The third stop of the Lake Superior Gravity Series, Miner’s Revenge, went down this weekend (7-12) and it was a wet one!!
The forecast for the weekend originally called for rain on Saturday, but if you’re familiar with the area, the forecast is rarely accurate. And it was, kind of accurate this weekend.
Friday riders showed up and the dirt conditions were amazing. A few puddles here and there, but mostly good dirt! Then mother nature wanted to show us what she was made of!
The rain came down, hard! Really, hard!
The rain lasted into the night. And by morning the trails took on an entirely different look than they had started with Friday.
Racers were treated to 6 stages of wet, slippery roots, rocks and mud! Racing started at 10am with riders hiking up the infamous ski hill to their first stages. Expert enduro entered the mine for the first stage. 46 degrees, dark and wet. Racers had to navigate through the mine mid race run!
Stage 2 was Lion’s Back. A “tamer” trail with some tight sections, punchy uphills and one off camber rock that caught out a number of racers!
Stage 3 was the Miner’s DH course. Giving riders a little taste of speed for the day! Even a little air time with some of the only jumps of the race.
After a short break to reset the stages, riders dropped into Hunts. The undisputed most technical trail of the day! Riders were nervous that the rain was going to move in prior to this stage. Because with a rock roll to start you off, a slippery/rocky steep, some rooty off camber, this trail really could take you down! Luckily the rain held off and riders were able to tackle the stage with their vision mostly in tact. The rain clouds that were lingering above and the dense tree coverage did make it quite dark in this stage however!
Stage 5 was Scenic Piste. A trail mostly consisting of the open ski run. With grassy wet corners, this trail was short, but certainly caught out a number of riders!
The final stage was Dangerous Curves! Which, coincidentally was in pretty good condition by the time racers got there and many though they had the most confidence on this trail. Maybe they had gotten more accustomed to the conditions, maybe the conditions were better, maybe the curves weren’t as dangerous as they had thought. We may never know!
At the end of the day Kyia Anderson, Mara Breeuwer, and Annett Trebitz rounded out the female podium. While Ryan Zinzow, Alex McTaggart, and Myles Carey filled the men’s podium!
Racers got a couple hour break after the enduro to get some food and water before the downhill began!
Downhill practice began at 4pm. Riders got to ride up the ski hill in pickup trucks. But after seeing one get stuck and the others start to struggle on the very wet uphill, some riders opted to hike up the hill for their runs. It was impressive watching the trucks make it up the very slippery rocks towards the top of the shuttle trail!
The talk of the downhill was the ever growing puddle that was near the top, just after the main rock section of the course. Riders were consistently talking about going above the puddle, below, or through the puddle. But as riders continued to puzzle the puddle, it grew, and grew AND GREW!!! By the time the race began, there was no going around this puddle!
The reason this puddle was such a point of focus for the racers was that it came right before a pretty flat portion of the track. Normally on a dry day, racers can carry speed out of the rocks into that flat section. But with that massive puddle taking any speed you had generated, pedaling that straight section made everyone’s legs burn!
Race format was best of 2 runs, no seeding. Race runs started at 6 for the first runs, with second runs occurring immediately after.
Remember that puddle? You’re correct. It was still the main topic after run number two! Racers were amazed at again, how much more it grew after the first race runs! That many riders hitting the puddle at race pace just continued to grow the beast!
Kyia and Mara stood one and two on the podium again for the day, while Maggie Klein took the third step of the women’s podium.
For the men, Ryan took home first, while Bode McFadden and Michael Noble took the next two spots.
It was a great day of racing with some live music to end the day!
Thanks to the Soke crew and the Adventure Mine for having yet another amazing event!
Amazing photos provided by Dylan!!
Check out Alex’s vlog from the race to see more of the muddy trails!