// Parri Gilbride            

Hometown: Bloomington, IN
Current Residence: Nolensville, TN
Education: BA (French), minor (Environmental Studies) – Indiana University, IN
Occupation: Stay at Home Mom
Number of Years Racing: 3
Category Raced: Road Cat 2
Cycling Highlights: TN State Champion – 2011 TBRA Senior Women Cat 1/2/3
2nd – 2011 Oak Ridge Omnium, Oak Ridge, TN, Cat 1/2/3
3rd – 2011 Oak Ridge TT, Cat 1/2/3
6th – 2011 TN State Road Race, Piney Flats, TN, Cat 1/2/3
2nd – 2011 MOAB Crit, Murfreesboro, TN, Cat 1/2/3
2nd – 2011 TN State TT, Lascassas, TN, Cat 1/2/3
1st – 2011 Highland Rim RR, McMinnville, TN, Cat 1/2/3
3rd – 2011 Highland Rim Omnium, McMinnville, TN, Cat 1/2/3
1st – 2011 Hell of the South RR, Berlin, TN, Cat 1/2/3/4
TN State Champion – 2010 TBRA Cat 1/2/3
Series Champion – 2010 SEW Series Cat 3
3rd – 2010 State Criterium Cat 1/2/3
4th – 2010 Tour de Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa, AL, Cat 1/2/3
TN State Champion – 2009 TBRA Cat 4
TN State Road Race Champion – 2009 TBRA Cat 4
TN State Criterium Champion – 2009 TBRA Cat 4

Personal Note: Although I have always been physically active and ran, I had never ridden a road bike before 2008!  But a dear friend and now teammate told me, “You should get a bike.” I remember the first time I got on the thing I wondered how in the heck am I going to stay upright, and at first I didn’t! But after just a few months, I LOVED it. Then a few months after that I started racing. I loved it! It gave me an outlet at a time in my life when I had so much going on and just needed a release, a place to just be “me.” Racing has brought so much into my life—new discoveries about myself and what I am capable of accomplishing—as well as experiences and friendships with people that I will have for life.

I joined Team Belladium last year, and these beautiful, strong, confident women have become my second “family,” the sisters I never had growing up. I love the competition of racing—the part where I get to see all the women I have come to respect and call my friends show up at race day eager to push each other to become stronger and better racers!