Hello all,

I am a racing newbie (5 races under my belt) and am racing in Australian C grade vets (35+). All crits so far - road racing season is just starting here.

I am enjoying it a lot, but have been reading on the importance of staying near the front in all the tips sections I have read.

So far, I have 2 thirds, a fifth and a couple of mid field finishes. I got one of my thirds by joining a late break away and one by breaking off the from the back of the bunch and sprinting alone with about 1km to go (was caught by 2 riders 20m from the finish line- was about to explode!).

I am looking to ride to my strengths, and as much as possible mitigate my weaknesses.

In the last race where I got third on a solo breakaway, I rode the whole race in the lee of another big guy right up the back - there was an accordian effect on a couple of corners but I did not find it too difficult to keep with the pack (average speed of the race was 39.1km/h). I look to stay down the back as I am a broad 6'4" - making it perfect for someone to draft me. Additionally, the thinking is that the riders at the back are unlikely to chase (all the strong riders are up front) and by the time I am riding past the front guys I have it cranked up to about 50km/h, so no-one can immediately get on my wheel.

So in short - my current strategy is to hide and snipe.

I am interested to know whether this is a viable long term strategy, or if there are other things I could be doing (such as the advice from many places to stick in the first 10 riders). My main concern is the ability to get away from the front if I need to without someone getting on my wheel (other than when I am looking to pull for friends in the race) - in practice sessions at the Velodrome, I have found that I cannot shake riders on my wheel with sudden acceleration - but if I wind it up from the back I can usually break.

Thoughts?