oh my god you guys!! how many feline related puns do you think I can make?! that’s the only one for today but I promise more will come!

So the news dropped on Tuesday that I have signed on with Vanderkitten Racing for the 2013 road season! I’m so excited to be part of such a long-standing and professional operation with teammates and team staff who I totally adore and admire.

I should back up a little bit though.

I haven’t mentioned it here because it was never really formally released to the press but in August of this year, before the Aspen Women’s Crit I got a call from my director at Primal / MapMyRide letting me know that the team would be folding at the end of the year.  I was totally devastated and terrified that I would not find another team to ride for.  I didn’t want to ride for another team!  I wanted to stay with my team!  After a year of huge upheaval and change, this final blow felt like the last straw and I was ready to give up my pro dreams.  I also learned that another team who had reached out to me in the past would be folding meaning that there would be about 20 currently pro women looking for jobs.

I immediately reached out to Vanderkitten’s Jono Coulter and after a month or so of me harassing him he finally caved and offered me a spot on the team (okay it didn’t actually go that way but both he and I can attest to my own persistence).

Vanderkitten was the only other team I could think of besides Primal that felt like a really really good match for me as a rider and a person.  Jono and team owner Dave are so mindful of not just finding great sponsors to support the team but also of finding riders whose personalities and strengths on the bike will mesh well together.  Of course I wish I could have taken each and every one of my Primal teammates with me but since that was obviously not a possibility I am doubly glad excited that my teammates Liza Rachetto and Emily Kachorek were also picked up by Vanderkitten!

As I move into the long hours of winter base training in dark dreary Seattle, I’m feeling more motivated than ever to be the best possible rider I can be in 2013!