This conversation reminds me of just how far I have to go, and how much work I need to do. Some of the kids I am racing against in Cat4 are pretty strong, and they almost always go hard from the gate. The result is that it's just a war of attrition: the pace is high, and while I am OK sitting in, as soon as any gap develops I am burning matches. And since some joker always attacks as soon as we come to an incline, my book of matches gets depleted pretty fast.

Plan for next time is to sit in closer to the front so that even if the hills hurt me, I can still be on a wheel at the top. Longer term plan is to keep losing the weight and working on the threshold.