Heathpack 

Its awesome, yes, and kind of a relief.


A relief because, human nature being what it is, you know that some people who are ostensibly rooting for you are halfway wishing you will fail. In my case, a small number of my recreational riding friends, who don't really approve of the way I ride now (more solo rides/workouts, less just noodling around on a bike with them, more pushing hard during their group rides, etc)- some part of those people would like to see you reach for a big goal and not make it, that would validate what they are doing and give me my comeuppance to boot. And lol, another part of those same people want you to succeed, so that they can sort-of take some credit for your success, as if they were instrumental in making it happen. This is the main reason it would be nice to be a part of a race team, even though I'm doing only TTs and really don't need one- it would just be nice to race your bike and continually improve and set ambitious goals and have your friends see that as normal.


The awesome aspect is because when you set an ambitious goal you never really know if you *are* maybe trying to reach past what it realistic for you. Even though this honestly wasn't my most challenging race ever, somehow that label "state champion" gives you permission to have even ambitious goals and a little more wiggle room for failure.


So that's how I feel: relieved first and happy about it second!