My first time doing the the race. I was excited for it. Felt I could do good as I like going up Effingham. Breakfast was 6 bananas and 2 avocados and left at 5 to drive to the race start. Warm up was 20 minutes on the trainer, brought my trainer tire as the skewers are different sizes and only the trainer tire fits on the trainer and I didn't want to switch the skewer. Finished the warm up by riding through the start line to the stop sign which was nearly all down hill. This was going to be a quick start! Then lined up at the start line and was told by a race official start was in the camp grounds. Rolled over to the camp grounds and waited. An official told us all that the yellow line rule would NOT be strictly enforced and there would be no yellow line at all on Effingham. Nice, twice as much room to move around.  Lap 1 Finally the race started and it was immediately obvious that the neutral roll out vehicle driver was not a cyclist, quickly sped up to over 60 at the start line and slow down down to 45 at the bottom of the hill. Ow well. I worked my way towards the front.  Then we hit Effingham hill for the first time and it was pretty easy to be honest, we didn't hit it that much speed and of course we were all fresh, and nobody attacked. Funny thing, we were yelled at by someone about the yellow line, but we were told it wouldn't be in effect.... Then the fun began afer we took the right onto Tice and were flying! Hit over 70km/h going down hill with a tail wind. Pretty much the rest of the lap we all stayed together and the pace was pretty easy. The funniest part of the first lap was when the neutral service vehicle turned at the wrong spot. Someone in the peleton yelled at the rest of us that it was the wrong turn so at least we knew! Lap 2 - 21:35 Effingham was a little harder, but still not one attacked and everybody seemed to climb at there own 'comfortable' speed. Slightly after the hill (26:17) Mike P attacked, really it looks like he just tried to ride of the front, very non-chalantly. I was about 5 bikes back and went to the front to block. Probably too obvious, but it was a worth a try. Unfortunately there were too many fresh legs and people started sprinting around me to catch up to Mike. Mike immediately stopped the attack. Felt I was slipping a little to far to the back and moved up a couple of wheels so I was riding about 10th. After riding down Tice we turn right onto Maple and before the halfway mark the pace really started to slow and I as feeling good. I also knew there was a little chicane coming up which really effected the pace the first time through, so I went to the front(31:00), and slalomed through the curves and got a bit of a gap, Mike and 18 (James McNaughton) came quickly through with me and we started to think we could have a break, but the group quickly chased us down. We all stayed together for most of the rest of the lap. Towards the end (40:40) I went to the front and tried to pick up the pace for the last couple of km to see if I could make Effingham harder. Lap 3 - 42:00 At the beginning of the lap tried not to fall back to far as I was trying to recover a bit before the climb. Okay it hurt this time. Still no attacks and we all just went up as a group. After we came around the corner and started descending I was pretty tired and mike was out front with about 9 other riders. I didn't feel like chasing on and if I could create a gap for Mike I felt his chances in that break would be good. But people quickly went around me and in the next couple of minutes pulled back the gap. After that we all stayed together. I tried to stay 10 to 20 riders back so I could see the front and take advantage of the draft.  Lap 4 - 62:30 Shifted way up the cog set and super spinned up the hill, felt way more comfortable and speedy. Got up towards the front. Stayed in until the chicane and was feeling good so I went to the front before and slalomed as fast as I could through. Yelled at the neutral service vehicle midway through as I they were nearly stopped and I was flying through. Which I got a good gap and 18 (James McNaughton) guy caught up to me. We started to work together, but I starting going way to hard. My first breakaway and I no clue what power I should be putting out, and going full gas is just stupid. I quickly faded and he pulled off, I then road to recover and the group caught me in the next bit. There really wasn't a chase and the gap got to about 15 seconds towards the end of the lap.  Lap 5 - 81:55 18 (James McNaughton) was slowly making his way up the hill and we caught him easily. Like lap 4 shifted way up again and actually went off the front, but went too far into the red at the top to do anything on the descent. Should've help back, so I could've had more energy for the descent, but on the other side I was having difficulties chasing back on, so this gave me more time to recover. The first group ripped by me, and then the second group came up and Vance yelled "come on Mike" and I was able to get in. The second group then caught the first and we all road together to the finish line. Lance and I hung out at the back, not a good a position, I know, but I always get worried with M3's and sprint finishes... About 1km left, someone moved up on the right and I followed his wheel. 0.5 km we started sprinting and I felt good to go. I was holding onto 4th. But I ran out of power / went too early and the last 100 meters I faded to 8th. Ow well, still my best finish. Should I have started my sprint later or not ramped up fast? Probably a combination of both for a better finish in the future.