I'll wear the jersey next race. Well, they didn't tell me about the jersey until we were already lined up just about to go off. A guy comes over and is like "we've got a race leader's jersey if you want to wear it..." They would have to repin my number and I'd have to change jerseys, and I just didn't want that much fuss. I just wanted to race. Turns out the announcers ended up making more of an even bigger fuss out of the fact I didn't. Even taking a knock at me saying "experienced racers would ALWAYS wear the jersey..." Oh well =p.

As for the riding the day before, its gotta be a personal thing, but I think it really helps to have at least an hour of spinning, with some short hard efforts in the middle to "activate" your legs. The problem can be keeping a rein on yourself. That's one of the hardest parts of training to me: realizing you have to go slower on some days to maintain your fitness.

You do strength training? I haven't lifted at all since I started cycling seriously. I'm curious about how that would affect performance.

I also have a lot to learn. I started racing collegiate in February, after a history of long distance rides and lotsa miles, and after moving to A's I realized my tactics weren't too great! The first of this series was my first USCF. I still have to get one more race upgrade out of 5's...the director for socal is way too strict on upgrades as far as I'm concerned.