North Lake Tahoe Crit Report by Doug Jorgensen The Incidental Racer On Thursday, July 18, I was introduced to N.Lake Tahoe's version of the twilight crits, on dirt and with mountain bikes. North Tahoe Recreation & Parks puts on a series of twilight races in 3 locations throughout the summer. I stopped into Olympic Bike Shop after my morning 30 mile ride and saw a flyer for a race that night in Tahoe City. I thought it might be interesting; race beginner class, 1 lap, and have fun. Low key.... I justified beginner class because I had already ridden 30 off rode miles today, I didn't know the course, and I didn't live there. My wife tried to shame me into racing at least sport class. I showed up to the registration and they wanted to know where Livermore was? & what was I doing there? I told them I was on vacation. This is what I do on vacation, race! When I saw my competition in the parking lot I wished I hadn't ridden the 30 mile ride so hard. I tried to put on my best race face and intimidate the locals. My wife pointed out the "nice" equipment of the competition. They may drive VW vans and beat up pick up trucks but their bikes are supreme. This race was about midway through the series and my wife noticed that alot of people were slyly looking at me and my bike, trying to figure out what my jersey said, who I was etc. Experts did 3 laps of the rolling 6 mile course, Sport 2, beginners 1 lap. The course was about 50% single track & 50% double track. There were 5 other guys in my race (35 yrs - 44yrs). The race started with and uphill sprint with the local dog pack chasing (by the end of the race my wife knew all the dogs names, there were 9 total) At the top of the 1st climb it was a local on a Specialized FSR & me. I spent about a mile & 1/2 sucking his wheel, following him thru the single track, trying to recover from the starting sprint. The second climb I decided to test this guy. I passed him and slowly started pulling away. We went into some twisting single track coming up to riders from the previous starts. My first mistake was not knowing the course at one point, in passing another rider, I wound up in a boulder field. I passed the Specialized guy again and thought I'd seen the last of him. When we got to a rocky downhill, he came flying past me, much faster than I wanted to go....this is my vacation after all! I prayed for a long uphill. There it was, I saw him shift to his small chainring and I knew I had him. I put on my best roadie "crack'em on the climb" move. I put it in the big ring and motored past. I won! I now have 100 points in the Tahoe Twilight series. I think I'm in a 3 way tie for the series leader. My wife is voting for us to go to the next race and making it a 4 day weekend. Doug