Originally Posted by
mcjimbosandwich
As for the things i'm fearing, it's probably descending on previously-unridden roads (even more so if it has sharp turns) and going into sharp turns in the presence of others. The latter is particularly frustrating as i'm pretty comfortable with >135 degree turns when i'm by myself.
In a pack, i basically need to expend quite a bit of energy in order to get into good position, but i guess it's a lot better to burn a match to move up than it is to burn a match to latch on after the corner; however, if this is a feature of a crit, i'll eventually run out of matches to do anything else.
The other thing i'm uncomfortable with is moving up inside a pack. Most of the times, i move up on the side of pack shielded from the wind as it doesn't cost as much energy and i can do it fast. However, once i'm inside a pack, it's hard to maneuver (i guess that is probably a given).
The other thing is to convince people to let me slot in after i have moved up from the outside, which, given my tendencies to move on the outside, is something i really need to work on.
These factors indicate to me that your sphere area (protective area around bars/front wheel) is a bit too big. If other riders, with smaller sphere areas, compete with you for space, they'll win. (Of course if you have a smaller sphere you'll be able to get spots).
If you decide to tailgun you shouldn't need to burn a match to get back on after a corner - you may even need to brake so you don't slam into everyone as they straighten out. If it's dicey up front (i.e. uncomfortable for the rider, you in this case) this may be a good tactic.
Moving up inside the pack requires a bit of patience. A lot of times you can't move. The bigger your sphere, the more limited your options.
If you move up on the outside then try and slot in, you need to find room. If you "make" room you end up the bad guy - last week some idiot was elbowing people in the Cat 5s at Bethel and ended up on the deck. You should be able to make subtle and effective moves to take and hold spots. If you can't you should work on them. Techniques for that... that's a 10 page post in itself.
The sphere shrinks as you get used to being close to other riders. Sphere-wise I feel pretty comfortable on my bike. I'm okay until it's a couple inches from my knuckles, maybe 4-6 inches from my front wheel. Tight is contact with arm/hand/shoulder or under 1-2" from the front of my tire, 1" from the side of my tire.
I sometimes try to get my tire between the rear der cable and the spokes of the rider in front of me, i.e. in the little U shaped area just behind the cassette, boxed in by the wheel on the left and the derailleur cable on the right. It's probably a 3"x3" square. To me that's tight - usually I do this on group rides, not races.
It also requires me to be able to recover if the rider moves right suddenly and starts to take out my front wheel. I am semi-confident of recovering at that extreme overlap (1/2 wheel), maybe a 50-50 chance of falling. With a 1/4 wheel overlap I'm pretty confident I won't go down, like 10% chance of falling. One or two inch overlap, not a problem.
So I'd rethink your approach to some of the corners, save all that moving up energy for more important parts of the race (like with 5 to go, but until then tailgun and coast back into the pack after hairpins, with the odd effort here and there to close a gap).
On descents hang off the back until it's closer to the end of the race, then move up and hold position just once.
I'm not a strong rider but I can place in reasonably competitive races. I have sometimes just one or two efforts in my legs - I have to use them very, very carefully.
This is where a helmet/bike cam would be handy, to review race footage to see where/what/when stuff happened.
*edit* if you ever need to resort to contact, you've already put yourself in a bad position. The only riders I know of that need to force by using contact are already in a poor situation tactically speaking. Good tactics means no contact necessary. You should know how to deal with contact since if you're in good position that implies that others are not, and they may resort to contact to force the issue. Contact is virtually never needed by a good rider in an offensive way; it's primarily defensive contact, like knowing how to bounce the guy back that runs into you full tilt to take your spot in line.