EVENT
RED KITE #2
CATEGORY
Masters 3/5 35+ (joined by 2 other TMB Masters)
DATE
Sunday, March 8, 2015
AUTHOR
JP Rutledge
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Flat with good pavement, wide lanes and a great sweeping turn on the backside. Little wind, but not a huge factor.
PREVIOUS RESULTS
Hand-full of top tens
WEATHER
Beautiful sunny day with wind on a few sections of the course
TEAMMATES
Chris Hobbs (CAT3), John Barbicas (CAT3). Not expecting them to be there - so I was stoked!
GOALS
* Team - Podium finish for everyone!
* Personal - top 5, and get some upgrade points. CAT4 race prior was super sketch, so I was hungry to do well.
PLAN
Stay on Hobbs throughout the race, he insisted on this. Also watch Barbicas to do something amazing at the end, and follow him no matter what.
RACE SUMMARY
Everyone was lined up on time, and I was glad to see some familiar faces from riding MB events like Hobbs, and John Barbicas. I knew they’d watch out for me and have a ton of experience and that they would be in good positions from the gun. As they race kicked off, so did Hobbs and I followed. We kept a high pace for the first 2 laps to keep everyone in check, and it was perfect for me to open the legs up. I seriously didn’t do much and sat in. I used people moving up the sides on the wide course to move up when I drifted back. I ended up floating to the front as the bell went off for a prime – so Hobbs jumped on me and said to go for it. I knew that the elite 4 race prior did take a little wind outta my sails, so I didn’t go for it. This was smart, because I ended up needing all jets at the finish. Two laps to go as per usual, the pace went up big time. No teams were assembled or working together that I noticed and Hobbs was spent from riding in the front a bit. I drifted way back to recover as much as possible to have something at the end due to the fact that I knew I could ride the side on someone trying to move up on the last lap. I did, and found John’s wheel. On the backside I was 3 wheels back from the lead rider. Going into the last turn I chased off a few leeches of John’s wheel and hit the turn 3 wheels back still. John and the front rider touched wheels and they took it super wide. I was hoping to swing around John and take the win by staying way left, but didn’t have enough room and almost hit some cones at the line. Because of this delay I didn’t get the win, but was stoked to get some street cred by getting on the podium. Thanks John (2nd) and Hobbs!
TAKEAWAYS
* Chis Hobbs is a BEAST.
* The new CAPO skin suit was amazing – super form fitting and kept me cool on a very hot day.
