THE FORGOTTEN ANGLER : HARDSCRABBLE HUMPER TURNS TO HARDSCRABBLE THUMPER

Sunday, August 15, 2010

HARDSCRABBLE HUMPER TURNS TO HARDSCRABBLE THUMPER

As I approached the Mountain Pedaler from Broadway this morning at about 6:50am, I saw a couple of riders preparing to go ride the Hardscrabble Humper, a self concocted sufferfest that some friends had suggested we do a few months ago. I thought to myself this is perfect, A pretty small group of riders that we can hopefully kind of keep together during the ride and keep it mellow. Then I got to the intersection of Broadway and Second street, home of our local bike shop, and looked down the road. I almost shit. There were 40 riders there, and it was virtually an allstar line-up ready to go pound the dirt. So we went and rode, Gran Fondo style, and it was an amazing day. Not a cloud in the sky, 40 miles of unreal riding, new friends, plenty of crashes with no serious injuries (update; Brian Ingolsby apparently is OK after wrecking on the Plunge pretty big, cat scan was negative, thankfully), and huge smiles at the end of the day. Perfect. Here is the GPS track from Jake Wells...

Humper Profile

Riders prepare for the BIG ride

Allstar line-up including Jake Wells, John Klish Steve White, Courtney Gregory, and so many more HEAVIES from the valley, and many riders who just came down to check out the Eagle scene, they were blown away by the riding

The roll out was impressive down main street, Charlie Evans with the scooter neutral lead out.

The start of roughly 38 miles of dirt Things start to sort out on the way to Pipeline Perfect weather, Perfect ride, Perfect group Wells and Klish off the front as they roll past the Wolverton entrance to the Firebox cut off Linda and Tatum Wells with the first aid station, snacks galore and icy beverages, thanks girls! Just some minor mechanical issues, nothing major. And then out in the middle of no where, on the way to the Mike's Night Out hike a bike, a wonderfully placed box of ribbed condoms. What were you guys off the front doing up there? The top of Mike's, time to RIP downhill, for a very long time. Mike's was crazy fun, pretty grown over with sage logs on trail from walking cows, definitely needed your "A" game here. Then home for a little Compex love, not sure that even helped, we are all toasted! The first Humper was a HUGE success, 40 starters, perhaps 15 finished, and the rest of the riders raved about the riding, they will hopefully come back and finish the course on their own time. Finishing the ride with the climb to the Yellow Chair is a fitting and very brutal finish, but that is how it was intended, riding this section clean at the end of the Humper is a monumental task, I could not pull it off, but was terribly close, and that is good enough. This ride will happen again, and it will be bigger.