The Goat

The Grim Reaper and Victims

2009-05-06T20:41:00.000-07:00

BH Connect Full Durace 54 cm

2009-04-07T08:57:00.000-07:00

This BH Connect Full Durace 54 cm road bike is for sale (minus the wheels) . .

This is a sweet, stiff ride - great for crit racing, but also comfortable on longer rides. Make me an offer at sonjagoat@gmail.com

Make me an offer . . .

Killer Deal on a Titanium Bike

2009-04-07T08:20:00.000-07:00

Model: 2005 Douglas 6 AL/4 V Titanium 56 cm Full Durace 10 speed, Reynolds carbon Ouzo Pro fork with threadless carbon steerer, Cane Creek headset (wheels not included)

Cost: $1500

Summary: I bought this bike off the floor at the Colorado Cyclist. It had been their travel case model (and still is, but only in their print version catalog - p. 54 sitting inside the Trico Sports case.) The bike rocks; it is stiff with excellent responsiveness, but is also very forgiving. The bike was actually made by Litespeed for the Colorado Cyclist's Douglas line. Unfortunately, it is way too big for me. It came with a sweet 44 cm Stella Azzurra Tirenno Carbon handlebar - retail $400 - probably the nicest bars you'll ever hold onto. I took them off because they were too big for me, but I'll throw them in for $100 if you purchase this bike.

Email me with questions: sonjagoat@gmail.com

Rest Day

2009-01-23T15:59:00.000-08:00

After lots of hills, hiking with the dogs and such,

I was ready for a day of rest.

Maya chillaxin

Chicken and Badger

Crab Cakes and Muscles

2009-01-04T17:45:00.000-08:00

After some tempo at HP, the Chicken and I were lucky enough to run into the Muscle. Later we had good eats at the Starfish Cafe on the hill.

Isn't that special . . .

The Chicken Rocks Long Island

2008-11-25T19:07:00.000-08:00

Go Chicken GO

2008-10-31T10:11:00.000-07:00

Velochickens

K-Tee the one-eared terrier

The last few weeks

2008-10-25T07:26:00.000-07:00

1 AM a couple of weeks ago. Aaah, life in SE DC.

Cotton fields in AL

Riding in AL with my sister, Annette

More sweet trails in AL

Power line ride

Black dog with Chikin

Iron Cross VI, one of my favorite races of all time!

Tickhead at the Graveyard

Tickhead at the creek.

She Got Bike

2008-09-14T17:40:00.001-07:00

Today was the 3rd Annual She Got Bike and it was a huge success! Despite the near 100 degree temps and high humidity, we had over 500 women participate in different length rides followed by a festival offering food, bike clinics, and products from vendors and, of course, Joe's Bike Shop.

The C3-Sollay girls volunteered to lead and sag the rides of the day. We had lots of volunteers on bike and in the car to help out.

Eli, one of our SAG drivers

My new friends, Missy and Sue

The Butler Road rest stop

Sue and I taking a break

One of the helpers at the rest stop. This could be Tickhead's long lost cousin.

Ridgebacks

Mix this with the Ridgeback and you might get Tickhead

Susan Miltenberger (with Chicken), the brains behind SGB. What an awesome event, thanks so much, we can't wait until next year!

Stump Run aka The Road to Nowhere

2008-09-06T19:37:00.000-07:00

2008-09-06T19:31:00.000-07:00

www.lostriverbarn.com

2008-09-05T18:07:00.000-07:00

Little Bear to Blanca Traverse

2008-08-27T16:23:00.000-07:00

With Laura and Chicken home on the IRL, Ken and I decided to go ahead and drive up the Blanca road aka "the toughest 4WD road in Colorado" to do Little Bear, Blanca and Ellingwood, hopefully in one fell swoop. My Yoda did awesome, as usual, and got us really close to Jaws I, significantly shortening our heavy pack slog to Como Lake.

Ken the pack mule
Class 4 on the Northwest Face of Little Bear. Ken has never done anything harder than Class 2, but the exposure, loose rock and technical difficulties didn't seem to bother him much. He's just a natural!
Ken scaling the first part of the Little Bear/Blanca connecting ridge
This part of the ridge was rotten and loose. We really enjoyed that. It was a real thrill, plus the exposure was spectacular, as well.
Ken is one happy guy. That's Little Bear in the background. Way to go, Ken!

Kinesiotape - The Magic Tape

2008-08-12T07:45:00.001-07:00

W checkin' out the volleyball chics, I mean the tattoo and tape

I love the Olympics! I especially love all the kinesiotape the athletes are using - from beach volleyball, to water polo, to the chicken and the Major, oh yeah, but they aren't in the Olympics. The stuff really works. Check it out.

Cycle Sport Circuit Race Report

2008-08-03T17:28:00.000-07:00

What an awesome weekend for C3-Sollay.com, first Diesel Diane wins in a solo break at Hammer Creek on Saturday, and then C3 came through again on Sunday with a sprint finish win in the Cycle Sport Circuit Race. None of these results were by chance, but rather the hard work done by each member of our rockin' team. Every attack was answered and we communicated well during the race (without radios of course), executing team tactics as if every move were dictated to us. We are really gellin' as a team and it shows. We have gotten a lot of positive feedback from other riders, spectators and volunteers on how much fun it was to watch us race this weekend; we really are having a lot of fun and I guess it shows!

Cycle Sport Circuit Race Report:

At the start, Beth and I lined up together at the front, and Lorraine and Christina were just behind us. The whistle blew and I found myself getting the 'wholeshot'. Did I ever mention that Speedplays rock? Anyway, I never know what I'm gonna do, but I decided to drill it from the start. There was a nice little hill just after the start and then a sharp turn soon thereafter, and I just love that stuff. About 2 miles later, Beth said maybe I should get off the front, so I figured she was right, and she proceeded to push the pace. Soon thereafter Lorraine attacked and went off the front. She was reeled in and then Christina countered. Then I did the same - this went on for pretty much most of the race - whoever got there first or felt good at the moment went. I have to say, I have never seen the Chicken put it down like she did today, more on that in a minute. We had a blast!

Anyway, with about 3 to go, I decided to sit in a bit and look things over. Initially, I had wanted to help Beth out at the finish. The course suited her really well, but after her crash yesterday, and talking with her earlier today, I got the feeling she was fine with me going for it at the end. She had an outstanding race, doing a little bit of everything - attacking, countering, bridging. All that with a possible scapular fracture and festering, oozing wounds. Talk about a rock star!

Chicken, Beth and Lorraine remained active, chasing down Davina and a Sturdy girl after she was launched by a teammate on the last prime. Then with 1 lap to go, a rider went off the front and she looked strong. Oh no. She was gonna take the win away from the field sprint. I was totally rethinking everything. If I chase that down, I'll be cooked. Maybe I can chase it down and ride past her at the speed of light . . . in my dreams. What a quandary. . . And then, out of the pack, came the Chicken.

The Chicken came out to play, putting it down, and reeling the rider in with a huge, monster effort. I knew she had it in her, it's just that she usually saves all her energy for the sole purpose of dishing it out to me during training rides. What a beast! Then, after she reeled the rider in, Lorraine took over, stringing out the field beautifully - just what we needed, especially with that pesky yellow-line rule. Thank you so very much! You guys rocked!

Then on the final turn I somehow found myself on the very front next to Davina, unfortunately with about 1 K to go for a downhill, headwind finish. Not where I wanted to be, although moving of the front meant I was going to get swarmed and possibly boxed in, I took my chances. Just as I was doing that, I saw Beth go by sitting in beautiful position saying, "Don't get boxed in," and before I knew it I was totally boxed in on the right. The worst possible situation because not only was I boxed in, but I was as far away from the yellow-line (which was getting ready to be on limits at 200m) as possible. I was utterly frustrated. What could I do, I thought about squeezing through or pushing my way through, but quickly nixed that - a recipe for disaster. I yelled at Beth to "GO!" because I knew I would produce nothing. We had to get a good result after all that work our team had done. Unfortunately, Beth was misguided by the other tents along the course, and thought the finish was sooner, she sat up thinking we had finished, when I saw Davina go.

At that very moment, a small gap opened up to my left - we maybe had 100m or so to go. A glimmer of hope. I've never been able to do anything with such a short distance, but I was sure willing to give it a try; I had nothing to lose, right? I went full-tilt, out of the saddle, biggest gear, over the cranks kickin' it with all I had. My focus was only on that white finish line. I was right next to Davina when I threw the bike at the line. We both looked at each other and said "Who got it?" I said, "I don't know, that's a photo finish for sure!" Well, apparently there was no need to check. I had forgotten that Davina was 1 lap down after a small crash a few laps into the race. A rider had taken a turn too hot and went down in front of her. What a bummer for her, but at least she wasn't injured.

So we ended up with another win for C3-Sollay.com. Way to go everyone, we worked really hard with no efforts wasted. I am very proud to ride on this team!

Ranger the Diving Dog meets the White Menace

2008-08-01T11:15:00.001-07:00

This post is for Chikin since she thinks I need to blog:

So we're taking care of the WM again - seems like just yesterday that we were watching her. I have decided that she really is a good dog, that is when she is off leash in a remote, isolated wooded place with no one around. I usually take her to such places to wear her out, plus it is so much fun to watch her go mad for the fetch!

We ran into this box turtle on the trail. He wasn't too thrilled with the dog and wouldn't come out for the photo.

After hiking a bit, we met Ranger at one of out favorite watering holes. Notice how he is putting his head underwater. His owner Victoria say that he doesn't like to fetch balls or sticks - he only likes to dive for rocks, the bigger the better. She says he blows bubbles and can hold his breath for over 10 seconds. I was so impressed I took pictures, but they don't do justice to his underwater abilities.

More 'diving' for rocks. Wonder if he does mussels - or fish?

We left Ranger and decided to try swimming up the rapids. There are blackberries at the other end of this, but they were all 'picked' by something. Too bad. Also, I dropped my new Iphone in the water here. I pulled it out and dried it off and it seems to be working so far. We'll see. Me and the Chikin plan to hang with some of our C3-Sollay teammates this weekend for some casual racing in PA. We'll take the WM with us to add some excitement to the trip.

The Hunny Bop: Anathea's First Criterium

2008-07-21T20:48:00.000-07:00

On a borrowed bike that she had never ridden, while still nursing aches and pains from an Ironman less than a month ago, my friend Anathea decided to race her first cycling-only race, the Hunny Bop criterium in Suitland, MD. Not only was the field stacked, but since most of these women have been racing since the end of March, several will be upgrading to Cat 3 soon. Of course, I failed to mention this to Anathea. I figured the less she knew about the field, the better.

Lining up at the start. Anathea is in the middle - red and white #92

Hangin' tough in the field

After a prime, the field splintered and Anathea worked together with 2 other riders to chase back on a larger group ahead.

Taking turns at the front to chase back on.

Success! They caught back onto the group in front of them. Excellent job pace-lining and working together to get back on. That's what it's all about.

The group continues to chase.

The finish - way to go Anathea! Hope to see more of you at the races in the future.

Adventures with Tickhead

2008-07-17T04:34:00.001-07:00

This week we are taking care of Tickhead aka Rena, Jenn and Bill's dog. We took her along with us to West Virginia, to give Pilar a hand with some chores and relax in the country.
Rena and Maya made friends immediately. They chased sticks, swam and hiked all weekend.

We hiked with Gabriella and the dogs.

Rena and Gabriella hanging out.

BJ and Gabriella

Filling the pool for Gabriella - I see some chicken feet in the fore front.

Rena and Maya

Fun in Fitchburg

2008-07-08T08:23:00.001-07:00

The Chikin, Sara, Amanda and I had a blast hangin' together over the 4th of July weekend. More here.

Wild and Wonderful _ _ _ _ Virginia?

2008-06-28T19:15:00.000-07:00

The chikin and I were supposed to head up to WV for some R&R and some awesome riding, but some things came up and we couldn't. So we did the next best thing and drove up to Front Royal, VA for some hill intervals up Skyline Drive. What a blast! We saw Janelle Hubbard out there, too.

Chikin Butt

After the ride we were on our way home when Chikin spotted one of those signs with grapes on it. I knew we were in trouble, so to make up for us not going to WV, we stopped in at a couple of vineyards to check out the local juice. It was mighty tasty . . .

Just before the carnage began

Chikin sampling Rappahannock's Cabernet Franc

Not leaving empty-handed

Chikin at Cedar Cellars aka C2 just down the road from the other place . . . who needs Napa?

Here's me looking and feeling redneck.

Chikin demo-ing the new sea blue crocs

Triple Crown of Racing

2008-06-15T17:04:00.001-07:00

Originally I had meant to post this on my blog, but accidently it was posted to our team blog. The Triple Crown was a blast and a great chance to hang with my new fabulous team!

C3-Sollay.com

2008-05-31T14:55:00.000-07:00

Better late than never, right? After finding that I really like having local teammates, and the chicken putting in a good word for me, I have been invited to race with a new team Charm City Cycling - or C3- with our main sponsor, Sollay. These girls rock, and I feel very privileged to be a part of the team! More to come.

Fun Weekend

2008-04-15T18:01:00.001-07:00

Fairhill was a blast . . . it was great getting back on the mountain bike and seeing so many familiar faces. Cheryl Sornson (Trek/VW) and Michelle "Sunshine" Stopper (VisitPA.com) were first and second and I was lucky enough to round out the podium in third. The course wasn't that technical, but I sure could tell I hadn't been on the mountain bike since last summer!
The chicken had a great day, too! She placed second in the Sport category and was a mere 20 seconds from winning. An early crash moved her from the lead to second - but she held on to second - way to go!

Jeff Anderson , photographer and mountain biker extraordinairre

Here are some pics from Saturday's women's skills clinic - here we are practicing putting a hand on our partner's shoulder and looking back. We got really lucky with the weather, but ran out of time so we plan on putting on a skills 'n drills clinic part 2 to address more advanced cycling skills. Look out for a post on another clinic, perhaps in May.
Thanks again to Laurel for organizing this clinic to raise money for RAAM's Green Team!

Wednesday Night Ride in DC

2008-04-09T18:42:00.001-07:00

Cherry blossoms - this one's for you Mom! Snapped a shot on my way to the most awesome ride DC has to offer on a weeknight.
Cassie, Clifton and Lisa joined us for the ride. Here we all are crossing the 14th St. Bridge on our way to Arlington, VA.
The Route 1 Velo gang "pacelining" on the Mt. Vernon bike path just like little ducks in a row.
The chicken demonstrating her winning style. She claims she got me at the city limit sign on the Memorial Bridge, but I'm not so sure.

Thanks to Route 1 Velo strongmen Mike, Travis, Jesse, Brandon for pulling me around and making me hurt! You guys rock.

Weekend Races

2008-04-08T13:25:00.001-07:00

Me chasing an early break at Tyson's with HPC's Kristy Scheffenacker on my wheel.

Jdub on Circus Peanuts

This weekend was a blast and I accomplished my goal of just about, but not quite, blowing myself up at Walkersville. My intent was to try and find out where my black line becomes red. I think I now know. What a great ride and many congratulations to Lorena, Chris, and Susanna! I was able to lead out the pack for a nice sprint finish, and although I thought I had nothing left after the lead-out, I somehow managed to come around Wendy Ullmer at the line (sorry about that Wendy, I couldn't help myself :>)

The chicken had an excellent race, as well, finishing 14th overall and 5th in the Cat 3s. We were both pretty spent and wondered about how our legs would feel on Sunday and much to our surprise, they felt awesome!

Tyson's started out pretty normal for a circuit race, and early on there was a break that I decided to chase along with Hub's Arly, while Lorena sat along for the ride - she had a rider in the break. Jen Cheng bridged up to us and as we were moving up the hill, I noticed I was having trouble turning the crank. No problem, must be the brakes, so I flipped the lever. But the crank wouldn't free-up. I kept pushing and the crank felt like it had fused to the frame. I looked at the wheel/cassette and I saw all these little metal shavings coming out from the drop-outs. I thought, hmm, I wonder what that is? Maybe I should stop pushing.

Needless to say, the Spokes guy said, "Three or so more pedal strokes and you would have ruined your free-hub body and your frame." Apparently my cassette had loosened and was flapping around and the rings gotten pressed up into the drop-out. What a new experience, I have never had that happen before. I guess that will be one more thing I'm going to check before getting on the bike!

Anyway, the race went on while the Spoke's guy worked on my bike. After about 45 minutes he had determined that the derailler hanger was also bent and that I would probably need a new one if it ever got bent again. He got it dialed in pretty good, though, so I was able to attempt to race with the boys. BTW, the boys speed up the hill was 7 mph faster than the girls at 22mph. I got dropped pretty quick, but kept latching back onto the back several times when they came around to try and get a work-out in.

Thanks again Spokes guy whose name I forgot. You made a disappointing day a lot of fun in the end! Congrats to Jdub for an awesome victory, most certainly due to the Circus Peanuts! God I love those things - especially with chocolate milk.

Redlands

2008-04-04T15:58:00.001-07:00

Hope everyone is having fun. Been living vicariously through you guys via cycling news. They mixed -up their kittens identifying this rider as Melissa Sanborn, but it is none other than Jenny Trew.
Good luck to all the Kitty-Kats! Kick some ass - wish I was there.

Jefferson Cup

2008-04-02T19:01:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, Christina and I headed down to Charlottesville, VA to race Jefferson Cup. We stayed at the KOA located just minutes from the start. We were able to sleep in until the very last moment; this was especially important since it was sleeting off and on outside until about 9:00 AM. The poor guys had to race in the sleet – probably the only race where the men raced early – ha, ha!

At the race, we met Jamie from Charlottesville Fit Studio, a Wobble Naught bike fitting specialist and Vanderkitten retailer. Shortly thereafter I met my closest teammate Mandy Lozano – what a nice person! After having worked the men’s 123 race - and getting no warm-up – in addition to recently returning from Argentina for school – she raced the women’s 123 and finished with the main field. Since she raced as a collegiate rider, her results aren’t posted.

The race was fast and slow. Colovita’s Andrea Dvorak showed up to support her hometown race and to push the pace from the start. The 42 mile 4 lap course sported one large hill that offered excellent breaking opportunities. Every lap had some attacks on the hill, but no organized efforts developed so no breaks stuck. On the fourth and final lap, everyone settled in for what would surely end in a sprint finish.

I was lucky enough to find myself on Andrea’s wheel for the final run toward the finish, but got boxed in a bit right before the line by Amity Elliot of Van Dessel who was later relegated to 21^st. HPC’s Lorena Canadrian found an open lane and came by on the right to take the win. Laura Cook of Conte’s TriPower took second, Leslie Jennings of CycleLife was third, I was fourth and HPC’s Kate Flore rounded out the podium with fifth. All in all, it was a really good race, it’s still early in the season, but this was definitely a good start to what should promise to be a great season – thanks Mandy for all your help with organizing Jeff Cup and getting back into the racing scene! Go Kitty-Kats!

Women's Clinic - Going Green

2008-03-29T07:59:00.001-07:00

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

2008-03-25T18:02:00.000-07:00

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

Wild and Wonderful West Virginia

2008-03-23T14:44:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-18T18:47:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-10T19:43:00.000-07:00

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

Watching Rena

2008-03-07T13:41:00.000-08:00

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

2008-03-06T19:48:00.001-08:00

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

2008-03-03T18:52:00.000-08:00

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."

Vanderkitten's Ophelia Tissue T

2008-02-29T16:54:00.001-08:00

I've been living in my V-Kat T's and I just love the tuxedo kitty-kat. I'll bet Mr. Black is checkin' it out, too!
www.vanderkitten.com

BH Bikes

2008-02-29T15:27:00.001-08:00

http://www.bhbikes-us.com/bikes/Connect_White_DuraRace_DT.jpg

I think BH has dialed it in - a carbon frame that feels stiff in the sprint, but is equally forgiving for long periods in the saddle. I love my bike; it rides even stiffer than the Specialized Tarmac I rode last year - and isn't it a sight for sore eyes!

Plus, Dave designed our kits to perfectly to match our bikes - pretty cool, huh?

http://www.vanderkitten.com/home_2008.html

Santa Rosa

2008-02-24T12:44:00.000-08:00

Jane Despas kickin' some ass

Quick Step setting Tom up for the sprint

Super Mario - my favorite!

More Pics

2008-02-24T12:21:00.001-08:00

Mean Kitty-Kats

Andrea Peron joins us for the Petaluma ride. He literally pushed the chikin up hills at 15 mph, passing us like we were standing still.

The goat and Sandra Baby in Napa

The chikin aka 'Napa Domestique Extaordinairre'

Jenny, Dave and Racer - the cornerstone of Vanderkitten Racing

Mount Diablo and Petaluma

2008-02-24T11:58:00.000-08:00

The 'chikin' en route Mount Diablo.

Many thanks to Liz Hatch for loaning out her baby !

Goofing off on Mount Diablo

The Summit photo - Jeanine, me, chicken, and Tayla (left to right)

Training Camp Pics

2008-02-24T06:10:00.000-08:00

Sandra Baby whips up some pizzas for the Kitty-Kats

Melissa the Muscle gets aero

The new kits arrive!

Training in the Bay Area

2008-02-14T18:13:00.000-08:00

Hanan going up Old Tunnel Road

Grizzly Peak

Kittens descending

Heather and Jenny

The Bay!

Vanderkitten Racing Gets Adjusted

2008-02-13T06:53:00.000-08:00

Tom adjusts Moriah

After Tuesday's ride, we were fortunate enough to receive some much needed chiropractic. With the help of Tom Kano's treatment, we all felt a lot better. He combines traditional chiropractic with applied kinesiology using muscle energy and strength assessment techniques during his treatments. Now we're ready to rage some more. Thanks Tom!

Dr. Tom Kano

All About Health Clinic

1610 Oak Park Blvd. #2

Pleasant Valley, CA 94523

925-934-5088

www.allabouthealthclinic.com

Three Pigs and a Bear

2008-02-12T16:02:00.000-08:00

Oh my God! What an awesome area. Team Vanderkitten got out on the road today in lovely Walnut Creek for a very hilly 3 1/2 hour ride. Everything was going well until the first hills and then everything started to hurt . . . a lot of hurt, to be exact. Liz, Leah, Moiriah, Heather, Sandra, Melissa, Sandra #2, David, Scott, Hanan, Jenny and I had a blast - even though I got dropped on every climb, I was able to hang in there for the most part on the downhills. We have a kick-ass team with so many strong, talented riders. I am so pumped so be a part of this! I wish I could have taken pictures along the way, but not at the pace we were riding. I was hanging on for dear life so picture-taking wasn't happening today. I did get some shots of the team after the ride at the local Starbuck's; ice lattes rock - yummy.

Laura Wilson's "Kickin' The Tires" CD

2008-02-03T19:45:00.001-08:00

Laura Wilson may be one of the kindest, coolest and most caring people I know. I have spent many a weekend with her mountain biking and climbing in the Colorado Rockies. Not only is she an avid outdoors person, but she is an excellent musician and budding philanthropist. She just released her first CD with all the proceeds going to the Rocky Mountain Alzheimer's Association. Check her out here performing at her CD release party benefit.

I love the whole CD - this is one of my favorites called "Cut and Dry"

This release is called "Love Me Don't"

Check out her site for more information!

The Magic Bullet

2008-01-30T18:13:00.000-08:00

It does everything, and I mean everything. The chicken found this marvelous item on "as seen on t.v." and it rocks! It can be found on www.buythebullet.com. Check it out:

The magic bullet on display:

Pretty nifty, huh? I have come to love it and can't live without it.

Shasta Loves Red Wine . . . Or Is That Beer?

2008-01-27T06:58:00.001-08:00

The chicken and I brought Shasta a gift from Breckenridge, but Chris and Fred don't think Shasta will change her wine-drinking ways. But maybe she'll come around with some microbrew . . . somebody please fill her glass . . .

Long Weekend

2008-01-22T15:47:00.001-08:00

The chicken and I decided to head up to the mountains to 'shred da nar' with the local shredheads.

Is this nasty or what? My toenail that recently fell off is gonna do it again. Now that's nar.

Favorite rides

2008-01-08T18:40:00.001-08:00

My friends and I have been heading up to"Kelley Acres" in Frederick, MD to do some moderately hilly winter rides. Team Kenda's Chris Kelley hosts a Saturday ride that offers up about four and a half hours of riding and sometimes over 7000' of climbing in the beautiful hills of northern Maryland.

Although we push it up the hills, there's always time to use the restroom or say hello to best friends.
After the ride, Chris and her husband Fred always serve us up some yummy chili, and all is good.

2007-12-23T10:33:00.001-08:00

This year was marked by a transition from mountain bike racing (for Bean's Bikes) to road racing (for Route 1 Velo/Capitol Hill Bikes.)

Hopefully, I'll be able to race both disciplines for Vanderkitten Regional, although my main focus will be on the road!

2007 Mid-Atlantic MTB Super Series

2007 Wilmington Grand Prix

2007-12-23T10:07:00.000-08:00

My first love . . . mountain biking.

Inaugural Post

2007-12-16T19:25:00.002-08:00

I am psyched to be a part of Vanderkitten and hope to meet everyone at training camp. Take care and have a great holiday.