sunday july 13, 2014 with james and conan
whistle blew. Everyone started hammering the descent. Got on a kid from tieni duro’s wheel, on the right side of the pack. We turn the first corner and kid in front of me fills a gap to his left. Great, I’m in the wind. Look behind me, and guy behind me to the left isnt looking like he will let me in. Oh well, started to drift back looking for a gap. see the climb ahead and i think the pack is gonna take it easy first lap as everyone is trying to get a good position in the pack. Boy was i wrong! Pack accelerated and my lungs blew up. Hindsight 20/20, I should have warmed up 3x more. Got dropped towards the top of the climb, with James behind me. tried to catch up on the descent, but the pack was gone. Looked behind me and there are 5 or so riders behind me dropped all but one(i think it was a rider from SJBC). We worked together for a few laps, but he disappeared behind me when we got lapped by the pack. Soloed the next lap or two and finished 13th of 20, not too bad. Conan finished 2nd.
mistake #1: barely any warmup lungs blew out trying to stay with pack on first lap
mistake #2: bad positioning at the start line. should try to position myself next to teammates and towards the front center of the group.
mistake #3: underestimated pack on first climb