The October 29th, 2017 GGR: Girlz Gone Riding Festival & CORBA membership drives comes to a close.
I’d first like to acknowledge and thank all the volunteers that make this 1 day festival happen. Without every single volunteer, this very special festival would not take place. So thank you volunteers!
The weekend started with our last pre ride for all the guided routes. Each ride volunteer pre rides the routes so we don’t get you lost and they know what to expect on the trails! Then it was time to head over to REI Woodland Hills for our early packet pick up. About 60 riders came to REI to receive their bike plates, goodie bags, shop and turn in their waivers so they would not have to wait in line Sunday morning to do so.
Now my team and I have been doing this a long time. This is our 7th Rocktober festival, so it’s really a well oiled machine. We have parking attendants, photographers, exhibitor directors, check in volunteers, CORBA membership volunteers, the list goes on and on. So the morning went pretty smooth waiting for 9am to start the festivities. During this time, riders pick up demo bikes, attend ride volunteer meetings, coaches meetings and start gathering with their friends getting ready to hit the trails!
As I welcome and introduce our chapter directors, ladies are still gathering on the grass looking very excited to get going. O and 2 hot pink T-REX’s are also running through the crowd!
The Rocktober festival is also a CORBA membership drive. Each GGR chapter partners up with their respective IMBA chapter. CORBA is our LA chapter partner. Steve Messer, President of CORBA spoke about what exactly CORBA does for our community. I’m proud to say that by the end of the day we had another 43 women sign up or renew for their memberships to CORBA. THANK YOU!
We were also so very lucky to again have our skills clinic headed up by legend/hall of famer TWICE… Leigh Donovan. With an impressive coaching team of Heidi Kanayan, Amy Rambacher, Christine Ellicott (Hirst): (Christine has coached at every single Rocktober!!!) and Jeana Miller. Each of these RAD women are world-class coaches AND are some of the gnarliest shredders around! I’m very grateful to have them be a part of our community and festival and thankful they donate their time to our women’s mountain biking community.
Every year GGR gives out a community award to the bike shop that shows community love and involvement. This year’s award was given to All Pro Bicycles in Simi Valley. Headed up by wonder woman/endurance shredder herself Gina Virzi-Kelly.
Riders then were staged for their guided rides by ride level. Black Diamond, Blue and Greeneies. Each ride had their respective ride leaders, sweepers and floaters. Off they went for the next few hours of riding. The skills clinics rotated between 3 stations and focused on everything from bike set up, to bike/body separation to cornering and more.
When riders started heading back from their rides, I got to see their smiley, dusty faces enjoying the vendors at the expo.
The incredible day ended with the CORBA membership raffle winner of Sue Hall, and other awards respectively given to:
Kamala Slight: Best GGR Spirit
Janette Aragon: Best GGR Spirit
We have so many women that work all year round behind the scenes of GGR that many are not aware of, so I wanted to recognize these incredible ladies for their volunteer work with GGR and thank them!
Leah Jensen: has handled all raffles since day one for Rocktobers among many other things during the year
Ojai Ruth: Handles the Google calendar for ALL chapters on the GGR website
Laura “Mega” Watts: Project manager for exhibitors at the Rocktober festivals
Stephanie Wolf: GGR’S webmaster! Steph handles everything related to the GGR website and photo’s for the Rocktober Festival
Julie Betrand: GGR Brand Manager: Julie creates all artwork and logo’s associated with anything GGR
The day ended with handing out over $15K of raffle prizes thanks to our generous supporters and sponsors.
Extra special thanks to the following:
REI: Lead sponsor
Leah Dilbeck of Dilbeck Realtors: Sponsor
Lauren Rossen, CPA: Sponsor
CORBA: GGR Partner
Steve Messer
Joanna Rogers with Farmers
Liv
Turner Bikes
IBIS
Foes Racing
Jenson USA/Jackie Reseigne for the new beautiful ride signs!
Haro Bikes
Head Coach Leigh Donovan
Coach Heidi Kanayan
Coach Amy Rambacher
Coach Christine Ellicott (Hirst)
Coach Jeana Miller
Desi Desmesquita
Stephanie Wolf
Laura Watts
Leah Jensen
Doris Dunn
Julie Betrand
Chapter Directors:
Jackie Reseigne: Inland Empire
Susie Murphy: San Diego
Kern County: Tracy Jones
Big Bear: Ali Hyde
Mojave: Lisa Land, Heather Muhle, Denise Myers.
I thank everyone for another successful festival. Please support CORBA or your own local IMBA CHAPTER. Do some trail work, support your club rides, volunteer, grab a buddy and get them out on the trails, soooooo much you can do to make an impact in your mountain biking community! Wanna be a ride volunteer? See your GGR chapter director.
Pictures will be uploaded soon to the GGR website. Please check back periodically: 2017 Rocktober Festival Photo’s
In the mean time, here are a few more….until next time……may your rides always be epic!
GGR Girl Wendy Engelberg
