Grumpy's Cycling/LGR

I recently made the difficult decision to leave the Velo Bella team and join a new team for 2007. It's truly been an honor to be involved with such an unique, all-female team these past few years. When I put on the Velo Bella kit for the first time a few years back, I had no idea how supportive everyone would be of a team that wears a pink and blue kit with a Schwin Slick Chik (with a flowered basket), a very feminine looking woman, a black cat, and an "Ooh La La" on it. Velo Bella has done great things for women cyclists both locally and nationally, and I'll definitely miss the "go Bella!" cheers I get from perfect strangers no matter where I'm racing. Thank you Bellas, Fellas, and Friends!

For 2007, I'm joining a brand new team here in the Twin Cities...Grumpy's Cycling/LGR. I'm really excited about having another team mixing it up in the local cycling scene and I'm especially excited to have yet another women's team representing in the women's fields.

I've had a lot of questions about Grumpy's Cycling/LGR, and while I don't have answers to all of them just yet, I can at least give them a shot:

• Who's sponsoring your team? Well, I guess the most obvious sponsor is Grumpy's Bar. Moose and Sadie's coffee shop is also on board, amongst others that I'm not sure I'm supposed to mention just yet.
  
• How many people are on your team? I'm not actually sure. I'd guess about 10-15 at this time, but you'd have to bug (dis)pencer or Super Rookie for a more accurate answer.
• Are there other women on the team? Yep. One of them is Gilby.
• From what I've heard, this new team is all trackies and/or bike messengers. That's not really a question, but it's true that pretty much everyone on the team races at the track, but I think everyone also races on the road. And yeah, there are some messengers...I'm not sure how many are actually practicing messengers these days, but they definitely have some messenger history.
  
• I've heard that messengers are all tattooed and don't shower. Again, that's not really a question, but I know that a lot of my new teammates do in fact have tattoos. As far as not showering, I don't know the answer to that - but I hope that's true, because it could motivate me to ride fast enough to be at the front of group rides so that I'm not downwind. So I could be fast next year.
  
• What does "LGR" stand for? Little Guy Racing.
• Why Little Guy Racing? It's better than Team Awesome (in my opinion anyway, Super Rookie probably disagrees).
  
• Yeah, but where does "Little Guy" come from? Um, I'm actually not sure where he's from. I actually don't know the Little Guy very well, but I'll be sure to get the details on a group ride soon...I wonder who his favorite NASCAR driver is?
  
• Little Guy's an actual person? Oh yeah, he's a legend at the track, and he's got some of the coolest kits around...you can't miss him. I'm actually not sure if he'll be wearing the same kits as the rest of us next year...it might be against everything he stands for.
  
• What's the deal with everyone on Grumpy's Cycling being NASCAR fans? Being a NASCAR fan is a prerequisite for being a team member...it was on the application I had to fill out. I think it said "Who is your favorite NASCAR driver and why?". More importantly, there was another question that said "Who is your least favorite NASCAR driver?", and I'm fairly certain if you answered the #19 or #48 that you won't be on Grumpy's Cycling/LGR next year (unless maybe you're the Little Guy).
  
• So are you getting a tattoo? Probably. Since I'm not a messenger and have never actually ridden a fixed gear outside of the track, I might struggle to fit in, so a tattoo would definitely help me bond with my new team. I'm leaning towards a team motto...maybe something like "Little Guy Racing - where nobody dis's a rookie".
  
• What's up with the talking monkey? Nothing says "Grumpy's Cycling/Little Guy Racing" like a talking monkey.
  
• So is your pink Peacock Groove track bike going to clash with your new kit? No, I think our new pink, teal, peach, and bright green colored kits will match just fine (I think those are Little Guy's favorite colors, so the kit colors really do make sense).
• Did the Donimator really offer his Hummer as the Grumpy's Cycling/LGR team car? Wow, I haven't heard about this offer. I suppose it's possible...what with the high gas prices and such...maybe he's looking for car-poolers.
  

I'll try to answer more questions about Grumpy's Cycling/LGR in later posts after I have some more accurate answers to all of the questions I've been getting.

I'm looking forward to '07!

Strats