san luis rey classic

san luis rey classic was two weekends ago and it went well, even though i didn't get to finish in the lead pack. the race started out fast, at least for me, as i went straight to setting the normal 40+ race start pace, only to look back and see that i had already put 50 meters on the cat 5 pack [the cat 5 started at 10:30am and not 7:30am for the 40+, and the joy of starting over in cat 5, is a welcome change of pace, since all my previous category points were lost after not racing for over 20 years]. so since this was a [3] lap race with some good climbs and i didn't want to TT the whole thing by myself, i slowed up on the first little wall and started to fly down the descent with the pack. the pace was fast, put than again i was with a bunch of 20 somethings, doing 27mph avg on the lower roller section. i hit the start of the first real climb up to the start finish line in the middle of the pack. half way up the climb we caught the 50+ group that started before us and that is when my chances of a top 10 finish vanished, as i was pinched out [yellow line rule in effect] and spent the rest of race motivating the left over pack to take turns setting a good tempo. i found myself doing most of the work for [2] laps, to no avail. the plus to the race was that the sensations in my legs were good, probably the best since racing again and each lap at the top of the long climb i would turn around to see that once again i had left everyone that was riding with me behind. so i spent the upper part of the course on my own climbing, no complaints, as it felt good finally to tempo away from the pack [unfortunately not the fastest guys] on the climb[s]. i give props to the 50+ riders that had the respect to take a pull at the front, even though they couldn't hang at the front for long. the 20 somethings could learn some race ethics from them... and much love and thanks for josephine for showing up to see me race on a sunday in the middle of nowhere.