Race Day Preparation
Being prepared on race day will help eliminate some of the anxiety associated with competition. Final equipment adjustments should be made the day before, not on race day. What a pain, "Brother, do you have a wrench I can borrow" prior to your race. Also, try packing most of your gear the night before your race.
Early in your racing endeavors you may need a checklist of items to take, but once you have gone through this exercise several times, packing for a race will be second nature. Take spare wheels if you have them, extra tires and tubes, toolbox, pump and clean rags. "What Ifs" in case it rains or turns cold and clean, dry clothes for the drive home? Food and water for both the race and the journey home.
Arrive at the race approximately 2 hours prior to the start of your race. This allows you time in case you get lost. If possible park as close as possible to the start/finish, registration area. Go to registration first; confirm placement of race numbers and start time and check to see if the races are on schedule. Find out if they will be allowing warm-up time on the course if you’re doing a criterium. If not, walk the course backwards, observing the riders coming toward you. Pay particular attention to the line the pack and solo riders take through the corners. Make mental notes of hazards and the distance the finish is from the last corner and determine the direction of the wind.
If you're at a road race and are unable to ride the course ahead of time, then at least ride the last 2 miles to familiarize yourself with the run in to the finish. Other riders may be able to provide you valuable information as well. For important races try to arrive at the race the day before so you can ride the course. Years ago we drove to districts on a weekend we weren’t racing and train on the course and rode it the day before as well.
The longer the race the shorter the warm-up and conversely the shorter the race the longer the warm-up. For time trials and criteriums I warm-up for an hour, broken into 4 segments of 15 minutes each. The first 15 minutes I run through my entire drive chain at a nice easy tempo. The next 15 minutes I ride in my race gears and up the tempo. The third 15 minutes I do 2–3 hard, all out 15 second jumps. The final 15 minutes are a steady tempo as I ride back to the start area.
Drink some water, have a good race and above all avoid "Kissing the Pavement."