The weather was terrible, with a lot of rain and 50 degree temps. I knew getting through 2 hours soaking wet would be difficult, but was still determined to try my hardest and race good. I was wearing big, full finger gloves too, and I had to squeezes them out every 5 minutes.
The race started and we got onto the biggest downhill of the course. A huge amount of rain was on the roads, and as we reached almost 40 miles per hour on the descent I felt like I was going blind (I don't like wearing sunglasses).
The pace was pretty fast until the 2nd lap, when the pack really slowed down. That was bad in this case, because it only made me colder. Thankfully the speed picked up by the end of the 2nd lap, allowing me to warm up a little. On the last lap, I got into a good position by the 2nd hill and was in 9th when we rounded the last corner with half a mile to go. Up a slight rise 200 meters before the finish, Jacob Arnold, a strong juniors racer, attacked. I thought I was in a great position to respond to it, but one of the officials motorcycles got too close to the field and really slowed down the right side of the pack, unfortunately the side I was on. After the motorcycle realized that he was about to be absorbed by the pack, he sped up, and the other side of the pack surged, and I went from 10th to almost 30th. I managed to pass a couple people before the line, but the damage was done, and I got 24th.
After the race was over I noticed I had only drank maybe 2 sips from my water bottle, but I'm guessing that all the rain water I drank more than made up for it. Even though I didn't get a great result, I felt good and now know that I am capable of being competitive in a cat 3/4 Road Race.
Here are the figures from the race:
42.16 miles
1 hour 50 minutes 3 seconds
23.17 avg. mph
Here are some photos from the race.
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