Friends of In The Crosshairs and Crosshairs Radio, Arley Kemmerer and Rachel Rubino, have a new team and a new teammate and we couldn’t be more happy for them. Kemmerer and Rubino will be joined by Taryn Mudge and will race for Fearless Femme Racing. As great as it is for Kemmerer, Rubino and Mudge, it’s also exciting to see Fearless Femme Racing, an elite road and crit racing team enter the world of cyclocross. I hope it’s a path other domestic road teams follow.
Expect to hear more from this squad on the pages of cxhairs.com. If you haven’t already listened, check out Arley’s episode of Crosshairs Radio where we talk in depth about the work necessary to put together a successful cyclocross program.
For now, here’s the presser giving all of the details on the new team:
AUGUST 22, 2016: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Fearless Femme Racing, a women’s elite road and criterium racing team announces its expansion into professional cyclocross racing in a merger with Level Eleven Racing, a privateer operation founded and operated by pro cyclocross racer Arley Kemmerer. Kemmerer, a member of the 2014 U.S. World Championship team, established her own racing program in 2014 which took the name Level Eleven Racing in 2015. Level Eleven Racing supported Kemmerer and rider and mechanic Rachel Rubino. Rubino had a breakout season, netting her first UCI points in her first season of UCI competition. Kemmerer and Rubino will now race under the Fearless Femme banner, and welcome the addition of Taryn Mudge, a strong up-and-coming Pacific Northwest Philadelphia transplant who has quickly risen in the local mountain bike ranks. Mudge will join Fearless Femme as a development rider this season.
Fearless Femme has a rich pedigree of nationally- and internationally-renowned cyclists. The team’s racing genesis came from Pure Energy Cycling, a small brick-and-mortar bike shop in Lambertville, NJ. The shop’s focus on making a positive impact in cycling through community events and small programs evolved into professional cycling teams and ultimately into Pure Energy Velo, a 501c-3 non-profit organization whose mission is to promote cycling advocacy, awareness and participation within communities both locally and nationally through events that promote, mentor and inspire youth, recreational and competitive cycling. Pure Energy Velo organizes an array of community events including group rides, cycling clinics, races, and school and youth group meet-and-greets. Athletes of Pure Energy Velo serve as ambassadors whose mission is to create a new standard for a role model for whom youth look up to and aspire to be like. “We’re hoping that kids look up to cyclists in the same spirit as football or baseball players, and want to continue riding a bike as a lifestyle activity because riding a bike has character-building, environmental, health and community benefits that mainstream sports just don’t possess”, said Arounkone Sananikone, Founder of Pure Energy Velo and Director of Fearless Femme Racing.
“I’m so excited about the opportunity to work with Fearless Femme and Pure Energy Velo” says Kemmerer. “This partnership provides the platform we’ve been looking for to help develop women and junior girls to lay the foundation for future generations of cyclocross racers, and also to just get more people on bikes in a positive way.” Sananikone, director of Fearless Femme, Founder of Pure Energy Velo, and owner of Pure Energy Cycling, has always had a special passion for cyclocross, and had been considering expanding the Fearless Femme program to support a cyclocross team. “I’m exctatic to introduce cyclocross racing into the Fearless Femme and Pure Energy Velo team because it brings another dimension to our bicycle program that perhaps inspires the next new bike rider. Arley is keen on being a mentor and creating a development program which echoes the same ideals of Pure Energy Velo. She is already an amazing ambassador and together we have an opportunity to not only make the podium, we have an opportunity to make a difference!”
The team is set to kick off the season in Rochester, New York, for the first domestic UCI races of the season. Kemmerer has been selected for the World Cups in Las Vegas, NV on September 21st and Iowa City, IA on September 24th. After suffering from a torn hip labrum last season, Kemmerer is back on form and eager to return to World Cup competition. The team will focus primarily on New England and MidAtlantic UCI events and the national championships in January. Kemmerer will also target the domestic C1 UCI events and a European World Cup campaign later in the season.
Follow the Fearless Femme Cyclocross Team on Instagram, and check often for blog updates, schedules, events and appearances, or to make a donation, at www.pureenergyvelo.org. We have a lot of exciting things on tap for the season, so stay tuned!
Roster:
Arley Kemmerer (@arleykemm)
Rachel Rubino (@rayraygrams)
Taryn Mudge (@trmudge)
