Okay, so my second race ever was much closer to what I imagined a race to be...me getting dropped! The course was very different, with one significant hill. We did 5 laps, about six miles or so per lap. I made the mistake--which I knew from the beginning--of starting in the absolute back of the race. I believe, or at least tell myself, that if I had started in the middle of the group, I could have lasted for at least two laps. Each lap ended with the hill, and I was still with the group (at the back) going over the hill at the end of the 1st lap, but I just couldn't recover enough to keep up as the group took off down the other side.

I continued, sort of bummed, and wondering how on earth I was going to make it the rest of the way. There was a nice head wind on one side of the course which was quite discouraging. At one point in my second or third lap, I pulled over to let another race group go by. Then another lone woman behind them yelled at me to ride with her. So I hopped back on and met a very nice woman with lots of racing experience. She was just getting back into it after not racing last year. She was so friendly and encouraging; we took turns pulling, and we completed all five laps, so it turned out to be a great experience anyway.

The next day--my third race ever--was entirely different from the first two. It was what I think qualifies as a crit, 35 minutes plus two laps on a great course (a test track for a car manufacturer--very cool!). It was lots of fun--when I wasn't totally freaked out by how fast we were going and how close together we were! It felt so dangerous, I still can't believe I did that. I quickly learned that it was all about holding my line and keeping my cool. I don't think I screwed anyone else up--that was what I was most worried about, other than just crashing in general. I didn't want it to be my fault! We all made it to the finish with no crashes, although there was a touch of squirrely-ness in the last corner before the finish, but everyone stayed up. And this was a mixed group, all the women, all categories.

I think I finished in the front third.

If I never do any racing again, let me just say how great it is to ride with women. Even my DH said that we looked much better as a group, more well-behaved, than the cat 5 race he did. If you have any inkling at all that racing might be fun, go try it. I always thought and said that I would never be interested in it; I am very surprised at how much I like it.