As I expected....

So I lined up for the first ICUP race this past weekend. I felt awkward and out of place...like I did not belong there. The field was an average size for ICUP, but a bit small for this race; there were four of us.
Overall it hurt. I felt slow. And in the end, it went down pretty close to how I expected.

Off the line two girls took off. I figured they were gone; I knew one was for sure. With two of us remaining we rode through the wash and up the next climb in close contact with each other. We slowly caught and passed one of the girls off the front. For a bit I was in second place and was ecstatic at the prospect.
But then I was passed. I was pretty content with the thought of getting third. I turned around and there was the fourth girl. Son of a....! And I was passed. I talked myself into being okay with fourth (last). This is when an expert woman caught me as an ultimate slap in the face. She chose not to pass me as we were going to descend and then she was done.
Then the girl in my category who just passed me was on the side of the trail. I asked if she needed anything because I really would have stopped at this point; she said no.
Coming through the lap the last time, I could see second place not far ahead of me. I caught and passed her again in the wash as she hit her pedal and bobbled a climb. It was not long until she caught me and passe me yet again.
In the end I was the last finisher with a time 10 minutes slower than the last time I raced this course. As I expected I have LOTS of work to do.

Photo cred: Mark Nelson