John Funke & Chris Hobbs put on a show at "The Bump".

EVENT
Red Kite #7 - Bump Circuit Race

CATEGORY
35+ 1/2/3

DATE
May 31, 2015

TEAMMATES
Allen
Barbicas
Hobbs
Ryan
Zuniga

GOALS
Win

PLAN
Kind of generic "cover anything dangerous", don't let Stanko/Bryant/Evans get away, get into moves and use our judgement about break composition. If we're all together, Hobbs crazy train with Funke/Allen for the finish.


RACE SUMMARY
Pretty stacked field with Chronos (5 guys including Martin, Bryant, Theobold), Roemer (solo), Stanko (with 4 teammates), 3 Squadras, etc.

I love this course, pretty much a little of everything and doesn't necessarily favor any one type of rider. Really psyched we had 6 guys come out, most at the last minute, to join the fun.

We covered pretty much everything and all of us were active. Hobbs was ever-present up front, Oli covered and initiated a bunch of moves, and Dave/Luiggi/BBQ took turns covering dangerous moves. Up until 1 to go we neutralized everything and I was feeling good. It was pretty fun and we didn't talk at all, just worked everything out naturally.

Some attacks came just before 1 to go on the climb, and going past the start I asked Luiggi to watch Evans because I was pretty sure he was going to make a move and it was too early for my lame ass to put in an effort. Sure enough Evans went on the right and Luiggi was a bit boxed in on the left so by the time he hit the front Evans had a good gap. Luiggi took a pull on the descent and then Hobbs surges through and somehow comes out with a gap on the field, with Jacob on his wheel.

Now with Hobbs/Evans/Jacob up the road on the headwind stretch and we're covering stuff. I see a Chronos rider (Bryant) flash by unattended so I jump on his wheel and he pulls me up to Hobbs and a Funsport dude is on my wheel. At this point I thought we were all together but looked back at the right turn onto Greenville and we've got a good gap. I pull through, as does Jacob and Evans, and Hobbs hits the front for the Greenville "climb" - where he pretty much sealed the deal for our break and yanked us all over the top - it hurt me pretty bad and I started losing hope in my finish, but Hobbs told me to rock the sprint so I let him do his thing and started sitting on. And Hobbs really went back to work. Jacob puts in a really nice attack and Hobbs pretty much single-handedly brings him back and we're all together as we turn onto Patterson Pass Rd with maybe a 25 sec gap - tenuous. Jacob attacks again and gets a pretty good gap (I must say he was looking good today), and Hobbs starts motoring us back up to him. About 1/2way up the climb Jacob still had a gap and I'm actually holding myself back, trying to do the math on how late I could go and still catch Jacob, when to my relief Evans surges and I sit on for the ride and we scoop up Jacob at about 1K. I look back and see Red and Blue - Stanko and Roemer - trying to bridge but I know they are too late. Hobbs is still there and I think he even came through for one more pull. At 500M Hobbs tells me to go but I'm a little worried about Bryant and the Funsport dude - neither of whom did any work, so I bide my time a little longer. Before the crest of the climb I look back and notice they all look gassed, so I jump hard over the top and get a good gap into the last corner, look over my shoulder and know that I've won it, even before I hit the bump. And then Hobbs, who basically handed me the race on a silver platter, pummels them all to a bloody pulp for 2nd. BAD ASS!!!


Thanks guys for having faith in me - I never expected to win a 35+ race this year so this was gravy. And a shitload of fun.

Cheers,
-Funke