At any event like this, it can be pretty enlightening just to go as a spectator and see how things work. That'll tell you in a hurry whether it's a bunch of buff people, skin suits and TT bikes or fat old men or what. Also find out if they're pretty supportive or look at you funny for even being there. If you can find previous event results online, just go out to the course on your own, try it out and see how you compare. And notice the range of results they come up with, too.
Example- several years back, I went to watch some crit races in downtown Dallas. I learned that in that particular race, if you get about a half-lap back, they'll pull you out of the race. On another occasion, I was out riding my Worksman cruiser, ran across a bunch of people riding around a local park, and discovered that was Cyclocross. And they invited me to go give it a shot on the cruiser. I declined, but still, it was obviously a little different atmosphere there. Some of the long-distance time trials (12 hour, 24 hour races) have some very good people in them, but also have a lot of "regular" riders, so anyone that can tootle around the course can pretty much fit in.
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"be careful this rando stuff is addictive and dan's the 'pusher'."