TOUR OF THE OTHER MINING COUNTRY  -- THURSDAY NIGHT OFFROAD RACE
	Tour of the OTHER Mining Country -- August 13th, 2009 -- 13 miles


Five riders showed up to the start of the Fairbanks Cycle Clubs' annual 
"Tour Of The OTHER Mining Country Race" on Thursday, August 13th, and 
1:17:26 later, Henry Irving sped across the finish line, covered head to 
toe in muck, grinning ear to ear.

With a steady all-day drizzle that started around noon, conditions were 
decidedly less than ideal for a mountain bike race. The course, fraught 
with roots and steep sections, is normally challenging in dry 
conditions. With Thursday's rain, the roots were slick and treacherous, 
and it is testimony to all the racers' skill that not only were there no 
race related injuries, there weren't even any crashes.

At eight miles into the race, thoroughly soaked, competitors were still 
relatively clean, having climbed up Ester Dome via a network of trails 
at low speeds. Even the first three miles of downhill weren't all that 
bad: racers had to contend with wet roots, but the trail was generally 
in good shape.

At the bottom of the descent, everything changed. The final stretch of 
the course was on Ester Creek road which had a thick coating of a 
reddish-brown runny mud. The riders and their bikes immediately took on 
a brown hue, which was carried to the finish line.

Veteran racer Rocky Reifenstuhl joked "I have to go change the grit in 
my eyeballs now. They're all buffed nicely now, and ready for a finer 
grit."

Thanks to Geoff Orth for photography and course cleanup! 

The overall results are as follows: 

Henry Irving	 	1:17:26 
Lorien Nettleton	1:21:39 
Rick Johnson	 	1:29:06 
Rocky Reifenstuhl	1:35:35 
Fred Raymond		2:07:03