Originally Posted by
ntnyln
I did that race exactly once and never went back. Those roads are brutal.
Good job on figuring out what you needed to do to win and going for it. It takes courage to go for it and risk getting spit out the back. The easy way is to sit in and just finish with the pack with no chance to win and you didn't take it. You should feel good about that. Channel you inner Jens Voigt and enjoy the effort.
Just as importantly, he realized that it wasn't worth it to try again and said once is enough. Didn't fall into the trap of, "oh well next time, I'll fix ____ and ____ and it'll turn out differently".