Last night I had two goals:

1. Don't crash
2. Don't Throw-up

I am happy to report that I successfully acheived 2 out of 2! I was the first one to staging, thirty minutes early. The ladies trickled in and I made sure to hold my spot. They let us on the course and when we approached the start finish, they told us to take a lap. I was slow to react and lost a few places before we made our way back around. Ah well, I was still very close to the front. I saw the woman to my front left was Tina Pic a good place to be (look her up). To my front right was a woman with an interesting gear choice. It was clear she was going to have a little trouble revving up her spin so I decided to follow Tina off the line. 

They started the race and we were off. As expected homegirl to my front right couldn't get going, I followed Tina. As soon as we started I was getting pushed further and further to the back of the group. The course features an extremely sharp turn into a slight uphill on turn two. The group would come to nearly a complete stop every time we approached. This made the accordion effect particularly bad. The back was not a good place to be. 

Pretty early on there was a crash heading into turn 3. I was the first one behind it, but I made it around. A gap had formed. I chased and caught the group in the home stretch. Phew. We kept going, but now I was hanging onto the back. 

"Move up McGowan"... I couldn't find a good place to gain spots. I couldn't get around. Gotta be more aggressive. A few more times around and another crash. Someone hit a cone in turn two and went down. I made it around, another gap formed. I chased back on. 

"Gosh flammit McGowan this isn't sustainable, MOVE UP". Finally the pace slowed, I saw my chance. I dipped around the group on the right side. I WAS IN THE FRONT. WOHOO!!!. The lap I spent in the front was the easiest lap of the entire race. (Noted). Turn two was smoother, everything was wonderful, except one thing. Meek Mannered McGowan was getting spit out of the back yet again. WTF girl...  
 

I wanted to try to get to the front again, but the opportunity never presented itself, the pace was too high and I wasn't aggressive enough. I finished the race with the pack. My placement was nothing to write home about, but I wasn't last either. I never felt sick, and I avoided all of the crashes. Today I have three goals:

1. Don't crash.
2. Don't Throw up.
3. B-E A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E !!!!!

Let's go.