Blame It On the New Kit?

I felt more like an extra in Deliverance (as in "you've done taken a wrong turn) than a competitor in a bike race tonight at the Tuesday night series out at Pacific. I will blame my infamous move on the new kit rather than my inattention. After all it was my first race in the all red kit and I wanted to make a good first impression. Forget that I have been racing the Tuesday night series for 6 years now and know all 5 courses intimately. Forget that tonight's course was on the flat, about a 2 mile oval, counter clockwise circuit. Maybe my mind was on the barbeque that was going to be held afterwards, an annual summer event that brings all that much closer together. Or maybe I was just a real goof.
In any event I spent most of the race at the back, but did attack two times, both into incredibly stiff headwinds. The first time was at the start of the 2nd lap. They didn't let me go. After pulling the 40 or so riders about 200 meters I sat up and took up my position at the back. Twenty minutes later I did it again and this time got a good gap. I never looked back as I went from dead last to first in about 100 meters. When I did look back I had a 50 meter or so lead. The course was changed a few weeks back as they installed a new sand escape lane for dragsters, forcing us to turn earlier than before. The new turn is also sharper but not too bad. The 1/2/3s were ahead and I saw them turn. I kept my head down and hammered away, turning on what I thought was the right road. Alas I was one lane short and had turned on a narrow maintenance road that ended at a concrete barrier. I was halfway on it when I realized my mistake. It was about that time when everyone yelled at me. Two guys followed me and were able to get back on. I had to ride slowly along the barrier to the real road, and had to wait fir the pack to go by. By the time I got going I was unable to bridge the gap as the pack really pushed on a slight downhill with a tailwind. I finally sat up and decided to ride easy til they caught me on the next lap. But then the Masters passed me and I opted to sit on the back like last week. We eventually caught my 4/5 group that had to go neutral as the Masters passed. I was able to jump back onto the group and ride with them for the last 3 laps. I gave everyone a laugh, including myself. The veggie burger was very tasty as well.
Enough for now. Lesson learned? Just enjoy the ride!
Ty (aka Saddledancer aka Wrong Way)