Team Laser Cats

Folks in Philadelphia who love bikes, cats, and snacks.

Author Archives: caitlinjthompson


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Caitlin: Our Health Hero

We are excited to share that Philadelphia Magazine has named Caitlin Thompson as a Be Well Philly Health Hero semifinalist for 2019. This competition will award $15,000 to the winner’s non-profit organization (Little Bellas for Caitlin) and $2,500 to the next 2 finalists’ organizations. This is where you come in. The next step in the competition is a month-long contest where everyone can vote daily through October 1st. Please join us in voting for Caitlin every day this month. We know that Caitlin is one of the many health heroes in our city (last year she was awarded with the Bicycle Coalitions Youth Cycling Award) and we are excited to see her hard work recognized through this competition. Caitlin founded the Philly chapter of Little Bellas in 2016 and has recruited many Laser Cats to participate as mentors over the years. Over four years almost 70 girls have participated in Little Bellas program in Philly. With the help of your daily voting, we can all help Caitlin win up to $15,000 for Little Bellas. This money will help get even more girls on bikes in Philly and around the country.

In summary, vote daily (through oct. 1st) here to help Caitlin win $15,000 for Little Bellas.

woman helps girl learn to ride bicycle
Caitlin Thompson gives Little Bellas that extra push to independent riding!


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Celebrating 2018

We kicked off the off season* this past weekend with a team meeting, enjoying vegan chili from our team chef, Sam, and lots of other yummy treats.  It was great to celebrate all of the fantastic activities that we’ve done this past season and plan for 2019.

A few (of the many) 2018 highlights include—

Racing the Philly Phlyer TTT in March

Elisabeth winning the MASS series for Elite women

Eve and Mary on the podium at the Media Hometown Cycling Classic

WTFisCX clinics

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Start line vibes at #wtfiscyclocross Week 2!

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Helping coordinate the WTF Cycling Mixer

Caitlin winning the Bicycle Coalition’s Youth Cycling Award

Emma and Elisabeth on the podium at one of their favorite technical cyclocross races: Sly Fox

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Great day for Team Laser Cats at #slyfoxcx today!! Elisabeth went hard from the whistle, opening up a sizable gap on the first lap. Emma chased her down, and the two rode together until Emma opened up some distance. Eventually, Katrina caught Elisabeth, then closed the gap to Emma, who stuck with her to the finish. An hour later, Elisabeth lined up again for a return of the Singlespeed Snow Leopard (#sscxwc13philly forever), where she picked up 9th place overall and first for the women. (The key to doubling up: slamming Matcha Lime drink and shoving a pack of @skratchlabs chews in your face right before the second race.) A gnarly course with mud, plenty of big logs for these two mountain bikers to boost over (thanks, @takeaimcycling & #michauxmtbschool & @belmont_trails), and the absolute best atmosphere of any event. Both racers were so thankful for our deep teammate cheer squad, too!! Thanks, @slyfoxcx & @tophervalenti 😻😘😻 📷: @wongova & @surlyrider

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Volunteering and working with Bicycle Coalition Youth Cycling, Neighborhood Bikeworks, Little Bellas, and Women’s BikePHL Devo squads

And finally, welcoming a whole crew of new members including:

Many of the above new folks participated in Women’s BikePHL Devo this past year and will be volunteering in the spring.  Applications for the 2019 cohorts will be opening soon.

In 2019, there are rumors of rosey challenges, a return of No Scrubs CX, more cx clinics, and a lot more cats on bikes.  We can’t wait to #sendit into the new year.

*Emma and Elisabeth are racing twice each this week at cyclocross nationals while the rest of us will be cheering from home.