First race of the year

Today was my first bike race of the year - The Boulder Beer road race. If anyone has watched the classic movie "American Flyers", we were on part of the Morgul-Bismark course that was in that movie.

I didn't expect much of myself from this race, especially since I rode fairly hard yesterday and it's then end of a training block. It was mainly a chance for me to get some race time in my legs this year. I'm never a fan of riding in a tight aggressive pack, so this type of training race is a good time for me to work things out.

The course is a 7 mile loop that we did 5 times, and it contained some big hills and tricky 180 degree turnarounds. On the first lap, I was close to the front of the pack for the turnaround. That was a *scary* turnaround. There was a lot of late braking, and I rubbed wheels with someone, but nobody went down. I stayed with the peloton until somewhere during the 3rd lap. I had slipped a little off the back on a downhill and couldn't make up the gap when the group headed up the next hill.

Despite getting dropped, I'm feeling good about my fitness so far this year. I'm definitely stronger than last year, and I'm looking forward to the main focus of my early season at the end of April.