Situational Awareness Society: I'm Back, Baby! (Parts 3

Fast-forward through my triumphant return to racing...

Photo by Reid Neuereiter

I raced with the Senior 4's in the Bannock Street Criterium in my 13-year-old Gulf Coast Cycling Association skinsuit, kept the shiny side up, and finished just behind the remains of the field (a wreck immediately in front of me on the last lap dampened my enthusiasm for contesting the sprint).

Photo by Reid Neuereiter

OMG, that's me! Yellow helmet, under the "k" in Mike, I'm racing again! In COLORADO! I was 27th of 46, which may not have counted the Masters 45+ 4's we raced with.

Littleton Crit. Photo: Dejan Smaic, sportifimages.com

Next was the Littleton Criterium, another downtown figure-8 affair, once more with the Senior 4's (Masters 35+ went first thing in the morning, which interfered with family activities). The field was larger, the weather was hotter, the course was tighter, and the racing even faster. In my Rice U. Cycling Team kit this time, I decided to play it safe and hang out in the field, but all that meant was that I had plenty of gas at the end but no gumption to move up in the field. I finished 32nd of 51. Oh well, that's okay... My return to racing was still in the "proof of concept" phase. I resolved to be more aggressive next time, but "next time" would be next year, as the road season ended in August. Which struck me as odd, since in Houston this was about when the weather started getting nicer again and the fall road-racing season could start!

One byproduct of riding with the Cycleton and PHP groups was that I was making contacts in the racing community. As I wasn't wearing a local team's kit, I got some inquiries from, well, local teams. The one that resonated with me, though, was Rocky Mountain Road Club (RMRC). They're a long-standing club (oldest racing team in Colorado, I'm told) with members who are fine people. I took the plunge and joined them in September.