When the race started out, I went right to the front to get through the first couple of turns. I figured if someone was going to do something stupid it would be early when they were excited. Turns out the first and only crash I saw was during lap two. Silly actually, on a short climb a rider rubbed wheels with the guy that stood up in front of him. Typically when a rider stands up his back wheel moves back, I guess that guy didn’t know that. He went down on the slower part of the hill. I was two riders back and pinned up against the median. His back wheel went into the gutter where I was, and me and the guy in front of me just rode over his back wheel and kept trucking. I heard later everyone made it back into the group, including the rider that fell.
During the rest of the race the group kind of started to gel and figured out the corners. Near the end of the race people were taking the corners faster and safer. Still slowing down more than they needed, which afforded me an easy way to move up. In the end we had a pack of about 25 riders racing down to the finish. I had just made a big effort to pull back in a guy off the front hoping one of my stronger teammates would benefit. (The guy that was off the front managed to hold on for the win but finished with the exact same time as the pack, so it was close.) As we raced down the finishing stretch I snuck my way up and finished right in the lead group for 14th. My teammates captured 4th and 9th as well as 24th and 25th.
Overall, I accomplished my goal of finishing near the front but more importantly I became a little more confident in the pack after having to negotiate that complicated course. Within an hour or so of our race the wind moved in and the rain began, culminating with some spring snow that evening. It was a great race to squeeze in before the storm.
Edit: 4/17/12
Found some photos of the race on www.sportifimages.com, Dean these babies are so good you made me look good out there!
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