Hi Paul great to hear you want to race just a few pointers on top of what the others have suggested. When you do race always stay near the front the lower grades are sometimes a bit crazy with the bike handling so stay near the front. The other is to alway make sure you are on I mean only cause you are behind a rider doesn’t mean he hasn’t been dropped, an example the renae crit on the weekend our grade split in the middle and a good gap opened up and only a few from the back split got back on.

If you are doing Pickering brook and you are not a great climber try to be near the front when they do start the climb that way you can float to the back of the bunch and you might still be there at the top of the climb. Good luck