The Tampa Twilight Criterium

The Tampa Twilight Criterium took place this past Saturday and my girlfriend and I accidentally attended it. We were in downtown Tampa looking for the ECO.lution festival and ran right into it.

I wasn’t sure what it was but it turns out the event is a fast-paced bicycle race that features a ton of cyclists racing on a short urban course through downtown Tampa. Besides having a variety of different races, there were also a bunch of different vendors with products relating to cycling.

The Races Were Intense

I was pretty impressed by the bike races, especially since it was the first time I had ever seen a bike race in person. It’s pretty crazy how fast people can go on a bicycle. I stood there in awe as the cyclists came flying by us doing lap after lap at high speeds.

Here’s a video of one of the bike races:

Pretty crazy huh? What’s really impressive is the fact they keep those speeds up for 40 minute straight. I was exhausted just watching them do a few laps.

If you’re in to cycling, I highly recommend checking out the event next year. It’s free to spectators and you can watch it from various places in downtown Tampa.

Published on March 29th, 2010. And don't forget to check out my book, Life After the Cubicle.