I raced the Cat 5 race first thing in the morning.  The pre-registration was full (50 riders) but only 39 showed up.  The chilly temperatures probably had something to do with it.  I rode up with Jeffrey Stefans who is new to Tower Racing and bumped into Peter at the start line (sorry, I didn’t catch the last name).  The track was all it was billed to be.  Wide track with sweeping turns and good pavement.  The Cat 5 race was 35 minutes which is a bit longer than most Cat 5 races and being early in the year made me wary.  The course is 1.9 miles long.  We started with a 4 minute first lap.  There weren’t a lot of surges but just a steady speed.  In the middle of the 2nd lap I hit reality and fell off of the back.  With a good size group I was surprised that I couldn’t find a good draft to sit in.  People kept moving around and so it seemed did the good wheels to suck.  There were enough others that dropped that we formed a mini-paceline.  It was a long time to be out of the peloton but I was happy with my ride because I kept riding hard until the end.  I ended up 34th while almost – but not quite – getting lapped.   I highly recommend this race next year although it would be better if it was a bit warmer.

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