Been riding socially on and off for about 3 or 4 years, not as much as I used to, still ride to work nearly every day but it is only about a 5km round trip so it's not that challenging. Used to go out for longer (100km+) social rides every weekend but have only done a couple this year, always seem to find an excuse why not to go (too hot, too cold, too busy, bike needs repair etc etc).

Anyway, found a link through another non-cycling online forum to a novice introduction to road racing with a local cycling club. They were having a "come and try" session. So I thought I would go and give it a try. It was at a closed off driver training facility, the track was about 2km long with a good mix of hills, flats, straights and corners.

Keep in mind this was for novices who had never raced before. We did a few slow laps of the track getting familiar with riding in a bunch. Then we split into two groups, mostly males on one team and females on the other. Quite a diverse age range, from young barely teenagers to older 40+ (me!). We were then going to do a 5 lap "race". The instructor wanted us to keep together as a bunch for the first few laps.

I started at the front, along side another guy of similar age and I thought fitness and ability. We rode around together for the first few laps, he would pull slightly ahead on some of the hills but I just put a bit more effort in and kept pace. Then it was second last lap and I decided to pick the pace up. I was still at the front of the pack, the guy I had been riding with had dropped back a bit.

Last lap bell was rung so I decided to really go for it. Out of the saddle and pumping up the hills, pushed the second highest gear down the hill and tried to keep a consistent cadence going through the whole circuit. Without turning my head I couldn't see anyone close to me. I was expecting to be overtaken by at least old mate that I'd started beside but it never happened and I won! Actually lapped a couple of the slower girls too!

I reckon I could of done better if someone else was pushing me or if I was trying to catch someone but hey, I finished first so you can't get much better than that!

There is another "proper" race coming up at another place near the end of September so I will have to do some more training before then. That will be more of a true indicator of how fit I am.