This was the 5th time I have ridden the Funk Bottoms Gravel race. The first two versions of the race were 50 miles, and in 2013 it became 100K and 200K. It started raining Friday night around 9:00 and the rain continued to be heavy all night. In the morning there was a flood watch for the area and with rain in the forecast for most of the day the race organizers decided to make it 1 lap 100K race.
Lakeville Boosters Park
The starting location had lots of standing water. At the pre-race meeting riders were told if they get to a flooded section of road whoever gets there first will be the winner. The start was delayed by 15 minutes since it was raining very heavy at the time.
The race started with a 2 mile neutral roll-out and after a hard right on TWP 508 the race was on. We would ride in the rain for most of the day with a few breaks now and then. Several racers took off quickly on the first climb. Since I knew there was over 7,000 feet of climbing I was in no hurry to push the pace early. After a few miles of rolling gravel I was riding in 5th place. I was trying to keep up with Potenza who seemed to riding faster than I wanted so I let him go.
Road to Killbuck
Coming in to Killbuck around mile 20 I had a Hammer Gel and kept rolling. I caught Potenza and John Porter on the mile long climb out of town. We turned on to TWP 86 which normally is a fast gravel downhill but with the rain and slick conditions I was being cautious on the downhill's. Halfway down 86 there was a large tree that had fallen across the road from the storms, and we got a little extra cross practice. When we started the climb on 324 I dropped the other 2 riders and was sitting in 3rd place. There was a secret checkpoint around mile 38 run by members of the PCL-Ohio Chapter. When I arrived the second place rider was just leaving. I was about 5 minutes back from the leader at the checkpoint. I quickly refilled my bottles with my favorite mixture of Hammer Nutrition Orange-Vanilla Perpetuem and Lemon-Lime HEED. Yes that's a lot of flavors mixed together but is actually tasty.
After the secret checkpoint I passed the 2nd place rider on the TWP 22 climb. I did not think there is anyway that I would be able to make up 5 minutes over the last 20 miles so I just kept riding the same pace. On the road to Glenmont around mile 50 there was another large tree across the road. This time there would be no jumping over the trunk. We had to walk into the ditch to get around everything covering the road.
Photo: Potenza
Photo: Donna White
I was very pleased with my second place finish. I surprised myself by finishing only 2 minutes back from the winner Markley Anderson. After the race there was a cooler of Nooma and Yuengling for the racers. 765 Racing had a good showing with its members finishing 2nd, 6th, 18th and 19th.
