Little River Challenge Road Race, Cat 4/5
4 flat 12 mile laps. Only my second race, and my first road race. Got dropped in the crit I did a couple weeks ago, so my goal was just to finish with the field. Small field of 18 or 19 riders.
Very cold at the start. Below freezing for sure. There was ice on top of the roadside ditches throughout the race. Anyway, most of the race was little more than a coffee cruise. 21-22 mph or so, with some brief hard surges of 30+. It basically went: someone would roll off the front halfheartedly, no one would chase, and he'd come back in. My riding buddy and I noticed the pattern, and decided we'd try to make a break right after one of the hard surges. We didn't get very far. Ok, so no more breaks.
Field stayed together to the end, which I'm actually glad for. Since I got dropped in my first race, this was my first chance to experience a field sprint. I decided not to start really sprinting until the last possible moment, maybe 50-75m or so, and I think this was a good strategy. People who started sprinting at the 200m mark were starting to fade, and I made up 10 spots or so in the last 50 meters. I didn't hang around to see official results, but I think I finished 4th or 5th.
tl;dr Raced, didn't get dropped, put in a good sprint. Was fun.