Originally Posted by dog hair
i think it's best to look at the entire season as a work in progress. because no matter how well you do, there will always be something you feel you might have done better. you'll never know what to improve on if you don't go and find out.
+1 and to add to that you can have a bad day that isn't a refection on your overall fitness. Also cycling is one sport that luck really does play a part in. A good friend of mine who is a very strong masters racer just competed in a two day, three stage race. During the TT he flatted, his pace up until that point would have put him firmly in the top 5, as it was he fell out of the top 20. Not much you can do about that. He was still able to take positives away from that weekend, even the TT as his SRM numbers were very good.
Dog Hair is completely correct that you can never know what your weakness or strength is until you test yourself in a race. Training is one thing but racing is a whole different beast.