When it comes to racing, the weather is my friend. I rode my first Hotter'N Hell Hundred bike ride in Wichita Falls on August 29th. It didn’t get over 80 degrees that day. It took me just over 6 hours to ride 100 miles. Total ride time was 5 hours and 21 minutes. I drove out there by myself and met up with some friends from the Bicycles Inc. group rides. I got a killer massage and a bike cleaning at the expo. The Bike Medicine guys were out there with Golden Degreaser cleaning solution and Purple Extreme lubricant. My bike had a great ride the next day!
My friends hooked me up with a spaghetti dinner and a place to sleep. I drank way too much tea and couldn’t sleep at all that night. But I felt okay in the morning. It was very unusually cold for late August but I wasn’t complaining. The adrenaline was in full effect as I prepped for our departure to the race start. I’m always afraid I won’t get everything ready and end up getting left behind.
We drove into town and found a parking spot about a mile north of the starting line. We got on our bikes and rode the rest of the way. There were SOOOO many people there! The line of cyclists stretched for several blocks. Being opportunists, we pulled way over next to the starting chute and turned our bikes around right at the front. We waited with 14,000 of our closest friends as the sky grew lighter.
Finally, just as the sun was rising, they sang the National Anthem. As the song neared the end, I looked back and saw the jets flying high in the air directly above all of the riders. Right as they reached the starting line, a REALLY loud BOOM from the cannon signaled us to take off! It wasn’t until then that we realized we had been standing very close to the cannon. It really scared the crap out of us!
We scrambled to get our bikes moving and get up on them and clipped in. I very quickly lost most of the group I was with. Most of them were riding faster than me so I slowed down to wait for a couple of them to catch up. They were going quite a bit slower than I expected and it took them a good 2 to 3 miles before they caught up. In the meantime, I watched the madness of the Hotter’N Hell Hundred going on all around me. Lots of riders passed me and I saw several pace lines go flying by! It didn’t take long before I saw some nasty wrecks. It’s bound to happen with that many people out there.
I finally gave up on my slower companions and sped up so I could finish riding before sundown. I really wanted to make Hell’s Gate before the cut off at 12:30 PM. Riding 60.3 miles in 5-and-a-half hours isn’t all that difficult but I just didn’t want to cruise along for the ride. I skipped the first rest stop and stopped at the second one about 20 miles along the course. Back on the road, I encountered a really bad slowdown and had to walk my bike because of a really bad wreck.
I got going again after that and started noticing some of the pace lines that were zipping by. I decided to give one of them a try. They seemed to be pretty free form with people joining and dropping out as they saw fit. I was amazed at how fast we were able to go! I was still pushing myself to stay with the group, but there is no way I could have gone that fast under my own power.
I kept using pace lines through the rest of the ride and stopped at every other rest stop. I paid my pace line dues by leading one for several miles. Going east was tough as the wind was coming from that direction. The chip seal pavement is the bane of my existence. During much of the ride I keep thinking “the faster I finish, the faster I can get back home and see my girlfriend.” That often gave me some much needed inspiration. The last 10 or so miles were my favorite. I finally got back on a well paved road with smoother, faster ride and the wind was at my back. Still, it seemed like the end would never come!
We finally had to ride up and over an overpass to get into downtown and reach the finish line. On the final stretch, I rode over what seemed like the finish line. The people around me seemed to ease back like they were done. But then I saw the real finish line with the inflatable arch over it. I tried to strike a good photo pose sitting up on the bike with my arms outstretched and almost fell over. And then I was done!
I immediately called my girlfriend, Kathryn, and told her the awesome news! Then I went and found some of my friends who’d already finished and collapsed in the grass. After recovering for a while, I got a hankering for a corn dog with mustard. It was truly an awesome experience and I hope to go back and do it again sometime.
jb
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