[4] Sponsored by the Nevada City Chamber of commerce, the schedule included Women's, Junior's, and Master's races, in addition to the Men's main event.

The 90-minute race included 40 laps on a twisting, hilly 1.1 mi (1.8 km) circuit[5] with over 300 feet of climbing.

[6] The course, basically unchanged since its advent, was considered by experts to be the toughest one-mile criterium in the United States.

[6][7] It was initiated by Charlie Allert, a native of Dresden, Germany, who had been a bicycle racer and master lithographer before arriving in Nevada City by way of San Francisco.

[3] Todd Gogulski (1986, 1988), Scott Moninger (1994, 1997, 1999, 2006), Alexi Grewal (1993), and Levi Leipheimer (1998) also took the top spot.