Nice race report, SheFly. 7th out of 9 in Elite is a good result, and you belong in that class. Trigirlpink had a great finish, looking stronger than ever. And Wavedancer came up & braved the cold, too.
Yup, I MISSED my start. (How long have I been doing this?)When it's so cold, I like to warm up right until minutes before the start. But there I was, 'caught out there across the field, hearing the whistle for the start in the distance, and I knew I was missing my start.
I finished my warm up lap (was the quickest way to the start line by then) and jumped on the back of the race (the pack was still close). [As I approached the back of the pack near the start line, a bystander thought I was still warming up and said, "There's a race going on." I said as I rode by, "I know , I'm supposed to be in it."] But I had no time to doff my warm-up clothes, and those extra layers bogged me down. (Fortunately, my number was visible - my jacket was not one of the items I planned on taking off). I got hot, and felt restricted. Ugh. I considered quitting briefly, but I thought no, just do it. I used up a ton of energy, and was not happy with my result, but that's what I get for being dumb enough to miss my start.
We decided we're doing the RI races next week after all, so, better luck then!
Good luck at Nationals, SheFly!!