Walburg and Pace Bend Weekend

Both races were as typical as they could be -
Walburg was cold, rainy, and windy.
Pace Bend had perfect weather.

As per usual, I made the first lap of Walburg without too much difficulty, but soon after it started to seem like I was going slower than the little chase group I was with. (The pack had already splintered into several groups of about 10.) Then they were further up the road than I was. This was soon repeated with the next group back. about that time I realized that if I turned around it would be a tailwind all the way to my car. That sounded way too good to pass up. All but about 25 people in the group must have made similar decisions because they were all hanging out in the parking lot before the race was over too.

Today I faired much better. I spent the first half of the race chilling around midpack, then decided that it was probably about time to get up to the front. After moving up, I thought about trying to get a break going, but realized it would be futile, because we were bringing anyone that tried back with no problem. I ended up chilling some more and waiting for the sprint. The finish was on an uphill right after a descent with a slight corner between the two. Judging by every other lap, I figured everyone would try to cut to the inside, and pretty much assumed that someone would be incapable of going around a corner and make everyone crash. I lined up to go to the outside of the corner and avoid all of that nonsense. It was a good call. I avoided all of the nonsense (both times) and even though I had to jump off the road for a second, Will was nice enough to let me back in, and I was able to sprint in for a 19th.

Shout out to Joseph who raced for the first time in like 18 months today! He beat all of our expectations too - good to have you back man!!