Women's Clinic - Going Green

Women's Skills and Drills Clinic
When: Saturday, April 12
Time: 1:30PM
Where: Start/End at Sonoma Restaurant; Skills and Drills at Hains Point
How much? $20 Donation recommended to benefit Team XTreme4 RAAM to raise awareness about carbon usage.
Organizer: Laurel Brown, RAAM Volunteer, Capitol Hill Bikes/Route 1 Velo
Instructors: Sonja Evers, Vanderkitten Racing
Mimi Newcastle, HPC Racing
RSVP: lcbrown@gmail.com
Other: Refreshments courtesy of Sonoma Restaurant

Vanderkitten-Sponsored Cyclist Kicks Ass at World Cup

Emma Pooley of Team Specialized winning the Italian Trofeo Alfredo Binda World Cup Race

Wild and Wonderful West Virginia

The chicken and I decided to head up to Lost River Valley (LRV) this Easter weekend to catch up with the best riding anywhere. The ever popular Raw Talent Ranch was booked with the Harley Davidson guys, so we decided to stay at The Guest House. What a great place if you want some pampering! Not our normal gig, but oh was it nice! Check out the chicken's site for more details of Friday's mega-ride. A true adventure.


Here I am crossing one of several streams . . . ahhh . . . . springtime in West Virginia. Notice my face; the water was friggin' cold.
Drying our feet out . . . and allowing for time to wash the pain away.
Prior to the stream crossings, we encountered this footbridge just outside of Peru (pee-rew). No, as tempting as it was, we didn't ride over this. Private property and no trespassing signs discouraged us.
The Harley guys on Middle Cove Road near Jay and Audrey's house.
Up at the RTR getting much needed nourishment from Harley's stash, unbeknown to them.
The granderkitten on Kitty Lane. All in all we did over 11 hours of riding this weekend, and something like 12,000 feet of climbing. What an awesome time!

Strasburg Road Race

The chicken and I headed up to PA on Saturday for our first race of the season. The rolling hills were accompanied by strong winds from the north, so we bundled up prayed the clouds would give way to sunshine.

I was unsuccessful with a few early attempts to break, but on the third lap, Elizabeth Bonilla, a Pro Pedals rider, jumped off the front, so I followed suit. We immediately began to echelon, riding continuos circles which proved helpful given the windy conditions. Three other riders, including Sinead Miller, had jumped a bit late, and were hanging between us and the peleton in "no man's" land.

After gapping the field by about 15 seconds, Sinead pulled herself up to us. With the three of us, we quickly put 45 seconds on the field. With 1/2 lap to go, I got shelled, and soon thereafter, so did Elizabeth. Sinead is a beast and deserved the win.

Lessons learned: Patience, patience, patience. As Melissa Sanborn likes to say, "You only have so many matches to burn; burn them wisely." In other words, be smart about when you attack, and know yourself and your match count!

Things that went well: I placed 3rd and I was aggressive. Everyone asked about the kit and they really liked it. I pointed out how Dave designed the kits around the bike. I'd like to bring some VK swag to some of the other races - one young girl asked about my VK T-shirt so I referred her mom to the VK website!

Vanderkattitude

Shasta is preparing to kick some ass. Is there wine in that bottle?

Watching Rena

While Jen and Bill are out basking in sunny AZ, we are watching Rena, and loving it! She is the most awesome water dog; she is crazy for the fetch. Here is some footage from today's outing to RCP. Needless to say, we had a blast.

Check out that wake - nothing but sheer power.

Stick time

Recovery. Of course, she still has the stick in her mouth.

Rena rocks! Check out her skills in the current. Must get the stick, must get the stick . . . .

Hope you guys are having fun; you may have to pry your dog away from us when you get back. She's a real sweetheart.

Dogs, Goats, and Chickadees

Mountain Chickadee

Po-Po and Puppers

Jay and Audrey's next-door neighbor in West Virginia, James, has lots of goats and a sweet dog named Beagle-Pup or Puppers. Po-Po (Pony) belongs to Audrey and Jay. She is also a sweet dog; I believe she's a shepherd-mix.

The WV goats remind me of these goats we met on Grays and Torres. They were mangy and liked to eat rocks.

"Russell the Muscle" Langley

After riding Arlington with Jenn Maxwell, the chicken and I ran into Russ last night and we headed over to Finn's for some Belgian brews. Needless to say, one beer turned into . . . I forgot . But we had a blast and got some great racing tips from the one and only 'Baby Daddy."