Tara Llanes was seriously injured in a semi-final race of the Jeep King of the Mountain series finale at Beaver Creek Resort, CO, on Saturday, September 1, 2007.

Tara, one of the leaders of the Giant For Women Ride Society, was taken to a hospital in Denver where she underwent several hours of surgery for trauma to her lower back. Her stay at the Denver Health Medical Center is expected to last for at least a week.

Tara has been a member of the Giant family for several years, and we join her family and friends in sending our love and good wishes to Tara in what will undoubtedly be a long recovery process.

Tara's MySpace website has been set up as the best place to get updated information on Tara's condition. Visit:

http://www.myspace.com/mtbtara

Post your get well wishes to Tara here and we'll be sure she hears your words of support.

Have been loving getting back into biking again after a long hiatus. The Suede W (7 gear) suits me fine for my gently hilly desert area. Now that I can ride longer and faster, would like to do some commuting, running errands, etc. Which racks and fenders will fit onto a Suede with 26" X 1.95" tires? The seat is angled so close to the rear tire that I have some doubts about how to fit everything together. Suggestions??

Hi, just brought my new "Giant" Road Bike it's a OCR 3 women's Road Bike. Our local Bicycle shop had a Tent Sale.

I did try the other brand Trek WSD but found that the spacing between the Handle bars and seat was too short for me. Even though I have short legs, I'm 5'3" I seem to have a bit longer waste so the Giant brand seemed alot more comfortable to me.

Getting the shifting to work for me was different but I think I will stick to the more quietier streets close to home for a few weeks until I get used to the feel. I plan to put it on my Stationary Trainer this winter to help keep me in shape... I like it better than having to purchace a seperate exercise bike!

My Goals: I'm also a runner too and Bicycling, I learned is also good and helps my Running. I would like to sometime next year get on a local Relay Triathlon team "for Fun" to either do the biking portion or the Running portion (I'm not a good swimer)

Thanks for reading,

Ibike2bfit/peggy

Does anyone know of any good routes in Monterey, CA for a beginner? I'm getting sick of riding the bike path and wanting to kick all the tourists who can't figure out what a bell means or "On your left". Help? I'm not good at hills and tend to go kind of slow (avg. speed of about 12 mph).

Thanks.

kg.

The website looks very cool. Easy to use, too. Can't wait to see what photos get posted in the Gallery. By the way, did anyone ride the Cool Breeze Century out of Ventura CA this past weekend? It was a great ride under perfect weather conditions. Everyone should definitely mark their calendars for this ride in mid-August next year. The Channel Islands Bike Club does a great job putting this event on and supporting it (check out http://www.cibike.org). There are varying rides--a mini metric, a metric, a full 100-mile century, and a DOUBLE metric! i rode the metric this year, but with a little more training, I think I can do the full 100 next year. And one more thing: I met the nicest rider from Tucson, AZ during the Cool Breeze. Turns out she is a salesperson and a mechanic at Sabino Cycles. She performed a quick adjustment to the "limiter screw" on my rear derailleur and stopped an annoying click! She was a true "Road Angel." I don't remember your name, but THANK YOU!!