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Early this month, the team celebrated completing it’s first inaugural racing season at the Bearded Lady on South Magnolia in Ft. Worth.  It’s a must go kind of place that has one of the most comprehensive craft beer selections in North Texas!

At the party, the team had the pleasure of having pro racer, Geoff Godsey, from Team Giant Southwest and DFW Active Life as a guest speaker, and assisting us in giving out our team performance awards.

Geoff turned PRO in 2000 at the age of 23, and has raced for several teams including TREK-Volkswagen Pro Cycling (Off-road & On-road), Ranch London (On-road), Specialized Factory Team (On-Road), Team Hotel San Jose (On-Road), Kenda-5hr Energy Pro Cycling (On-Road), GIANT Factory ON-ROAD Team (formerly GIANT Bicycles-SOUTH). His career includes both domestic and international experience (primarily Central / South American Tours).  He’s had 25 + Career Victories, Multiple Texas State Championship titles (includes current 2-time Masters State Criterium Championship).  Some highlights – (3) Stages wins at the International Cycling Classic, (4) Stage wins at the Ciclismo Internationale de Brazil, Top 20 Performance at the US National Championship ITT – PR 51min 37sec (40K)

Team Performance Award Winners

Our team supports two types of members, racing and riding.  Our racing members have the opportunity to compete for annual team awards to act as an incentive and motivation to perform well during the season.  We track races completed and placings, and assign a points system to them.  Based on the data, we have a pretty good objective way to award performance without any kind of subjective opinion.  Here are the 2013 winners:

Along with individual performances, we feel our team fared pretty well as a whole.  Here is a breakdown of our team performance from this past year:

Racing by the Numbers

The inaugural racing season saw 23 members compete in 8 USAC sanctioned, sprint and endurance mountain bike races for a total of 85 individual race entries completed.  20 members in Category 3 age group, and 3 in Category 2 single speed classifications. Total team membership reached 29 for the season and consisted of 23 adult males, 3 adult females, and 3 junior racers.

Racing Performance

Several of our racing members placed in the top ten and reached the podium in multiple races.  Here is the breakdown of our best results for the season:

The team also had several top DORBA Fall Total Series placing’s, including 1^st and 4^th place for Cat 2 SS, 1^st and a tie for 2^nd place in the Cat 3 20 -29, and 1^st place in Clydesdale

In addition to our racing performances, Bearded Women Racing is 100% focused on community outreach as well.  Here is a summary of what our team accomplished this past season:

Charitable Fundraising

In May of 2013, Bearded Women Racing marched 91 miles in 17 hours and raised over $600 in honor of those fallen soldiers and their families at Carry the Load.  The team will make this an annual fundraising event each year!

Carry the Load is a non-profit organization helping people celebrate a meaningful Memorial Day by conducting a 20-hour event that honors veterans and active duty service members, law enforcement officers, firefighters and their families.

The team was able to provide 20 adult, refurbished bicycles to those in need through this local organization located in Mansfield, TX.  Their mission is to provide low cost transportation options to students, micro-businesspeople, health care workers and others in developing nations and in our local community by recycling and reusing bicycles and their component parts

Pedal-Power is a non-profit 501©3 organization that recovers used bicycles, repairs them to working condition, and donates them to individuals locally and in developing countries.

The team helped to supply 480 NEW BALANCE sport t-shirts to Walnut Ridge Baptist Church for Samaritan’s Purse International Relief for Operation Christmas Child.

Mountain Bike Trail Maintenance

Dallas Off-Road Bicycling Association

One of our team principles is giving our time back to the mountain bike community trails.  On Sunday, September 15 our members gave a hefty about of muscle and sweat to preparing Boulder Park for the upcoming but eventually cancelled DORBA Fall Series race.

24 volunteers and 120 man hours later, a new super-berm was erected, miles of trail were trimmed, plant beds were managed, and hundreds of yards of grass were cut!  BWR team members turned out in force alongside many other DORBA and local volunteers to make the effort a memorable one!  Trail Steward Cash Lopper and game day coordinator Todd Brashear led the effort alongside sponsors Bearded Women Racing and B & B Bicycles.

Also, a few team members spent 9 man hours at another trial maintenance day at Cedar Hill State Park.  A huge berm was repaired as well as a creek crossing.  The team will continue to work with local trail stewards and schedule work days as a part of our membership requirements, and obligations to our community trails.

The Dallas Off-Road Bicycle Association is a 501c3 non-profit and its primary mission is providing access to great local trails.