Vanderkitten -Virginia Beach

Per BJ's urging I thought I would step-up and be the first to write a short blog so she can read something other her own posts. When thinking about what the heck to write about I started reminiscing about early childhood bicycle memories. Perfect, I thought! One particular memory sticks firmly in my head, mainly due to the great embarrassment it caused me. Non-the-less about 15 years later I can share this story and laugh about it. ...

As many of you know my dad, Michael Kane is a cyclist as well. Needless to say he was trying to get me on a bike barely before I was out of diapers. Ok I exaggerate but you get the idea. I remember him telling me it was time to "get off those training wheels and ride like a big girl". Hours later and a few falls I was on my way. Since then I haven't looked back, which is good b/c it would be difficult to stay up with you ladies in a group ride if i still had those training wheels on! I digress....back to the point of this blog. My most embarrassing bicycle story. I was in second grade and very into my new mountain bike at the time.

My friend Christine and I found hours of enjoyment racing around our driveway and jumping off the curb to test the shocks of our bikes. We thought we were "so badass". Being the daredevils we were we devised a "race course" to test our skills. It went something like this: Start at the end of the court, race as fast as humanly possible into my driveway, make the sharp turn around the triangle that was my mothers flower garden, then race down driveway to complete the course with a jump off the curb. Brilliant! Cue my start...pedal, pedal, pedal. Faster!! Now I'm flying, hit driveway, begin sharp u-turn and smash! There I go flying over my handle bars face first into the driveway, ouch. Apparently, tight u-turns at sonic speeds don't work? Long story short--I end up scrapping off pretty much all my nose and have to sport the most ridiculous bandage over my nose.

I am in second grade remind you, and in love with my first real crush Kevin. I was just thrilled walking into school looking like that and him coming up and asking "what the heck happened"? Mortifying for a young girl, lol. I carried that feeling around for a good week until my nose was healed enough to then sport the massive scab that formed while it healed..... Well I never raced around that turn again, and feel I learned a valuable lesson that day. So now I encourage you ladies to post a story from your childhood cycling days, I know there has to be some funny ones! BTW BJ told me on Saturday that I need to come up with a "kitty/cat name". After much contemplation I have chosen "Sassy Cat". Once you get to know me better this will make much more sense, but I feel it describes me well haha. `

-"Sassy Cat" aka Meredith Kane