I am thinking that I will do decent becasue there is a Cat 4/5 race as well, so the only people that are really going to be in the Cat 5 race is first timers. I have plenty of group riding expierence and feel like I am in good enough shape at least to hang with the group. From what I hear Cat 5 is normally 17 - 21 mph, which is really not that fast.
On the start is it a mad dash or kind of a everybody get rolling up to speed? A mad dash of a bunch of new cat 5's seems like a very bad thing, I have had nightmares over this. . .