2016 marked a year not only in immense growth in the women's mountain biking movement and GGR, but was a true year in growth for my own adventures on the bike. I can't wait to see what 2017 brings!
Highlights!
GGR added 2 new chapters in 2016 bringing us to 6 chapters!:
Kern County Chapter! This brand new chapter is headed up by Tracy Jones! I had the pleasure of joining them for their 1st chapter ride on the Lehigh trail system in Tehacapi. WHAT a blast! If you live in the Kern County area, please go to their Face Book Page & check out their next all level, ladies only club ride! www.facebook.com/groups/1580508605578956/
Mojave Desert Chapter! I am especially excited for this new GGR chapter in AZ! I had the honor of being their guest for their annual Route 66 Rattler Race this past October and had an absolute blast! These girlz are gonna draw the ladies in! They are so much fun!
Highlights!
GGR added 2 new chapters in 2016 bringing us to 6 chapters!:
Kern County Chapter! This brand new chapter is headed up by Tracy Jones! I had the pleasure of joining them for their 1st chapter ride on the Lehigh trail system in Tehacapi. WHAT a blast! If you live in the Kern County area, please go to their Face Book Page & check out their next all level, ladies only club ride! www.facebook.com/groups/1580508605578956/
Mojave Desert Chapter! I am especially excited for this new GGR chapter in AZ! I had the honor of being their guest for their annual Route 66 Rattler Race this past October and had an absolute blast! These girlz are gonna draw the ladies in! They are so much fun!
Specialized & Cynergy Cycles presents Specialized Expert ERA to Wendy Engelberg for 2016 season!
I had the absolute pleasure of being given the incredible opportunity of riding this machine for the 2016 season. A 2016 Specialized Expert ERA. I raced this bike XC, 6 and 12 hour endurance races, down hilled with it, raced enduro with it and pretty much rode the adventure out of it! This was one of THE best XC bikes I have ever ridden. I thank Specialized & Cynergy Cycles for such a generous gift and perfect bike for me! It was an honor to ride it!
I had the absolute pleasure of being given the incredible opportunity of riding this machine for the 2016 season. A 2016 Specialized Expert ERA. I raced this bike XC, 6 and 12 hour endurance races, down hilled with it, raced enduro with it and pretty much rode the adventure out of it! This was one of THE best XC bikes I have ever ridden. I thank Specialized & Cynergy Cycles for such a generous gift and perfect bike for me! It was an honor to ride it!
Women's Only Weekend in Big Bear!
Probably my most favorite GGR event every year is the Women's Only Weekend in Big Bear hosted by GGR, Snow Summit, Bear Valley Bikes and Rim Nordic Bike Park. Every August, GGR puts on a no frills, all fun weekend of XC guided rides, DH guided runs, a free DH clinic, a big group dinner, XC in Fawnskin and an intro to Enduro racing. All put on by GGR volunteers! This year was the most intimate I think because we had an abundance of veteran ride leader volunteers that all stepped up to lead, sweep and float the rides and runs. We were able to do a beginner/intro to DH AND a free DH clinic for all levels that booked up in seconds!! We also had the best turn out ever for the intro to enduro day at Rim Nordic Bike park!
Big Bear is one of GGR's favorite hang outs in the summer and you will see our purple jersey's there all the time on both the XC trails and shredding the DH runs too!
Please visit our Big Bear host shop for all your biking needs when you are in town:
Bear Valley Bikes! bvbikes.com/.
Probably my most favorite GGR event every year is the Women's Only Weekend in Big Bear hosted by GGR, Snow Summit, Bear Valley Bikes and Rim Nordic Bike Park. Every August, GGR puts on a no frills, all fun weekend of XC guided rides, DH guided runs, a free DH clinic, a big group dinner, XC in Fawnskin and an intro to Enduro racing. All put on by GGR volunteers! This year was the most intimate I think because we had an abundance of veteran ride leader volunteers that all stepped up to lead, sweep and float the rides and runs. We were able to do a beginner/intro to DH AND a free DH clinic for all levels that booked up in seconds!! We also had the best turn out ever for the intro to enduro day at Rim Nordic Bike park!
Big Bear is one of GGR's favorite hang outs in the summer and you will see our purple jersey's there all the time on both the XC trails and shredding the DH runs too!
Please visit our Big Bear host shop for all your biking needs when you are in town:
Bear Valley Bikes! bvbikes.com/.
Rocktober Festival!
The highlight every year for GGR is of course our annual Rocktober Festival. This year was different....new location....Castaic Lake and POURING rain. We still had well over 200 women that not only showed up but stayed the day. They rode around the lake, demo'd bikes, took a skills clinic and shopped at all the vendors. RST Suspension and REI were the title sponsors for this year's festival. BOTH companies are very involved in their communities and support women's mountain biking.
This year's community award went to:
The Squeaky Wheel Bike shop! www.facebook.com/groups/193733867452512/
The most improved rider for 2016 went to Anne Yeoh of the Inland Empire chapter!
Leigh Donovan was back again as head coach leading our skills clinic: ichoosebikes.com/
The date is set for the 2017 Rocktober Festival! October 8th at Castaic Lake! Registration opens August 18th. This is a FREE event for all women mountain bikers! Please enjoy some of my favorite pictures from this past festival! For the event blog, please check it out here: www.girlzgoneriding.com/blog/the-rainy-cold-6th-annual-rocktober-festival-oct-30th-2016-castaic-lake
The highlight every year for GGR is of course our annual Rocktober Festival. This year was different....new location....Castaic Lake and POURING rain. We still had well over 200 women that not only showed up but stayed the day. They rode around the lake, demo'd bikes, took a skills clinic and shopped at all the vendors. RST Suspension and REI were the title sponsors for this year's festival. BOTH companies are very involved in their communities and support women's mountain biking.
This year's community award went to:
The Squeaky Wheel Bike shop! www.facebook.com/groups/193733867452512/
The most improved rider for 2016 went to Anne Yeoh of the Inland Empire chapter!
Leigh Donovan was back again as head coach leading our skills clinic: ichoosebikes.com/
The date is set for the 2017 Rocktober Festival! October 8th at Castaic Lake! Registration opens August 18th. This is a FREE event for all women mountain bikers! Please enjoy some of my favorite pictures from this past festival! For the event blog, please check it out here: www.girlzgoneriding.com/blog/the-rainy-cold-6th-annual-rocktober-festival-oct-30th-2016-castaic-lake
WHATS up for 2017?
GGR is very excited for the upcoming year. Here are just a few of our events to join in on! Go to our Google Calendar for details: www.girlzgoneriding.com/calendar.html
GGR is very excited for the upcoming year. Here are just a few of our events to join in on! Go to our Google Calendar for details: www.girlzgoneriding.com/calendar.html
- January 8th Mojave Desert's Inaugural Club Ride
- January 15th CORBA's RAM Ride & Pancake Breakfast at Michael's Bicycles in Newbury Park
- January 15th: San Diego Chapter's Leadership Meeting 4pm! Wanna be a chapter leader?? Email me for more info: [email protected]
- February 20th: Nutrition lecture at All Pro Bikes in Simi: 7pm given by Shannon Howell
- Monthly club rides! Check out your chapter page for dates and trail heads
- March 24th-25th: Leigh Donovan skills clinic at G2 Bikes/Girls Ride 2
- April 20th-April 23rd: SEA OTTER! Come race or hang with us!
- April 29th: R50 Charity Endurance Event
- August: Date to be determined: GGR's Annual Women's Weekend in Big Bear
- June 24th: Skills Clinic at Mt Pino's with Pro Enduro Rider & LIV Ambassador Amy Rambacher
- September 30th: Share the Road Event Hosted By All Pro Bicycles: GGR will be hosting an aid station for riders
- September 30th: Grizzly 100 in Big Bear: GGR members will be racing
- October 8th: GGR Presents the 7th annual Rocktober Festival at Castaic Lake
- GGR will be participants in the following races throughout the year: SOCAL Endurance, SOCAL Enduro, Pedalfest, Southridge USA, Kenda Cup, Grizzly 100
- Please join the LA Chapter for the monthly CORBA board meetings the last Monday of every month at REI Woodland Hills
And now some thank you's! I could not do what I do without surrounding myself with amazing people. Thank you all for supporting women's cycling, my vision with GGR and women's mountain biking. It definetly takes a VILLAGE!
I would like to personally thank and recognize the following people and companies:
My GGR Directors and Leadership teams:
Jackie Reseigne, Susie Murphy, Ali Hyde, Tracy Jones, The ladies of Kingman, AZ, Desi, Anne, Tam, Sue H, Doris, Liz, Amy R, Lauren, Sylvia, Leah J, Leah D, Marybeth and everyone else who has volunteered to assist with guided rides and everything GGR.
Until next year...........I thank you all for your support, cheering on my vision as well as our women's mountain biking community.
Please reach out to others and grab them to ride! Especially beginners! Always support, encourage and treat all with respect and compassion. It's the GGR way...... it's the only way.
Signing off for 2016....GGR Girl Wendy E!
I would like to personally thank and recognize the following people and companies:
My GGR Directors and Leadership teams:
Jackie Reseigne, Susie Murphy, Ali Hyde, Tracy Jones, The ladies of Kingman, AZ, Desi, Anne, Tam, Sue H, Doris, Liz, Amy R, Lauren, Sylvia, Leah J, Leah D, Marybeth and everyone else who has volunteered to assist with guided rides and everything GGR.
- CORBA: Thank you for supporting everything I do & allowing me to just RUN with it!
- Specialized: Thank you for inviting our team to SBCU and providing me with the best bike on earth to race! Thank you for the hospitality and giving back!
- SBCU: RAD RAD RAD! Thank you for opening up your doors to GGR!
- Cynergy Cycles: Thank you for supporting my vision and my race season with the incredible ERA!
- Spoke N Wheel: Thank you for always fixing my bikes in a jiffy and making me a priority!
- Bear Valley Bikes: Thank you for always supporting GGR, our women's community and just being a great shop!
- Michael's Bicycles: Always huge community supporters to both GGR members and CORBA! THANK YOU!
- Ali Hyde: How much fun do we have??? Thank you for taking on the Director role in Big Bear for our chapter! Thank you for your friendship and guidance with cycling! O and my graphics absolutely rock!
- Derek Hermon: Thanks for always supporting our women's mountain biking community!
- Snow Summit: Thank you for hosting our annual women's weekend every August!
- Rim Nordic Bike Park: Thank you for your generosity and always encouraging and opening up race cateogories for women over 50! YES YES YES!
- Bev Brown: Your races are always so much fun, relaxing and inviting. Thank you for always accomodating us every August for our intro to enduro day!
- Jason Ranoa/SoCal Endurance/SoCal Enduro Thank you so very much for encouraging myself and other women to race. I'm so very grateful to you for letting GGR have our booth for race support to assist other women racers! See you in January!
- Race Pedalfest: This is where my crazy summer started.....this series changed everything for me and got my fitness to a new level....thank you for being so supportive of women's racing and mountain biking!
- Jenson USA: Thank you for year 2 of providing our club members with the most awesome purple tee's and extra tubes!
- REI: We at GGR are so stoked and proud to have REI on board! Thank you for the use of your community room ALL YEAR for both CORBA and GGR. The reusable goodie bags absolutely rocked as did your presense at the Rocktober Festival!
- Liv: Every single Rocktober Festival Liv is always the 1st company to get on board, the 1st to get in their demo inventory and the 1st to ship us their product donations. Super nice ladies and so very easy to work with. No wonder their bikes are always taken 1st at our demo's!
- Mountain Gems Handcrafter Jewelry: Thank you for providing GGR with our own line of jewlery! I'm wearing 4 pieces of it right now while I'm writing this blog!
- RST Suspension: WHAT an amazing job you guys did with our trail work for the Rocktober festival this year, setting up the course and taking it down. Thank you so much and thank you for taking care of parking for our participants!
- Dilbeck Realtors/Leah Dilbeck: Every year you top the previous year and do something incredible! Thank you for supporting our community and your donation! Thank you for being a part of our leadership team!
- CLIF: Thank you for supplying our 2 major events each year with all the bars and hydration we need! Thank you for supporting women's mountain biking!
- Kali Protectives, Ryders Eyewear, ZOIC clothing: I thank you so very much for supporting our events and also providing me personally with amazing product!
- Jill Hamilton and Ride Petal Power: Thank you for providing me with the best chamois cream on earth! Also, it has been so incredible to have you as one of our vet ride volunteers at our events. Thank you for your generosity with your knowledge and helping us grow as riders!
- Forze Tri: Thank you for the absolutely amazing coutour GGR socks! They were probably the biggest product hit this year with GGR! Your support and generosity is very much appreciated. The most comfortable socks on earth!
- All our amazing trail males: YOU guys are fast, strong, fun and leave your ego's at the door. I'm so very grateful for your help on our big rides! Thank you!
- G2 Bikes/Girls Ride 2/ AJ Sura: Our "sistah" club in the OC! I'm so thankful we share the same vision. Thank you for creating a safe haven for women cyclists and being a partner! I love sending women to Girls Ride 2!
- Laura "MEGA" Watts: Thank you for your committee leadership every single year with the Rocktober Festival!
- Amy and Thomas Rambacher: You both are always so supportive of everything I do and are such a blast to train and race with! Thank you for being just wonderful and generous people in my life and always encouraging me to race. I'm so very grateful and blessed to call you both my good friends.
- Bobby Acuna: So much to say to you...I hope I have already let you know how you have impacted my life this past year in such a positive way. Thank you for being my training partner, thank you for scraping me off the ground, putting up with me when I'm completly out of control, racing with me, sessioning with me, letting me follow you on switchbacks, your endless patience, volunteering for GGR and just being a bestie not to mention the most fun adventure partner EVAH! Thank you.
- Cosmo: Thank you for always offering direction with my riding and bikes!
- Stephanie Wolf: Thank you for the incredible new website and managing it! We love it!
- Photographers: Jesse Ettinger, Graham Martin, Dean Bradley, Pat Carrigan, Steve Clark: Thank you for capturing the moments and giving us so many wonderful memories!
- Coaches: Leigh Donovan, Christine Hirst, Kris Gross, Sarah Viggers, Amy Rambacher: Ladies! Thank you so very much for volunteering your time to make sure our amazing women's community of mountain bikers are safer, more skilled riders! I love riding and being coached by all of you!!
- My Inner Circle of Friends: Some of you are already mentioned here. You know who you are. YOU are the most important people in my life. You are family. You tell me the truth, watch my back, support my visions, tell me when I'm wrong and don't take any shit from me either. THANK YOU! I count on you, you are my breath, please don't stop! MWAH!
Until next year...........I thank you all for your support, cheering on my vision as well as our women's mountain biking community.
Please reach out to others and grab them to ride! Especially beginners! Always support, encourage and treat all with respect and compassion. It's the GGR way...... it's the only way.
Signing off for 2016....GGR Girl Wendy E!
