Winner (2006, 2007. 2009)
• 24 Hour Solo Mountain Bike National Championships, 2nd (2007)
• 24 Hours of Moab solo mountain bike race, 2nd (2007)
• Mountain X-Games Adventure Race, 1st Women’s Team (2007)
• 24 Hour Orienteering National Champion (2006)
• 24 Hours of Moab Women’s team, 1st (2005)
• Raid Gauloises Adventure Racing World Championships, 1st (2003)
• US Whitewater Rafting National Champion Team (2001 and 2002)
• Raid Gauloises Expedition Races (2000, 2002, 2003)
• Eco Challenge Adventure Races (1997-2002)
• Primal Quest Expedition Races (2002-2006)
• Sports Illustrated Adventure Racing Team of the Year (2003)
• Outside Magazine’s Top 20 Female Athletes of the Year (2003)
• Adventure Sport Magazine’s “Queen of Pain” (2004)

LADIES! Introducing the 1^st event in a series of workshops FREE to GGR members! We will be simulating everything that can go wrong on the trail with our bikes and fixing it ourselves! If you are serious about learning and being able to fix your bike when you have to out on the trail so you don’t have to WALK it out, THIS is the workshop for you!

Due to the special attention needed, we will limit this to only 15 GGR members. Sign up is required. Bring your own bike, the tools you have, clothes to get dirty in, and a small mat if you have it since this will be done outside and we will be kneeling a lot. To be very clear……This is not a watch and learn how to change a flat…this is an all day, hands on, hands get dirty, comprehensive work shop.

To be held April 7^th, Sunday at Pasadena Cyclery from 10am-3pm with a break for lunch. Meet in the back parking lot. http://pasadenacyclery.com/. SIGN UP HERE: https://www.facebook.com/events/459227010814440/

Pasadena Cyclery will also have some discounts going on for GGR girlz on any tools they may need that day!

Today was the 1^st of many I hope of GGR OPEN RIDES. A GGR Open Ride is a cross country mountain bike ride open to ALL levels…… especially encouraging beginners. EVERY GGR ride is a NO DROP ride at ALL LEVELS…NO ONE GETS LEFT BEHIND. We have a sweeper on EACH ride to make sure of this.

We had well over 50 riders signed up between the GGR event page and private emails, and with so many girlz being sick with the flu, we had many cancel. There were 38 riders respectively still!

The intermediate and advanced riders started at Caballero Canyon Single track while the beginners started at the TOP of Reseda. Goal was for all levels to meet at the HUB for group photos, announcements and BLING YOUR BIKE contest winners at 10am.

Cabby definitely could use some work. Some of the ruts are very, very deep and the narrow side to ride on is getting more eroded all the time. Not sure how we can repair those huge ruts though without hauling up a ton of dirt…….. Always a hoot to descend…but a rough one to climb in parts!

At last we all made it to the HUB and did some mingling and photo’s. It was a beautiful day with no wind and the views being clear. Funny, the few men at the HUB didn’t know what to make of all these women on the trails! I love it when we leave men speechless! Of course we made them take our pictures!

Taking FIRST place in the BLING YOUR BIKE contest was GGR Ride Leader Ojai Ruth who did one outstanding and creative job blinging up her rig! She took home a gift card from CYCLE WORLD.

2^nd place was the fast and furious DESI who also took home a gift card from CYCLE WORLD. And 3^rd place was one of our beginner ride leaders LISA who went home with some CORBA socks!

So after some more fun photos, we split up into our respective groups. My group, the intermediate and advanced riders all went down Rogers Road (Back Bone) to the Old Oak Tree. Trail conditions were absolutely 100% perfect! We had 24 women and teenager girlz on this trail and they all ROCKED IT! Everyone was all smiles.

Now time to turn around and ride Back Bone back out. Some of the grades are very steep and rocky but these girlz ate them up for breakfast! I pulled over once on the longest climb to get my heart rate down…then started back up and was fine. I really enjoyed this trail with the girlz and especially knowing how happy they were, made me happy too.

Now off to retrace our tracks to the HUB for decision time! Having virtually all the riders back at the hub…we split up yet again. All but 8 riders opted to start heading back. So myself, Lisa and Ojai Ruth took the 8 riders for some extra credit. We opted not to go all the way to the other side for another 15-20 miles, yet decided on the Eagles Rock Loop which was more managable time and energy wise. It was a good call. All 8 girlz were still riding fresh and strong!

So after a quick rest after the Eagles Rock loop and a few more photos, us extra credit girlz headed back to Cabby. Once we got to the trail head at Cabby, Desi and Laura decided to keep riding while the rest of us were ready for some food! We all were having a great time on the descent. We stopped at the fork where you can descend on the short, steep hills or go to the left were the big, deep ruts are. I descended 1^st down the steep part so I could get my camera ready. All did a great job and looked amazing!

Then as I was getting my camera put away, 2 very nice gentlemen stopped me and asked about the group since we were such a nice, friendly group of girlz! Love hearing that! Well, if you know anything about me, you know I’m not shy……so……..I stayed and chatted with these two cute, adorable men. Anyways, we ended up having lunch at the same place and come to find out one of their girlfriends had no other girlz to ride with…didn’t seem to know anyone! HA HA HA HA………..Well, he came to the right place now didn’t he! I gave him my GGR card and told him to make sure his GF signs up on GGR.

So now I am home slowly uploading pictures, Strava stats and blogging……. still in my GGR jersey and pink arm warmers cause its COLD and I wanted to get this done before I started drinking my Vino and I still had a memory!

I wanted to thank each and every one of you that joined us today. I can’t begin to tell you how honored I am that you joined our group of women and was so stoked to ride with every one of you incredible ladies. I so much enjoyed riding with you and I hope that you all had just as much fun as I did and met some more women you can ride with!

We had a wonderful group of teenagers come out that race on one of the local high school teams which was awesome to have them join us so they could also see how many women of ALL ages and levels there REALLY are out there and all we have to offer!

Big huge thanks to our ride leaders today: Kimberly Cofield, Lisa Granata, Ojai Ruth, Michelle Friend and special mentions to Cystal (I made her go 1^st all the time because she is the fastest and I trust her), and Charlotte for staying with the girlz so I could ride the extra credit with the others.

Also a thank you and much respect to the high school team that came out today. I was very leery of having high school kids on our women’s ride. I have to tell you that these girlz conduct was outstanding! I think I was worse behaved than them! Thank you young ladies! You are welcome anytime to join us for all future GGR events.

Here is my Strava from the ride that included the extra credit Eagles Rock loop: http://app.strava.com/activities/40352492

Please keep a look out for the Wenches with Wrenches workshop and the next GGR Open ride which will be at Sycamore Canyon in Newbury Park. Yet another amazing area that welcomes ALL levels of riders!

Until next time my fellow GGR amazing and fabulous ladies……………….mmmmmwwwwwaaaaaaa!

GGR Girl Wendy E.

We now have no minimum orders for the club jersey’s. Order anytime and have the jersey shipped directly to you anywhere in the states. GGR jersey’s are custom made to order. The turn around time is approximately 4 weeks.  Price is $75 including shipping. To measure your jersey and place your order go here: http://www.girlzgoneriding.com/ggr-jerseys/

Be a proud GGR member and represent! The jersey’s are light, loose and VERY comfy! Everyone recognizes us with the jersey’s! Be a part of THE women’s mountain bike group in LA!

This is an OPEN ride! ALL levels and beginners welcomed! LADIES ONLY! ALL RIDERS are to be at the HUB for a group photo and some mingling at 10am sharp. Please wear radios if you have them on 5.25. Helmets required. Rides WILL start on time, so don’t be late, be EARLY!

Beginner and Advanced beginner riders meet at the TOP of Reseda Blvd 9am. RTR 9:15am. Beginner routes are up to the hub and either Eagles Rock Loop or ride to Green Peak Radio Tower. Ride stats are approximately 10-15 miles with 1000-1600 feet of climbing pending on route. Technical skills low. All fire road. GGR Ride Leaders Kimberly and Lisa G

Intermediate Riders meet at Caballero Trail head at 8:30am, RTR at 8:45am. Route is UP Cabby to hub, then Roger’s Road to the Oak Tree and back. Ride stats are approximately 20 miles with 2400 feet of climbing. Technical skills intermediate. Loose and rocky in some areas. Single track, double track and fire road. GGR Ride Leaders Wendy E and Michelle F

Advanced Riders meet at Caballero Trail at 8:30am, RTR at 8:45am. Route is UP Cabby to hub. Then Roger’s Road, Jdrop, Rustic, Squirrel Cage, UP Sully then you will have a few choices to finish the mini epic ride. Approximately 25 miles with 3200 feet of climbing. Technical skills ADVANCED! Loose, rocky, drops, narrow in some areas. Single track, double track and fire road. GGR Ride Leaders Tamara and Ojai Ruth

WHEN signing up for this fun ride, please let us know which ride you will be doing. You can enter this UNDER your name when it says: “LADY GGR is attending”. In the comment section, please put the ride you will be riding. We must have a count for each ride to see if we need more ride leaders.

We look forward to riding with all of you incredible women! It will be a FABULOUS day of fun and mingling. Please note: RAIN WILL CANCEL THE RIDE.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email me or post the question on the event page so all can receive the info. wendy@girlzgoneriding.com

Directions to Intermediate and Advanced start:
Directions: Take the 101 Freeway to the Reseda Blvd. exit in Tarzana. At the end of the off-ramp proceed south (towards the ocean). Continue up Reseda a couple of miles and park on the street at the trailhead. If you come upon the Braemar Country Club you’ve gone a little too far.

Directions for beginner and advanced beginner start:
Directions: Take the 101 Freeway to the Reseda Blvd. exit in Tarzana. At the end of the off-ramp proceed south (towards the ocean). Continue up Reseda Blvd all the way up until you see the parking spaces on the road. If you park PASS this, it is paid parking.

SIGN UP HERE: https://www.facebook.com/events/241361849331138/?suggestsessionid=6242023571357435295
Thanks luvs,

The GGR Girlz

GGR Girl Wendy E!

What a full 1^st year for GGR! We had 2 GGR events both at Malibu Creek State Park with virtually 100 riders each respectively. Beginner clinics, swap meets, demo bikes, sponsor participation and more. We took a trip to Big Bear, and got to know each other throughout the year. I saw so many new girlz out on the trails this year, I hope you will continue to enjoy our incredible sport of mountain biking.

GGR Girl Tessa, discovered many of the GGR girlz were interested in racing, so she formed SOCAL Endurance Women’s team! https://www.facebook.com/groups/313370695434213/. 2013 has an amazing roster set up! The team is for all levels of racing. Please come out and support women’s cycling & racing!

For 2013, here are some events and races GGR will be planning, entering and attending:

• Quarterly Open rides starting Saturday Feb 9^th! A GGR open ride is open to ALL levels especially encouraging beginners. The Feb 9^th ride will be in Reseda and an event page will go up here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/350083721682365/, mid January for all to sign up. We will have beginner, intermediate and advanced levels of XC rides.
• GGR Wrench Days! In the works…..this will be an afternoon at a GGR supporting bike shop that will have intense, hands on repair work shops. We’re not talking just changing flats here girlz! Be prepared to get dirty and learn how to fix your bike! The 1^st event will be at GGR supporting shop Pasadena Cyclery! http://pasadenacyclery.com/ .
• Trips! In the works….Big Bear, Mammoth, Kernville and more.
• GGR annual event at the end of October! Beginner’s skills clinic, swap meet, raffles, 3 levels of rides and much more!
• Many of the GGR girlz will be getting their feet wet in XC racing for the 1^st time in 2013! Come on out and support! Bring those cow bells and loud, cheery voices! We will have a GGR SUPPORT event for the 1^st Triple Crown Race at Bonelli Park, March 16 & 17^th. http://www.uscup.net/index.php?schedule.  An event page will go up on the GGR FB page for this.

There are so many people to thank for a GGR amazing 2012 and especially for the 2 main GGR events in Malibu. Let me recognize a few:

CORBA: Year round supporters of GGR: http://corbamtb.com/

Cycle World: Year round supporters of GGR:  http://cycleworldbikes.com/

Danusia Taber: You have been such a mentor and friend, thank you for all your positive energy, outside the box ideas, and always giving me outstanding direction. None of this would have ever gotten off the ground if it weren’t for you. I thank you so very much.

Kimberly Cofield: You are kind, thoughtful and always willing to jump in to make our sport more accessible for women. You always catch things I forget or don’t even think of. Thank you my friend for everything. You have done so much more then you know!

Miyuki Tanaka: Your creativity and hard work makes it easy for the girlz for the GGR events. Thank you for everything!

My inner circle of friends: You know who you are…..I thank you for your encouragement, support, volunteering, having the balls to tell me something is a bad idea when you know I think it’s a good idea, (I count on your honesty), and most of all…..stepping in when you can see I am overwhelmed and just taking a few things off my shoulders. WHAT would I do without you?? I thank you and I am so very grateful to have you all in my life.

Happy New Year GGR amazing ladies!!!!!!!

GGR Girl Wendy Engelberg