Tri Peaks Day 3, part 1

Today was the crit. My first P1/2 crit at an NRC. I thought to myself, there's no way a crit can be much faster than any other crit ive done. WRONG. These guys just go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go. It sucks! on top of the pace, which was manageable, the course had 8 90 deg. turns in it. the race was basically a big yo yo. The only open straight section was a gutter fest with a nasty cross wind which just intensified as the race progressed. At about 40 min in there a crash. I pulled a nice cyclocross move if i do say so myself across the open park to avoid the crash and rejoin the group. However i thought it was in my best advantage to just take my free lap. As the pack whizzed by, the guy holding my bike said "go!" right as the last rider passed! i sprinted and made it back on. However i burned about half my tank as not a single fucker would let me into the pack. Everyone at the back was desperate for the wheel in front of them and i was quickly joining in on their mentality. Finally someone let me in and the yo yo effect was to the max. Several guys opened up gaps and i was forced to close them. With 50 minutes down and 5 minutes left i popped trying to close yet another gap. I jumped on a train that caught me and finished with that group, about 10 minutes from the end of the race. While I'm pretty bummed that i didn't really finish the crit im pretty sure next time i will, considering my mishaps/mistakes i had today. Later on this afternoon is the TT, not my specialty but hey who knows what can happen. I'll give it all shes got and hopefully pull out something respectable.