Stay near the front. Really. Really-really.

Everyone sais it, writes it, recommends it. Me too. The effort it takes to stay near the front of a race pack is quite a bit less than the back of a pack, which is quite a bit less than a solo mission.

I wasn't aware of the amount of spring / yo-yo / accordeon effect there was in a peloton until I started racing. It's significant. Staying near the back of the pack will cause you effort of catching up every few pedal strokes. Staying in the top 10 ish of the pack is much easier, and it helps tremendously when setting up for climbs. Understand easi-ER is still not easy, not one bit.

That is my lesson learned from the Little Mountain road race. I stuck with the lead pack for 1 3/4 laps, through the first violent climb at the end of the first lap, and easily throught the little climb at the beginning of the second lap. I barely missed the pack at the end of the second lap partly because I was too far back when that climb started. I decided to stick to my pace instead of try to stick with that front group. Oops. They got a tiny bit of a break and TOOK O-F-F. Those guys knew they drew blood and went for the kill by dropping a bunch of us, more than half of the group went away. Again I kick myself thinking I could have suffered that little bit more to stick with them. End result - 16th place out of 38. I'll take it.

And what a great day for a race, and what a beautiful venue for a race. I need to own Cache valley someday.