Time for the first road race of the season and a return to the rain shadow of Sequim on the Olympic Peninsula. This race is a 12 mile loop on rolling country roads with a slight uphill finish. The Cat 3 race is 5 laps (60 miles) which we ended up averaging 24 mph over 2 1/2 hours (a fair bit faster than I would have done the 100k SIR Populaire in which was on the same day) . It’s a very different style of riding from Randonneuring as the pace varies much more with various surges and attacks throughout the race as compared with the steady tempo riding which is much easier on your body. That said the benefit of the peloton and drafting in a pack meant I only had a normalized power average of 214W.
All the teams park and set up their tents in a field beside the course…
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