Frist Road Race Ever!!

[Eden]

One of the biggest differences that, I think, people from the tri world are often unprepared for is that a road race tends to surge and ebb. Tri racers tend to be used to a steady effort and they are often swinging between frustrated because the pace is too low and hanging on to the back when the pace suddenly becomes very high... Be mentally prepared for that and you'll have won 1/2 the battle.

Warming up isn't a very common practice for tri -folks? (but then you've done TT's and probably know this..) For road racing, especially when the race is short, it is essential. Bring a trainer if you have one or warm up on the road. If you aren't ready to put out max effort right away you can be dropped needlessly - so get in at least about 20 min of warm up and make sure that you put a couple of hard efforts in there (get the legs burning!)

That's about all I can think to add to She Fly's very good advice - oh and watch your cornering - you won't be alone through the corners, so be aware of where everyone else is around you, unless you are first through the corner follow the line(s) of the people in front of you and never dive for the inside of a corner to try to move up (you will probably be cutting off someone taking a good line through the corner if you try this, you could cause a crash and you definitely won't win yourself any friends in the peleton).

Good luck!