I went out and participated in the Mens C category in the collegiate conference championships for road cycling. Since I'm no a collegiate rider yet I was put in the slowest category. I now know I'am definitely out of shape and out of touch with my usual racing tactics. For starters, I totally blew the start. We had a neutral lap and I just kinda cruised in the back and missed the initial take off. A Criterium works kinda like Nascar. You have thirty minutes on a short loop course with many sharp turns and little climbs.Depending on your place on the last lap, is how you'll place when you finish. There are bell laps, but since I wasn't collegiate I wasn't eligible for those. So the first 5-7 laps I rode in the last tow places. I started catching the people who went out too fast. There was a group of three or four ahead of me and they were going the exact same pace I was so I couldn't catch up. I only caught the people who fell off. Through out the race the group narrowed down to 3 and that was when I started making progress. Two of those guys attacked and I did too. Didn't catch the two guys but I did catch the third one, a rider from SUU. Overall not bad for my current fitness and my second crit. I did have some left in the tank after the race and with a few more laps I feel like I could've caught those other two guys, who were from USU.
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