DAY 1: Honey, where's my wallet? It has the license. Ok, let's see - heart rate monitor, check; full water bottle, check; glasses, kit, helmet - check, check, check. Nothing is going to go wrong at my first race!

Here we go. Hey, wait - shelled so quickly? Not even the first turn - even going 29 mph? Whoa, cadence is over 110 - quick, turn a higher gear. Why is the gear not shifting? Come on! Crud, great time for the bike to break!

Should I feel good for finishing even though I was almost lapped twice? Well, perhaps tomorrow will be better.

DAY 2: #*!& - the small chainring was on for the whole race yesterday? Dumb, dumb, dumb!

POSTSCRIPT: Kept with the peloton the first 19 minutes and then got shelled (and lapped), but remembering to use the right chainring sure helped!