A lot of the tips I put in earlier in this thread have been targeted at people like me who know they're going to finish in the bottom of the pack. I think I mentioned something like this before, but over the course of the year I've had a particular strategy crystallize a bit. Everyone knows that on the first lap you go all out, right? But what if you have no chance of keeping pace with the leaders or even the main pack? In that case, don't go all out on the first lap. Let everyone go. Don't start slow, but don't exceed the pace that you think you can maintain. The people at your fitness level will come back to you and when they do, they'll be dragging. This is particularly true if you're in an unbalanced field with a handful of really strong riders at the front.

I've been using this strategy all year. In nearly every race I was in DFL within the first quarter lap, but I've only actually finished last in 4 of 21 races and I probably would have finished last in those races regardless (at least crossresults.com thought so). Some of my more successful results using this strategy were 9 of 14, 45 of 58, 104 of 122 and 48 of 57. So obviously this isn't going to be the strategy that catapults you into your series lead, but if you're struggling to avoid finishing last, try starting last! Passing people is more fun than fighting to hold a position.

(I should note that this is obviously a variation of BikeSnobNYC's "un-tack" strategy, but I was doing this before he named it. For me, it's an extension of the "Reverse Hole Shot" strategy I posted here last year, and I suspect it's a lot more successful as a CX strategy than it is as a road racing strategy.)