Race #1


“Am I off the front, or off the back?” – Anon.
First, it was sofa-king cold this morning...I picked the worst day for my first race of the season...but I said I was going to do it…was signed up…I could not not do it...I finished, and was not so egregiously dropped at the end...and there was no DNF in my racing log...here is how it unfolded:

Butterflies in my stomach the night before, it took some time to fall asleep...had to wake up at 5am to be at the start line and sign in by 6am...race start was at 6:30am...four laps around CP.
First lap was not so bad...was in the middle of the pack on the flats and was able to get decent position on the climbs, especially Harlem Hill...I am still weak on the flats and need to really learn how to hold a wheel, and what I learned towards the end, to pick a good person to be behind on a climb...
After the first lap the race settled a bit and I was just trying to get a feel of things and keep an eye out for any problems...AHR was at 168...it was on the next to last lap that things fell apart for me...the dude I was pacing behind up Harlem Hill had a bad shift...he slowed abruptly, the sound of his chain stubbornly searching for a smaller gear on his rear cassette sent shivers down my already frozen spine...he veered to the left, and a few of us shot to the right to avoid hitting him which forced us to slow down...that was all it took for me to no longer be part of the race...as soon as I had my wheel facing back up the hill I stood on the pedals to pick up some speed, I looked up to see the peloton disappear around the corner...I tried to quickly recover lost ground but I felt like I was standing still as the group ebbed out of my sight...I was riding as fast as I could, but I was dropped...at the crest of the hill I looked down and saw a roadkill squirrel and thought yup, you and I both left for dead...next thing I knew I had four riders around me, all victims of the guy with the yellow CRCA jersey...and he even had the nerve to join up with our group of straggelrs...my new found friends and I worked together for about a lap and as we approached Harlem Hill again for the last time, they decided they were going to cut across and bypass the hill...screw that I told them, I am going to finish properly...so my last lap was solo...it was very windy but I soldiered on...Was lapped by the  Cat Pro-1-2-3 group about a mile before the finish, so pulled to the right to let the lead riders through, then caught the last wheel and finished with the A field and passed the dude in the yellow CRCA jersey and the other stragglers who bypassed Harlem Hill...but it was still a marvelous day...I raced, and can't wait for the next one...hopefully it will be a tad bit warmer.