I won a race and it feels too perfect.

TL;DR: Me and my buddy (Me 30, him 39) just won a local 24-hour relay race with 817 km. It was my first ever bike race, as I only ride draft-illegal triathlons and train solo. We didn't know what to expect, set humble goals and surprised everyone, but mostly ourselves. I know the feeling of standing on top of the podium from a handful of running races, but nothing like this. I want more.

We managed to get in touch as we both couldn't find a person crazy enough to try this. He used to race youth categories, I did not. We only did two rides together pre-race to get some first-hand experience in drafting, hand signals etc., as we live an hour of driving apart and couldn't manage more rides. I understand race tactics as I'm an avid cycling fan, which helped me a little, but experience is king. So we just agreed on holding onto any lead pack and hope for the best.

The race was held on a 10 km circuit and had 3 bike categories - single riders, pairs and teams of three. The race went on at 11 AM, the initial pack of 70 quickly thinned out as the pace went full gas right away, those trios wanted to break away and gain a lap on the pack. Two guys eventually went and the pack's pace dropped, but those first 3 hours were over 38 kph average speed, first one over 40. My buddy got dropped due to cramps at hour 5, making me ride alone for 2 laps, but we formed a chase group with a strong trio (remember them) and few others and got caught by the pack some time later, joined them and managed to stay with them through the night as temperatures dropped to 7 °C and pace went down. At 4:30 AM, as I subbed in, my chain dropped and I had to stop. Then, I chased for 15 km to get back to the pack, only just managing it and saving energy until the rest of the turn.

By the morning, we were secure in 1st among pairs and rode for 3rd overall with the trio we made the chase group at 4 PM with and rode with them through the night. We worked together well until the last lap, as the pace went continuously up again and we couldn't afford to play games. We were not the strongest out there. At the beginning of the last lap, 4 guys went full gas, my marked man from the rival trio in front of me dropped the wheel and flicked me. I had to sprint onto their wheel, dropping almost everyone behind, only just managed to hang onto them and dropping everyone behind. I got dropped at 3 km to go at a 4% uphill, but thankfully by that time there was a gap behind with nobody to sprint against.

I crossed the line punching the air, finally meeting my buddy after the whole day and we got overwhelmed by what we just did. 408 km each, 817 in total. We're still far from the solo guys and we know it (Winner was just one lap short of us at 807 km), but we were the best of everyone who showed up and that counts. Now I have a giant 40 cm trophy in my living room, making me proud and rethinking my racing endeavours. I avoided bike races only because of not being used to the pack, which is now gone. I want more.