The best thing to do is to watch television coverage of races. For just learning, it is even better than actually being at a race because you can see what is going on and there's plenty of background stories.
**Now is the BEST time for stage racing because the Giro has just started**. Steephill.tv has bunch of links for online video coverage of the Giro. If you have sports cable channels check those too. The Tour de France in July is also fantastic because of the coverage, but the Giro is usually a more interesting and gritty spectacle, IMHO.