Ride Society Leaders

Tara Llanes
Mountain Bike Champion
http://www.tarallanesroadtorecovery.com »
A former professional mountain bike racer, Tara has won two national championships, received medals at four world championships and won four medals at the ESPN Winter X-Games. Tara turned down a college basketball scholarship to pursue her dream of mountain bike racing and she’s never looked back.

She continues to inspire us while she faces new challenges resulting from a devastating injury to her spinal column two years ago. Still racing and actively competing, we'll be supporting Tara as she trains for the Paralympics.
Check out Tara's latest posts from the Ride Society below:

Hand Cycle Nightmare!

Some might say that it’s taken me quite some time to start riding a hand cycle and some might say that I’ve been pretty quick to, but I think in this particular situation everyone comes around when they feel it’s the right time for them. For me it happened to take about a year and a half post injury. The biggest issue for me was to deal with it mentally. The fact that a hand cycle is just not… »
(1) Comment Permalink Travel Journal

The Crash After the Crash...

I’ve been traveling quite a bit lately and recently was in the city of Victoria on Vancouver Island, BC. It was absolutely gorgeous over there and we made sure to bring our bikes. The trip primarily was so that my girlfriend Elladee could do some dealer visits and get some work done. While we were there we stayed at her business partner Lisa’s house. Luckily we had some downtime after the workday… »
(2) Comments Permalink Inspiring Women

Big Bear vs. Whistler

What is the difference between Whistler now and Big Bear then? Wow….ALOT!! Big Bear, California has been the site of numerous races. Not only Norba Nationals, but major World Cup races, Fall Classics, and even the first ever Women’s Only Weekend. Big Bear was somewhat the epitome of mountain bike racing. They had the organization, the courses, and the spectators. Big Bear is a cool little town… »
(1) Comment Permalink Travel Journal

Balance

Balance defined in the dictionary is: A weighing device, especially one consisting of a rigid beam horizontally suspended by a low-friction support at its center, with identical weighing pans hung at either end, one of which holds an unknown weight while the effective weight in the other is increased by known amounts until the beam is level and motionless. Okay that definition was just ridiculous and… »
(0) Comments Permalink Training Wheels

Let's Talk About Rubber

Okay ladies now when I say rubber I am not being dirty, however the rubber I am talking about will get dirty. Tires are what I’m talking about and there are a wide variety of them. There didn’t used to be nearly the amount of choices when I first started compared to today. Not that I am ancient, but I think rubber companies were just in the beginning stages of figuring out how different sizes,… »
(1) Comment Permalink Service Department

Go Green!

On the cover of just about any magazine these days the topic is about thinking Green. Well, except People magazine, US, and maybe the ones with the black covers over them. My point is that I think people are finally starting to get it! Starting to recycle, starting to cutback on how long the air-conditioner is on, and maybe even taking quicker showers. Anyone of those things helps decrease the amount… »
(0) Comments Permalink Training Wheels

To Clip or Not to Clip...

In the world of mountain biking you’ve got plenty of choices. You’ve got hard tail bikes, front suspension bikes, and full suspension. You’ve got 1.75 tires, knobby 2.2 tires, and full on downhill 2.5-inch tires. And then you’ve got clipless pedals, flats, or clip pedals. Sometimes it seems like there are too many choices! When I first started racing my choice of pedal was the flat pedal otherwise… »
(2) Comments Permalink Training Wheels

At Your Own Pace

As a lot of you may know I raced mountain bikes on the professional circuit for years. Thirteen years to be exact. During those years I learned so much from other riders that had already been racing for years and even some of the of the mechanics. I was so young when I first started that I had a lot to learn and was always open to any suggestions if it would make me a better rider. I distinctly remember… »
(0) Comments Permalink Inspiring Women

It can be done!

Hey everyone!! It’s been a little while I know. Well, there have been some updates from me, but they haven’t been specifically for Giant for Women so I want to take the time to say hi again and sorry for being tied up for the past few months. Some of you may know that I had a pretty bad crash on September 1, 2007 and am currently paralyzed from the waist down. Although that won’t be for much… »
(3) Comments Permalink Inspiring Women

Getting Ready to Go Home...

I’m so tired! I can't believe it's taken me this long to write another blog. Things here are getting a little busier just because I am leaving soon and I need to get everything organized as far as things I will need at home and making sure they get sent there before I get there. So besides all of that this past Monday was a pretty cool day. Access Hollywood came out to interview me for their show.… »
(0) Comments Permalink Inspiring Women

Recovery Update

Hey everyone. I really meant to write yesterday, but yesterday was one of the scariest days of my life. For some reason for the past 5 days or so I've been having these really gnarly sort of muscle twitches. I'm not sure how many of you have heard of Restless Leg Syndrome, but I've been getting them in my upper body. So far I've been able to get them under control a bit so that is good. So yesterday… »
(3) Comments Permalink Inspiring Women

Tara's Update

Tara Llanes continues to recover from the spinal cord injuries she suffered in a mountain bike race in Colorado on September 1. Below is part of the latest update posted to her MySpace page by her coach, James Herrera. The complete update, new photos of Tara and many, many good wishes can be found at: http://myspace.com/mtbtara Her family, friends, and supporters are urging those folks… »
(1) Comment Permalink Inspiring Women

Tara's Update by her coach and friend, James Herrera

As she lies in a hospital bed following a seven hour surgery to the back and spinal cord, Tara Llanes listens to one of her doctors explain the use of the Incentive Spirometer, a device frequently utilized in the medical community to test the health of the lungs following surgery. “Tara, now put this hose in your mouth and take the deepest breath you can,” he says. The effects of the post-surgery… »
(0) Comments Permalink Inspiring Women

Traveling with Your Bike

I have traveled all over creation with my bike. To races, to fun rides, and even on vacation! Most of the time I have to fly to get to the race and at first I hated packing my bike. Well, let’s be honest…I still don’t like packing my bike. However I have done it for so long now that I have a system that works well for me and takes me about 15 minutes per bike. Not bad considering in the beginning… »
(1) Comment Permalink Service Department

Mom's Questions

I thought it would be a good idea to have a bit of a Question and Answer session with none other than my Mom. My Mom has ridden bikes for about 10 years now off and on. She started because of a knee injury and has gone from pure beginner to what I’d call an intermediate rider. She has done the AIDS ride from San Francisco to L.A twice and has also done her fair share of mountain biking at her beloved… »
(4) Comments Permalink Training Wheels

Eating for a ride...

I get quite a few people at the races and on the trails that ask me about my diet, and what I eat throughout the day. And I tell them that it depends on what type of ride or race I’m doing. Now everyone is different. I’ve got friends that don’t even eat breakfast before we head out for a 3-hour mtb ride. Just a cup ‘a Joe and it’s out the doh! But there is absolutely no way that I could do… »
(2) Comments Permalink Training Wheels

Jumping

For the past 12 years or so I’ve traveled all over the world and have ridden a lot of different courses, but all those courses have one thing in common. They all have jumps on them! So I’m going to do my best to try and explain how to jump in this blog. The first thing you need to do is get all your pads together and a good helmet. There are many companies out there that make good pads. I always… »
(4) Comments Permalink Training Wheels

Survivor

Just this past weekend I was in Wisconsin for a Jeep King of the Mountain race. Elkhart, Wisconsin to be exact. Needless to say I had never been there, but it turned out to be a beautiful area and our hotel was right on a lake. The actual race was a tough one. The course was very flat and had a ton of pedaling, but I was confident. I won my first round and headed into the second round against the #1… »
(1) Comment Permalink Inspiring Women

Tips – Riding Through Tricky Terrain Part 2

So in my last blog I talked to you about riding over tricky rocks and through ruts. I figured I’d stay on the same subject matter and talk a little more about different terrain and how to handle it. There are so many different kinds of terrain and dirt. Generally on the west coast where I am from we have a lot of dry and dusty trails. And we don’t have a lot of roots. On the east coast though,… »
(2) Comments Permalink Training Wheels

Tips – Riding Through Tricky Terrain

When I first started riding mountain bikes and doing cross-country rides there were a lot of little things I didn’t know. These little things would end up making my ride feel a bit harder or tire me out a little quicker during the ride. In the beginning if I saw an obstacle like a pile of rocks or maybe a deep rut I would start to get really nervous. In my experience, the first thing you do when… »
(8) Comments Permalink Training Wheels

My Inspiration

I felt that since Mother’s Day is just a couple days away that I would dedicate this blog to my Mom and what an inspiration she’s been to me. My mom has always been quite the athlete and I’m glad I took after her. In her younger days she played very competitive triple-A softball, which is where she unfortunately ended up with her first serious injury. She was sliding into second base and jammed… »
(2) Comments Permalink Inspiring Women

Trail Tips - The Ride Essentials

This Blog will be dedicated to some of the basics of mountain biking. I was going to start out with riding tips, but I thought I’d begin out with some tips on “ride essentials” before I get into the nuts and bolts of how to ride. The Essential Tool I thought I’d start off by going over the basic tools you’ll need to tighten all the parts on your bike before you head out. Luckily, this isn’t… »
(9) Comments Permalink Training Wheels

Overcoming Challenges is the Best Part

This was it. I hit the first jump perfectly and hoped I had enough speed for the next. As I flew off the lip of the second jump, I realized I wasn’t going fast enough. This wasn’t going to turn out well. I was 12 feet in the air, clipped into my pedals and just hanging on, hoping I wouldn’t get hurt too badly. At the last minute, I pulled my hands from the handlebars and tried to soften the impact.… »
(5) Comments Permalink Inspiring Women
 
 

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