First bike ride outside this year and it started with a downhill prologue TT. 7.2km all-out competition.

I was sure all day that they would re-schedule the race as we had snow on and off all day but in the later afternoon the snow turned into rain and it was about 5C so the roads were not slippy anymore and the race was on! Weather forecast said tailwind on the way down which is usually always fun but not so much in the rain.

Had a horrible start and next time I will clip in both sides and let them hold me. I usually never have any problems clipping in but I was wearing my shoe covers and they were somehow in the way and that costs me some valuable seconds (2nd place was only 2secs ahead of me) until I was finally clipped in and ready to go. I also made the mistakes (once again) that I was in a too easy gear for the start. After the uphill biking I just forgot to put it in a heavier gear.

After the start it was easy rolling. I hardly pedaled the first 1.5km as it is a steep downhill and I was up to 55km/h without doing anything. Decided at that point that 55km/h was fast enough for these conditions and stayed right under that the entire time.

I had one thought in my head the entire time and that was not to fall!

Tried to go aero twice but went straight up on the hood again as I did not trust to be aero in these conditions. I also have not biked outside in 7 months and I coukld really feel that I lost some bike handling skills. It probably comes back soon with more rides.

I am also in need of some higher gears. I went into my highest gear right after the start and most of the pedaling was done at around 110-120rpm (guess) and often it was just empty air. The strength was there to pedal more but it was useless. This made for a way too easy race and it was over before I knew it.

This race is part of a race series. 4 races in the next 5 months and I can't wait to do the next one. Not sure we will ever get this time again as there was quite a lot of tailwind but hopefully it is dry next time. :)