First off... a very Happy Holidays to you and your family from the VeloViet Family in Orange County, California! Special greetings to Captain Quang and our VeloViet Brothers and Sisters in Blaine, Minnesota!
The holiday is in full swing. Here is a photo of the festivity at my house. Hope to get some nice bike stuff under the Christmas tree this year ;-)
As the new year approaches, it is the time again for us to reminisce and remember the VeloViet events of 2011. Here is a brief recap...
2011 has been an quite a year for the VeloViets, filled with the highest of the highs, and the lowest of the lows. First the low... the VeloViet Family experienced deep sadness and conflicting emotions in the loss of one of our own. Never before have the club been through the internal conflict (caused by external influences) that occurred with this single tragedy. Through it all, the club persevere, members united, and we came out of this with eyes open wider, a new sense in the appreciation of life, and with a new found strength stronger than ever before! Thank you to those who helped us deal with this event, and also to those members who publicly and privately supported the Leadership Team.
Now to the highs... 2011 brought some great memorable rides! In February, the A1 team dominated Palm Springs, with special thanks to Lilliana who captured some vivid and exciting photos. In to April, our best climbers shoot it out in a friendly competition with local clubs on GMR. VeloViets Kazu and Luke captured the Baldy crowns in a one-two finishes. Special thanks to Broadcom, RiverVelo, and other cycling clubs for making this ride so fun! Then to LA GranFondo, Malibu, and 9/11 Ride, where our members bonded and be more united on these epic journeys!
We are ever so gratefull to have members such as FedEx and Haldane in our cycling club. These two brought their professional knowledge and hosted 3 bike clinics for the VeloViet in 2011. First it was the Bump-n-Ride, where our members had so much fun trying to knock each other off their bikes (on the grass of course). Then there was the Climbing Clinic, where we did drills and more drills on Pelican Hills. Then there was the Descend Clinic, where we learned how to handle the steep curves downhill and were taught by some of the best descenders in the business. Special thanks to all of our clinic instructors and their support staff!
The VeloViet rolled out spanking new racer kits for 2011, designed by our talented designer Dashaan. Our members now even look sharper and faster sporting the new Black/White and Red/White kits. We are grateful to the sponsors who supported us and allow getting the new cycling uniform a reality. Thank you California's Terriyaki Grill, CDM Capital, Image Dental, VoiceStep, and Bicycle Chain!
The highest high of 2011 have got to be our membership growth. We are now a whopping 90-member strong in the OC. We also set a new VeloViet record in both the youngest member (17 years old) and the largest pool of talented female cyclists ever (13 Ladies). These VeloViet Ladies not only can ride, but are absolutely gorgeous on and off the bikes!
With this rapid membership growth, the Leadership Team was overwhelm with the number of club related tasks we have to performed. Note again that VeloViet is a 100% volunteer based organization, and the leads all have jobs and families to tend. We are still under staff, but a few members have stepped up to help and have assumed leadership roles in certain areas. For this we are grateful, and we look forward to develop a much fuller leadership group in 2012.
As usual, the 2011 VeloViet season ended with an over-the-top Christmas party and last ride of the year this past week. The party was so much fun, and sorry I did not recognized some of you without your cycling kits! The last ride of 2011 was hard and fast, and we achieve a new record on the last section of SART. It is nice to see the front group not just a handful, but are now about 15 rider strong! Congratulations to everyone on your 2011 cycling accomplishments!
With that said, 2012 is going to be a massively exciting year for the club. We have commitments to have more fun, to provide more to our members, and we will venture into areas new to us. These details and more will be shared in the next few weeks by Captain Thomas. But before we leave 2011, here is a short Recap Video that I put together the last few nights. Enjoy!
Peace and see you all on the road in 2012,
Phong
Wow, great memories! Glad to be able to enjoy so many exhilarating Sundays with everybody! Thanks Phong.
ReplyDeleteMemories are the only thing we can only hold onto in our life and to revitalize those memories is we need someone like you Phong to express them in your writings. Thank you for giving us these moments of great memories...
ReplyDelete20, 30, or 40 years from now, we will look at this pix and say wow, what a wonderful moments together. I will still be a V V with lots of good old friends. Happy Holidays.
ReplyDeleteNgoc.
Great friends and great memories to close out 2011. As always, Phong knows how to capture it all.
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not, 2012 will be our 9th year as VeloViet. Please continue to help us grow by supporting each Sunday's ride. We are 5 members away from hitting our century mark. As Phong mentioned, 2012 promised to be even bigger. We are venturing into new territories. More to come...