I have been nervous about racing and have read other posts which have been helpful to me. I will return the favor and hopefully it will help someone else who is thinking about starting racing. I raced a Cat 5 crit/cirucuit on Saturday. The road was wide and smooth with a couple of hills and one narrow area. Loops were around 1.5 miles. Just over 50 raced. 30 min.
I feel my base is pretty good, have been working on sprints, 3-5 minute hard efforts with recovery, and an 80 minute group ride weekly with 45 minutes of "threshhold" paceline in the middle -get dropped every time, 5 weeks running. Also practiced turns at speed in parking lots etc.
Pace was moderate to start, efforts increased on hills. 2-3 2 person breakaways, no one seemed to care. Group caught back up in 1-2 laps. Prem lap was very fast but winners rejoined group immediately.
I was able to stay in front 3rd of group most of the time. I was worried about getting dropped - I did absolutely no work at the front. Halfway through, I felt great. With 3 laps to go I still felt good so I started moving up. Crash at lap 3, 7-8 riders down. I didn't see anyone on the ground or at the sides as we passed on next loop - assume no serious injuries. By the 2nd to last loop, I was 15-20 back. On the last loop, 2 riders took off at the bottom of the last hill. I decided to chase, caught them at the top of the hill and the 3 of us had the lead until 200 yards to the finish. The finish was at the top of the 2nd hill. The sprint started, I was in too high of a gear and was passed like I was standing still. I should have down shifted but didn't want to stop pedaling for even .1 seconds.(next time I will be ready) Ended up 15th. I was really happy, next time I will race a little more and sit in a little less.
Sorry so long, I wanted to include all of the info that had been helpful to me.