The start chute seemed to fill up very quickly... by the time I got there, I was probably 60-70 people back from the front, but I didn't worry too much - I figured we'd all sort ourselves out by the end of the first loop. This was my first mistake - a lot of people go flat out on the first loop, only to slow down at the first hill or first sign of singletrack. Anyway, I started in about 70th place and slowly worked my way past a few people on that loop. Through the first transition I was on the back of a group 6 or so.