According to Tahoe’s Northstar California Resort, I am a ghost pepper.

While it’s probably one of the cooler nicknames I’ve ever been given, it’s not unique to me. It’s one of three skill groups at the mountain’s summer “Progression on Pedals,” or POP, women’s bike clinics; the other two are pepperoncini and jalapeños, ranked by spiciness levels. I’m there on a Friday evening in August to spend two hours with my fellow ghost peppers in a class for and taught by women, designed to help mountain biking ladies progress their skills in tackling Northstar’s downhill, lift-serviced terrain.