TOUR OF THE OTHER MINING COUNTRY 
    Thursday Night Mountain Bike Race  -- August 11, 2005 -- 15 miles

The Fairbanks Cycle Club held it's fifth annual Tour of the OTHER 
Mining Country Ride on Thursday night.  The curious name comes 
about by comparison to another "mining country" race, held in the 
Cleary and Pedro Dome area.  Braving the smokey conditions that 
blew in on Thursday and obliterated the sun, seven racers 
completed the course and even enjoyed themselves, despite the 
grueling ascents and incredibly bumpy downhill.

The course completes a circuit of Ester Dome, utilizing mining trails 
that run from lower Henderson Road to upper Ester Dome Road, 
across the top of Ester Dome to a twisty single-track trail that runs 
west to connect with the Fireplug trail, where racers rattle to the 
finish down a wide trail strewn with roots and loose branches. 

The first place finisher was Melissa Lewis with a time of 1:14:59, 
holding off Aaron Capone who finished in 1:17:55.  Course marker 
pickup was done in 2:48:47 by Doug Burnside, who declared that it 
was a fine night for a bike ride, even though he had to keep stopping 
to pick up arrows and pin flags.  


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Race Results

Melissa Lewis		1:14:59 1
Aaron Capone		1:17:55 2
David French		1:20:53 3
Steve Clautice		1:22:35 4
Ed Parson		1:25:10 5
Joy Ritter		1:26:40 6
Bill Hrinko		1:33:07 7
Doug Burnside (cleanup)	2:48:47 8