My hands were sweaty, my stomach was in knots and my legs were already scared. Was it too late to fake the flu and cancel?

As I walked up Broad Street to meet the crew from the local Sierra Express Racing Team, I began to wonder if maybe I was getting in over my head. Actually riding the Nevada City Classic course - what was I thinking?

About a week ago, SERT President Craig Lindberg sent me an e-mail asking what I thought about going out some night or morning to ride the course with some of the local riders. He said he could set me up on a tandem bike and I could see the race from a true insider's angle.

Of course I jumped at the chance, but as Wednesday evening drew closer, so did the doubts in my head. The past few years, I have written time and time again about how tough the Classic is and how much pain the riders go through during the race. And I was going to experience that - "yeah, great idea Stacy."

Craig was waiting for me at the top of the hill with a smile stretched across his face. Some of the first words out his mouth were, "This is going to be like riding a roller coaster without brakes."

I almost turned around right then and there, but that darned curious/adventurous side of me overtook the wimp in me. Plus, Craig was waiting with an official SERT uniform for me to wear during the ride and I couldn't miss out on that.

For the ride, Craig had borrowed Duane and Connie Strawser's tandem bike. A tandem bike is a bike with two sets of pedals and two seats. The front person, the captain, has control of the brakes with the back person named the stoker. Craig was the captain, I the hesitant stoker.

Before completely barreling down Broad Street at full speed, we slowly made our way down to Pine Street to practice on some flat areas to get the hang of what tandem riding was like. For me not to have any control over the brakes and trust another person completely was a big leap of faith for me.

After a few minutes of practice and meeting up with some of the SERT guys - Eric Struble, Jim Rogers, John Seivert, David Barrett, Ray Arata and Rick Kalb - we were ready to get going.

Keep in mind that one of the perks of sitting on the back of the tandem is you can easily get away with not pulling your weight in terms of pedaling as hard as you can. I'll admit that first lap around the course I did a lot more chatting with the other SERT riders and trying not to be scared on every corner we took than really helping my captain, Craig, do much of the work.

That first time we rounded the bend on East Broad and came upon the top of Broad Street, my heart beat quicken considerably. I think I ducked down and hid behind Craig for the majority of the trip down the hill, praying I would be alive to do another lap. By the third lap, I'm pretty sure I was opening my eyes again and by the final lap I has even come out of hiding.

Honestly though, I really had nothing to worry in terms of safety. Craig and the other SERT guys are extremely careful, smart riders and did everything they could to ensure total safety for everyone riding.

As we started up the climb on the second lap, Craig pointed out he didn't hear much work going on behind him. My guilt took over and I began put forth a more serious pedaling effort.

Keep in mind that my first competitive experience on a bike took place last year at the Barbara Schmidt Millar Triathlon. Sure I had ridden bikes growing up, but riding was usually just a way to get down to block to a friend's house without having to walk.

But after spending so much time on my mountain bike training for the triathlon, I really began to enjoy riding. I put my bike away for the winter in December, but for the past five months have continued to do bike workouts at the gym.

While my legs aren't exactly in the best shape for riding yet, they weren't completely unprepared for the adventure.

We ended up doing eight laps on the course. Craig told me that in a normal Classic race, the riders do approximately 18 laps. So we did just under half the race - which was enough for me.

So is the course really as tough as people say? Um, yeah.

Believe every word they say. It's absolutely amazing to me that each racer can continue to find the motivation to keep pounding on their legs lap after lap.

I know that watching the riders race down the hill on Broad Street is fun, but take some time to watch the race from some of the climb areas. Those are the truly impressive areas. Spots where the riders need the most encouragement.

All and all, my time on the Classic course was blast. It will be nice to watch the race this year and know the areas where the riders are really suffering - and be glad I'm on the side of the course instead of on the bike.

ooo

Sportswriter Stacy Hicklin's column usually appears on Wednesdays. To contact her e-mail stacyh@theunion.com or call 477-4244.