Statesville, NC Cat 2,3 Crit

Today was my first race back after about a month break off the bike. It was a cat 2,3 crit in Statesville, NC (near Charlotte). The course was about one k long and shaped like an L. All the turns were 90 degrees. The first turn being left and slightly downhill into another left that kicked uphill, to a right, left downhill again to a long flat straight, to the final left about 150 meters before a slight uphill kick to the line. The race was to be 45 minutes long, and I started at the back, which didn't really matter on this course because how fast it was. I just pretty much spent the first thirty minutes of the race doing nothing. I never panicked and just moved up through the pack during turns and whenever there was a reprieve in the pace. It didn't really appear that any breaks would stick just because of how fast the race was, so I didn't try anything. I just made sure I was in good positioning in the top five in the last five laps. There was one guy off the front by like 15 seconds during the last few laps, and I just sat in taking a gamble he would get caught. With three laps to go the pace let up a bit I guess and I got swarmed by about ten guys. Then the guys at the front were drilling it, and there was really nowhere for me to move up because it was fast in the turns, and it took a lot of energy to move up on the two long straights there were. The guy off the front got caught half a lap to go. I managed to get to the last turn about tenth, way too far back. I ended up passing a few people before the line and took seventh. It was pretty decent for my first race back, but we will see what tomorrow brings.