Honesty.

Nervous morning, queasy stomach butterflies. Splintered neutral rollout, then chase Dicky down the hill. Let the ninja mix it up in the opening melée. Rest of the three-ish hour ride spent chasing and limiting losses.

Rode it straight thru, no pics, no impromptu rest stops, an honest race effort. Still dropped another twenty minutes to the local ponies. Lot's of climbing tomorrow, fiveish hour expected for the 42mile route. Couple gc spots within cracking distance, and spectacular scenery also, hmmmmm