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.

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.

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

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!

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.

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!

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...

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!

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!!! =)

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

hopes flying high

The Best Birthday Present Ever

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"

4:1- More than Just the Ratio of Men to Women at your Average Nightclub

There are TONS of electrolyte replacement drinks out there that work great... but there is only one with a patented 4:1 carbohydrate to protein ratio: Accelerade.

I used to use the predecessor to this awesome product called Endurox R4 as a recovery drink when I was in the game. Then they formulated a during-exercise, protein enhanced sports drink in powdered canisters, and now they have READY TO DRINK bottles popping up EVERYWHERE!

Stop by the Vanderkitten booth at Sea Otter and try out the new flavors and decide for yourself. I find the protein cuts the acidity, a problem I have when going all-out and needing a sports beverage. It also has some major advantages in recovery on and off the bike.


The appealing packaging is also preferred by Raycer, hands down.

Team Camp Day 1

What a whirlwind! Just as I was relaxing from a long weekend of running bikes, frames and parts all over Nor Cal, I was at it again! Scott, Sandra and Cheez-It came in on Sunday and made it to the end of the race, Sunday night was a brief strategy session, picking up "The Canadians" and going to bed early... 1:45am.

One of the misconceptions of Vanderkitten is by "living life" we encourage the party first, train later mentality. Sure, we like to have fun because life is short, but as these girls were about to find out, when the racing is on, we're all business.



Monday I got to the house early and was swapping old tires for the new Kenda Kriterium and Ultra Light Tubes. We were doing some last minute fit adjustments on the BH's and getting ready to roll-out for an easy 65 miler.

Scott and I rode in the V70 wagon and munched on tidbits of racing strategy and honey-glazed pretzels while the girls and Dave (Cheezit) handily dropped us in down town Walnut Creek. We finally found them and offer we went. There were some zigs and zags, uncertainty about the route, but we made through Alamo and Danville and out to a winding, country road.

The girls were taking turns at the front and the pace was about 20-22 on the flats. Jenny Trew got a flat, and we got her going again in fine fashion and motorpaced her at about 28 up to the rest of the group. Not bad for a girl with a cold the rest of the house would soon catch!


The day concluded with a stop at Pegasus Cycles and Coffee at Peet's. The coffee was a bit strong for the like of Moriah and Heather, who are self-proclaimed Peet's addicts, so I steered clear and got an iced latte.

The girls took off without the Volvo SAG wagon and we took Flavia back with us to Walnut Creek so she could get to class.

That evening we worked on bikes, adjusted shifters and swapped out bars, stems, etc to get the fits dialed in. It was early to bed for another long day in the saddle. Light's out at a very un-party like 9:45pm.

Christine Vardaros on CTodd

For those of you who don't know, there is a better place to go for a laugh when you want to see a video than You Tube... CTODD. CTodd is a bike racer that brings you current events, news and side splitting laughs on his Video Blog (there is a cooler name for it, but I just don't know it). I first heard of CTodd from my Bestest MANDY LOZANO then from artist and bike racer Kim Blodgette.

This month, CTodd interviewed Vanderkitten's Belgian kitten Christine Vardaros. Christine piloted our foray into Cyclocross racing in Europe on the World Cup before her season ended with a string of head knocks and a serious concussion!

Here is an awesome interview where we all get the opportunity to learn just a little bit more about Christine Vardaros, an American in Belgium.



Caution, this is a PG-13 Video as some of the impersonations in this clip use profanity.

She's My Cherry Pie... Camp Day -1 (that's negative one)

There is little room for lampooning hair metal when it comes to bike racing. But, there is room, so we need to put a shout out to the organizers of this race in Napa as a tribute to one of hair-metal-pop's worst bands: WARRANT.
When I heard the winners of this race got a Cherry Pie, I was hoping the band at least autographed the LP. To my relief, the only Cherry Pie getting won here was fruity and delicious... I'll give WARRANT the former, but certainly not the latter.

So, if there is ever a plan for cycling ours is to control the media. Here's the basic equation: great athletes + media coverage=sponsorship $$. Plain and simple. Another way we like to roll is to keep other teams on their toes. We are not all that secretive as much as everything is just beginning, so there are no real secrets... except for out kits. I keep the kits as a source of pride and protect the designs with guns and rabid, malnourished bunnies.

We decided to pay tribute to the cross and mountain girls who will be wearing the dark-chocolate and pink plaid kits by kicking off the 2008 Racing season by putting our roadies in them for the Cherry Pie crit. It's also important for everyone to match, we're Pro afterall...

Jane looked happy to be out representing Vanderkitten for the first time ever, and she was joined by Liz, Melissa, Mary Maroon and Flavia Oliviera. Secretly, our team director Scott Gross was hoping to make it in time to see how the girls raced together naturally.

If you are looking for a play by play, I can tell you Liz went off the front in typical Liz style, and then Kelly Murdin from ProMan was out there, way off the front for a while. TIBCO's Brooke Miller was always sitting Lance Armstrong style in the top 8-10 riders ready for anything.
In the end, everyone was keyed on Liz which opened the door for Melissa to jump around for 5th, Jane 7th, Flavia then Liz and Mary. It was a great race and fun to watch. Keeping in mind Melissa had not even had her bike for 24 hours, it was great to see how easily she cam up to speed with the new shifting, etc.

Team Camp, Day -2

What a ride! On Feb. 9th Mark picked up Heather Sborz and Melissa Sanborn from the Oakland airport and stopped by with them on their way to Martinez to join Liz and get settled in. Heather, figuring her flight and drive from the airport was not long enough, elected to keep me company and drive up to Petaluma to our sponsor shop Bici Sport. (Bee-chee Sport)


Jerry was busy putting together our bikes, which Andrew had asked to give them 4 days to do... but in typical fashion, parts were being delivered on Thursday afternoon for bikes needed Saturday. We hovered over Jerry and his side-kick Colby for a while and he finished up our new BH Connect bikes. I had purchased a new team car a few nights before, a 1999 Volvo XC Wagon, and we were piling on the miles quickly... I bought it with 91k, and by the end of camp it would show 94k just 2 weeks and several tanks of gas later!


The first thing we noticed was how light the complete bikes were. We are still waiting for some chi-chi wheels from Spinergy, but the stand in DT Swiss wheels had Melissa's bike close to the UCI minimum!! HOT DAMN! Heather loved the look of the bikes and was stoked to be the first to ride.. but no pedals meant she was waiting til we got back to Mark's house in Martinez to meet up with Liz.

Liz rode her custom Ahrens and the girls went out to get used to the new shifting of the Driven components . The goal was to build only the bikes we'd need for the girls coming into town and get the show going for the Cherry Pie crit in Napa the following day. I threw some new Kenda Kriterium tires on Liz's bike as well for the race.

This whole team thing was unfolding as a reality so fast I don't think Mark and I had a chance to digest all that we were about to experience trying to herd our "VKats".

Vanderkitten's Robyn Sheedy Takes Beantown 16-Miler Victory

Robyn Sheedy, one of our Vanderkitten multisport Athletes, competed in a 16 mile (running) road race this past weekend. "I ended up winning my age group (30-39). It was a pretty hilly course and it was in the middle of a snowstorm to boot! But all in all it was fun and good training for Boston [Marathon]. I ended up running a 2:00:20 which breaks down to 7:32/mile. Given that I had ridden a hard 3 hours on Sat. I was pretty happy with the result."

"More importantly, I got a big-ass beer stein for my efforts and was wearing my VK wear at the awards ceremony. So attached is a photo of me getting my (empty) beer stein (which was filled later) with the race director. Unfortunately the glass is blocking the VK logo! I did, however, get some questions from people about what the deal is with "that cat" and I was quite pleased to inform them of Vanderkitten"

Thank you Robyn for the race update and pic! Although it is quite a large stein, we are sure your Vanderkitten Post Race Training enabled you to down that one with no problem!! =)

Through out 2008 we will be bringing you updates and stories from Robin Sheedy as she travels the globe racing bikes, running and swimming to spread the good word of Vanderkitten!

CYCLE TO.com

We are very excited to be participating in this hot new site for Cycling Freaks! Take a look inside the lives of Elite Women Racers. Share the cheers and tears and see what life is like for these emerging athletes.

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You will get a unique opportunity to get the inside scoop on products, racers, lifestyle, events, etc. Results only tell a small portion of the story, now get the rest!

I Hate You for Being Hot, and Fast!

There are more and more girls out in the world not playing by the rules, embracing their beauty AND kicking ass! Introducing Emily Phillips. You heard it here first, Emily is going to be a household name in a couple of years.


Emily contacted Vanderkitten last year in suggestion that she too kicked ass on 2 wheels. The only difference is her 2 Wheels have engines and up t0 35 HP. Emily races Motocross, and when she's not racing, she is going to school and modeling.

Emily is making the trek out to NorCal from her current home of Texas (she is a So Cal Native) this week to me her extended Vanderkitten Family of Jennie, Dave, Mark, Liz, Hanan and Flavia. Check back often to see what trouble we can stir up with the hottest girls in Cycling AND Motocross!

With All of this Talk About Equality...

Maybe the UCI, the international governing body of cycling, made a New Year's resolution to equally compensate women professional athletes in prize money... but most likely they didn't.
Mountain biking phenom and current MTB National Champion Georgia Gould created a petition to the UCI that has been wildly broadcast to increase female prize money to match that of men. There are few professional women's sports that have achieved this, and we need to look no further than Tennis to see this gap closed.

A more likely achievement would be to garner compensation and endorsement packages like the surfing and snowboarding/skiing industry have. But where will the money come from?



Let's look at the numbers for a minute. There are 1.7 Million men, women and children in the USA who SURF, yet SURFWEAR is a multi-billion dollar industry. In fact, 95% of all of the people who own clothing or accessories from a "surfwear" company will never, in fact, surf. The cycling industry boasts amazing numbers in comparison. There are 44 million women in the USA who ride bikes, yet professional women make a FRACTION of what a professional female surfer earns. So, when we want equal pay... where does the money come from?

Cycling is ready for a MAKEOVER in a BIG WAY!



I love the sport, but it's been dorky at best over the last decade (save for the gravity girls). The cost of entry is extreme compared to a lot of other sports, the fashion is very far behind (see above), and the image is not one that marketeers find, well, marketable (see above). The age of people making decisions in the cycling industry is increasing, and the touch with todays trends is far removed. But cycling has something no other sport has- the ability to do it anywhere, in practically any weather. There is no Powder Day there is no Big Swell. There is not that one thing you wait for everyday of your life, that makes the attainment of said condition prestigious and godlike. Does this limit Cycling's allure? Can we shoot videos of the perfect road descent?

If any of you have ever surfed, you know you can get to the beach to find it flat, blown-out, overly crowded, choppy, glassy or perfect. The reality is that perfection is always being chased because the sport is 100% dependent on a perfect combination of being in the right place at the right time. On any given day, there is no surf. On any given day, there is always cycling. The lifestyle of being laid back, waiting for surf, is very appealing to us all. Surfing is natural, powerful, amazing. I feel the same way about skiing: I can hit speeds over 50 miles an hour on a piece of wood wrapped with some fiberglass- No wheels, no shifting and the only thing with mechanical workings are my bindings, and that's just so I don't break my legs! Everytime I go, it costs A LOT of money to ski.

So, why then is cycling not of interest to the public at large? Its the largest recreational fitness activity in the US next to WALKING! I think cycling needs a make-over. The button-up, corporate racer drone doesn't vibe with the public at large who buy the products and services bigger sports promote. What if cycling was presented in such a way that it is accessbile, causal, exciting and beautiful?

Cycling is HOT


Leah is a professional bike racer from Canada. She is one of the young women that is changing the face of the sport. She is fast, wins big races and looks like a supermodel.


Liz is hot, she is real, down to Earth, a crowd favorite. She does not look like your female cyclist of the 90's, and she is arguably much tougher, too.


Mandy stops grown men in their tracks. She is sassy, classy, intelligent, FAST and beautiful. She is fast, fun and promotes women's cycling all day long!


Flavia is a dynamo on and off the bike. She speaks her mind, is confident and focused. She knows what she wants from life.


Leigh is hard working, fashionable, fast and wide-smiling. She and her pro-boy know VK is the new hot thing in cycling. Her hard work has made Vanderkitten Racing a reality for 2008!

These are just some of the fast women who are changing the face of Women's Cycling with Vanderkitten Racing in 2008. You will get to know them all over the coming weeks. We are excited that we can bring the level of fashion, excitement, talent and personality to the sport of cycling that does not exist. In fact, many call Vanderkitten "the Roxy of cycling"... I can't think of a more flattering compliment.

Happy New Year!

2008 presents another year of endless opportunities for Vanderkitten! To the right is a poll for you to fill out! The idea is to help us identify the products YOU want most! We have all of these items in development, so it's just a matter of prioritizing them for delivery!

Thank you for taking a minute to select your favorite items!!

It's been 3 years since I made the first Vanderkitten branded T-shirts, before we ever even started this business. Over the last 3 years we have learned more than I could have ever imagined! We've been inspired by unlikely people, had uncanny experiences, met amazing people and have made more new friends than a grade schooler!

We entered into the "Cycling Industry", won 3 National Championships, designed our own bikes, kits that got people talking (good and bad)... but people took notice, YOU took notice.

There is nothing esoteric about Vanderkitten. There is nothing fake, phony, empty or contrived. What we offer is a concept that is REAL. It is real, it has not been articulated and developed as a brand like we've done it, and it has been widely praised for it's forward thinking.

Cycling goes Argyle, we go plaid. Cycling goes white, we go black... and guess what? You the people LOVE IT, and we love you!

One comment I received from one of my mentors was that Vanderkitten did not have enough of my voice. In fact, I've helped and guided him in building a very successful new business... he said I gave his business a voice! I have often heard the sentiment that Vanderkitten is a company much larger than it actually is. It's the result of 3 people's passion, skill, determination and inspiration.

For 2008 I want to give Vanderkitten the voice it deserves. As the creator of the business, I suppose that would be mine... and as the inspiration, perhaps it will be Jennie's or as the make it happen guy maybe it's Mark's. I am rewriting the Vanderkitten story, the way I would tell you why I started the business if you asked me. On the new website, it will be my story, our pictures and this journey that includes YOU!!

Every design we do has relevance, and inside "secrets" for design inspiration. Some you will be shocked by, some you will laugh at, some may make you cry. Next week I will tell you how I became inspired to start Vanderkitten, leave a great income and work endlessly into the night, every night...

2008 is going to be an AMAZING year. A year of TRUTH, a year were we stop compromising and start making every move we make count, and every action speak... I hope you join us for this ride, it is going to be unforgettable.

Happy New Year!!
Dave Verrecchia
Creator/Designer
Vanderkitten- Clothing for Women Who Kick Ass