[philosoraptor]

Sages,

A few months ago, I justified the purchase of a 4th bike by telling myself that I would train for a particular autumn race, my first race ever, and that I "needed" the bike since I didn't already have a racing bike. (Ah, the power of rationalization...)
I began a 7-week training program in early July. Thanks to a variety of unexpected job and personal interruptions, I have done barely a month's worth of actual scheduled training rides, and the race is only 2 weeks away. Is it healthier/safer for me to continue with my program and skip the race, or to go ahead and race even though I won't have completed (and, some may say, won't really have started) the training program by the time of the race? The race itself is a short one, about 20 miles.

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[velo]

I don't think it will hurt to try the race. Try to get as much quality racing in before the race, of course. But, remember, racing is the best training. Just go out there, enjoy yourself, and learn. Then, after you get your real training in, you'll already sort-of know what it's about when you go for your second race, even if that's not until next season.

[roadbuzz]

What velo said.

Ride, learn, stay out of trouble. Focus on next season. Pick an early season race next year, and use that as motivation to keep training through the winter.

[sch]

Twenty miles is fairly short, but in order to 'benefit' from the race experience
you have to be able to keep up. The only way to find out, if you don't train with other likeminded cyclists is to race. First prerequisite is conditioning, once you have that you can begin to pay attention to the dynamics of the race.
If you watched any of the Tour de France, you should have some concept of that and that is what you really need to learn. Obviously I am assuming road racing, ATB is much more one on one by the nature of the course. Steve

[philosoraptor]

Thanks for bothering to respond, everyone. I really shouldn't have posted before having done my homework. For example, I now have Joe Friel's _Cyclist's Training Bible_, 3rd edition. In his section on planning and prioritizing, he distinguishes between "A"-priority, "B"-priority, and "C"-priority races. Sounds like this one will be a C race for me (done for experience or as a sort of hard workout, just perfect for a Category 5 rider).

[Big Helmet]

Race it. Then come back here and tell us all about it.

[philosoraptor]

It was lightning fast, exhausting, and to my utter surprise, I did not finish dead last. I finished next to last.

In some sense of "fun", it was fun; it was definitely a nice "real life" application of all the weeks of training. More important, I now know exactly where I need to focus my training for next several months (possibly years).
Thanks for the advice and encouragement.