Team Snacks Board Members
Calais Morgan
President
Favorite Snack(s): Currently into Japanese Ginger Tempura Potato Chips, but can always get down on some Hot Cheetos
I’ve been riding bikes since I sprouted legs, I think. I’ve never not had a bike! Bikes have done a lot for me, and always in a positive way. Because of how much I love bikes and what they represent, I decided I wanted to be a part of contributing to my community via bicycles, and have been a member of Team Snacks since 2017, with the express goal to be a supporter and promoter of women, trans, and people beyond the binary within our cycling community. I joined up with the Hill Country Ride for AIDS in 2016 to represent and fundraise for Project Transitions, and was appointed Team Captain for Project Transitions’ cycling team in 2017. I was also invited to be on the Production Team for the Hill Country Ride for AIDS in 2017, and have served each year through 2022. In 2020, I was nominated to serve on Teams Snacks’ Board as Ride Coordinator Co-lead, and have since then moved on to serve as President from 2021 to present.
I’ve created and led many rides, but my favorites are probably Call Of The Mild bike campout, and more recently, Riding Rainbow, which is a series which we ride to learn or experience the things that make Austin so great.
I love anything bikes, but especially mountain biking and urban exploration, and also love trail building and stewardship. I basically love dirt, haha..
I enjoy talking about bikes, helping people with their bikes, trying new things on bikes, making friends on bikes, hauling things on bikes (HOW MUCH CAN I CARRY??), and modifying bikes to fit both need & personality. The Team Snacks ethos resonates with me and I am wholly dedicated to serving our team and our community to provide safe spaces for WTFNB* riders, and to support them in their cycling endeavors and dreams, whatever they may be!
Chelsea Acres
Vice President
Favorite Snack(s): Cheese with crackers/pretzels or any fruit besides melon or white grapes, chips and salsa/queso/guac, and a strong margarita on the rocks
I’ve always been interested in bikes, but got my first “nice” bike in 2019 just in time to do a bunch of solo riding during the pandemic. Since then, I’ve ridden countless miles on the road, on gravel, and on the trails all over Austin, completed my first century ride and some bikepacking too! Team Snacks is just plain who I want to ride with: the coolest people you know, having fun, sometimes difficult, adventures on bikes, and eating lots of snacks. I choose to serve on the board because I want to make sure the Team is thriving and available to all former, current and future Snackers. When I’m not on one of my bikes, you can find me spending time with my awesome husband and our six pets (yes, six! Two cats, two dogs, and two parrots!) or powerlifting in my garage.
Lisa Wauters
Ride Coordinator
Favorite Snack(s): Goldfish, pickles, candied pecans, frozen grapefruit
I first got into riding bikes as a child in the suburbs near Fort Worth, racing my brothers down the street and then exploring the neighborhood with my very first all-girl bike gang in middle school. When I was 19, I rediscovered my love for cycling while living in Boston. I didn’t own a car, so I went everywhere by bike including joy riding around town with my friends. When I went to Thailand to work as an English teacher in 2009, I decided on a whim to dive into bikepacking. During our summer break, two friends and I bungeed backpacks and sleeping bags onto second hand bikes and spent weeks rambling from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, taking country roads, gravel roads, and sometimes the unavoidable highway, sleeping under bridges during the hottest hours of the day and at night wherever we could camp for free or wherever a kind stranger offered us shelter. After that, I was hooked on all things adventure and cycling. I’ve since toured or bikepacked in Vietnam, Mexico, and all over Texas. I lived in Colorado briefly where I first ventured into mountain biking, but I really fell in love with trail riding in Central Texas. My favorite rides are when I can ride pavement, gravel and single track all in one go with the help of my trusty Surly Straggler. I love long, epic rides but also the short and sweet ones. And I’m still in love with the excitement of creating new routes and exploring rarely ridden roads or trails. I’m so excited to be serving as ride coordinator for Team Snacks, and can’t wait to ride more with y’all!
Ann DeSanctis
Treasurer
Favorite Snack(s): Pre-ride: chocolate-y pastries, mid-ride, gummy bears/worms, gas station fruit empanadas, post-ride: all the salty things + liquid bread (aka beer)!
I have been car-free my entire life but my adult journey with bicycling began in undergrad and involved my mom’s vintage Raleigh, a cut lock, and a crush on a guy who worked in the on-campus bike shop . Being a 19-year-old, I thought the best way into the fellow’s arms would be to gain employment at the shop at which he worked, even though I didn’t know the difference between a tire and a tube! I somehow managed to be hired, but quickly discovered that I was more interested in bicycles and the bicycling community than I was this particular guy (and he already had a girlfriend…). I built up a fixie (my poor knees), started participating in alleycats (want to see my DFL trophies?), and pretty soon discovered the sport of bike polo.
Being a very poor college student I didn’t have the funds to build up a proper bike polo bike so mostly hung around the courts and tried to ingratiate myself to those who played, dreaming of the day I would be cool enough to join them on the court.
That day came when I moved to Washington, DC for an internship at National Geographic just after graduating undergrad. It wasn’t a pretty bike and I was typically the only woman at pickup, but it got me into the sport and boosted my confidence enough to keep at it (and have continued to today)!
It was also in DC that I started for-real bike commuting. Biking 2 miles across campus in college was one thing but my 1-way commute in DC was 5.5 miles and I had no idea what I was doing. I learned the ropes, through a lot of trial and error, and I was totally hooked on the freedom it brought me. I started adding on mileage by taking out-of-the-way routes and "trip-chaining" my errand running and, before I knew it, I signed up for my first 'tour' on the C&O canal trail.
Since then I've toured/bike packed a couple of times between DC and Pittsburgh, all around New England, some in the Netherlands, and now in Texas! There's nothing like supporting yourself on two wheels!
I went to grad school in Colorado but didn't have the time/energy/money to get into new hobbies like the world-class mountain biking the state offers. But, I did get to try it twice and was totally enamored.
When I moved to Austin and was told about "awesome" mountain biking I was pretty incredulous; how could these hills and flat-ish city have anything like what Colorado had to offer? And then I rode the Greenbelt :) Riding dirt quickly became a passion and I have the titanium plates and screws in my wrist to prove it 😜!
In the intervening years I've added a gravel and ebike to my stable and I'm pretty much down for whatever type of riding, whenever!
Folks may have met me on some of the Team Snacks Dirt Rides or slowly going up Balcones on an Early Bird but for those I have not yet met, I’m honored to serve as your Treasurer and can’t wait to meet all y’all!
Laura Carbonneau
Position: Events and Sponsorships Coordinator
Favorite Snack(s): cashews, dates, potatoes, hard boiled eggs, chocolate with caramel or almonds, cheese!
As a kid, my parents decided that I didn’t need training wheels to learn, so they stationed my mom in our neighbor’s yard to “catch” me. I first thought that moving the front wheel back and forth really fast was the best strategy to go straight. Then I tried not doing that and ended up missing my mom and hitting the other neighbor’s mailbox! It popped out of the ground, which meant I wasn’t hurt :-D I’ve had many bike crashes over the years since, but of course have kept going! I had a bike in college for commuting, but didn’t do much besides that. I continued to commute by bike after undergrad and into grad school. I worked for Greenpeace for awhile and organized a Critical Mass ride in Pensacola, FL - the first one ever there! It wasn’t until after grad school that I got into cycling as a sport and for fitness after watching Le Tour de France on TV. I loved that it was so insanely challenging plus the fact that the fans are a huge part of the action and it’s a big party! I have since tried my hand at road / crit, mountain bike, cyclocross, and gravel racing. Cyclocross and gravel often also have a great party vibe, which is awesome, but I also love exploring beautiful places by bike and the peaceful aspect of it. I started Bike Kitty as a way to stop waste of cycling clothes and to help grow the sport and the community by getting unused clothes to folks who can use it! I have been a member of Team Snacks since 2015 or so, and now look forward to doing more FUN events with you all!
Carrie Eckermann
Social Media Coordinator
Favorite Snack(s): On a ride? Chocolate milk and/or POP tarts! Overall snack winner: peanut butter filled pretzels.
The first ride I took without training wheels, I broke my jaw. I was six and don’t remember what motivated me to get back on my bike, or if I even resisted. Cycling was a leisure family activity, my favorite memories were summer bike rides to the library and nearby pond. I fell in love with cycling as a kid and would fight my mother every year to be able to bike to school. I was trying to hold on to the summer rides with family and my newly discovered all-girl-anti-boy bike gang. Biking to softball practice turned out to be a nice compromise in high school. In college, out of parental supervision, I started to explore how far I could ride. Iowa’s rolling hills and gorgeous country roads continued to grow my love for the sport. I thought I reached the pinnacle of an amateur cyclist until I moved to ATX in 2015. I learned that there are specific bikes for different types of riding, and that people care about that stuff. I dipped my toes in mountain biking (freaking loved it). Discovered that my regular rides to grandma's house (30mi round trip) in Iowa should have been on what people call a “gravel bike”. I learned the intricacies of road races(hydrate or diedrate!), and found I am still curious. I started to race, and meet other racers and act as crew for other racers and tours. I have competed in some races, and will again, but I am constantly chasing that high of a chill bike ride(rung whatcha brung!), with people I love, to a sublime destination.
I think I joined Team Snack in 2017, when I saw the sprinkle kit, I knew I found my people. Team Snacks is a colorful, fluid, supportive, curious and strong group of all sorts of people. I love when a rag-tag crew can form, and that’s how I fondly see this group. I know I can rely on these snacks to keep me riding when my admiration dulls. This team is a community that brings all types of bikes together for the love of pedaling! I hope to see everyone fall in love or continue to find things they love about cycling through this group. See you at the next bike thing!
