Notes
Good race, heres the recap as it runs through my head.
I got out well, took the tangent to the corner and got out in like 5th, noticed William ahead of me, I settled pace, shifted to about 10th, and let people figure it out ahead of me. Charlie came up next to me and then in front of me. Noone wanted to lead and on the corner 800 in it slowed pretty quickly and people went 3 lanes wide, but people figured it out before I had to change my stride. I had to pick it up a bit to keep on the pace, there was a small breakaway up front, and over the next 5 laps I kept picking people off and just stayed on the outside of lane 1, inside of lane 2. I had to tell myself to make up the gap slowly so I didn't touch the lead too early. Still hunted on the leaders and moved up on the shoulder of the guy in 1st with a mile to go. In that moment I had 2 options, to continue moving forward to take the lead with authority, or to recollect myself and sit. I chose to sit, and I don't know which option would have been better. Diemer told me that was probably the better choice given how I finished, but I'm not 100% convinced I dont roll like the tide to the finish, granted it would have been a lot harder mentally to lead for the majority of the last mile. The last k was hard, the race went from focused and floating to hard pretty quickly, I think its a focus thing. I do really well when I have people to chase, so thats something to work on.
Overall: I'm happy with the race, its exciting for a first time going under 16, and its a crucial step in my season and confidence. Shoutout to Charlie too for going under with me.