This was my first road race, so going into it I read a lot of "recommendations" and asked around for advice. To sum up, the big ones were:
1. Have fun and stay safe
2. Try to stay in the front half of the group, but not actually at the front
3. If you're with the group at the end, don't worry about sprinting; watch, learn, and refer to rule #1.
4. Course specific- the group will splinter on the long climb and unless you're at the front you'll miss the move of the front group.

As we started out, I was surprised at how much the effort level varied. Basically every hill we climbed, everyone did a hard effort, then on the downhill we were riding our brakes so as not to run into the guy in front. This went on for the first 10 miles or more.

I was in the middle of the group, and slowly moved towards the front. The closer to the front, the more even the pace became, but they were still hammering up the hills. I got on the front kind of by accident, and put in a steady easy effort for a few minutes... nobody passed me until I just decided to back way off and rejoin the drafting pack.

I didn't have a chance to ride or drive the course, so I wasn't very clear on where the main climb would be. As it was dawning on me that we had arrived, I was much too far from the front. I watched the front 10-12 guys drop the hammer and they were up the road before I could get clear but I decided to give chase anyway. I caught quite a few and encouraged them to join me so we could team up and track down the front group.

At the top of the climb there were 5-6 guys out front by a couple hundred meters, then our group of 5, then the rest of the peloton shattered into small groups.

We settled into a paceline and everyone worked, but we just didn't have the speed to make time on the leaders. Around 10 miles from the finish we had the 3rd chase pack on the road catch us and our group swelled to around 15. Unfortunately none of the chase pack really wanted to work so we didn't really get a benefit and the leaders stayed over a minute ahead.

We picked up one guy who couldn't sustain the pace of the leaders, then neared the finish. Our pace slowed quite a bit as I guess people wanted a breather. As we neared the finish I remembered the advice to finish with the group but not worry about contesting the sprint, especially if there wasn't a podium left to contend for. So.... I ended up finishing close to last in our group of 15ish riders. In retrospect the sprint didn't seem dangerous at all and it was probably stupid to sit tight and cruise on in. I think I could have finished well towards the front of that pack.

Drive or ride the course in advance. Get to the front when and where I think the break will happen. Sprint at the finish.

Did a couple miles on the trainer.


My tactics weren't very good, but since this was my first road race they're bound to get better!