UTokyo bicycle racing team

Rits criterium near Kyoto, with 19 km qualifier in the morning and 40 km final just before noon. It was really cold and windy for the qualifier, so I just went for enough points to move on to the final and then sat in and rested. By the time the final started, it had started raining and the course was pretty slippery, but coming from Seattle it wasn't bad at all. For the first half of the race I felt awful and barely hung on at the back of the group. However, I gradually started feeling better and by the end of the race I felt pretty good and moved up to the front. This, however, was when I made my big mistake. I thought that points in the final sprint went 10 places deep, like the RRS series, so I didn't go for the final mid-race sprint, instead moving into position for the final sprint. Then, I made my second mistake, and rode conservatively on the last lap even though I felt good, because I thought I would get enough points in the final sprint. So I didn't attack, went into the final corner one or two places too far back, and then took sixth in the goal sprint. I later found out that goal sprint points only went four places deep, so I ended up fourteenth overall. If I had gotten even one point, I would have moved up to tenth or ninth, and I could have upgraded to class one. While I'm happy that I got stronger as the race went and had a good goal sprint, I'm really mad at myself for not knowing the scoring system. Normally, planning and positioning - using my head and strategy - is how I get good results even when I'm not feeling good. But today, the only thing I have to blame is myself. I promise I'll do better next time.