South Range Cycling Classic

This was my first bike race ever. I didn't know what to expect. It consisted of two loops in the hills of South Range, Wisconsin. The pace started off very slow. Nobody wanted to take the lead. I lead the race the last several miles prior to crossing the halfway point of the race. Somehow I got blocked out as we were ascending the big hill in the picture and could not catch a breakaway group of seven riders who took off. I made an attempt to catch the breakaway, but to no avail. I was able to string a few other riders along with me but as the pace settled into a comfortable rate for the other riders, no one wanted to lead the race the last few miles, making this fall on my shoulders. With the finish line in site and making a gamble that the other riders in my group were content with not pushing the pace harder than they were, I made the decision to try a breakaway and it worked. I gained a separation on the group and no one in the second pack could catch me. A little bit of glory was found in a day where I was disappointed to miss the opportunity to finish in the first pack. I finished 8th overall in a time of 1:35:43.0 on the 35 mile course. I was second in my age group and had an average speed of 21.9 mph.