I just did my first race on Sunday. My biggest goal was to not finish last! Yet, I was also mentally prepared for that realistic possibility and only hoped I wouldn't be so far behind that I wasn't even remotely in the running. I wanted to finish respectably. But you don't know until you try.

Well, I WASN'T LAST! This was a road race, Cat 4 (previous years they combined 3 and 4). There were 23 and I was 18 out of 23. You realize that means I beat FIVE PEOPLE!!! Hee hee! And by a fairly large margin.

I do highly recommend you get into racing if you have an inkling for it. Do you know what kind of racing you want to do? I did a road race, which was a 40 mile out and back course with 2,000 feet of climbing (that's where I lose everyone). I'm doing two others soon that are 30 something miles with a little less climbing.

There are also criteriums (known as crits), which are comprised of several short loops. These can be more dangerous than road races, which is why I won't do them. Want to stay in one piece, at least while I'm still raising my kiddos. The pack often stays pretty tight and there are several turns, which is where the crashing often happens. I know several club members who have crashed. I don't want to scare you from doing it. If you are fearless and that sort of racing revs you up. A lot of people love to do it. In fact, it's too bad I don't because that's almost all there is in Southern California where I live. I have to drive pretty far to find a road race and there aren't even that many within a reasonable driving distance for me. I just drove 5 hours to the one I did and most are further. There are two coming up that are about 2 hours and 3 1/2 hours away, but as far as I can tell, nothing for the rest of the year unless I want to drive 6 or more hours, so I'm jumping at the chance to do those two.

And then there are time trials, which I might look into doing. No drafting. Each rider takes off on their own and is timed. I don't have a time trial bike, which isn't completely necessary, but that's one of the reasons I haven't ventured into that. Yet, there ARE time trials close to my house, so I think I might try one later this year and see how it goes.

As for a team, for what I do, it's kind of pointless. Because few people in our area are actually crazy enough to drive far to do a road race, there's no one to train with and race with. Like I said, I know many people that do crits and are on teams for that.

I learned most of what I know from my husband and riding with my club (not a racing club, just a multi level club that does various types of rides). He's my racing support guy. He did the same race I did and came in 2nd out of over 40 in his division. GO HONEY!!!!

I know this is lengthy, but that's my story. I do encourage you to find a racing club or team if you can find one that does the kind of racing you want to do, which I'm guessing shouldn't be that difficult. At the very least, get into a multi level club. You can learn a lot just by riding with other more experienced people.

Go to http://www.usacycling.org/ for a list of races and teams/clubs.

Good luck!!! Hey ... I WASN'T LAST!!!!!!!!!!