Road racing through the eyes of an old man

I'm at the age where pro racers have retired, or at least are about to, and this is my first year racing a bicycle. What am I doing?

It seems like the natural evolution for a slightly - ok, a little more than slightly - competitive person. I rode mountain bikes for years, I ended up on a road bike, I ended up doing a few centuries, I ended up spending a lot of time on a bicycle, and I ended up racing. Logical.

So the competitive part is annoyed about the whole Category 5 racer group just staying in Category 5 instead of moving on to Category 4 as they should. I guess it's called sandbagging: where people rather beat up on less experienced people instead of get beaten by people that more closely match their experience level. Sucks for me. Sucks for all the people trying to size themselves up to like-experienced people. Sandbaggers have plenty of reasons for doing this. I don't care.

I joined a race team and have recently completed my fourth road race, all in a 5 week span. I have done a few criteriums too, so I'm up to a total of six racing events this season. Most of the racers are pretty cool, the venues are way cool, the workout is unmatched, and the experiences have been quite interesting. Experience wise I have been spending time learning about how I rank in the Category 5 group and how I rank in my team, which gives me an idea of how much training is necessary to be a contender. I really feel I should not consider winning anything during my first racing season, but, well, I want to, and my team is always hyped up on winning, whether or not it is realistic.

I thought I could climb well. I am learning the majority of the Category 5 racers can outclimb me, and that really annoys me.

This season is dedicated to some tough events: Death ride and Lotoja. After this season maybe I'll revisit my goals for cycling. Until then step it up - I need to see how well I can really do, a team kinda depends on me, and I am not getting any younger. Ride often, ride hard, and make time for social rides.

I should be independently wealthy by now. I wouldn't have to balance work and play. Yeah, unrealistic expectations at a very young age. Those we called 'dreams' at one point.