Thursday, March 27, 2008

DRIVEN to Be Better

It only makes sense that the newest company in cycling partners with the newest component group in cycling: Driven.

Truly Champagne on an Belgian Beer budget, lot's of carbon, crisp shifting, light weight, ceramic bearings and price that will make Dura Ace owners feel like they got taken, Driven's initial offering of components have been used and abused and are hanging tough.

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Oh, JORDAN!!!

Here is a pic of the full group (below, not above). Notice the gold anodized bits for a "Chi Chi", "Bling Bling" or "Straight Pimpin" look. Click on the pic to be jet-setted to Driven's parent company's new site.



Monday, March 24, 2008

That's as good as money, sir. Those are I.O.U.'s.

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Damn do I feel like Lloyd. It pains me to not make things happen on time and in the certain terms we've agreed upon. We're running low on inventory and we owe our good friends across the pond a boat load of Vanderkitten apparel... heck, they're winning BIG races with our logo on their kit, then left hanging in Apres-Bike wear!



CONGRATULATIONS TO EMMA POOLEY



CONGRATUALTIONS TO EMMA POOLEY, winner of the first UCI Women's World Cup race for Specialized Designs for Women Team. (photo- Cyclingnews.com)

Thank you all of the wonderful ladies on the team for choosing Vanderkitten for your off-the-bike wear and thank you for have patience and faith in our tiny little company to deliver over the top casual wear.

The track suits are about to leave for Europe!

Friday, March 21, 2008

America's Next Top Vanderkittens

This post is LONG overdue. A couple years ago, we would put every picture sent to us on our Tribe.net photo page. Well, we are brining it back in April with the ViP Page, Very Important Pussycat.

My good friends Lauren and Page, West Chester, PA.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Today's Lesson: Life is Not Fair

One of my mentors has instilled in me that life can lift you up and throw you down just as fast... the strong ones get back up to rise again, the weak take pity on themselves for their misfortunes.

Running a clothing company is hard work. There are always other companies to compete with, other designers that beat you to the market and trends that fall flat just as fast as they are hot. Usually, there is an element of prediction and trend analysis to mitigate the losses or changes in your business when the wave crashes. In cycling: Not so much.

Put this into play: We had a well organized team, whose equipment was working flawlessly, an incredible host house with the Brethen family, we got to the race early, set-up the EZ-UP, everyone was pumped... yet the wave crashed as fast as it rose, and all of the planning could not prepare us for what was in store: Disaster.

The race started out fast and saw Liz, Jane and Flavia working very hard at the front early on. On lap 14, about 30 yards from my communication post on the radio, Liz crashed HARD and most of the pack went down with her and on her. This caused some chaos as Jane and 2 other riders escaped the mele, only to miss the field neutralization and to be pulled from the race mistakenly... when they were actually LEADING THE RACE. In 4 laps we lost almost 50% of our team.




Flavia stepped-up and rode hard to challenge and battle for position. Heather was suffering from asthma issues, and Mary was sick. It was awesome to see Flavia step up and Heather and Mary doing their best. On the start of the 57th Lap, Flavia was in the ideal position, top 10. On the fina corner she was involved in a huge pile-up with most the the Aaron's team, Laura Van Gilder from Cheerwine and some other outstanding women athletes.



photo credit:
Alan Birnbaum

We actually did not have one rider finish. This is what I call "LIFE". It just happened, and the real challenge now is to rise back up and not feel pity for ourselves. The best laid plans, the strongest effort and LIFE did not work out for us this weekend.

This week we'll focus on clothing, new designs for 2008-9, and new products. We'll also work on getting past this week and move onto the next race in great form! Heal fast Flavia and Liz!

Sunday, March 16, 2008

It's race day here in Visalia,Ca, the second stop on the NRC circuit. We arrived to a partly sunny, blustery day with about 55 degree temps. Liz, Flavia, Jane, Heather and Mary made the trip down to represent our team and are mixed with a plague of allergies and illness but are ready to leave it all out on the course! Right now the girls are warming up and I testing out the blogging ability of my new iPhone...

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

But Your're Only a Cat...

How tough is a cat? Seriously, a "kitten" is not very tough... I mean, it's not like it could stand up to a Grizzly, right?




Don't push us... we get feisty!

Saturday, March 08, 2008

Well, Since I Actually Rode Today...

We got home from the park with Raycer, where I spent most of the time strategizing on the new iPhone while Raycer did laps on the slide to be greeted by a box from none other than International fan favorite Christine Vardaros!



Well, the package had some weight to it... could it be, CHOCOLATE FROM BELGIUM?! I immediately opened this wonderous gift of caloric devastation and dug in!! There is Chocolate, a Flanderkitten TM flag, some biscuits and waffles! (Not as good as Cyclo Sportif's though).

I don't really eat too many sweets, but I LOVE chocolate... in fact, that's why Liz and I get along so well: She hates chocolate, I LOVE chocolate... so I get her left-overs.

Well, I am shaking from the sugar and realizing I should have eaten lunch first, but it's just too good!


THANK YOU CHRISTINE!!! =)


Wednesday, March 05, 2008


INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY- D-Store Sale in SF


Ok, this one is for women in the Bay Area! A One-Day sale on some of the finest equipment for women on 2 wheels in the business: Dainese! Check out the D-Store in San Francisco on March 8th for Motorcycle, Bike and Snow gear!

"The D-store is having an International
Women's Day
sale this Saturday, March 8th from 10-6.
All women's gear on sale! There will be snacks!

Also, we are showing the Daytona 200 at 1pm, and
reshowing it on Sunday at noon before the first MotoGP
race at 3pm.

Stay late for Beers!!"

The D-store is located at
131 South Van Ness @ 12th st in San Francisco, CA

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

The Best Birthday Present Ever
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My good friend and Vanderkitten supporter Steve Letvin turned me onto this post from a first time racer and long-time Vanderkitten fan, Brittney Kolb in Arkansas. First of all, it blows me away that anyone outside of my neighborhood has heard of Vanderkitten, nonetheless found it to be an inspiration!!

On February 27th Vanderkitten Turned 3 years old. On Feb 27th, Britt posted to her blog about her upcoming first race... AND mentioned Vanderkitten's role in inspiring her... coincidence? We sent Britt a VK-birthday present as a thank-you for kicking ass and sharing her story. I don't want to spoil the surprise for her, so stay tuned for some pics and read a day in the life of Britt before her first race!

hopes flying high

The days are still cold, but about to warm up just in time for my first race. Doing all my laundry and getting things together today so then I will be ready to pack thursday night.. so I won't have to pack the night before. And I must get awesome sleep tonight just in case I don't get good sleep friday night.

I am so proud I have made it to my first race everrrRRrr! So many battles to get there and won't get any easier! YAY! haha! I already pre registered and there are 8 people in my cat 4 race! There are three newbies and myself.. and then the rest are women in there 40's which will be tuff cuz some look like they should of upgraded. I am pumped I would rather have a challenge and place last then have none and it be like an individual time trial and race against one other person.. how lame is that... but just saying I would be ok with last.. doesn't mean I want it ;) #1 baby~



Cousin Chad emailed me asking if my mom was going cuz his mom was wondering if my mom was going (his mom my mom sisters) and my mom asked me if his mom is going cuz if she is going then she will go.. SOOO I called my mom and she said she would call his mom and talk about tonight which most likely means they will go watch me and my cousin.. I REALLY HOPE SO! I will be less nervous with my mom there just cuz I have anxiety.. which really sucks but she really understands that with me and so I feel better when somebody truly understands like what I have and can see when I am hiding nerves like that and can keep me cool. Plus if she is there I would love to win in front of her to show her I love this sport and this is what I want to do. Even if I don't win I will give her a show :)

Feeling pretty strong this week. I am getting plenty of sleep even if my hours were late.. I slept late in the day so I have been getting like 10 hours of sleep a day. I rode 30 miles monday tuesday I bonded with the trainer for an hour then stretched.. oh and been stretching after every ride... and then I will also be bonding with the trainer today.. with blaring music... but thursday and then friday I will be able to get out.. very pumped for saturday plus I am glad my race doesn't start early in the morning like it starts at noon or something like that sooo it will be like almost 70 degrees in Little Rock, AR.

Last night was on the phone with Nate we started looking up who I was up against and who he was up against then what Chad was up against which is a big cat 5 field and then somehow we got on a conver sation on nic names and I said I will destroy the CAT 4RAHH and then I thought i need a better word than destroy so I got my thesarsus book thingy and looked up destroy then destroyer and my new nic name is the plague... HAHA THE PLAGUE! It was pretty funny cuz I found a song that says like plague rider at the end of it over and over.. So I'm the plague now and stickin to that one instead of chameleon. that kind of reminds me of a damn rapper or something.

I really like team Vanderkitten. I like them more than any other women's team because they focus on their women and promoting women's cycling. All the women have blogs and they have a main Vanderkitten blog. Which is awesome! Cuz they have like videos and stuff! And they also have the best style in my opinion.. I rate it super euro. I would love to be on that team someday. My favorite rider by a landslide has to be Liz Hatch just because well first off shes a sprinter! She kicks ass! And I like her personality! She is a good role model to me because she is real.. and real people in my book are the shizznizz~

Tailwinds,

-Britt"