I drive up. Stephen H is in the parking lot. Cool, I won't be alone. Brent W is there but not dressed to ride. He tells me his knee hurts; I think he wanted to watch us guinea pigs before trying it. Stephen and I eventually get to the start line, we discuss the risk of 'people that haven't done this before' and how many of them may be around us. We are not interested in crashing. We just want to try this out.
Turns out I was that person to be scared of. I touched wheels with someone, swerved to stay upright, poor guy to my left almost crashes. I took corners as if I were racing a car or go-kart: momentum is key. Start the turn high, dip into the inside, get out of it scuffing the minimum amount of speed. Great racing technique for most vehicles but not so much for bike racing. I get yelled at cause this is not the way to make turns and I nearly cause a number of crashes. I m sooo glad everyone there was skilled enough to overcome my ignorance. I suck. Lesson learned: don't suck.
One turn to go - Stephen takes the last turn nicely, positions himself to the left of our pack of 8-10, takes off. He said he got beat by one person at the very end of the sprint. From my viewpoint he had a great sprint. Well done.
This experience my friends, is a RUSH. It's a 30 minute violent effort filled with sprints - partly because of the way people slow down at each turn and stand on it as they get out of a turn, partly because some people try to sprint out the front. Lessons learned: good workout, completely different than a club ride or 60 mile race, will improve my riding overall.
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