Thanks, everyone.

Just to be clear I tend to cut for the center as soon as the opportunity presents itself, but for me at least starting on the outside tends to work a little better.

It seems like when you start at the back it's not one big acceleration but a series of smaller ones.

I definitely agree about warmup. I need to get better about that.

Hopefully experience will help with the nerves. Maybe the early crash situation will be better if/when I move up a category?

I think one thing I'm doing wrong is giving up too early. My next race is going to be on a flat and open course with few natural bottlenecks so I'm going to try to go a little harder throughout the first lap.