Awesome job getting out there!! Someone said to me the other day, “You don’t need to be perfect to race.” The important thing is trying it out and learning and then getting out there again. Goal #1 can be “finish with the pack”. It feels soooo good when you’re there. And then the goal becomes “finish in the top 10”, and then “podium”! Your learning points are all great ones–glad that you felt comfortable in the big pack and that you were able to turn within the pack well. Very important to learn about the warmup time for YOU. I need a long warmup as well, and I usually try to get to the start about 90 min ahead of time because I hate feeling rushed. (For a 7am start time, that really truly sucks…)
Great job! Are you still going to do Folsom next weekend?