Worried about getting dropped? Crit racing is about power and position. I don't know what you mean by hard rides, but good training for crits is about muscular endurance. You need to improve your ability to hit it hard and recover. Try doing sets of hard efforts at or just above your anarobic threshhold, followed by recovery periods. Start at numbers based on your fitness level, say 2-5 minute intervals followed by 1-2 minute rests, 4-8 reps followed by a longer rest, and another set. Don't do this everyday, just once a week or so. Get more specific with someone who can advise you "personally," not just "generally" in a forum.
Position is the other key, don't ever "pull a crit" unless your hammering it from the gun in order to blow the poorly warmed up off the back. Attack it. Secondly, look for the key point of the course, usually crits are won into the last corner, but they can also be won on small climbs etc...while many crits end in a sprint, WAITING for a bunch sprint is fine for losers or those protecting GC, but certainly not optimum. Be proactive if you have the fitness, and if you use team tactics in a four race, you'll be in the minority and at a great advantage. Hammer it in turns, and you'll watch the other aggressive riders blow themselves up in the chase, just be willing to sacrifice your own chance for a "team win."
Average speed is worthless, I won two state championships in the fours, and the average speeds in the threes is not always higher, but the accelerations and the attacks come more often, and harder. In local club races I am grouped with the pro-one-twos, and it is even more brutal. The "average won't hurt you, the attack will."
have fun and be willing to suffer.
