I’ve somehow remained optimistic through the month of February and managed to keep my mood elevated, but I’m finally fed up with winter. I sit here in bed, having called in sick from work. My doctor diagnosed me with bronchitis this morning (which I’ve had for 2 months now). It’s 14 degrees outside and we’re hunkering down for yet another snow storm tonight.

Last night I finally had my winter frustration meltdown. I’m sick of snow and cold weather. I’m tired of layering up my clothes to stay warm. I’m ready for warmer weather and open-toed shoes. I’d even be happy with some rainy days as long as it was warmer outside.  Today is the last day of February and March usually brings more optimism.

Ok, no more complaining. I’m going to settle into bed and try to get better.

This is a bit of a departure from the normal Video Tuesday. Here in New England we are bracing for yet another winter storm and even though my bike is stored safely for the winter I’d still love to get out there and ride. Watching this video not only made me chuckle but it reassured me that another month isn’t too long to wait.

About a week ago I was going through my news reader and came across an article on Custom Motorcycle Talk about a new website for the ladies called Garage Girls. The beginning of the article really pumped up the site and immediately my interest was piqued:

WOMEN RIDERS HAVE A NEW WEBSITE TO CHECK OUT

www.garage-girls.com goes live covering everything a girl wants to know about motorcycles and so much more…

Minneapolis, MN— The launch of www.garage-girls.com was well received by female motorcycle enthusiasts around the world. The new site created and maintained by Sara Liberte and Jody Perewitz presents motorcycling and everything that goes along with it from a female perspective.

www.garage-girls.com is a unique, exciting new website developed to meet the growing needs of women seeking information about motorcycles and their maintenance.

Wow! I couldn’t wait to go check the site out!

I have vague knowledge of both ladies who are involved with the site. Sara Liberte, as far as I knew, fashions herself a photographer and her images usually consist of a portrait of a person photoshopped with motorcycle parts. I’m not a big fan of her images (I’ve seen better “image fusion” done by other artists) but that’s just my opinion. As it turns out she owns a bike shop as well. Jody Perewitz, well, the only thing I knew about her was that she’s the daughter of famous bike builder, Dave, and that she and Sara are doing a bike build for charity.

Needless to say, I was more than disappointed when I got to the site. The overall design of the site is lackluster and the footer navigation doesn’t even work. Also, it’s never a good sign when the homepage of a site that claims to be a “motorcycle resource for women” is chock full of too much info about the two women who involved with the site. Sigh.

Moving onto the Body & Machine section and it doesn’t get much better. I do think it’s interesting that they’re trying to incorporate fitness information in the “Body” section, but there’s not a whole lot of helpful info there (and I can’t tell who wrote the copy. Since the main graphic says “Sara Liberte’s Garage Girls” I’ll assume she wrote everything). In the middle of the page is a video of Jody and Sara interviewing each other that seems really out of place, even though they do talk about their favorite foods among other things.

The “Machine” section is comprised of two videos of Jody and Sara and a section about battery maintenance. Yawn. “Events” is where you can see them on tour building their Bobber for a Cure and “Sites2See” consists of links to Sara’s photo site and bike shop.

“Cruisin’ companions” has nothing to do with fellow women riders but riders of the fuzzy, four-legged kind. It’s a cute spin on the request for users to upload their photos (and let’s face it, animals on motorcycles will make anyone’s heart melt).

Overall, Garage Girls seems to be a narcissistic venture for these ladies rather than a site providing “everything a girl wants to know about motorcycles”, which totally bums me out. For that, I’ll stick with Women Riders Now, which I still think is the best site for women riders yet.

OK, so I’m off a day this week. Having a Monday holiday always messes my schedule up!

So, our video today is about how to pick up a dropped motorcycle. It is information that appears on almost every website geared toward women riders. Is it helpful, sure. Does it need to be on every website out there? Debatable. But still something every rider should know how to do.

It’s February 15th! Voting has begun for the 2008 Riders Choice awards. I didn’t make it to the final nominees for “Women riders booster of the year.” Oh well. Go vote anyway.

Business first: more bloggy love! Last night I received an email from Amy at Blogged.com. She said:

Dear Rippin Kitten author,

Our editors recently reviewed your blog and have given it a 8.5 score out of (10). Your blog is currently in the top ten in the Sports/Motor Sports Business category of Blogged.com. This is quite an achievement!

http://www.blogged.com/directory/sports/motor-sports

We evaluated your blog based on the following criteria: Frequency of Updates, Relevance of Content, Site Design, and Writing Style. After carefully reviewing each of these criteria, your site was given its score…Please accept my congratulations on a blog well-done!!

How about THAT? Go me!

And of course, a Happy VD for everyone!!!

It occurred to me recently that it’s been a while since I’ve done a somewhat personal/informative post, so today I’m going to take the opportunity to catch up on some info.

Way back in October, I was bound and determined to get my ass to Daytona this year. Well…looks like that’s not going to happen after all. Since I just started a new job last month, taking off on a trip so soon didn’t seem like the right thing to do. Sigh. So, once again I’ll have to experience it all vicariously through daytonabikeweek.com. I will also miss being one of the many women participating in the largest Harley Women’s Ride. Repeat: SIGH.

I can happily report that rippin-kitten.com continues to gain momentum in being a successful and esteemed motorcycle blog written by a female. Site traffic shows that this site has been maintaining a increasing stream of visitors. Nice!

Some very exciting news: new Rippin-Kitten stickers are on order and I’m pleased to say that I’ve also got some t-shirts designs finished and ready to be ordered! Look for the new Rippin-Kitten store to be up and running in the next month or so!

Another blog award to report: Linda Moore of Raven’s Roads has given this site the Excellent Blog Award. Big thanks to Linda! I guess the idea is to pass this on to 10 more bloggy friends so here I go: The Salem Insider, Eternal Vigilance, Keep the Rubber Side Down, Crusty the Biker, Go! Smell the Flowers, Come on in, the Web is Fine, The Many Thoughts of Harley Girl, The Ride Report, The Necro Files, KT Did. Whew! That’s a lotta blogs!

Holy ’80’s Batman!

One of my favorite streaming radio stations of late is Radio Nigel, a station that plays ’80’s music WITH ATTITUDE. Anyway, yesterday they played “Harley David” by the Bollock Brothers, which sounded somewhat familiar to me. Low and behold, I even found their video on youtube in all it’s hilarity.

Honestly, these guys don’t look like they would even know what to do with that motorcycle!

From the Exile Cycles site:

Be sure to watch next Sunday’s [RK: February 10 @ 9PM] episode of “Rock of Love” on VH1. Brett Michaels brings ten hot chicks, each one a potential Mrs. Michaels, into our workshop for their next challenge. Watch tensions rise as two teams race to get their Exile custom finished and fired first, all the while under the strict eyes of Russell and head mechanic Random. The finished chop then takes pride of place in the Rock of Love mansion for the whole season.

Check out VH1.com for more information or to satisfy your gnawing curiosity about Rock of Love 2: A Ride on the Wild Side.

Slayer, the Grammy-winning, undisputed kings of thrash/punk/metal, have joined forces with O’Neal USA, one of the leading manufacturers of motorcycle and BMX accessories, to produce a limited edition of Slayer helmets that feature the band’s distinguished and celebrated artwork. The helmets will launch under the name of RockHard, and will be sold at all Cycle Gear locations and at finer motorcycle dealerships worldwide. In addition, each helmet will be certified and numbered with its own Certificate of Authenticity. Slayer’s RockHard Helmets go on sale on Monday, February 25 and once they’re gone, they are GONE.

Slayer’s RockHard Helmets will be available in three unique shells: Full Face Street (retail from $349), Off Road Dirt ($249 to $269), and Half Shell (Harley style) ($159 to $179). Every helmet will be boxed in a custom-made container patterned after the Anvil road cases, which are used to transport band equipment while on tour. Each helmet passes the highest safety standards from around the world, certified standards in each country in which they are sold. These standards include DOT, SNELL, Australia, EU, Japan and ECE. Each helmet is produced with the finest materials and is made with the most comfortable liners for a perfect fit every ride.

“The RockHard Helmet line, and the Slayer helmet in particular, has generated a huge amount of buzz with our retail outlet buyers,” said Jim O’Neal. “Personally, I’m very psyched about this product as it takes Slayer to another merch level.“

RockHard Helmets is also producing limited edition helmets for AC/DC, KISS, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Hustler in its current first “Tour” line up. With nearly 300 artists under contract with the RockHard project, what better way to launch the RockHard line than with the almighty metal icon, Slayer.

product images from RockHard Helmets

Article source: The Gauntlet

**RAWK!** Now you can go see a Slayer show and not worry about damaging yourself when your head-banging- especially if you’re wearing your very own Slayer helmet!