Catting Around at Jeff Cup

While I was off in Charleston, SC visiting my youngest son, things were heating up in Charlottesville, VA at the prestigious Jeff Cup race. When you have a race in March, anything can happen with the weather, so one never knows what to expect on race day. Race reports from our Vanderkittens have been trickling in and this set of newbies let their presence be known that the Vanderkittens have arrived on the East Coast.

Fog and wet roads are a common day occurrence in Charlottesville and when you throw in some good winds, you've got yourself some interesting race conditions. The only thing that was far from cool was the shattered glass found on the road which really messed with many minds and many tires at the start. If you were lucky enough not to flat, you had yourself a great advantage.

The kittens from the beach were fairly new to road racing and Jeff Cup, so those of us who had done the race in the past were all eyes and ears waiting for their race reports to pour in. Not only can these gals ride their bikes fast, they are also not at a loss for words to tell their story of what they saw as the race unfolded.

Ali had a flat at the start and was lucky enough to get herself a wheel even though she was riding Campy and they gave her Shimano. Barb didn't flat but unfortunately got herself behind an accident which kept her from getting back on the pack before the hill climb. Once she got going again, she had a mechanical which got her off the bike again. Luckily a quick adjustment got her going again, but the pack was fading away quickly. Julie spent lots of time up front playing it safe. Linda was very at home on this course after pre-riding it so she was tucked in tight for the ride of her life.

The outcome of the race was picture perfect for Ali. The picture shows how she rode away from her competition winning the CAT 4 race and the well deserved chocolate bunny by bike lengths. Julie had a good finish coming in strong. Linda was all smiles that she finished and Barb wants to come back and finish in the pack where she should have been all along.

We are proud of our girls for branching out and getting more experience at each and every race. The kits looked great and we're proud of the girls wearing them! Way to go..... Next stop - Conquer the Canal Time Trial.