First of all: Great job!
Originally Posted by
merlinextraligh
It's something that comes with practice. You learn to read the ride, and be able to predict accelerations, or at least react to them quicker.
Keep your head up; don't fixate on the wheel in front of you. You need to keep the wheelin your peripheral vision, so you don't overlap, but your focus should be up the road, looking past the rider in front of you. That will make you smoother in the paceline, as well as safer in that you can see problems developing sooner.
Use your ears too. You can hear sounds such as free hubs clicking( or stopping clicking), people shifting, etc., that also help you anticipate surges and lulls.
Watch who's pulling, and when the lead at the front changes. You'll be able to learn what happens to the pace of the group as those changes happen.
Mostly, its just repetition, and trying be really situationally aware.
Seconding all of what Merlin said. On the bolded part: when I first started going on group rides, a friend of mine who was an experienced racer advised me to keep my eyes on the jersey pockets of the rider in front of me. You will see any changes of pace or direction immediately and more importantly it's easy to look from there past the rider and up the road.