Leaving now to drive down to SoCal for the first races of the season! Saturday is Boulevard Road Race in Campo, CA which is about as far south as you can go without crossing the Mexican boarder. Sunday we head back up to San Diego for the Red Trolley Crit. Really excited to see what my legs will be like. *cross fingers* It’s a loooooong drive but I get to meet one of my teammates, Leah, for the first time. Nice!
Soon,
Liz!
Sneak peek of the Maxim shoot.
Go here to read photographer, Kelly Stuart’s blog.
I’m sitting in the Bryant Park Hotel in NYC getting ready to leave to go back to rainy CA. Was in NYC for 3 days for the NY Velocity Roller Races and then a “Women in Sports” photo shoot with Maxim. Had a fantastic time at both and will put the details into words when I get home…
One hint about the shoot- Kelly Stuart, the amazing photographer, had me pose on a pile of makeshift asphalt. We had no idea how sticky the stuff really was, not to mention difficult to get off your skin, but the pictures looked pretty freaking incredible! More on that later.
Time to pack!
in pic- Kelly Stuart, and Jason Parkin from MAXIM Mag, little fun out after a loooooong day.
Had a very special visitor last weekend. My teammate and all around awesome person, Leigh “The Machete” Valletti flew out from Atlanta for the 3 day to hangout with us on the left coast.
We crammed as much stuff into 3 nights and 2 days as two girls (legally) can. Dinner the first night at VK happy hour HQ, Fonda.
4 hr ride in Marin the next day complete with photo stops at all the touristy spots. As Leigh put it, it was like being on our honeymoon! Sweet! (No mom, I don’t have anything to tell you, just a joke!)
We had a fantastic home cooked meal that night in Berkeley at Dave and Jennie’s, after that we bundled up and headed to my favorite beer heaven, The Trappist. Mmmmmmmm, beer…. *drool*
3 hr ride out to Danville on Sunday AM and then sushi at Sushi Groove with Mark and Flavia closed out the visit. 
It went by as fast as any weekend should be allowed and before I knew it I was dropping LeiLei off at the San Fran airport in the pouring rain. *sniff*
She’ll be back in a month for camp, I’ll be counting down the days!
Len Basobas from Triple Crankset grilled me a while back and here are the results.
Look for future interviews on Triple Crankset with more of the Vanderkitten riders and staff.
Another round of the Risibisi Ride in Petaluma came and went on Saturday. We did a beautiful 3hr ride out to Freestone and back. It’s been raining pretty steadily in NorCal for the past 2 weeks or so but the gods took pity on us and declared a truce, allowing us to enjoy a spectacular sunny clear day.
We left at 9am Italian time, which means 9:15, after espresso and pastries .
Stopped at the Wild Flour Bread Bakery in Freestone where I reminded myself not to gorge on bread. The note to self on my handlebars seems to work! Gotta keep that winter weight off. 
Back at the restaurant we presented Luca “The Dude” Flagiello, Fabio and Jessica’s son (Fabio is the owner/head chef of Risibisi) with his own custom Vanderkitten tees. He seems thrilled, no?
Lunch was the best yet; mussels, fried calamari, eggplant sliced thin and soaked in olive oil(my fave), chicken… too much food to remember. Great food and conversation, the perfect day really!
Check out Risibisi for future ride announcements including a big one involving Vanderkitten Racing!
Cheers to you all,
Liz
Pretty Damn Funny-
Someone sent me a link to this blog entry. Not sure who Gwadzilla is but I got a good laugh out of the post…
So, I’ve been asked to be the “Special Guest” at the NY Velocity Roller Race benefiting Fernando Cuevas on January 24th in New York. As to how they chose me, my best guess is that they ran out of people to ask and I was the last option… Thanks guys!
Fernando Cuevas is from a legendary NYC bike building family and is currently fighting kidney cancer. He’s been a long time supporter of junior development and now it’s our chance to give back to him. If you’re in the area please come out and join us for this worthy cause on Jan 24th. Have a beer and watch the roller races, I’ll be doing my best not to embarrass myself(too much)!
The address is-
Bar East
1733 1st @ 90th
The time- Thursday, January 24th from 7pm to 11pm, Racing starts at 7:30
See you there?
