Brons2
08-28-2006, 11:45 PM
Well I went up to Wichita Falls this weekend to do the Hotter'n Hell 100. It turned out to be quite an experience.
FRIDAY
Was awakened from my deep slumber by my mom at 6:00 AM. I had gone over to the 'rents house the night before, as she had a bunch of my sister's stuff to take to her new house in Dallas. The little sis had just graduated near the top of her class at the McCombs MBA program, and has gotten a great job and bought a house in North Dallas.
To my surprise, Mom had already loaded up the back of my truck without my help. Feeling badly about that, I rearranged a little bit and got a few more things in there. I threw my large duffle in the back, which contained a leather gym bag with my clothes, my tent, sleeping bag and pillow.
We headed out about 6:30, just avoiding the morning rush on Mopac. Mom drove, but I never really could snooze much.
Got a call about 8:30 that email was down at work. Great. We kept driving to Dallas though.
Arrived at my sister's place around 9:45. Of course she wasn't there...doh. But she showed up shortly thereafter and we checked the place out. Cute, hardwood floors, built in 1950.
Kept dealing with email problems by phone. Finally got them on the way to resolution. So I headed out to Wichita Falls about 1:00. After a couple of hydration stops, I got into town about 3. I didn't know where the MPEC was, so I looked it up on my Blackberry. I couldn't find an address for the thing, but then finally I saw a freeway sign for the MPEC that lead me to it. Yay.
Parked and went inside for registration. The place was packed! After some gyrations about finding the proper registration number (7328 in my case), I then went to the expo which was also packed. I spent a few hours at the expo, there were some great deals. Bought a new Cateye Cordless 7 wireless speedometer for $22, some Pearl Izumi microsensor shorts for $83 (the normally $139 variety), a GIGANTIC Chamois Butter container for $14, some Longhorn cycling socks for $7 a pair (nomally $13.95 a pair at my LBS) and some endurance Jelly Belly beans! (interesting). They also had Team Discovery shorts and jerseys for half off ($49 each, usually $99 each) and the Conti Gatorskins I use on both my serious road bikes for $55 a pair (usually $40 each) but I decided I had spent enough. The HHH jersey was also cool but even the XXL was too small for this 6'7", 260 lb rider. They were out of XXXL's.
Ate the $7 all-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner, it was ok but not great. Always good to carbo-load, so I counted my blessings and downed three plates of it along with two salads and huge 5 glasses of water.
I then felt like a stuck pig, so I went back to the expo and checked out the some of the Toyota/United Cyling Team girls. They were all decked out in spandex. Some of them were hot!
Finally about 7:00 I went outside to find my campsite. Yes, that's right, outdoor camping. We were right outside the equine
barn, directly across the Wichita River from the registration/expo hall. Well the high temp in Wichita Falls on Friday was 108 F, and by 7 it wasn't that much cooler. Undaunted, I set up my tent in the lush grass along the fence.
At least showers were provided, but they were horse showers!
There was no 'hot' water but the tap water from the city's water
supply is blood warm anyways, so it didn't matter much. There was simply a red lever with a hose attached. It's always good to be at least somewhat clean at the start of the ride, so the shower was much appreciated.
Outside air temp at 8:30 PM was 100F. No way I could consider sleep at that point, so I met some of my neighbors, and then decided to install my new speedometer. I saw some cute girls in an RV and asked them if I could borrow some wire cutters in order to trim the cable ties that attached the speedometer and sensors to the bike. They promptly produced their husbands which found the cutters for me. Gack. At least it all worked. I rode around in circles inside the lighted equine barn for 1/3rd of a mile trying out all the new functions of my fancy wireless setup.
By 10:30 when i was trying to get some sleep in the tent it was all the way down to 94F. I couldn't sleep, so I called a girl back in Austin to complain about my plight, and then checked my email on the BlackBerry. I think I finally got to bed around midnight.
SATURDAY
Awoke about 4:30 am. Hit the snooze a couple of times and finally arose about 4:45. I chamois-buttered up my shorts, put on my jersey, located my sandals and headed off to breakfast on foot, back across the Wichita River. The front doors of the MPEC were opened at 5:00.
Breakfast was $5 and was provided by Luby's. I wasn't real happy with the options. The standard breakfast was eggs, 2 sausage and 2 pancakes. Well I wasn't happy with that as I like pancakes before a ride. So I gave them back the eggs and sausage and said I wanted a lot of pancakes. They provided me with 7. Excellent. They were somewhat flavorless and limp, but nothing a good dollup of butter and a lot of syrup couldn't cure. I downed them with 2 large glasses of water and a half cup of coffee, to try to make up for my sleep depravation. On the way out I quickly downed 4 huge glasses of some unintelligible orange drink crap. It wasn't good, but I needed to hydrate.
Got back to the campsite about 5:30. It was still pitch black. I packed up my sleeping bag and pad, put on my cycling cleats (I have clipless pedals) and threw all the stuff out of the tent. Took down the tent in record time. Hey, I did this for 8 days straight on my Colorado bike tour. My neighbors commented that I was embarrasing them.
I put a brush on my teeth, then I threw all the stuff in the cab my truck which was parked about 30 yards away in a gravel lot. Removed my bike from the back of the crew cab and inflated the tires to 120 psi, then rode over to the equine barn and filled my three 24 oz water bottles with lukewarm water. It was about 6:10. The sun was barely stirring in the eastern sky.
Then I was off to the starting line. I got as far forward as I could, which wasn't that far considering the 11,000+ riders. It started getting light around 6:30. Some cycling friends from Austin strolled up while we were waiting for the start. It was nice to have someone to talk to while I waited.
Finally, at 7:00, the first riders started off. Of course I was at least 100 yards back from the start so I didn't get going for quite some time. I estimate we rolled past the start around 7:20. Even after that it took some time to get going at a decent speed as there were simply many, many cyclists.
After a few miles I started to separate from the slower riders though. As I warmed up, I got in the left lane and increased my speed into the lower 20s as less serious cyclists fell by the wayside. Many later turned off, as I was on the 100 mile route but there were 100 kilometer (62.6 miles), 50 mile and 25 mile options.
It was overcast in the early morning and I felt great. As we turned onto a side road, some pro-wannabee flew by me. I sprinted after him and tucked in behind his rear wheel. We maintained a steady 27-29 mph for about 3 miles.
It was only my f-up that made me drop back. I tried to pick up one of my bottles and drink out of it, but I dropped the damn thing and it ended up in the road! ****! Embarrasing. I wanted to have three bottles with me, so I stopped on the side of the road and waited for the bicycle traffic to lessen, then I went out in the road and grabbed the stupid thing.
Otherwise, things were going great, and I was hauling serious ***. I didn't stop until 32 miles in or so, at the 3rd rest stop and only then to fill up my 3 bottles. This time with ICE COLD water. Yay. Then I was back on the bike. I crossed the 50 mile mark after about 2:30 with a 19.8 mph average. Pretty smoking considering that the speedo was running for the first couple of miles where I was stuck in the crowd doing 4-6 mph.
Stopped at the 6th rest stop which was between 56 and 60 miles; not sure of the exact distance but I'm sure it was the 6th rest stop. Time was about 10:30 by that point. Filled up my 3 bottles again and headed off.
It was then starting to get really hot. I had passed through Burkburnett, Texas just before the stop, at around 10:15 and the bank temp said 94F. At 10:15AM! My speed slowed a little bit as I jumped into a paceline, seeking some relief and assistance with the heat. That paceline was only doing
15-18 mph, so off on my own again I went around 22ish. Finally found some guys going about my speed and pacelined with them for a while, all of us taking turns at pulling the line.
I stopped again at Rest Stop ..8 at the 78 mile mark, still with a pretty gaudy
19.6 mph average. I got several fills of icewater, gatorade, a pickle and a powerbar of some sort.
FRIDAY
Was awakened from my deep slumber by my mom at 6:00 AM. I had gone over to the 'rents house the night before, as she had a bunch of my sister's stuff to take to her new house in Dallas. The little sis had just graduated near the top of her class at the McCombs MBA program, and has gotten a great job and bought a house in North Dallas.
To my surprise, Mom had already loaded up the back of my truck without my help. Feeling badly about that, I rearranged a little bit and got a few more things in there. I threw my large duffle in the back, which contained a leather gym bag with my clothes, my tent, sleeping bag and pillow.
We headed out about 6:30, just avoiding the morning rush on Mopac. Mom drove, but I never really could snooze much.
Got a call about 8:30 that email was down at work. Great. We kept driving to Dallas though.
Arrived at my sister's place around 9:45. Of course she wasn't there...doh. But she showed up shortly thereafter and we checked the place out. Cute, hardwood floors, built in 1950.
Kept dealing with email problems by phone. Finally got them on the way to resolution. So I headed out to Wichita Falls about 1:00. After a couple of hydration stops, I got into town about 3. I didn't know where the MPEC was, so I looked it up on my Blackberry. I couldn't find an address for the thing, but then finally I saw a freeway sign for the MPEC that lead me to it. Yay.
Parked and went inside for registration. The place was packed! After some gyrations about finding the proper registration number (7328 in my case), I then went to the expo which was also packed. I spent a few hours at the expo, there were some great deals. Bought a new Cateye Cordless 7 wireless speedometer for $22, some Pearl Izumi microsensor shorts for $83 (the normally $139 variety), a GIGANTIC Chamois Butter container for $14, some Longhorn cycling socks for $7 a pair (nomally $13.95 a pair at my LBS) and some endurance Jelly Belly beans! (interesting). They also had Team Discovery shorts and jerseys for half off ($49 each, usually $99 each) and the Conti Gatorskins I use on both my serious road bikes for $55 a pair (usually $40 each) but I decided I had spent enough. The HHH jersey was also cool but even the XXL was too small for this 6'7", 260 lb rider. They were out of XXXL's.
Ate the $7 all-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner, it was ok but not great. Always good to carbo-load, so I counted my blessings and downed three plates of it along with two salads and huge 5 glasses of water.
I then felt like a stuck pig, so I went back to the expo and checked out the some of the Toyota/United Cyling Team girls. They were all decked out in spandex. Some of them were hot!
Finally about 7:00 I went outside to find my campsite. Yes, that's right, outdoor camping. We were right outside the equine
barn, directly across the Wichita River from the registration/expo hall. Well the high temp in Wichita Falls on Friday was 108 F, and by 7 it wasn't that much cooler. Undaunted, I set up my tent in the lush grass along the fence.
At least showers were provided, but they were horse showers!
There was no 'hot' water but the tap water from the city's water
supply is blood warm anyways, so it didn't matter much. There was simply a red lever with a hose attached. It's always good to be at least somewhat clean at the start of the ride, so the shower was much appreciated.
Outside air temp at 8:30 PM was 100F. No way I could consider sleep at that point, so I met some of my neighbors, and then decided to install my new speedometer. I saw some cute girls in an RV and asked them if I could borrow some wire cutters in order to trim the cable ties that attached the speedometer and sensors to the bike. They promptly produced their husbands which found the cutters for me. Gack. At least it all worked. I rode around in circles inside the lighted equine barn for 1/3rd of a mile trying out all the new functions of my fancy wireless setup.
By 10:30 when i was trying to get some sleep in the tent it was all the way down to 94F. I couldn't sleep, so I called a girl back in Austin to complain about my plight, and then checked my email on the BlackBerry. I think I finally got to bed around midnight.
SATURDAY
Awoke about 4:30 am. Hit the snooze a couple of times and finally arose about 4:45. I chamois-buttered up my shorts, put on my jersey, located my sandals and headed off to breakfast on foot, back across the Wichita River. The front doors of the MPEC were opened at 5:00.
Breakfast was $5 and was provided by Luby's. I wasn't real happy with the options. The standard breakfast was eggs, 2 sausage and 2 pancakes. Well I wasn't happy with that as I like pancakes before a ride. So I gave them back the eggs and sausage and said I wanted a lot of pancakes. They provided me with 7. Excellent. They were somewhat flavorless and limp, but nothing a good dollup of butter and a lot of syrup couldn't cure. I downed them with 2 large glasses of water and a half cup of coffee, to try to make up for my sleep depravation. On the way out I quickly downed 4 huge glasses of some unintelligible orange drink crap. It wasn't good, but I needed to hydrate.
Got back to the campsite about 5:30. It was still pitch black. I packed up my sleeping bag and pad, put on my cycling cleats (I have clipless pedals) and threw all the stuff out of the tent. Took down the tent in record time. Hey, I did this for 8 days straight on my Colorado bike tour. My neighbors commented that I was embarrasing them.
I put a brush on my teeth, then I threw all the stuff in the cab my truck which was parked about 30 yards away in a gravel lot. Removed my bike from the back of the crew cab and inflated the tires to 120 psi, then rode over to the equine barn and filled my three 24 oz water bottles with lukewarm water. It was about 6:10. The sun was barely stirring in the eastern sky.
Then I was off to the starting line. I got as far forward as I could, which wasn't that far considering the 11,000+ riders. It started getting light around 6:30. Some cycling friends from Austin strolled up while we were waiting for the start. It was nice to have someone to talk to while I waited.
Finally, at 7:00, the first riders started off. Of course I was at least 100 yards back from the start so I didn't get going for quite some time. I estimate we rolled past the start around 7:20. Even after that it took some time to get going at a decent speed as there were simply many, many cyclists.
After a few miles I started to separate from the slower riders though. As I warmed up, I got in the left lane and increased my speed into the lower 20s as less serious cyclists fell by the wayside. Many later turned off, as I was on the 100 mile route but there were 100 kilometer (62.6 miles), 50 mile and 25 mile options.
It was overcast in the early morning and I felt great. As we turned onto a side road, some pro-wannabee flew by me. I sprinted after him and tucked in behind his rear wheel. We maintained a steady 27-29 mph for about 3 miles.
It was only my f-up that made me drop back. I tried to pick up one of my bottles and drink out of it, but I dropped the damn thing and it ended up in the road! ****! Embarrasing. I wanted to have three bottles with me, so I stopped on the side of the road and waited for the bicycle traffic to lessen, then I went out in the road and grabbed the stupid thing.
Otherwise, things were going great, and I was hauling serious ***. I didn't stop until 32 miles in or so, at the 3rd rest stop and only then to fill up my 3 bottles. This time with ICE COLD water. Yay. Then I was back on the bike. I crossed the 50 mile mark after about 2:30 with a 19.8 mph average. Pretty smoking considering that the speedo was running for the first couple of miles where I was stuck in the crowd doing 4-6 mph.
Stopped at the 6th rest stop which was between 56 and 60 miles; not sure of the exact distance but I'm sure it was the 6th rest stop. Time was about 10:30 by that point. Filled up my 3 bottles again and headed off.
It was then starting to get really hot. I had passed through Burkburnett, Texas just before the stop, at around 10:15 and the bank temp said 94F. At 10:15AM! My speed slowed a little bit as I jumped into a paceline, seeking some relief and assistance with the heat. That paceline was only doing
15-18 mph, so off on my own again I went around 22ish. Finally found some guys going about my speed and pacelined with them for a while, all of us taking turns at pulling the line.
I stopped again at Rest Stop ..8 at the 78 mile mark, still with a pretty gaudy
19.6 mph average. I got several fills of icewater, gatorade, a pickle and a powerbar of some sort.