Race Lessons

Any of the following should not be the reason that you don't win races.

1. Stay near the front, at all times. I can't stress this enough. Most importantly, staying up front helps you to avoid crashes. Staying near the front helps you to avoid the accordion effect of the pack and puts you in a good position to join a breakaway. However, don't take more than a fews pulls on the front, and if you do make sure you don't max out. The only crash I've been involved in happened near the back of the pack with a bunch of noobs.
   
2. Be prepared for a flat tire. Find out if there is a neutral wheel pit or if you need to bring your own. I loaned my rear wheel out before a race last year because I thought there would be a neutral wheel pit, to my surprise there was not, and over course, I got a flat.
   
3. Pay attention to the lap counter. Make a conscious effort to find out if the final laps have been announced in a criterium. A few years ago I made the mistake of sprinting for the finish on the second to last lap, needless to say I didn't win the sprint on the next lap. Vice versa, don't miss the final sprint like I did today. I didn't even know the final laps had begun and next thing I know I see some guy ahead of me throwing his hands up in glee.
   
4. Double, triple, quadruple check the start time. Make sure you know exactly when the race will start. Find out if they are ahead of schedule or behind schedule. Chris and I made this mistake last year. We missed our start time by either exactly 5 minutes or 10 minutes. You never make this mistake twice.
   
5. Don't crash in a TT. That just shouldn't happen, especially if the road is straight and dry. But it can... I know.
6. Time your sprint. Simple as that. Don't sprint too early and don't wait until it's too late. Don't sprint with 1km to go unless you know you can; I'm notorious for this one. Don't wait until the final 400m to get into position because you'll burn all your energy before the final sprint.
   
7. More to come... but hopefully not too many.