first race this season

Well I came in last but at least it was against a group of all men. I was able to keep hold of the cat 4 men I started with until we came to the middle of the first climb. It was kind of a twisty grade not really steep but a good deal of elevation gain quick. Then I just tried to stay ahead of the cat 5 men who were a min behind, they overtook me in the back part of the track. Pretty much uneventful from there as I was solo the rest of the way. Except the back part of the track was downhill with quick flats and fast rollers. Then as we came to the front it started to go uphill again. I'd say almost half the race was a grade. On the positive note one of the guys on my team placed 3 in the Cat 4 field and another placed 2nd in the 5's. On my second to last lap I dropped my chain going down to my 30ring, yes it was that bad after 5 laps. My bike just stopped so once again I fell over because I couldn't get out of the pedals quick enough, I wasn't expecting to just stop. Then I find out at the end of the race that my rear skewer was open, so my wheel could have come off. It must have happened when I fell because it was secure when I left the house this morning. So the only thing I got was my first road rash.

Kudo's to you - racing other women is hard enough, racing with the guys has got to be rough! Sorry to hear that you fell. I can understand the 30T thing though. I have a triple as well and I'm learning to hate it. The 42 can be just a titch to hard on a long steep climb, but I have to seriously think about it before I shift into it since its too easy to drop the chain on the little ring and I lose a lot of time shifting back up out of it. I'm aiming for a double as soon as I can afford to upgrade the bike.
Hope that you get back out there and have a women's field and most of all that you have fun.

Well tomorrow is my second race of the season. And can you believe it I lost my team jersey. The worst part is they don't even carry the basic kind of jersey that our graphics are printed on. Ahh, it is so annoying. I could have sworn that the jersey was in my bag, but its not. The worst part is that is my bag that goes everywhere with me, so I have no idea where it got lost at. I have turned the house upside down looking for it.