Nevada City Bicycle Classic - June 13, 1999
Part 1 -- Getting Ready
(Posted June 22, 1999)

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Craig and his family came up Saturday June 12 so Craig could race Sunday June 13 for his third time in the Nevada City Bicycle Classic, one of the toughest criterium courses in the US. It's a 1.1 mile circuit through the heart of downtown Nevada City in the Sierra Nevada Foothills. The bikers climb 400 feet every lap on twisty backroads and then accelerate through downtown at 40 mph into a hairpin corner lined with hay bales. There were several thousand people milling about the entire circuit to watch, but it's not as big as it was in the 70's when Greg LeMond was competing (10,000). Still, the atmosphere was festive. Joan and Bob Coker came up the same weekend to look at homes for their retirement in August. After we played tennis with the Cokers Saturday morning I toured them around available homes that might interest them while Mary entertained Craig, Jodie and Tyler when they arrived. Sunday morning the Cokers went off with a realtor while the Lindberg families went to the feature bike races in Nevada City. While we were gone Bob left a note on our kitchen table as they left for home, telling us they made an offer on a beautiful new home just up the hill from us, on Warbler Drive. What good news!

Mary, Bob and Joan enjoying the lake after our Saturday morning tennis.

Craig, Tyler and Jodie also enjoyed the lake in our new pedal boat.

Tyler enjoyed playing in the sand, wading into the lake, and making roads for his trucks (with Craig's assistance).

Sunday was a great day at the races. They have several preliminary races in the morning (and on the previous day) but we were interested in the pro races because Craig was racing in the over 35 class 1/2/3 race (masters pros, plus masters classes 2 and 3 all racing together). This was followed by the women's pro class 1/2/3 and then the men's pro class 1/2.

The preliminary races were under way when we arrived at the start/finish line.

Farther up Broad street Craig and his Alto Velo team mate Alistair Adams were warming up on their in-place exercisers.

Craig paused his warmup to say hello to Jodie and Tyler.

This ends the events leading up to the race. Move on to Part 2 - Men's Masters Race to see the exciting race itself and its heart churning final laps.