A group of dedicated athletes who celebrate life by riding our bikes for fun and competition.
Being Texans, we know what our summers (and sometimes our winters, springs, and falls) are like. They are HOT! Halo is who we rely on to keep the sweat out of our eyes. To learn more about Halo Headbands, check out their website: HALO
DeFeet is the brand we trust to keep our feet feeling comfortable and looking stylish!
“DeFeet was born in 1992. The first product was a totally customizable, open mesh weave airflow sock. The world’s top endurance athletes took notice immediately. The characteristics of those early designs are evident throughout the DeFeet line, today. Elegant, simple, useful and built to last.”
For more information, check out their website: DeFeet
If you ever see a Bearded Woman member riding the trails at night, you will most likely see a Trail LED light mounted on their helmet. Hands down, these lights are the best. Bike Rumor agrees. To see their review on Trail LED, click on this link: Trail LED Review.
“Trail LED, makers of the industry leading 6000 lumen Halo light, has upgraded their entire line with a new generation of LEDs, promising an increase in brightness, better clarity, and longer run times. Handmade in Plano, Texas, Trail LED’s unique design and cutting edge technology promises commuters and solo 24-hour racers alike better visibility and more comfort than their competitors.”
To get your very own Trail LED light, head on over to their site: Trail LED
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 14,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 5 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
The end of our second season racing caps a tremendously successful, and exciting 2014 for our team. The year has been fruitful, rewarding, tragic, and very special for all of our members. Here’s a look back at the season, including our 2014 team performance award winners, Jacob the Great, and what we accomplished:
On January 16, 2014 we tragically lost one of our own right as the new season was starting. Jacob Hollings joined our inagural 2013 squad as a mid-season addition at 20 years old, and quickly shined, winning multiple races and finishing the season on a very high note.
While his passing was very sad and difficult, we remember Jacob, not only through our own encounters with him, but also first hand through his father, Phil Hollings. Phil pledged to his son, posthumously, to race in Jacob’s place. He had never ridden a mountain bike before, and in his first race, he got 1st place, just like Jacob! We are so thankful to have Phil on the team, racing for himself and in Jacob’s memory. Read more about Jacob here.
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 2014 winners:
Not in attendance:
The 2014 racing season saw 34 out of 49 members compete in 43 unique sprint and endurance bike races for a total of 247 individual race entries logged by both racing and riding members, up 65 % from 85 logged in 2013.
By far our most represented Category is CAT2 (SS included) and 2nd most popular is CAT 3. There were 105 XC Races logged, and 62 Endurance type races. BWR was represented at a race in every month of the season in 2014!
Total team membership reached 49 for the season and consisted of 1 life time member, 32 racing members, 12 riding members, and 4 junior boys. The team became more gender diverse with 7 women on the team, 3 who raced consistently the entire season. We had 37 men, respectively.
Several of our racing and riding members placed in the top ten and reached the podium in multiple races during the season. Here is the breakdown of our best results:
|
#WINNING |
||||
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th – 10th |
| 33 | 34 | 17 | 18 | 63 |
That put’s a Bearded Women on the podium 84 times out of 247 individual race entries, a 34% podium achievement rate!
Click on a race to read each summary (not all races attended were summarized):
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:
Aside from racing, our members are expected to participate in various community service events throughout the season. This past year, 22 members volunteered their time at 26 local events. Here are some of the events Bearded Women Racing was at:
For the past 2 years, Bearded Women Racing marched in honor of fallen soldiers and their families at Carry the Load. Here’s recaps from 2013 and 2014.
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.
This was the first year the team participated in DORBA’s Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day. Three trails celebrated TKMBD on Saturday, October 4, 2014. Bearded Women Racing (BWR) volunteered at two of those events: Horseshoe (Grapevine, TX), and the NW Community Trail (Frisco, TX).
In Frisco, seven BWR members came out to help check fit on the kids’ bikes and helmets, change flats, lead/sweep rides and cheer the kids on. Frisco drew 15 smiling, happy kids to their event and many laps around the trail were taken by all.
This season, each member was challenged to complete at least 8 hours of trail work for the year. The team requires members to give back in various ways, and putting in trail time is one of the main activities we do. We had 36 members work a total of 462 trail hours at 17 different trails! We hope to double that amount next year.
At the end of November, we wrapped up the DORBA Fall Series with a final race at Frisco NW Community Park Trail. The week prior to the race, BWR was sitting in 3rd place for the Overall Team award. The bottom line was we needed teammates to sign up for this race, so we could move up in the rankings. Teammates encouraged one another to sign up, and the BWR turnout that day was awesome! We had a whopping total of 25 racers ready to take on the competition at Frisco!
This final race was a bit different than the rest. Each lap was only about 4 miles, so Cat 3 racers did 3 laps, Cat 2 racers did 4 laps, and Cat 1 racers did 5. This trail also has very little tree covering, so much of the race was out in the open, which made it fun for the spectators.
The race began on a jeep road that went directly up a hill, quickly separating the leaders from the rest of the pack. Once we got up the hill, we went through an old barn and jumped right onto the single track. If you simply look at Frisco NW Community Trail, you would think it looks fairly flat. Guess again. There are few sections of long sustained climbs that definitely get heart rate elevated. The rest of the trail has a smooth, non-technical flow with some whoop-de-doos and tight turns.
It was so cool to have so many teammates, old and new, there to end the Fall Series. We are definitely looking forward to next year. We appreciate the work that goes into the production of these races. Thank you, DORBA, and volunteers!
Here are the full team results and photos from the day:
Written by racing member, Evan Blackard
Rudolph’s Revenge is a 30-mile or 40-mile mountain bike race held on the Ray Roberts Greenbelt Corridor, the road between the FM455 Greenbelt access point and Isle du Bois State Park (FM455), the road in Isle du Bois State Park (from the park entrance to the DORBA trailhead), and the DORBA Trail at Isle du Bois. This year, it was held on Saturday, December 20th, with a start time of 9:00 A.M. Temps were in the low 40s and it was overcast and damp.
The 30-mile version began with a mass start from the red bridge at the FM428 access point of the Greenbelt Corridor. The start was very “low-key” compared to many XC races, with very few sprinting from the onset. Even those that did, quickly realized that the open areas of the Greenbelt trail would be better experienced in a drafting pack, and let the main group catch up. Drafting was very important on the greenbelt and the initial road portion of the trail. Riders that did this well had significantly more energy reserves for the upcoming single track and the return on the road and Greenbelt gravel.
After riding the Greenbelt and some road (around 9 miles) from the FM455 access point to the park, into the park, and all the way to the trailhead, the single track portion of the race began. Isle du Bois is a demanding trail both technically and aerobically, although more so technically. It is very well balanced with climbs and descents, and doesn’t have an abundance of “lung-busting” extended climbs or open flats to “pound.” The technical aspect of the trail is largely due to the short, rocky climbs and descents in the D and E loops of the trail. There are many and they are tricky. I walked 3 or 4 sections after putting a foot down. I got the impression that increased familiarity with the trail would help with that, although it would be technically difficult nonetheless.
The Isle du Bois trail is around 10 miles and is fantastically fun. It’s a great place to destroy your legs because you’re having a blast while you’re doing it.
The road and gravel on the return was NOT fantastically fun. It was the identical route you took to get to the trailhead but in reverse, except this time, there was no one to draft with. It was punishing for everyone, but particularly for those who were better in the trees than on the road (like me). It seemed like it went on forever and it was just flat-out suffering (I got reeled in by a rider that I had put around a minute gap on in the single track). Painful. 😊
The 30 mile version and the 40 mile version race the same course, but the 40 mile version did the singletrack TWICE. (Ouch… Ask Ben.)
Shawn McAfee and his family provided pancakes and coffee, and The Sock Guy provided some free socks for the riders. Shawn also used your entrance fee to work an arrangement with the state park to cover all the riders entries to the park. There were about 50 total racers in the 30 mile and 30ish in the 40 mile.
BWR had three participants:
Benjamin Leach, Nick Castro, and Evan Blackard.
Jesse Bernal from BWR is the trail steward at IDB and does an amazing job. There was rain leading up to the event that threatened to move the race to its backup date, but in the end, the race was a “go” and the trail was in fantastic shape. Thanks, Jesse.
I would highly recommend this race: multi-discipline, higher than average XC milage, in a “race void” time of year, held on a fantastic trail, and staffed by some really friendly people.
Rudolph may have had his revenge…
but I’ll be back.
One of our members recently commented after completing 4 laps at the Sansom 66, “I drank a Scratch Labs after my 3rd lap and was able to make every climb that I couldn’t on the previous laps. I thought I was on crack!” We’ll we don’t condone doing drugs, but we do officially approve of their amazing energy powders that give that extra boost! Also, we love their cook book of recipes for organic, whole food portables. Bring me some blueberry, chocolate, and honey rice cake now, Eric Swarvar!! Here’s a bit more about Scratch Labs:
At Skratch Labs our mission is to provide people with the inspiration, life skills, and products to take better care of themselves and their families.
It’s a mission based on the understanding that taking care of oneself and those we love isn’t always easy. But that’s okay, because the way we see it, there’s nothing more satisfying and grounding than putting in the time, care, and effort to solve life’s challenges.
This perspective – solving problems and delaying gratification without losing sight of the present – is at the heart of the community events, blogs, cookbooks, and all-natural nutrition products that makes up the sometimes hard to define mishmash of activity here at Skratch Labs.
Like most things in life, we’re figuring it out as we go. That said, a few things are clear – that food and drink are better when made from scratch and that no matter where we find ourselves in life, that it’s never too late to start from scratch.
Get that fresh look you’ve been thinking about for the new year at Brass Tacks Barber Shop in Dallas, TX. This new shop is located in Oak Cliff within the Bishop Arts District.
Our ladies like to get their beards trimmed or faces shaved by a professional with a straight razor. Very hip! FYI, wear you’re skinny jeans! Oh, did I mention they have free beer while you wait?
Brass Tacks is a barbershop with focus on straight-razor shaves and traditional cuts. Listen to great music and enjoy a beer from a local brewery.
Here’s the owner, Brandon. You know you want to look like this dude! Killer stache.
The 2015 team will be rippin’ and grippn’ the trails on nothing other than Maxxis tires! Here’s a bit more about Maxxis:
One of the world’s most trusted tire brands, Maxxis delivers high-quality tire products to customers in 170 countries and employs more than 25,000 people. For winning races or enjoying a safe daily commute, Maxxis is the tire company riders and drivers trust.
Bearded Women Racing 