It was the first race of the season at Eldorado park on Tuesday, and despite only being back on the bike for about a month (after being off for a month), I actually thought I could still revert to my old form from last year.
Ohhhh! Had I only known what I was in for, I might never have participated.
It was here on the first lap [that's me in the very middle at the back] when I realized I was in trouble.
We had just finished the neutral lap, and the speed started picking up. I managed to stay with the pack for about a lap and a half (2.5 miles), but 30 mph for any length of time was just too fast for me. (Normally that wouldn’t have been a problem, but being 
the first race of the season, there weren’t the usual number of racers, and I couldn’t seem to find any protection from the strong head wind, on the back stretch, in the group.)
I did make an attempt to latch on to the “big guns” (that’s me, back left), but that was really fruitless. I later learned there were a number of olympic hopefuls racing that night, so I wasn’t too upset, as those guys race at another level.
I eventually got in with my group again, and managed to stay with them another lap, but it just wasn’t my day. So I headed home dejected, hoping for better days in the future.