Next weekend the Short’s Brew crew is heading to Alpena County to participate in Skinny’s Dad’s Bike Race, a/k/a the 11th Annual Chippewa Hills Mountain Bike Race, which will take place on Saturday, September 17th, beginning at 1 p.m. Skinny’s dad and a bunch of his friends formed the Thunder Bay Trails Association to help build and protect trails in Northwest Michigan. Every year, they hold two fundraiser events to support this mission. This year, however, their annual ski race was cancelled due to warm weather. So, according to Skinny, his dad’s group needs an extra good turnout for this year’s bike race so that they can continue to protect the trails.
Skinny rides the Chippewa Hills trail with his dad all the time, so last year he convinced a big group of us to head to Alpena County for this race. It was awesome. The trail contains a huge variety of singletrack, with tight technical sections, fast downhills, and lots of elevation changes. We’ve ridden all over the state, and this is one of our favorite places. This year, our plan is to head out after work on Friday and set up tents near the race course. Then we’ll get up on Saturday and do the race. We’ll enjoy post-race beer and food, and then eventually make our way back to our side of Northern Michigan on Saturday night. If you’re interested in participating, here is a link to map of event location http://g.co/maps/dsbs.
The course is a nine mile loop. Everyone will start at 1 p.m. Beginners will do one lap, sport class will do 2 laps, and expert class will do 3 laps. The race will start and finish on private propery at 13018 Bartz Rd. Race day registration is only $25. Prizes and awards will be handed out at 3:30 p.m. The top 5 finishers in respective class/age divisions will get awards. For further info contact Randy Fairbanks a/k/a Skinny’d dad by e-mail at [email protected].
We’ll have lots of beginner riders joining us for the event. After all, it’s more about having fun and getting a workout than anything else. So even if you haven’t raced before, we’d welcome you to join us.
Wondering who Skinny is? His real name is Nick Fairbanks. He works at our Elk Rapids Brewery and helps install all of the fancy new equipment that we use in order to make our beer. He also keeps us thoroughly entertained with his sense of humor.
-Team Huma
