Seattle Team Luna Chix

LUNA Fest April 27 1-5pm

Please join us for LUNAFEST, an afternoon of short films by, for and about women. It is a special afternoon  where women (and their friends, families, partners, husbands and boyfriends) can gather to view nine unique films by women filmmakers. The films range from quirky animations to touching documentaries, and cover topics such as women’s health, motherhood, body image, sexuality, cultural diversity, breaking barriers, sports and the environment.

This event is designed to be a fundraiser for The Breast Cancer Fund, an organization dedicated to the elimination of the environmental causes of breast cancer, to which all proceeds will be donated to. 

The exlusive LUNAFEST Seattle film viewing will be accompanied by a series of short athletic clinics hosted by three local LUNA Chix athletic teams including a triathlon team, mountain biking team and road cycling team.  The afternoon will wrap up with a relaxing yoga workshop hosted by Lululemon Athletica and a raffle with fabulous prizes.

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We will also have black knit beanies for sale.  They have the LUNA logo on them as well.  If you can't make LUNA Fest but are interested in a beanie, the $20 covers the cost of mailing them, 100% of the profits from the sale go to the Breast Cancer Fund.  Drop is an email if you are interested.   

Come enjoy the films, learn about getting or staying fit, relaxing on the mat and joining together with like minded people in the Seattle community!

The event will be held on the grounds of Magnuson Park, in the Community Center Theater and the adjacent Gymnasium.

1 pm                         Doors Open

1: 30 pm - 3 pm     Films

3 pm - 4:45 pm     Clinics & Yoga Workshop

4:45 pm                   Raffle

To purchase tickets, go to http://seattlelunafest.eventbrite.com/.

Download lunafestposter.pdf

100% of the money raised from this LUNAFEST screening and fundraiser will benefit the Breast Cancer Fund.   

Update on the Upcoming Season

Hello Everyone!

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Hope the ‘winter’ season is going well and that you’re getting rested up for the coming spring and summer riding seasons.  Personally I’m trying to keep that layer of winter fat off by doing cycling classes at Cycle U, it’s been great and I think I’ll be starting the season stronger and faster than I ever have.  Woohooo, the hills might not be quite so painful thanks to Cycle U and their great coaches!  As far as ‘outside, we’ve also doing a little bit of winter riding, but I can’t say we’ve been out a ton.  That freezing rain is a little bit of a deterrent!

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Anyhow, the team just got together last night to set the schedule for the upcoming year and brain storm a bit on what we want to accomplish in addition to the regular rides we do through the Backcountry Bicycle and Trail Club.   As April approaches, start to watch the calendar, we’ll begin to post rides for beginners and intermediate skill levels.  We’ll try to do 2 rides a week to provide some options. 

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Beyond that, we scheduled our bike clinics, on in May and another in July.  Once we have the details set on the location, we’ll post them.  If you have a friend or acquaintance that might want to be involved in mountain biking, this would be a great place to refer them.  We’ll break down the skills, demo them, and then give them a chance to try it themselves, that way they’ll have a fun and supportive environment in which to learn.

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Huge thanks to Gregg's Cycles and Go Huck Yourself, Gregg's Cycles will be doing our Seattle & Eastside bike maintenance clinics and GHY will do the south end (date TBD).  We’ll get the basics in, how to change a tube/tire, how to fix a chain and some brake and shifting adjustments.  There should be an opportunity purchase tools and to ask questions on how to use them, etc.  We'll update the website as soon as the locations are set.

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Lastly, we’ve set the event schedule.  There’s some fun stuff on the horizon and we’re looking at being at the following locations, come on by and get some LUNA Bars!

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Seattle Bike Expo– March 8-9

LUNA Fest – April 27, 1-5pm, Magnuson Park, Hangar 47  BUY TICKETS!

Bavarian Bike & Brew -Leavenworth – June 7-8

Roslyn Mountain Bike Festival - July 26/27

24 Hours of Willamette– August 2-3 (EVENT CANCELED)

Capitol Forest Grande Finale – September 6-7

Breast Cancer Fund Auction – October, date/location TBD

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CLINICS (Email with questions or to signup, see Clinics link for details)

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Beginner Skills Clinic - Saturday, May 17 10am-1pm, location TBD

Bike Maintenance Clinic - Thursay, May 29 6-7:30pm - Gregg's Cycles, Greenlake Location

Bike Maintenance Clinic - Tuesday, June 24 6-7:30pm - Gregg's Cycles, Bellevue Location

Beginner/Intermediate Skills Clinic - Thursday, July 10 6-9pm, location TBD

Bike Maintenance Clinic - Thursday August 21, 6-7:30pm - G.H.Y. Bikes, Renton Location

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*Cost of Bike Maintenance Clinics, $20 Donation to the Breast Cancer Fund

*Cost of Beginner Skills Clinic - $25 Donation to the Breast Cancer Fund

*Cost of Beginner-Intermediate Skills Clinic - $20 Donation + 2 Hours of trail work through BBTC

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So, hope you’re getting prepped for the upcoming session and dreaming of getting that bike out of the garage. We’re already thinking spring and can’t wait to get rolling.  As always, if you have questions, think of something you would like to see us do, drop us a line, we’ll do our best to respond quickly!  We’re here to support you and we can’t wait for the season to start again!

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See you on the trails soon!

End of the Season & Auction Report

Well, the end of our 'official' season is here and we won't be posting much in the way of rides again until May.  If the weather cooperates, you may see some rides posted as early as March, but we'll see how that goes.  Please always keep an eye on the ride calendar at the Backcountry Bicycle and Trail Club as that's where our rides are officially posted and you can sign up, etc. 

As always, we love that we are partnering with the Backcountry Bicycle and Trail Club as they continue the important work of organizing trail work and the advocacy related to keeping trails open to bikes.  The 2nd Phase of the I-5 Colonnade Bike Park is being built and they're going to need lots of help with work there.  No matter what, that place is dry so no excuses about the winter rain stopping you are going to cut it.  Get out there and volunteer, we hope to see you out there too!

Don't forget to check out the new LUNA Sport products that are coming out.  In addition to making it possible for us to provide the opportunity for women to ride, etc.  LUNA Bar has also come out with performance product specifically for women.  Hopefully you had a chance to get a sample or two from us.  If not, check them out in your local stores.  REI is starting to carry them and I'm not sure who else (they're so new I've not seen them in the stores yet!).   We love the LUNA Moons though, they are a smaller version of the Shot Bloks, be sure to check them out.  So, once again, THANKS to LUNA Bar for making it possible for us to be here and to meet and ride with you.

Lastly, a report on Thursdays auction.  What a great turnout, wonderful sponsors, and incredible contributions.  This year with the help of our sponsors, we raised $6,000 for the Breast Cancer Fund.  That's $2k more than last year.  We do want to thank St. Andrew's Bar and Grill for hosting us, Don Sebastiani & Son's for the cool Smoking Loon cruiser bike that generated lots of raffle ticket sales, everyone who attended and bid, and of course all of our wonderful sponsors. Please don't forget to check the sponsor page and check out their websites and their products.  If you lost out on an auction item, you'll be able to find one at their site and make a purchase. 

Thanks everyone for another wonderful season of riding, trail work, and fun.  We hope to see you next year!

Warm Regards,

The Seattle LUNA Chix

www.lunabar.com

Breast Cancer Fund Auction

Hello All,

Hope this finds you well.  The season is winding down and we're headed off to Winthrop for one more clinic and race before the severe weather 'forces' us to find other pursuits until the sun shines again.   On our return from east of the mountains, we'll be hosting our last 'official' event for the season.  We'll be hosting our second annual Breast Cancer Fund auction.  The first auction raised more than $4,000 for the Breast Cancer Fund and we're excited to see what we can do (with your help) this year.

The auction will be taking place on October 25th from 7-10pm at St. Andrew's Bar & Grill at Greenlake.    St. Andrew's is located at 7406 Aurora Ave N, Seattle, WA.   If you can't make the auction, go on in and check them out some other time.  They have fabulous food and tons of sports viewing (primary of course is soccer!).  They're kind enough to let us invade for the evening at no cost.  360 Vodka has also made a donation and we're going to be coming up with a fun drink offering.  A proceed of the sales of the "special" drink will go directly to the Breast Cancer fund as well.

We have some great sponsors that have donated some incredible auction items.  Some of the organizations that have donated include Earth Studios Moab, Best Kiteboarding, Harlot, Descente, Loeka, Suunto Watches, Jose Lopez from the Mariner's, Bada Restaurants (Bluwater), Lifesports (SpinErvals), Hot House Spas, K2, Under the Weather, 360 Vodka, Deschutes Brewery, Pike Brewing Company, Bridgedale, Coop's Candles, and Skyy Vodka.   There are also some other really great items being donated by individuals too numerous to list.  See the sponsor page for info and links to some of our amazing corporate sponsors.

100% of the proceeds raised will  benefit the Breast Cancer Fund.  In response to the public health crisis of breast cancer, the Breast Cancer Fund identifies — and advocates for elimination of — the environmental and other preventable causes of the disease.  For more information on this organization and their amazing work, please see their website.

Has been a wonderful season and we've had a great time.  We do hope to see you at our season closer on October 25th.  Until then, take care and hope to see you on the trails!

I-5 Colonnade Grand Opening

Wow, what a place.  If you haven't read the previous post about one of the work parties we did here, I-5 Colonnade is a project to reclaim land under the I-5 freeway through Seattle and to build an 'in city' mountain bike skills park.  Phase 1 is now complete and it's amazing.  They are billing this as the beginner section  but it is dense with tight, twisting single-track punctuated by rocks, drops and all sorts of wood stunts including skinnies, bridges, teeter totters, a suspension bridge as well as a couple of significant (but rollable) rock walls.

The project has captured national and international attention and mention.  The Backcountry Bicycle and Trail Club, City of Seattle, King County Parks, Urban Sparks, REI, and other local business such as Starbucks, Fluideride & others have all come together to make this happen.  Along with thousands and thousands of volunteer hours (and one paid project manager, well done Mike!) and  thousands of donated dollars Phase 1 is now complete.

Construction for Phase 2 is scheduled for completion at the end of 2008.  Phase 2 will consist of less-dense trails geared more toward the intermediate and advanced riders. Phase 2 will consist of 3 roughly parallel trails, one flowy trail with jumps and tabletops, a mostly elevated trail built out of ladder bridges, and a slow speed, very technical trail with large drops.  As in Phase 1 there will be optional lines with more advanced features.

With $75,000 in funds received through a grant from the City of Seattle, once the Backcountry Bicycle and Trail Club finishes raising the funds to match it, construction will begin.  There is only another $20,000 needed to match the City of Seattle funds.  If you want to help make this happen (and have your name etched into a cool paver and installed in the park) donate a rock!

The Seattle mountain bike chapter of Team LUNA Chix is excited to have been a small part of making this happen and we look forward to more work parties so we can see, and help Phase 2 become a reality.  If you're in the area, come out and check out the park.   If you're not in the  area, take this idea, plant it in your city, you may need to water it to see it grow (and in some cases, dig down through the bedrock to get it planted) but with the success of the park in Seattle-hopefully you'll see more sprouting up around the nation.

We'd like to thank the Backcountry Bicycle & Trail Club for making this a reality.  As always they're advocating the opening and maintenance of our incredible trail systems and putting in countless hours making it happen.  Check out their website and if you can, make a donation of time or effort.

We're looking forward to some great rides at the newest addition to the amazing trails in the Northwest! 

24 Hours of Canmore

Just got back from Canmore and the 24 Hours of Adrenalin.  We put 2 teams in and were lucky to have 2 gals from our Bay Area Tri Team come up and race with us as well.  Christie & Kim put in huge efforts and stepped outside their comfort zones for some night riding in grizzly country.    They both did wonderful and seemed to really enjoy the experience in spite of some of the rooty, rocky downhill that isn't the norm for California.  They pulled awesome laps times though,  b/c these ladies are fit and can climb!

We also had Carolyn and Kathy step in and fill out our teams, some of you may know them from the BBTC.  Both were wonderful additions, great attitudes and super husbands, Mike and Jeff.  They were great and stepped in to help whenever needed including Mike's "Dead of Night" shift as an event volunteer.  Huge props to them  for all their help and support this weekend.  Speaking of support, Silvia pulled time as an event volunteer our there in the wee hours and kept up the good cheer throughout the event.  Stephen provided mechanical support and made sure everyone's bikes kept on running.  The support was invaluable and we're so happy to have had all of you there with us.

We were lucky to have no major mechanicals or major spills/injuries and it seems like everyone really enjoyed the experience.     Last laps were pulled by Kim and Peggy, both had huge smiles at the finish.  Great job everyone! 

For more pictures of the event, see the link below the pics on the right. Click there scroll through until you find the full set of pics!  

We've got a few days off and then it's back to regular rides and events.   As per the usual, please find us on the Backcountry Bicycle and Trail Club website.  Our rides through July are posted there and we'll be getting August rides going in the next week or so. Check out the ride calendar and look for the LUNA Chix rides at www.bbtc.org.

See you on the trails soon! 

Sunday Three-A-Day

As Canmore draws ever nearer, we're trying to pack in some miles and mix in some technical trails as well.  Today should have been listed as the Trio of Technical Trails.   In between Skookum, the east side 169 at Lake Sawyer, and the Tapeworm, we saw alot of roots, rocks, drops, and built up stunts.

With the weather looking a little sketchy, we weren't sure what was going to happen.  We ended up trusting the weather and having a beautiful (though occasionally wet) day.  We started out at Skookum near Crystal Mountain.   We headed up Skookum for some technical climbing.  The  winter storms caused alot of havoc to the trail system but those awesome trail gnomes had been very busy filling in washed out and sections of trail that had been ripped out when huge trees fell.  One big section was a hike a bike through a creek bed and up a big loose embankment.  Rather than doing the out and back as originally anticipated, we headed back down via White River.

As we ate some snacks between rides and loaded up the bikes,  the rain spit on us a bit.  When we got into Black Diamond it got a bit heavier.  Once we got geared back up and headed to the east side, it seemed to clear again and we even saw a little sun peaking through the trees.

   Our last ride of the day was the Tapeworm out in Renton.   As we pulled into the parking lot to finish up our three, the rain was completely gone and the sun was blazing through the trees.  We got a few more miles in to fill out the 3rd in the trio.  What a great group of gals to ride with.

Also got to try some samples of Beljum Budder.  They made paraben-free chamois creme/skin lubricant.  Great product, no chafing at all! Woohoo!!!  If you have the chance, check them out at www.beljumbudder.com.

For more pictures of the ride, click on the link under the pictures on the right of the page.  To sign up for a ride, please check out the LUNA Chix rides at www.bbtc.org.  The Backcountry Bicycle and Trail Club is home to many a trail gnome and trail advocate so check them out, get signed up, and start making a difference in the community!  Hope to see you on the trails soon!

Is It June Already?

Time has flown by and suddenly the trails are buff, dry and super fun to ride right now. We had a great day up at Galbraith a couple weeks ago (look for another ride there on June 30th), and our June ride calendar is absolutely packed. We're frequenting all the local spots, and trying to get out further afield for some weekend rides in areas that are finally being freed of snow.

The LUNA Chix are trying to pack in the miles and tune up their fitness level for a 24-hour race in Canmore in July. We've done a few 24-hour races in the past, but this will be the first time in Canmore, a location renowned for the fitness of its residents and its technical, challenging trails. Also, bears--but we're trying not to think about that!

Come on out and ride with us, the weather is perfect and if you listen carefully, you can hear all those amazing trails out there calling your name!

I-5 Colonnade Work Party

On Tuesday, 9 gals headed out to the I-5 Colonnades project for a little work party.  The BBTC, Mike Westra and many volunteers have been dilligently working to create a very unique mountain bike park under Interstate 5.  We decided to go check the site out and put in a little sweat equity. 

This is going to be an awesome place to practice skills and there are definitely going to be some challenging areas.  We can't wait for the park to be finished!  Many thanks to Mike Westra, the  BBTC, the City of Seattle, and all the volunteers.   

For more information on this very cool project, check the BBTC website.

There are lots of work parties posted and many opportunities to contribute your time.   If you have an hour or two to give, get signed up and check it out.   The more volunteers we get out there, the quicker we can start riding this one!

4 Hours of Adrenaline - Race Report

What a great time we had today at the 4 Hours of Adrenaline race out at South Seatac. This is the second year we've done this, and the second year we've won! Our second team, which was rounded out by Corinna Bolender in Debbi's place (her shoulder still hasn't gotten the go-ahead from her doc for racing), managed to pull in the fastest time in this super-fun paired relay race put on by the Single Track Minds bike club.

This is a great race to kick off the season--very relaxed with an attitude that having fun is more important than pulling in the fastest laps. There were plenty of kids and dogs, and the weather cooperated with a beautiful sunny day for the event. The trails were buff and dry, and we're all super excited for more rides now that spring seems to be here in full force.

Upcoming in the next couple of weeks, we've got a ladies trailwork day at the Collonades, a ride at one of our favorite spots, Galbraith Mountain on Sunday May 6th, and even more rides at the Worm, and St. Edwards State Park. In fact, there's two rides at St. Ed's in a couple weeks, here's one specifically for beginners.

May should be packed with plenty of rides to get you back into shape and knock the dust of those technical skills. So come outside and ride with us, hopefully we'll see you on the trails soon!