how tall are you and what size bike do you ride
In my expirence, as long as there are no significant hills my chain never ever leavs the big ring.
6'6", 63 cm bike.
I will have to work on the short bursts also it seems, like the bursts required to get on someones wheel or accelate through holes. In my first crit I was almost never out of the saddle, I seem to develop lots of power while sitting and pushing a hard gear. It really seems like what gets me is exactly short bursts.
I appricate the comment on staying in the front. As I gain experience I hope that becomes easier. I have good cornering skills which actually is the reason why I was able to hold on the the back so long after I got dropped. I guess in the next month I will then have to work on those two skills... The best way will probably to do LT intervals and to do spinups while in the middle of a standard interval to develop power over LT which seems to mimic most what happens in a race.
And of course on climbing...