Folsom Criterium Bike Race

This is my first full year of racing. I only race once a month. In the begining, I tried two and sometimes three, but my results were suffering (as well as the family). So once a month is good for the family, training and results. The last few training rides with the team has been encouraging. I'm seeing improvements mostly on the climbing, and overall, stronger riding. Hopefully that translates in a race.
I usually try to race my age group(mens 35+ cat 4/5). The elite cat 5 (open ages) is way too crazy. There are lots of newbies, very inexperienced riders. That means crashes! In the race before mine, there were 3 crashes. On the last one, the officials had to call the ambulance. That's bad. Riders that are not in condition start to get squirly, bump a wheel, crash, and take out anyone behind them. That's why it's always advisable to stay in the front 1/3 of the group. The other good thing about my age group is that most of us all have familys to go home to, so we don't take risks. There were no crashes on my race. Also, I always pray before every race. It works.
Back to my race. It was fast from the start (30mph) and didn't let up until 10 laps. Lots of surges and fighting for positions. It was hard to get to the front, so i was always ending in the back end and getting the yoyo effect. There were some close calls towards the end, but all stayed safe. The last 3 laps got really fast and I just made sure I wasn't in last place. I came in probable 30 our of 50 riders. I was glad i finished.
Our team, LuzViMin, did faily well that day.

I am now a cat 4 racer.