When the dirt-adorned descend into Whistler Village with their mountain bikes for the Fat Tire Crit, it's the nearest thing Whistler has to a Running of the Bulls - crowds pressed into a cobble-stoned circuit enlivened with unpredictable sprints, the snort of wild things out of their native environment being flushed through winding chicanes, and everyone's pulses racing. Winning the Crit requires more tactical and technical mastery than savagery, making the Fat Tire Crit a crowd-pleaser, as racers fall prey to the "lap or be lapped and tapped out" law of rider Darwinism and fight right to the finish.