Folks,
As we’ve blogged before, Julien, the mountain bike guru who puts on the California Adventure Racing Association Skills Clinics is really a phenom on the bike and a great coach. We’d highly suggest attending one of his clinics—worth every penny!

Next clinic: Mountain Bike Skills Level 1 at Arastradero on Saturday February 14th.
For complete details and registration please visit:
http://cara-mtb-skills.eventbrite.com/

For additional details and questions please e-mail us at:
skills@california-ara.com

Today, Team VK and friends had an awesome mountain biking training ride at Soquel Demonstration Forest in the Santa Cruz Mountains.  Good trails, good company, good fun.

“Demo”, as it’s called by the MTBR folks, has long, fast, singletrack descents with rocks and roots scattered around.  There are three main trails (Braille, Tractor and Sawpit) that are sandwiched between grueling, hike-a-bike, uphill grinds!  Today, we started at the top and took Tractor down twice and Sawpit up once (and let me tell you, once was enough!) The trails also have great stunts, logs, ladders, and jumps galore with ride-arounds for the more faint-of-heart.

“We” were a large crew today… comprised of the Friday am regulars: Ian, David, Hani, Calvin, Thomas, Julie, Austyn, Gwen and me.  A ton of fun!

 A word of warning if you head out to Demo: Don’t leave any valuables in you car…better yet, don’t even bring them. The Santa Cruz sherriffs say they get calls on thefts out every week out there. Yikes!

Happy New Year from Team Vanderkitten!

Team VK and Friends (Gwen, Cindi, Janet, Jen, Austyn, & Hani) spent our New Years out on the water in the SF Bay. We started off at the Redwood Shores (off Seaport Blvd) and headed out to the Bay.. a beautiful day, incredible views, and a great way to start 2009.

Photos, and hopefully videos, to come!

Although the racing season is over, Team VK is still getting out there and getting ready for 2009!

Today, we headed over to Water Dog Lake in Belmont. We maneuvered around this seemingly small park for almost two hours–and it was great fun.

Water Dog is comprised of dirt road & singletrack, dry chaparral hills, some challenging and technical climbs and drops. Rocks, roots, trees, bridges and even old cars are some of the obstacles that make Water Dog fun yet challenging. The edges of the park are up alongside homes, which make Water Dog Park an anomalous island of nature in the midst of suburbia.

After some gnarly riding, it’s time for some holiday parties!

Team Vanderkitten (Team VK) was out in Half Moon Bay this weekend training for the upcoming race.  Joined by 4 of our community members, we were in the water at 9:30am.  The surf was much bigger than expected, but we managed to stay dry and have fun doing it.  At 11:30am we rolled into Montera State park for a 2 hour mountain biking clinic and ride.  We learned some climbing and descending techniques that helped everyone go fast and stay in control.  We saved the best for last.  A 2:00pm, we were sitting n HMB harbor eating the famous clam chowder.

 These monthly skill building sessions are hosted by Team VK.  Please contact  team@teamvanderkitten.com if you are interested in racing with us and want to see what Team VK has to offer.