Jim and I drove down to South Carolina for our first race of the season. As it happens, Greg was down vising family as well, so all three of us lined up for the Master 35+ race. It was a great day for a race, somewhat cool to start but quite warm by the end. The race was 42 miles, 6 laps of a seven mile circuit. It was fairly quick for my winter legs, average speed was just under 25mph.

We rolled well for the majority of the race. Last lap, a break of around 8-10 riders formed off the front. On the back side, Jim and another rider made an attempt to bridge up. From there, several riders followed, including Greg, with me latched onto his wheel. We managed to form a second small group. I rolled off the front of that in an attempt to bridge to the first group. I got to a couple of bike lengths when they upped the pace. Dangled there, painfully, before giving up the ghost.

I managed to integrate back with the main field, staying in near the front of the field. When the pace ramped up with 300 meters to go, I had nothing left. Rolled in at the back of the field.