Pain Haven 2009
I have posted photos from the Pain Haven race to our Flickr group. It is possible to download these images as well as order prints. Thanks to Doug Fowler for providing us with his photographs. If anyone else has photos from the race, please consider sharing them on our Flickr (or some other means). If you have a free Flickr account, you can post images to the MMBA NE Chapter Flickr group. Enjoy.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/935398@N20/
Update: Above link is now correct.
Click the link below to see the results of Saturday’s Pain Haven Race. I don’t have the photos yet, but Jennifer is working on it (possibly tonight).
Thanks to Jeff and Jennifer Adamcik for organizing another great race event at Pine Haven Rec Area. The course was a perfect blend of well groomed singletrack and roller coaster 2-track. We managed to keep the rain away until after all of the awards and prizes were handed out and the cooler temps were refreshing. Thanks to the many sponsors…Glaceau Vitamin Water, Founder’s Brewing, Dark Horse Brewing Co, Sanford Lake Bar & Grill, Lumber Baron’s Brew Pub, Civil Engineering Consultants, B-Xtreme Cycle & Sport, Ray’s Bike Shop, Bicycle Headquarters and Lake Express (High Speed Ferry). Also thanks to the Midland County crew for helping with preparations.
Pain Haven race fans stay tuned…as soon as I get the pics from the race, I will post them on our Flickr site.
The race results will likely be posted here (be patient)… http://michiganmasher.googlepages.com/results.html
Our little Northeast Chapter doesn’t do much in the “Race” category, but we do have the 30 Miles of Pain Haven. This is a great racing event that suits all rider skill levels and age groups. Jeff Adamcik has recently updated the website and has provided the registration link. So get registered! Mark your calendar for Saturday, September 26th at the Pine Haven Rec Area in Sanford, MI. For more information please follow this link…
http://michiganmasher.googlepages.com/index.html
Having raced the Pain Haven last year as a “non-racer”, I can attest to it being a great introduction to competitive mountain biking. I entered in the Sport class and thoroughly enjoyed it. That being said, there will be plenty of competition at the higher level and cash prizes for the podium finishers. See you there!
U.P. or bust!
Heading up to the U.P. for the Miner’s Revenge race this weekend. This is just one stop along our Griswold family tour across the great North. Here we come Munising, Marquette, Houghton, Copper Harbor, Soo Saint Marie and then back. It should be fun and I will try to post a pic or two from the road, if possible.
Matt Portfleet, from Adventure Mining Co. is hooking me up with a sweet new headlamp for navigating in the copper mine cave. Thanks Matt.
Happy trails all!
Thad
Matt Portfleet of Adventure Mining Company wrote me today. He attached a couple more links for the Miner’s Revenge race in July, that you may find interesting…
WLUC TV6 news story (recent): http://bit.ly/15uF5M
NEW – Miner’s Revenge website: http://www.minersrevenge.com/
Register for Miner’s Revenge at: http://bit.ly/fzINI
Race registration is now up and I can say that it works properly, because I just committed myself to the 20 miler. Time to get myself a headlamp and begin some night ride training.
This is the race description as posted on Active.com: Steep climbs, rolling singletrack, fun descents, and riding with bats. The race takes place at the Adventure Mine in Greenland, MI. Part of the 5 mile lap is through the mine. Lights will be required. Because of the total darkness a GOOD headlamp will suffice. Free on-site camping Saturday night with campfires and fun. The mine is 48 degrees! Two race distances; approx 10 and 20 miles. E-mail caleb@goridebikes or call The Bike Shop in Houghton at 906-487-9500 with questions.
Registration Link: http://www.active.com/event_detail.cfm?event_id=1743535
Sharing some correspondence that I had with Matt Portfleet (race coordinator)…
Thad,
Thanks for calling and getting some race details posted for us. We actually had a super quick meeting at The Bike Shop this morning to hash out the final details before they get widely publicized.
You’re correct, yes the loop will likely be approx. 4 miles, with multiple loops dependant on the racing category. There will be beginner, intermediate and advanced classes, likely 2 loops for beginner, and more for the other classes after we do some test runs and finalize the route here in a couple weeks. By the way, we still have 2 feet of snow in the woods at the mine site! We know the terrain well and the approx. routes, but we need some more melt to finalize the exact distances and difficulties. The loop will contain about a half mile underground. No lights are present at all underground, riders need to have their own. We may offer some discount prices on Black Diamond lights (we are a distributor) to registered racers, more details on that later.
The race is going to be a timed format. We had debated on a mass start, but with too many people it will become mass chaos underground if we don’t stagger the riders somewhat. So that is a change from what I had told you.
Camping will be primitive, porta-johns and water available. Camping is for registered racers and associated people. No fee for camping besides race entry. Basically one tent per entry, we just don’t want every racer to bring 20 friends with 5 tents as we don’t have the space.
Outside terrain is very hilly, great terrain. Inside is gravel/rocky with some tighter areas. There is plenty of outside viewing area, but no space for general public viewing underground. Basically race officials and probably some reporters/photographers for now.
We are working on getting the registration online at active.com. This should be ready very soon.
I’ll keep you posted with any changes or updates and if/when we get a website up and running. We’re working right now on adding a page to our site (www.adventuremine.com) but hopefully we can get a whole site just for the race itself up soon.
If you have any other questions, let me know.
Thanks,
Matt
GREENLAND, Mich. (AP) – This Summer’s Miner’s Revenge mountain bike race in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is taking its name seriously.
WLUC-TV reports the five-mile race scheduled for July 12 at Adventure Mine in Greenland will include stretches inside the mine and on the surface. Adventure Mining Co. owner Matt Portfleet says there will be some tight spaces.
He says “a tall person might have to get off and push,” but that’s part of the fun and the challenge.
Adventure Mining, which offers tours of the site, says the copper mine operated from 1850 to 1920. It’s located in Ontonagon County in the western Upper Peninsula, about 85 miles northwest of Marquette.
Information from: WLUC-TV, http://www.wluctv6.com
…any bets on whether it will crash again. It would be easier on their server, if they staged the registration by classification and age, but we’ll leave that to the experts. Good Luck!
https://new.sportsbaseonline.com/
Update: Down again!…it may be faster to snail mail your entry. Did anyone register before the crash?
88chemic
Recent Comments