Robin Farina

Date of Birth: September 3, 1977
Height: 5'7"/1.7m.
Weight: 130lbs./59kg./9.4st.
Place of Birth: Atlanta, Georgia
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Residence: Charlotte, North Carolina
Teams: NOW and Novartis for MS Women's Pro Cycling (2011), DeFeet Women's Elite Team (2006), Target Training Women's Elite (2007), Cheerwine Women's Professional Cycling Team (2008), ValueAct Captial Women's Pro Cycling (2009), Team Vera Bradley Professional Cycling (2010)
Education: University of Tennessee, sport management with sport marketing emphasis
Website: www.uptowncyclescharlotte.com
Twitter: @Robin_Farina

Olympic/World Championship experience:

101st place — 2011 UCI Road World Championships, Copenhagen, Denmark

National Championship experience:

1st place — 2011 USA Cycling Elite, U23, Juniors & Paralympic Road National Championships, Augusta, Georgia, elite women, road race

Career Highlights:

2011 Most Aggressive Rider at USA Crits SpeedWeek
1st place — 2008 Joe Martin Stage Race, General Classification
1st place — 2010 Airforce Cycling Classic, General Classification
1st place — 2009 El Tour de Tucson XXVII

Points of Interest

Farina owns a bike shop in Charlotte, N.C., which also serves as a training center where she coaches riders, including junior rider Addyson Albershardt.
Farina played a number of team sports growing up, participating in state championships in tennis and basketball.
Farina captains a tandem 80+ mile ride with a person with multiple sclerosis.

Personal

Robin Farina grew up playing team sports, pursuing soccer, tennis, volleyball and basketball in high school. At 15 years of age, Farina tore an anterior cruciate ligament while playing soccer, which forced her to pursue cycling. Unable to quench her competitive drive elsewhere, Farina bought a hybrid bike and began riding.

She began racing mountain bikes races while living in Nashville, Tenn. She stayed on her bike, but began road racing with the Athens Twilight in 2006, but was promptly dropped. Later that year, Farina raced in the Liberty Classic in Philadelphia, where she finished 81st, but reacted as though she'd won a gold medal.

After a few years of racing, cycling became Farina's passion. She devoted herself fully to competing and in 2008, opened a bike shop in Charlotte, Uptown Cycles. Farina trains and coaches other riders out of that bike shop. Among her pupils is Addyson Albershardt, who won the junior women's 17-18 individual pursuit at the 2011 USA Cycling Junior Track National Championships in Frisco, Texas.

As a member of the NOW and Novartis for MS Women's Pro Cycling Team, Farina has become a supporter of various Bike MS rides. She rides a tandem bike 80 miles with a MS patient to show that a person with MS is not defined by having MS.

Farina’s photo finish victory tops final day of road nationals - Jun 26, 2011
Farina, Starnes 4th and 5th in time trial at Pan Am Games - Oct 12, 2011
Farina finishes ninth in Pan Am Games road race - Oct 22, 2011