![]() It's race week! Lot's happening, but first, another segment of Strong Women Who Race Bikes! Sticking to our 5 questions format, we hope you enjoy this short take with one of our favorite crit crazy social media divas. Some of you know may also know her as The Fastest Clark, others as a multi-national champion from Indiana. We're proud to call her a Queen of Cedar Hill. We hope you enjoy the read as we sit down with, Indiana’s Bri Clark. Cedar Hill Donut Lord - Hey Bri - what's happening! (rhetorical question, not one of the five lol). We've noticed that you're pretty busy on USA Crit circuit this year #CrittyCritCritTime. What the heck's a Gray Goat (is that code for Harry's chin hair? rhetorical). Care to give us a little peek into this new SQUAD and what ya'll all about. ![]() Bri Clark - "YES! Gray Goat Sports is an INCREDIBLE bike shop (actually TWO shops) in Indianapolis, Indiana. Owned by Brian Gootee (get it, Goat, Goatee, it all makes sense now, eh?) who we love not just because he has embraced and supported the team, but also because he knows more about bourbon than we do (a high bar!) and makes us bicycle, goat, and bullseye shaped pancakes! In all seriousness, our team has always been driven by Chris Richter who from day one has been our biggest supporter and 100% committed to furthering women’s cycling in the Midwest. In the last couple of years the women’s team has grown into a force of its own with respect to results and sponsor commitments, and we decided to take things up a notch and really let the squad shine. The timing was perfect, as Richter and Gootee are teaming up to kick off Gray Goat Mobile, a mobile repair shop, who has become one of our two title sponsors for the season, in conjunction with Bullseye Total Media – a digital media company out of Ohio/West Virginia who has also been absolutely incredible!" Cedar Hill Donut Lord - You can check out their shop here - https://graygoatsports.com Bri Clark - "We are STOKED to have a national calendar this year – the USA Crits Series will take us ALL OVER THE PLACE. Oklahoma City, Arkansas, Harlem, and Atlantic City just to name a few! Plus the big crit weekends like Tulsa. It’s already been amazing with some incredible results at Joe Martin and Speedweek. We honestly are on cloud 9 and can’t wait for the rest of the season. The team is made up of Rachel Langdon, Betsy Kieffer (, Jenette Williams, Faith Montreuil, and myself." Cedar Hill Donut Lord - that's some serious firepower from Indiana, Bri! The interwebs tell us you stay pretty busy off the bike as well. We managed to do some interwebs snooping (between bear claws), and discovered that in another world, you're a pretty busy professional. Would you mind sharing a little more about what you do when you're not on two wheels, and most important for many of our readers, how you find the time to train and race! Bri Clark -"Yeaaaa, so about that whole day job getting in the way of bike fun thing…. Off the bike I’m a partner at Bingham Greenebaum Doll LLP, a law firm in Indianapolis, and I do commercial litigation. The bad news is basically I’m the lawyer you never want to have to call because it means something has gone really, really wrong. The good (?) news is I’m usually just dealing with money, not jail time. In a really nerdy way though, my career is a lot like bike racing – tons and tons and tons of preparation for one big race (trial). Though I’d trade my heels in for specialized shoes any day of the week. Cedar Hill Donut Lord - Very cool. We may start referring to you as Counselor, Bri. Also -Specialized shoes for the court room…could be a thing! Bri Clark - Finding the time to train and race is a constant struggle and usually means forfeiting sleep. The number of trainer rides that I have that start past 10 pm is embarrassing. And time is a premium, so I don’t get to do nearly as many long rides as I’d like and am much, much more focused on intensity." Cedar Hill Donut Lord: We're sensing a trend here, as other guests have shared similar responses. We're thinking late night koms should be a segment (and feeling a little guilty for asking for time to complete this interview!). Speaking of koms- let's keep this going, (3)What's one local ride back home (Carmel, IN) that our readers should know about? There is only one ride you need to know about. The (In)Famous Chicane Loop. It is a 3 mile loop in the middle of/just off of one of our group rides that starts with a fun and fast downhill chicane. The Chicane Loop KOM is a HOTLY contested segment that I held for a solid couple of months before our team director Chris Richter stole it from me last fall (jerk!). We have lots of team goals this year but our A+ race is absolutely going to be a TTT to get the Chicane Loop KOM back. Other than that, we are SO lucky in Carmel – we have group ride options literally every day of the week that will have between 30 and 100 people that show up, with 50-60 mile rides on the weekend that will have up to 200 riders! Anybody that is traveling to or though Indy should definitely reach out – we’ll find you some great rides! Cedar Hill Donut Lord***ATTN ALL STRAVA FREAKS: lol =Segment for those Internet OCD bike people, who are suddenly compelled to road trip for a some internet hardware! Cedar Hill Donut Lord: Strava has to be one of the best things that happened to cycling in the last 10 years (or worst, depending on who you ask!). A little more for our 3 readers. Seems like the cycling scene in general is growing. Around Nashville, we're seeing more bikes out on the greenways, around town, and absolutely our weekly training rides have larger groups. One great organization that Cedar Hill does shamelessly plug is our NICA league, the Tennessee Interscholastic Cycling League (TN High School & Middle School Cycling League) -4th or 5th season now, Bri, lotta kids, lotsa lotsa kids… kids dropping little nuggets of watts all over the place. So we pose this question to you Bri - would you be so kind to share a little advice for any of our next gen hammers, could be a young fella or girl, just getting into the sport, 4. what would you like to share with this person (look directly into the camera, Bri)…. Bri Clark - "You know what the greatest thing about cycling is – I’m more inspired by the juniors getting into the sport than I could ever inspire them. One of our strongest teammates is Faith Montreuil – who is just 15 years old! And she is more in tune with what is going on in races, comfortable in huge packs, and has better race intuition than most riders I know that have been racing for decades. I learn more listening to her post-race than anything!" "I think if I had to offer one bit of advice it would be to play bikes with your friends and really embrace the team aspect of the sport. Winning bike races solo is great, but the teammate bonds that are formed on the bike when you have riders who truly care about each other and will absolutely turn themselves inside out for each other… it is such an incredible feeling I can’t even put it into words. So play bikes with your buddies. And don’t take yourself too seriously. That is the best advice I can give." Cedar Hill Donut Lord - Fabulous advice (adults, open your ears). You are a true steward of the sport, Bri. Okay. We're nearly out of time. Last question - a very serious question for you. We've given this a lot of thought, and tbh, we do have some reservations in asking... But we know you're mature and adult in such things. Even so, we would prefer you to think about this for a moment, really give it some consideration... …. Ruminate on it. …... Because our readers really wanna know…. …... ….. Cedar Hill Donut Lord - Whaaaaaaaaa in all that is holy….is Rachel wearing here????! Bri Clark - DUDE, I can’t even with this. From the arm coolers, to the tanktop, to the NO SHOW SOCKS?!?! SHAME, Langdon, Shame. Cedar Hill Donut Lord - HAHAHAHA, Good God that was fun. We love you too, Rachel! That's a wrap! We certainly want to thank Bri Clark for being such a fun sit down (and Rachel). You can keep up with Bri and her teammates by following them at https://www.facebook.com/graygoatbullseye/ and on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/graygoatbullseye/ We look forward to watching the fireworks on Sunday at this year's 2018 Cedar Hill Criterium. Equal Race Time Equal Race Payouts Women Masters Categories 2018 Cedar Hill Crit #LordsofSprint Thank you to all our great sponsors that make this exciting event happen #LPBuildingProducts #HallmarkVWofCoolSprings #RbsCyclery #FSEWheels #Giro #BikersChoice #LittleHarpethBrewing #HattieBs #HattieBsRacing Weekend of Crits in SMASHVILLE Fri. May 4th - Nashville twilight crit - Nashville Speedway Sat. May 5th - Max Gander Memorial crit - Sevier Park festival, Nashville Sun. May 6th - Ye 'Ole Leg Burner at Cedar Hill Park T-minus 5 Days! Registration Is Open #Musiccitycycling #MaxGanderMemorialCrit #CedarHillCrit #LordsofSprint
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