Brumble Bikes Kermesse

Race: Brumble Bikes Kermesse
Date: April 8th, 2017
Location: Rhode Island
Rider(s): Chery Clark, Emily Underwood, Alexa Gurbinski 

Setting off as a trio (Alexa, Emily, Cheryl) for the Brumble in RI! The morning started off with some great car company, chit chat on the way to the race. We pulled into the lot, and were almost blown over when opening our car doors, damn it was cold and windy. Alexa took on the 'mom' role of the day and was a saving grace as Cheryl realized her gloves were not warm enough and Alexa whips out a nice thick pair, and Emily opens her sunglasses case only to realize there are no sunglasses in them! Alexa: "Here you go, I have an extra!" Oh wait, and Cheryl also forgot her bibs....yes, Cheryl forgot her bibs....no extras of those, but she did have a full pair of spandex ha! Once we were settled, we chatted about the race and sat in the warm car until we were off racing! It was a strong field, and many riders have strong surrounding teams, so an exciting and active race was to be made. We knew who to watch, and checked in with each other. Several attacks went off early, Alexa being a part of two of them that caused a slight group separation, but everything came back together. Cheryl counter attacked one move, Brittlee Bowman followed, but the effort was brought back shortly there after.

The deciding move was made by Masha Schneider about half way through the race. She attacked, and Cheryl was lucky enough to be right there and followed her wheels, realizing within seconds there was a gap on the group. Cheryl and Masha immediately put the hammer down, and were joined by two super strong Green Line Velo ladies. We all communicated well together and got organized quickly to put together an effective paceline. Brittlee Bowman made more massive move to join the break of 4 riders, and then there were 5 in the break, working together. Green Line Velo sent one of their riders off the front of the break, and she rode strong solo, leaving 3 of us to rotate through to chase, and her teammate got a free ride (kudos to excellent team tactics on their end!). After a few more hesitations and bike games, we all realized it was going to come down to a flat, fast, windy sprint. Cheryl ended up 4th out of the break of 5 (please can someone lend her a pair of sprinter legs??).

​The chase group with Emily and Alexa was not fair behind, and Emily and Alexa sprinted to a 7th and 10th place finish. 3 riders in the top ten, I'd say that is not a bad start to the season! Despite the cold and the wind, smiles happened, and an interesting and fun race was made!

Results
​Cheryl C. 4th
Emily U.  7th
Alexa G. 10th

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