Forgot to comment on this. It's something that I have to do since I die if I go into the wind to move up.

Near the beginning of the race some guy (I think a Junior, and a less experienced one) was having problems maintaining position while inside the field. I watched him go backwards in the field and I only noticed because he was sort of self-commentating on his lack of "position maintaining" skills - like "I can't believe I just lost 5 spots... Man, I just lost two more spots... Why can't I maintain my position... I can't believe this, every time I move up I lose all my spots right after" etc etc. So I watched him lose spots.

What I realized is that his comfort zone (i.e. how close someone could get before he got uncomfortable) was pretty far out there - probably 3-4 feet in front - about 1-1.5 feet to the sides. So he'd leave a 2-3 foot gap to the next guy - and that's enough for someone to take that spot, especially since you could get within a foot to his side and he'd just move over away from you.

When your comfort zone is a lot smaller you can move into spots which allow both you and your comfort zone to fit. I figure mine is 0-1 inch to the side - contact is fine and I've been slammed a few times from both sides without problems. It's maybe 0 to 6" in front - I've jammed my front tire into people's cassettes or quick release skewer levers inadvertently and when I draft people I know I can sit as close as 1-2" comfortably.

Think of it as cats and their whiskers - cats will squeeze into spots if their whiskers (their "comfort zone") say it's okay. But if their whiskers start touching things they may not like it and back off.

I've gotten yelled at because my comfort zone is minimal but I may pass someone who gets freaked out if someone gets within a foot of him. Then I get yelled at to "hold my line" etc. What they don't realize is that I haven't touched them, I'm not going to, and there was plenty of room. They just didn't feel comfortable with me right there.

The way to reduce your comfort zone size is to do drills. For the sides it's simple enough - just practice bumping elbows, shoulders, hips. I'm small on the bike so my shoulders sometimes hit other rider's forearms. You have to keep your torso somewhat independent of the handlebars - meaning if you get bumped in your arm or shoulder, your bars don't get jerked.

For your front zone, you need to practice touching wheels and not going down. I drilled doing this on the grass for a winter and have since used the skills learned a few times to stay up. Also you have to learn how riders react to terrain/pace - like when will they stand up, when will they ease, when will they accelerate. Using some knowledge of human nature, you can somewhat predict what the rider in front will do and adjust for it.

hope this helps,
cdr