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 :)
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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