I'm pretty new to crits and pretty much suck at them compared to RR's and TT's. However, I've been making small improvements in ability to do them by riding a bit smarter each time. In fact, I just did a crit this morning and felt noticeably better than in the other two I did earlier this year. Here's what I did different this time:

(1) I did a very thorough warm up.
20' easy
10' tempo
3' rest
5' LT
5' easy
2' Vo2/AC zone
5'easy
30" fast spinning effort
5' easy

got to the line right after this.

(2) I don't have a very good sprint so I rode this crit differently. In the other two, I sprint my a$$ off out of every corner. This killed me and I would feel like crap after maybe 5', 10' tops then I was done. This time the more thorough warmup helped me feel better about trying to stay towards the front, but not at the front. However, there were still a lot of decelerations going into the corners. Instead off braking and then accelerating every time, I tried not to touch the brakes, but let a small gap open up to the rider in front of me. Then instead of having to brake and accelerate, I'd already be moving at a decent clip and could gradually increase my speed instead of having to do it hard every time.

This helped me last longer today and feel better.


Crits are as addictive as crack, but they are a whole different ball game.