VK's Melodie Metzger Takes 2nd at Tri-Flow Menlo Park Grand Prix!!

Photo: Kurt Harvey

VK's Melodie Metzger, Charlotte Hart, and Mary Maroon came out in force for the Tri-Flow Menlo Park Grand Prix on March 8th!  With the help of her super awesome kitten teammates, Melodie took second to Tibco's Brooke Miller. 

Below is race recap from VK's Charlotte Hart:

Considering I'm coming back from pulling my groin (long ski story) Menlo was a much better race for me than Merco.  The pace was fast -- Sugar CRM was really aggressive launching attacks and of course Tibco was countering and covering everything.  I tried to stay up front and go with moves, and at one point with Mel on the front I jumped to chase two girls off the front.  A few laps later on the backside of the course I did the same for her and got in a nice block allowing her to open a big gap before the pack woke up.  All in all, for only a three person team we were doing a good job of being defensive!

 

With three to go I moved up and passed Mel -- who I think grabbed my wheel and followed.  But tunnel vision during racing always surprises me.  Anyhow I was able to take Brooke Miller's wheel with 3 to go.  I was ultra surprised!  Then the elbows for her wheel in the corners started flying and I remember thinking, why are girls jabbing me?  Oh, duh I'm on the WHEEL to have.  Initially I knew Brooke would be plan B (insider's knowledge ha) and that they would try to get one of their riders in a break.  However, since it was going to be a bunch sprint, plan A was to lead Brooke out.  So I was in great position as the laps wound down.  With one to go, Sugar CRM attacked forcing Brooke to chase.  I followed in pursuit but the gap she opened was as big as the Atlantic Ocean.  I bridged and then burned.  The effort gassed me.  But considering I've been training lightly it was no surprise.  What was good is that the rest of the riders came across with me and I'm sure that helped Mel stay in perfect position to light the sprint up.

Below is a pic of Vk's Mary Maroon working the field!

Photo: Kurt Harvey

Photo: Kurt Harvey

Next up for Vanderkitten Racing?  Redlands Classic!  Come out and support the super fast ladies of Vanderkitten Racing!!

Vanderkitten Racing Kicks Off 2009 Season!

Photo: Kurt Harvey

Vanderkitten Racing kicked off their 2009 season on February 15th, during the Tour of California Women's Criterium!  

Photo: Kurt Harvey

Below is race recap from VK's super fast Jenn Wilson:

The season has started!  Though I thought I would be more prepared here it is and I am excited.  Like last year, our first NRC race of the season was the Women’s Criterium at the Tour of California in Santa Rosa, CA.  Lucky for me, my good friend and partner in crime, Jenn X is guest riding with Vanderkitten for this race so we drove up to Berkeley together on Friday morning.  We left at 7am and made the customary stop at Starbucks in Valencia and off we went.  The grapevine was open and the mountains looked beautiful with the snow on them.  The iPod was hooked up and we were rockin’.  We arrived in Berkeley at 1pm and promptly got dressed and went on a ride with some of the other VKs, Liz and Leigh.  It was great to see them as I had not seen them since Vegas in September.  We attempted to get an easy ride in to loosen the legs but the rain came and we jetted back to our hotel.  We were treated in the evening to a team dinner at Dave and Jennie’s house which was magnificent. Thanks again for a great evening! 

 

The next day we all drove to San Jose to do a local criterium to get the legs open for the BIG race the next day.  Even though it was a local race, most all of the big teams were there doing the same as us.  It was a course with quite a few turns and the wind was picking up.  VK did a great job of making sure we were in nearly every move off the front and we were working well together.  It was great to be back in the mix.  Our “guest” rider Jenn X got a prime during the race.  I got myself in 3 moves off the front but nothing stuck.  Even though the sun was out we did experience a bit of rain which caused a crash; only a prelude to what we would endure on Sunday.  I was feeling pretty good for my first race back with the “big” girls.  With 2 laps to go I made a bad choice and took the wheel of some girls cookin’ up the inside to a turn which I had taken the inside of nearly every time during the race and found it to be the fast.  However, this time was different and we got pinched and I had to ebrake.  I spent the last lap fighting for position.  Ugh! I bungled the sprint!  The important thing was that I rode at the front and was able to position myself into moves.

The VK gang went out to dinner that night at the Pyramid Brewery where I enjoyed a yummy Kobe beef burger.  It was great to be hanging with the gang again. After dinner it was back to the hotel to rest up and gear up for what was going to be a very rainy day if the weather channel was correct.

Typical Jenn X

Guess what? We awoke to gray skies and rain.  We packed up the van and headed north for Santa Rosa. After a quick stroll through the vendors it was down to business. We had wonderful help from Emma and other Vanderkitten’s and it was great to be surrounded by so many well wishers.  I got a good warm up in and somehow found myself rushing at the end trying to figure out where the time went.  It turns out they were starting the race 10 minutes early, strange.  And, of course as our race start came so did the rain in a torrential down pour. Because the race started early and we were unaware of this, we all started the race at the back of the pack. Not the best place to be when you have heavy hitters like Ina Teutenberg and National Champion Brooke Miller in the peloton.

Myself and Jenn X "racin" TOC 2009 photo courtesy Larry Rosa

The pace was pretty fast from the start though we were careful through the turns due to the rain.  To add to the “fun” there were tons of bot dots on the course which you had to navigate even while turning.  It took a little bit of time to get to the front of the race since I started way in the back.  The only good news about starting at the back was that when Versus showed the seconds of coverage there was my butt.  Hot!  Within 12minutes there was a break from the pack.  I was sitting on the opposite side of the peloton pretty boxed in when it happened.  Twelve riders went free and I did a quick check, all the heads of state were still in the peloton: Ina, Gina, Tina, Brooke and LVG.  There was a lot more time in the race and I thought for sure they would be brought back.  Jenn X decided not to wait around for that and launched herself off the front.  I was on her wheel and made the decision to sit up and let her go.  In hindsight, it would have been nice to have 2 VKs in the

break to help each other.  After killing herself she eventually bridged to the break, now they were 13.  I stayed up at the front to monitor and block as best I could should anyone decide to take the leap.  There were mini attacks and LVG was anxious to try and break free.  I was on them all figuring if anyone was going to bridge they were taking me with them.  The race organization started to give pack primes and after I realized that the break was going to stay away I decided to go for one.  Lucky or unlucky for me the one I went for also appeared to be on Ina’s check list and I got second behind her.  Bummer, but not bad considering she is such an animal.  Next on the list was to prepare for the finish.  Even though we were not sprinting for the win I knew it would be an all out sprint for the finish considering who I was with.  The rain continued to come down heavy and it seemed to be getting colder.

How do I get so dirty? photo courtesy Dave Verrecchia

I really took to heart Jeff “Hoppy” Hopkins words of advice and was able to stay on Tina’s wheel through the last couple of laps and only started to lose it when Ina who was in front of her lit it up entering turn 4 and exploded away from all of us.  I was pretty gassed at this point having done so much work to stay at the front and suffered during the sprint.  It was so cold outside and I could not feel my fingers having no clue what lever I was hitting to select my gear.  Jenn X did a great job in the break and finished 11^th.  I held my own in the sprint and got 10^th in the field for a 23^rd finish overall.  At least now I have more confidence in being able to hang with the top sprinters to the line.

Are we having fun yet? photo courtesy Kurt Harvey

Jenn and I went to the Russian River Brewery after the race to try and finish my gift card that I won last year in a prime. We did not do much damage because we were driving home.  After a coffee at Peet’s (my favorite) it was back to the van for the long drive home.  The iPod was roaring and the caffeine flowin’.

At least we didn't super size!

Vanderkitten Racing's next big NRC race will be the Redland's Bicycle Classic March 26th-29th.  Come out and support the hottest team in women's cycling!

Texas State Crit Junior Champ Madeleine McDuff Destroys Competition!

Madeleine McDuff, the reigning Texas State Junior Champion in Criterium,  won both the Time Trial and Criterium during the Alsatian Country Omnium on Saturday, February 7th!  

Madeleine not only took first place in the Time Trial Junior girls category, but also stood her ground against the fastest Junior boys in Texas with an overall top ten Time Trial finish!

During the criterium Madeleine raced against the top two Texas Junior male teams.  She again showed the boys what she was made of, and ultimately ended up winning the Junior girls category!  

Madeleine is a 13 year old Junior Track and Road Cyclist.  She is a cycling leader in her community as she founded the Beckendorff Junior High School Cycling Club.  With her season now underway, she is excited to promote both junior and women's cycling in her Vanderkitten kit.  

Introducing Millie "Milliegoat" Tanner

Vanderkitten is pleased to announce that SoCal's Millie "Milliegoat" Tanner will be rockin' the VK kit for the 2009 season! Millie is the current State Champion for both California and Nevada in Road Race and Time Trial in the 10-12 division. Millie is also featured in the Jan/Feb issue of Sports Illustrated KIDS special 20th Birthday Edition. At 11 years old, this impressive young rider is already a leader in the cycling community! She likes to go fast, enjoys suffering, and wants to inspire young riders to start cycling. She will, without a doubt, dominate the 2009 season! To visit Millie's official website please click here. To follow Millie's blog, please click here.

We look forward to seeing Millie kit up with Vanderkitten in 2009!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Berkeley , Calif. – January 18, 2009

On Saturday Jan 17th, Vanderkitten Racing Elite team member Liz Hatch was involved in a solo-rider accident whilst participating in the Benefit for Women’s ATOC Criterium and All –Sport Team Swift ride outside Santa Rosa, CA. Following a comprehensive examination at the hospital, she was released and is now recovering at home. We wish Liz a quick and healthy recovery.


The Vanderkitten Racing team/club rules state that all members MUST wear an approved helmet at all times. Liz’s helmet in this instance absorbed a majority of the force of her crash, and was destroyed. As always, safety remains our highest priority and hopefully all of us can walk away with a reminder that helmets do reduce injury and save lives.


Please direct any questions or concerns of Liz's recovery or Vanderkitten Racing to the Managing Director: Mark Zefeldt mark@vanderkitten.com

CALLING ALL LADIES!!

Vanderkitten is pleased to announce that we are starting a nationwide Vanderkitten Club Team to cater to both amateur racers and avid recreational cyclists for the 2009 season!  

We are now recruiting women with all levels of experience to join the club team.  This includes Category 2, 3, and 4 women amateur racers, century riders, riders who ride for a cause (cancer, chronic illness fundraising events), spin class warriors, and women who are new to the sport and simply enjoy riding!

Why join Vanderkitten instead of your local club team?  Because Vanderkitten represents so much more than your run of the mill team!  The Vanderkitten club team specifically caters to women while providing the tools needed to help riders grow and excel in every aspect of cycling!  Joining the club will help women cyclists meet and ride with other women on both a local and national level.  By becoming part of the Vanderkitten club team you will directly impact the future of women's amateur cycling!  By doing this, you will help the Vanderkitten professional team continue to change the face of women's cycling around the world!  You will, of course, also receive amazing discounts and will be riding and racing in the most highly sought after women's team kit that is worn by the very high profile, hot ladies of the Vanderkitten professional team! Remember, it only takes one person to make a statement!

Vanderkitten is looking for strong, passionate women to represent us.  If you are interested in joining the hottest club team in the nation or if you have prior experience and are interested in becoming a Vanderkitten Club area leader please contact emma@vanderkitten.com

Become a cycling leader in your community, ride for Vanderkitten!  

VK WINS USA CRIT SERIES TEAM TITLE CHAMPIONSHIP!!

Photo: Ken Conley

Vanderkitten won the USA Crit Series Team Title Championship on September 25^th in Las Vegas, NV!  Below is race recap from VK’s Jen Wilson.

Vegas baby!  The final race in the USA Crit Series and what a ride it has been.  After racking up the airline mileage, suffering a concussion and getting a second row of stitches on my chin it is finally culminating.  I have to admit that parking lot crits are not my favorite but off we went to defend our team lead in the crit series and my second place overall.  After nearly taking out my eye running into a wire that I did not see in the in field, we all arrived at the starting line.  Luckily since most of the VKs were sitting in the top ten, most of us got called up before the race which on this course was pretty important since the areas available to move up were slim with the barriers being on either side. 

As it has been all season, the pace was fast from the start and did not let up.  The big teams were in force, especially Colavita/Sutter Home and Cheerwine.  As is typical of this course there were crashes in the first couple of laps and throughout the entire race.  Luckily none of us were directly involved.  The VK girls did a great job of staying up in the front and monitoring and dictating the race pace.  It was great to see them doing their stuff and I felt that for a first year team we were given the respect of a more developed squad.  I had to keep on eye on Kelly Benjamin (Cheerwine) and hope that something magical might happen for me today to overcome her 65 point lead over me in the series.  It has been a season long battle with us trading off the top spot.  The heat exhaustion I experienced in Charlotte, SC was where the tides switched and Kelly took the lead.  It has been an uphill battle trying to gain points back on her.  She is such a strong rider with a very strong team and I have learned a lot “battling” with them.

As we were getting into some type of rhythm on the course I saw an opportunity to attack through the chicane area.  However, no one wanted to let me go.  Jen McRae took off soon after that and was in a two rider break.  She is so strong that she eventually dropped the other rider and soloed her way to the win.  Colavitta/Sutter Home and Cheerwine chased hard but on this course a single rider has much more of an advantage than the pack.  The team put in a good effort with about 4 laps to go and I was able to maintain my position in the top.  We came into the sprint and I came in 8^th.  It was over!  We had done it and maintained our team overall lead! 

For my first season on the national circuit it was great.  Vanderkitten accomplished a lot in one year and it was exciting being a part of it and surrounded by such wonderful people; both the riders and management.  In addition, it has also been great to have our sponsors believe in us especially since it was our first year and we had no track record.  I am already looking forward to next season!

VK Still Leads USA Crit Series After San Francisco Twilight Crit!!

Photos: Ken Conley

Vanderkitten raced a tough race at San Francisco's Twilight Criterium on August 13th. Below is pre race and race recap from VK's Liz Hatch:

After a year of traveling to every major race cross-country by plane or long distance drive I was really looking forward to the San Francisco Twilight as it's basically in my backyard. We rented a really cool apt in The Castro and had 6 of us share the space for the weekend. I've grown to love racing this year not just for the actual competition but for the time I get to spend with my teammates. For the majority of the past 5 months it's been the 4 core members, which include Leigh, Jen W., Melissa and myself, so it was especially nice to have Jenny Trew back with us along with a special guest, Jen Reither. Yes, half our team had some variance of the name Jennifer!

The night before the race we went to the Galaxy Club to pick up our race packets and number and have a beer, after which we went to a team dinner with Mark and Robin Zellner who has been guest directing for us to share a meal and some pre-race plans. Jen Wilson has been battling it out with Kelly Benjamin all year for the overall in the USA Crit Series and we as a team have had a narrow lead over Cheerwine for the top team in the standings so we were all feeling the pressure of the race on Saturday. Kelly has had a banner year and for that reason we knew it would be a tough road but not unthinkable. Jen is one of the toughest women I've ever met on a bike and if anyone could win the overall for our small team it would be her.

Race day came and proved to be quite chilly and windy as we woke early to put on a free clinic for women in the Bay Area looking to improve their bike skills and even a bit of mechanical training. A nice group showed up and we got to spend a couple of hours with them talking about A to Z bike stuff. A big thanks to Dan Horndasch for coming out and running the show as far as the bike maintenance went, he answered everyone's questions with patience and precise direction.

After a few hours of lounging around our condo we packed up and headed down to Union St. to the Pro Village. I have to stop here and give a huge round of applause to Ryan Dawkins and Webcore as well as the city of San Fran for allowing pro cycling to come back to the streets of San Fran. It's a huge shame that the SF Grand Prix is no more but this is a step back in the right direction. The whole affair was a joy to be present at and to race made it all the better. Thanks guys!!

We warmed up and got our pre race instructions followed by our callups. I think every member of Vanderkitten received a call up as we are all ranked in the USA Crits top 10 except for myself but since I'm a local I guess that was their excuse. I always feel a little awkward going wheel to wheel with girls like Kelly Benjamin, Laura Van Gilder, Kat Carroll or Christine Thorburn. I'm such a newbie but I hope to emulate their success on the bike at some point.

The race started out fast with me leading the first lap semi on accident. I've grown used to starting in the back out of personal preference but as I was at the line I decided to go out and dictate the pace for the first lap or two. From the gun it was fast and furious with a strong break getting away after about 5 or 6 laps which included all the heavies except on of us! NO GOOD!! Robin was sounding pretty stressed in our earpieces, of course. We worked hard the whole race to put things right and pull it back but for some reason we just weren't firing the way we normally do. It's been along year and the 4 of us have race so hard and perhaps we were a bit tired however there was no option to call time out of give up which none of us ever do anyway.

Kat Carroll put in an amazing solo attack hoping to repeat her win at Charlotte earlier this year but was pulled back with 5 or so to go and eventually the whole field, drastically reduced from the start, came back together. Next Meredith Miller made one last MONSTER attack which just shredded the field and made the final selection from which Shelly Olds would go on to win and Laura Van Gilder would take 2nd and Kelly Benjamin 3rd. Jen ended up 10th and the rest of somewhere behind. Personally the race was not my best, I could not seem to get the legs going until about 45 mins which was way too late. A shame too as the course had a nice rise on the back side which normally would suit me well. You win some you lose some, eh??

In the end Jen is in a solid second place overall behind Kelly and we sit as a team on the top over Cheerwine. Not bad for a ragtag first year team! And I say ragtag in the most loving and prideful way possible. We've bonded through good and bad this year and have really fought for our place in the top teams without having all the benefits of a bigger team. I'm really grateful to Mark and Dave for understanding what we are trying to accomplish here and supporting us. Next year will only be bigger and better!

Now it's time for Vegas and our last race so see you there! Lizzer