ouch!

Yesterday I raced my first mountain bike race in 13 years and had a really fun time. I headed up to the CCCX race in Monterey and raced the sport class (there are 4 classes; Beginner, Sport, Expert and Pro, with the non-pro categories broke up by age groups 19-34, 35-44, 45+) and actually did fairly well all things considered.
The race started out pretty fast, climbed up a hill then a fast descent. I came off that descent in about 4th place, reached down to grab my water bottle and found nothing there! It had bounced out of my cage in the first 5 minutes of racing! I had a small 16oz bottle but that's how much I normally drink in 1/2 an hour and this would be a 1 1/2 hour race! About 20 minutes into the race I remember thinking "Wow, this is really painful, why am I doing this?" LOL After the first lap I settled in and started to feel better.
The 3rd lap (of 4) I took it kind of easy hoping to put in a really good time on the 4th but the lack of water really caught up with me so I couldn't push it but still actually enjoyed being out there. It definitely cost me a few minutes by loosing my water but I made the best of it and was satisfied with my performance. All said and done, I placed 8th of 14 riders in my class and was 6 minutes behind the winner on a 22 mile course.
While I have no illusions of "going pro" this sort of racing is really fun and gives a great sense of accomplishment. That was definitely one of the hardest 1 1/2 hour rides I've ever done and I plan on heading back in 2 weeks for the next round of the series!