Road Bike Racing - My first road race in July

First off I'd like to say sorry for the Crosspost.

O.K. after all my buddies saying "go for it", "why not?", and "just try it and see what you think." I am going to participate in my first road race in July. I have been riding quite a lot this season, between 120 and 150 miles a week. I am beginning to work Sprints and Interval training into my week (one day of Intervals for about 45 min. to an hour and I try to get a few sprint exercises into my afternoon rides). Also, the past two weeks, in preparation for July, I have upped my riding from 3 to 4 days a week to 4 to 5 days a week.

A few questions:
1. Does my training sound like I am on the right track?
2. What gear do most riders start in when lining up to start a race? (total 38 moderately hilly miles)
3. Do most riders (Cat 5) do any riding before the race to warm up? Personally I have noticed that I start feeling much stronger and more effecient at pedaling after I have my first 7 to 10 miles out of the way. Would you recommend getting in a few miles the morning of the race just to get warmed up?
4. Also, any advice you have to give, I would love to hear it.

Thanks for all your help on this.

Tennessee

1) Sure.
2) I dunno, high enough that you can get rolling, clipped in, and ready to shift as necessary. Try it... what feels right?
3) Absolutely warm up. If you don't know the area and have a trainer, take that. Otherwise, maybe you can just warm up on the road nearby. At least half an hour with a couple of short but hard efforts. You don't want the race start to feel like that first LT interval, do you? Plan for the worst... get there plenty early, and while you'd like to finish your warm-up just before the start, give your self some extra time to allow for ***** and last minute prep.
4) Search the site for past posters asking similar questions. Search the web for race reports. Chat about it with an experienced, mature racer.

my piece of advice:

should you find yourself near the front, do NOT take it upon yourself to chase every person that tries attacking. sometime's it'll be hard to resist, but think before you decide to go along for the ride.

i've done crits where i've chased EVERYTHING that went off the front in the first half or so of the race. i went from riding strongly in a great position to 3/4ths of a lap down. i pulled myself out before the officials did it for me.