Silke Wins the Palmer Road Race

Team Independent Fabrication/Kempner sent a full squad to the Palmer Library Road Race in Warren, MA. It was the first team race of the season, but the team worked like a well-oiled machine and placed not one, or two, but three of its riders in the top 10! Silke Wunderwald suffered a couple of mechanicals during the race, but chased back on with the help of Michele Smith and Pauline Frascone. Brenda Bahnson, Zoe Owers, Silke, and Pauline were all very active at the front with attacks and pacemaking. The winning move happened when Silke attacked in the rolling uphill section of the course with some four miles to go and soloed to the finish line to claim the victory. Zoe was 5th, Pauline was 7th, and Brenda also came in with the pack at 19th.



This was Silke's first race on her brand-new XS. She said, "The Palmer road race was only my third ride overall and the very first race on my brand spanking new Independent Fabrication XS bike. The XS features a full custom geometry of custom Reynolds carbon fiber composite tubes with titanium chainstays and beautiful laser cut crown lugs. The bike felt incredibly comfortable right from the very first time I rode it, yet it is very responsive and has a wonderful solid feel on the road. It handles perfectly and I felt extremely confident to ride this bike in its maiden race only two days after delivery. During the race I was almost caught off-guard by its quick acceleration and immediate power transfer to the road, and I had a lot of fun putting it to the test. But regardless of where I pointed the bike or how far I leaned into a turn, it didn’t flinch and stayed on track."