Race Report 7: The Northumberland Humbler

The good, the bad, and the ugly....
The Fast and Furious...
bah...too many cliches fit here...
This race was hot hot hot and fast fast fast...the inaugural Northumberland Humbler was a fantastic ride through forest full of swooping, fast and flowy singletrack, with a little sandy doubletrack, and enough poison ivy to keep everyone on their toes and rubber side down. I really wanted to do this race, after missing most of Substance Project's events last year, so I decided to see if I had at all recovered from Solstice enough to attempt the 60Km marathon. I felt good going in, so I set myself on having a great day on the trails. And a great day it was! We started at 11AM (totally respectable hour, leaving lots of time for coffee and a casual commute to the venue...) and the day was already heating well upwards. Right at the start, I knew a couple ladies had charged ahead, and I hoped just to hang on and see if I could find some power as the race went on. I never saw them again! As they battled out the course up front, I sat in third and focused on maintaining some pressure - but, I ended up riding virtually the whole race alone - no one around! The course was so fast, and I would have loved bigger gears for sure, but was content with my choice, It was pretty peaceful, and the course was so flowy, that I never felt my mind wander off into the place it likes to go when it loses focus if I am left alone too long - I was happy with my ride - definitely feeling the lack of power, and maybe some aches and pains at about the 45K mark, but all in all, I was doing OK. Fun trails!! I finished in third, feeling totally spent but happy. Dan put on a great event complete with Cowbell trophies, cases of King Brewery beer, and lots o' draw prize swag - top notch. I hope I can make it out to Kingston for the next and final marathon of this series - definitely worth the drive :)

I hope everyone had fun in the woods this weekend too! (any poison ivy effects yet??)
Ride On :)

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