Pain for only $5. What a deal!

As I rolled down the street I thought I'd check out the Tuesday night race options. A 45 minute spin to the west side Research Park area yielded exactly what I expected. A one day license and the entry fee and I could race both the A and B races. So I did. The 25 minute B race was for Citizens, Cat 4's, Juniors and Women. After the second lap I remembered I why I worked so hard to upgrade years ago. Nobody could hold a line for shit and they were hitting the brakes mid-corner. On the 4th lap I heard someone behind me say "follow the guy with the Record Delta brakes. He's taking the best lines." No shit. I kept to the front and contested the sprint half-assed and was ~10th. Afterwards that guy thanked me for schooling him and his teammates on cornering. He figured a guy with brakes as old as mine must have taken a few corners over the years. I asked him if he was going to do the A race too but he wasn't. After 3 laps of cool down it was time to race again. The field was big enough I could hide out and draft when I was suffering. I had enough left in my legs to move up the length of the field ot the front 15 but it was a test of my nerves and bike handling. Threading a needle between another rider and a curb with armhairs brushing at 30+ mph would have been exhilarating if my pulse and breathing weren't already at the maximum. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to last the whole 50 minutes but I'd give it a go. There was the usual shenanegans up front with attacks and breaks, all the while I was tail end Charlie until the field would slow enough for me to work up near the front again. The coolest thing which motivated me was the guy from the B race cheering for me by name every lap. After 25 minutes my legs were done. I tried getting up out of the saddle to stay with the field and went backwards like a ton of bricks. Since they're generous with free laps I noodled for a lap waiting to be caught by the field. I jumped on and 50 feet later I was sitting up totally cashed. Rather than give it another try I noodled home. While I was faster than I thought I'd be, I wasn't as fast as I hoped I'd be.