Originally Posted by carpediemracing

Bummer about the bar plug. It's one of the basic rules, one of the few bike related rules. I preach this all the time, no one seems to listen until they get hit by a rules violation, but read the rule book. It's the first thing a racer ought to do, and it's what a racer told me when I wanted to get into racing. I skimmed it, didn't really read it, but when the racer quizzed me I failed ("what constitutes a free lap?" "what determines when you finish, like when what crosses the line?" "do you need a bar plug?" etc). So I went and really read the rule book. We were in about half of our classes together in high school so half my day was spent learning about bike racing.

On the other hand you seemed to be in a much better place as far as the last lap goes. I can't tell how fast things were relatively speaking, but it looks like everyone was content with your work. You might have been able to reduce that work, by easing when possible. If you end up at the front like that you can gauge your effort to minimize it, instead of blindly going at some arbitrary pace. Go a bit easier, checking back (by looking down, not turning around) to see if you're starting to get swarmed. If you are then go harder to keep guys behind you. You can quickly get a reading on what the others will accept. Repeat, hopefully keeping more in the tank for the actual finish. Keep in mind that for "course features" (turns especially) the acceptable pace will probably be much higher. Good job though, and a great race for trying things out.