Texas - 2008 - Hotter 'N Hell 100

nice work, y'all! I missed my goal time but still managed to set a PR - 4:39:28

Yeah you should be able to hang in just fine. Are you a newbie racer? I always tell guys, it's not the average speed that gets ya, it's the repeated accelerations from 21 to 30+ then jamming for 2-5 minutes that shell guys. As long as you have some racing experience, it's not that hard to sit in though.


Don't race, but do a lot of faster group rides so I've gotten familiar with surges - maybe not the same as in a true race, but they're the type of surge where you miss a half beat, and you're off the back in a bad way.

I'm hear you on the average not reflecting the effort - there's some days where I come back with a mid 19 average and I'm ready to pass out/puke, other days it's 20+ and I feel like I hardly worked.

Yes, I do all of my riding in/from Collinsville. I don't recognize your bike but I usually see a few different people around Collinsville on 377 a few times a week. I actually rode down to Aubrey and back the other day, it was about a 40 mile ride. That's as far as I usually go when I'm riding by myself.

I actually live off of 380 east of Aubrey proper. It is exactly 50 miles from my house to the bridge over lake Texoma on 377. If you havent done it yet, going north from Whitesboro on 377, the shoulder is smooth black top (perfect) and is an awesome ride. I think it's around 25 miles each way, but there are plenty of places to stop along the way to refuel. Are there any group rides in your area? If not who do you ride with?

just handups.

If this is what I think it is I really needed something like that around mile 80 or so.....I big issue is none of the water stops were holding out water for anyone. Are you saying they are handing it through the group?

If this is what I think it is I really needed something like that around mile 80 or so.....I big issue is none of the water stops were holding out water for anyone. Are you saying they are handing it through the group?


I figured he meant they handed out liquid on the fly to the racers, although not to the normal riders. Or that maybe they had their own people stationed around to hand stuff out as needed.

Meanwhile, more photos. The last one was intended as a self-portrait, but I missed, but looks sort of cool in a creepy sort of way.
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/HHH/HHH6.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/HHH/HHH7.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/HHH/HHH8.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/HHH/HHH9.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/HHH/HHH10.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/HHH/HHH11.jpg

What a great ride this year. My friend and I slaughtered our inaugural ride time from last year. Last year we did a 6:30 ride time and about 8:45 on the course. This year we made sub 5 for the first hundred. Our total miles were 107.49 in 5:20 and we were finished in 6:49. It was an incredible ride. We worked real well together trading pulls and we had lots of other sit in with us and helped also. This was my first century were I averaged 20mph, we couldn't believe it.

this was my first ride that was over 45mi.
i accomplished my first century ride on a single speed bicycle, my schwinn madison.
total route time was 8:07 with a 7 hour ride time.
my buddy jeff, also rode a single speed.
i met lots of cool people and the rest stops were incredible.
the only thing that sucked about the ride was the crappy roads, which just about rattled my teeth out.

i'm very proud of my accomplishment.
let me know if you recognize me!





bikes in the gym at the ymca:
http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/47/hhh1qv2.jpg

blowing up the starting archway:
http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/1921/hhh2ir4.jpg

me and my riding buddy, jeff 5:15 in the morning:
http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/5338/hhh3yf5.jpg

my bike on the left, jeff's on the right.
both are single speeds:
http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/4020/hhh4gb0.jpg

the group at about 6:50am:
http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/3279/hhh5op9.jpg


me and jeff right before the start.
i'm on the left:
http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/1926/hhh6vc1.jpg

we made it to hell's gate!!!! (at 11am):
http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/2214/hhh7zj5.jpg

me at the 80mi. rest stop:
http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/3352/hhh8ye5.jpg

the finish line:
http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/9175/hhh9xi6.jpg

this was my first ride that was over 45mi.
i accomplished my first century ride on a single speed bicycle, my schwinn madison.
total route time was 8:07 with a 7 hour ride time.
my buddy jeff, also rode a single speed.
i met lots of cool people and the rest stops were incredible.
the only thing that sucked about the ride was the crappy roads, which just about rattled my teeth out.

i'm very proud of my accomplishment.
let me know if you recognize me!



I think I saw you guys watching the men's crit on Friday evening - I noticed that pink wheel when I looked over at the bike a few yards down from me. Congrats on doing the ride on a fixie - that's pretty impressive.

What was the actual high temp Saturday? My bike computer indicated 115 at one point, and between 104 and 108 much of the time. I guess that's 3 ft. off the ground on the pavement - right where we were. My ride time was 7:30. After about mile 80, I was really draggin. I thought I was going to need an I.V. before I got to the finish. By the way, that pickle juice is some nasty stuff.

i head it was 106 when we crossed the finish line at 3pm or so.....

www.weather.com (http://www.weather.com) shows a high of 97 for yesterday. It never did feel all that hot. I was tired, but okay heatwise. It felt good to sit in front of the fans, but that really wasn't the problem. It was also fairly dry in the afternoon. I sweated a bunch, but my clothes weren't all that wet when I finished, just had big dried salt stains on them.

(Edit- misread a line above).

I know I was a whole lot sweatier when I finished the 40 mile route on the Mesquite Rodeo Ride- I think high temps + high humidity + earlier in the summer.

this was my first ride that was over 45mi.
i accomplished my first century ride on a single speed bicycle, my schwinn madison.
total route time was 8:07 with a 7 hour ride time.
my buddy jeff, also rode a single speed.
i met lots of cool people and the rest stops were incredible.
the only thing that sucked about the ride was the crappy roads, which just about rattled my teeth out.

i'm very proud of my accomplishment.
let me know if you recognize me!



I recognize you guys and the bikes. We played leap frog a bunch. I made Hell's Gate at 11 AM. I had a 7:10 ride time and a little over 8 hour total.

I was the dude on the green Trek 520 with the 3 orange water bottles and the Brooks saddle. I think you were the guy who passed me just before (or after) Burk and asked how I liked the Brooks????

Hat's off to you on the single speeds.

The beauty of the old Trek is 38mm tires, 80psi pressure, and the seal chip roads really don't bother you.

I recognize you guys and the bikes. We played leap frog a bunch. I made Hell's Gate at 11 AM. I had a 7:10 ride time and a little over 8 hour total.

I was the dude on the green Trek 520 with the 3 orange water bottles and the Brooks saddle. I think you were the guy who passed me just before (or after) Burk and asked how I liked the Brooks????

Hat's off to you on the single speeds.

The beauty of the old Trek is 38mm tires, 80psi pressure, and the seal chip roads really don't bother you.

yes sir, that was i!
hat's off to you for crossing the u.s. on a bike!!
i pretty much new that anyone on these boards would recognize us if i posted some pics.
we were kinda hard to miss!

I actually live off of 380 east of Aubrey proper. It is exactly 50 miles from my house to the bridge over lake Texoma on 377. If you havent done it yet, going north from Whitesboro on 377, the shoulder is smooth black top (perfect) and is an awesome ride. I think it's around 25 miles each way, but there are plenty of places to stop along the way to refuel. Are there any group rides in your area? If not who do you ride with?

Yes, the new blacktop is HEAVEN north of Whitesboro. I work in Whitesboro and see it every day and just wanna cry cus I never get to ride it. There's always a southern wind and I like to have the wind at my back when I'm coming home, so I always go south first. I guess that's a stupid reason but I hate having a head wind when I'm coming home. I will definitely get up there one day soon.

No, not any group rides in my immediate area. The closest one I know of is the Nautilus guys all ride a couple nights a week and they're out of Sherman. So I would have to drive a vehicle 30 miles to meet up with them to start. Then on top of that they probably go many more miles than I plan on going lol. I ride by myself 95% of the time. About 40 miles is my max for non-rally riding because I get kind of bored and it gets challenging going that far without any drafting help. My dad and brother will go with me once every few months or so. That's why I enjoy rallies so much.. I actually get to ride alongside not only a few other riders but hundreds of them.

Great ride!! This was my first century and I had a blast. Definitely worth the 5 hour drive. :D

Snapped a few pre-ride pics. Didn't bring the camera with me on the ride though, a decision I regret..

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc53/JavaWolf79/hhh2.jpg

The sis and I. Unfortunately we ended up seperated halfway through.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc53/JavaWolf79/hhh.jpg

Women's crit the day before.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc53/JavaWolf79/hhh3.jpg

I dragged my brother all the way through. Really the heat did not seem bad at all on the ride to me, but I just drove up from Houston. I finished with the official clock at 5:55:55 but my computer showed average speed of 19.0 so I was happy that he moved along that fast. I think I could have done it with about 21-22 avg if I were not waiting on him so many times.

WOO HOO! Finished my first century and it was the HHH! Man did it feel good to cross that finish line....

Rode out with the Hells Gate Hopefuls group as it was my first century and cruised all the way to the rest stop at mile 30 with no problems averaging 17.1 mph. The weather in the morning was absolutely beautiful and couldn't have enjoyed myself more... unfortunately..... after about mile 50 I started getting some pretty nasty leg cramps even though I had been pounding pickle juice, bananas and power aide... wasn't going to let that stop me so I just grit my teeth and rode through the cramps which were moving back and forth between my calves and thighs.

Made Hells Gate at 1130 and the weather went from enjoyable to what everyone expects... hot and windy. I think the weather report was indicating 98 degrees and 70% humidity (not sure about that though)... doesn't really matter, the heat coming off the pavement was plenty... :)

After the 70 mile rest stop things got really bad with the leg cramps and I couldn't get over 15mph without some serious pain so I geared down and just kept pedaling... hit all the rest stops after the 70 mile stop except the 3 mile beer joint.

What really hurt was seeing that railroad overpass just a few miles from the finish.. that was really cruel :) Although everyone says the route is mostly flat it certainly seemed like I was pedaling up hill all day long.

Managed to roll across the finish with a 15.0 mph average and an enormous smile - at least I think I was smiling.. not really sure about that because there was no part of my body that wasn't in pain .. but I was really satisfied that I had done it.. .no mechanicals, no flats and no ride home on the SAG wagon.... my riding partner finished about three minutes ahead of me with a 15.2 mph average so he gets all the bragging rights....

Have to mention the wonderful organization of the ride and MOST IMPORTANTLY - THE VOLUNTEERS manning the route and the rest stops... WONDERFUL SUPPORT and couldn't have asked for better care and consideration... outstanding support and those folks cannot be thanked enough!

On the slightly less painful side... my riding partner and I were sitting in the hotel room Sunday morning having a celebratory Crown Royal cocktail and my front tire blew after the bike had been leaning against the hotel room wall for 12 hours.... thankful it didn't happen on the route....

Will definitely be back next year - although it was painful it was a great test of my ability and it was a wonderful weekend!


PS.... for those fellow riders I spoke with and rode with I was the guy in the National Park Service Jersey.. seemed to get a lot of attention because of that jersey and I just want to thank everyone for the enjoyable conversation, great ride and the occasional pulls I got from you! :) Next year I'll try and do more work up front.....

Ride safely and hope to see you all again next year!

Marathon Foto already has some pics up....go see if you can find yourself!!!

http://www.marathonfoto.com/home.cfm?Language=en&BFI=gw2m3z9w6a&Frames=true&Flash=true&FlashVersion=9&Height=960&Width=1280&Index2Home=true

If this is what I think it is I really needed something like that around mile 80 or so.....I big issue is none of the water stops were holding out water for anyone. Are you saying they are handing it through the group?

Right - for the USCF races, they had volunteers standing by the side of the road holding bottles of water, and as we ride by in the pack we reach out and grab 'em.

Yes, this is entirely as tricky and dangerous as it seems. It's WAAAAAY safer to just stop for a minute and fill up your bottles... but of course in a race that ain't happening.

Xerocoma- from your times, there, I should have been a good ways behind you. But I remember seeing a guy in a National Park Service jersey at one of the rest stops, so there might have been more than one person wearing them.

I had just passed a guy at about the 98.5 mile mark when I heard a "BLAM". I assume he had a blowout. Or gave up and shot himself after being passed by me. And another guy that I saw at about the next-to-last rest stop was looking at a bulgy spot in a tire that didn't look any too hopeful.

counting the people i saw changing tubes, and the tubes strewn across the side of the road, there was no less than 300 flats.
hell, i saw 10 people with flats before we even made it to the first overpass bridge, a quarter mile into the ride.
wtf?

Xerocoma- from your times, there, I should have been a good ways behind you. But I remember seeing a guy in a National Park Service jersey at one of the rest stops, so there might have been more than one person wearing them.

I had just passed a guy at about the 98.5 mile mark when I heard a "BLAM". I assume he had a blowout. Or gave up and shot himself after being passed by me. And another guy that I saw at about the next-to-last rest stop was looking at a bulgy spot in a tire that didn't look any too hopeful.



If the NPS jersey was worn by a guy with a gray goatee it was probably me, there were a couple of times that I felt like shooting myself, that's for certain.... I felt fortunate to finish and have my blow out happen the next morning.. :)

If I had blown out with just a few miles left I would've laid on the side of the road and cried.....

After the 70 mile rest stop things got really bad with the leg cramps and I couldn't get over 15mph without some serious pain so I geared down and just kept pedaling... hit all the rest stops after the 70 mile stop except the 3 mile beer joint.

What were you thinking? The beer stop is the most important one. A beer or three and a couple hot links will cure leg cramps better than anything.:thumb: After that you can coast to the finish and not even have to pedal that overpass.

WOO HOO! Finished my first century and it was the HHH! Man did it feel good to cross that finish line....

PS.... for those fellow riders I spoke with and rode with I was the guy in the National Park Service Jersey.. seemed to get a lot of attention because of that jersey and I just want to thank everyone for the enjoyable conversation, great ride and the occasional pulls I got from you! :) Next year I'll try and do more work up front.....

Ride safely and hope to see you all again next year!

I think I remember you, as we swapped back and forth a time or two... I was the guy in the Arkansas Bicycle Club jersey (#453) and the black-and-blue Orbea.

Made out to Hell's Gate a little before 11, but oce I got thru there I made a short pit stop at each rest stop after that for gatorade and a banana.

Total time on the wheels was 5:52, slicing around 20 minutes off last year's time...

Tom

After the 70 mile rest stop things got really bad with the leg cramps and I couldn't get over 15mph without some serious pain so I geared down and just kept pedaling... hit all the rest stops after the 70 mile stop except the 3 mile beer joint.

What were you thinking? The beer stop is the most important one. A beer or three and a couple hot links will cure leg cramps better than anything.:thumb: After that you can coast to the finish and not even have to pedal that overpass.

I was afraid that after a couple of beers I wouldn't get back in the saddle and I could hear the finish calling... probably just hallucinations.. NEXT YEAR THE BEER! - -- my new motto.. :)

I think I remember you, as we swapped back and forth a time or two... I was the guy in the Arkansas Bicycle Club jersey (#453) and the black-and-blue Orbea.

Made out to Hell's Gate a little before 11, but oce I got thru there I made a short pit stop at each rest stop after that for gatorade and a banana.

Total time on the wheels was 5:52, slicing around 20 minutes off last year's time...

Tom

Think I recall you as well, I think our bikes were on the ground side by side at one of the stops.... I hit Hells Gate at 1130 and things got tough... next year: better, faster, stronger! Oh yeah... beer at 3 miles to go next year too! :)

this was my first ride that was over 45mi.
i accomplished my first century ride on a single speed bicycle, my schwinn madison.
total route time was 8:07 with a 7 hour ride time.
my buddy jeff, also rode a single speed.

.....

i'm very proud of my accomplishment.
let me know if you recognize me!

You should be proud! I recognize you - I saw you at rest stop 70-80ish?...I had the 06 Bianchi L'Una. You were commenting on the fact that my wheel probably cost more than your bike. Maybe true, but know that the chip seal sucked more for me, on a carbon frame, than it did for you.

Anyway, I don't think I would ever have the guts to rock a single speed on a century ride. Kudos to you and Jeff (who I also remember).

See ya next year! or maybe at TTTT in Cleburne next month? -

Lisa

I do remember! It was at the rest stop with the lake beside it. I met a lot of good people on this ride. I really wasn't expecting that. Just about every group ride I've been on has some real *******s in the group. This was definitely different! I'm waiting for the group of guys that nicknamed me "big sexy" to show up here! Them dudes were awesome!

This was my first organized ride to attend and it was a BLAST!! The bad part was having to work all day Friday until 6pm.. In HOUSTON.. Then make the drive to McKinney to pick up my lady... THEN on up to Wichita Falls and having to set up camp.

Wow.. Talk about exhausting. I didn't fall asleep until 2.. Woke up at 4:15. That was the killer.. Not the heat, nor the length of time on the bike.

I'll be riding solo.. or possibly with a group next year. Don't think I can handle the 100k @ sub 14mph! "But I don't mind waitin' on a woman" Hahaa.. It was fun and I'm proud of her!

I'd REALLY like to get involved with some local riders. Humble/Kingwood/Spring area.. Or even South Houston for weekend rides.

Advise or direction, anyone?!?!

There's a photographer linked from the HH100 that has a bunch of photos posted already:
http://www.pbase.com/rphoto/ride08

(This is the link to "The Ride", there are also galleries for the criteriums, etc.)

I just checked my photos on the official photography website and they actually came out pretty decent. Cool! Got 4 on order.

kudos to all who rode.
I didn't make it up to Ghisallo, so no riding for me.
I really appreciate all the stories.
One word of advice, when you're cramping, don't stand up to straighten your
legs on the little dip under the railroad tracks just outside the finish line, makes for
some really interesting times when you hit the uphill and have to pedal . . .

Again, props to all.
Marty

At the Consumer Show, they had a big booth selling HHH stuff, including a bunch of shirts. I was wondering if those were still available or all sold. I've emailed from their website, posted in their forum with no response- anyone else know anything about this stuff?

I'm a new member here but I've been riding in the HHH for a long time. This year was a great ride- hot, which is about average, but light wind. I can remember past years when the high temp was 106 and also when it was just 89, but this year we didn't have to feel cheated out of the heat.

At about the 12 mile mark the 100mile/100k route goes by my parents house, which means the ride is a little more interesting for me and also that I don't have to fight for a place to stay when I'm up there.

Photos- I noticed a LOT more photographers out on the course. On their website they actually had 29 photos posted with me in them. Some past years I would just get 1 or 2, or maybe none. I've got to figure out which ones I want to order.

Actually this year is my 25th year to ride the HHH, and I plan to keep riding it as long as I can.

Wow. They must have quit at lunchtime or something, because they just had 8 or 10 of me. But the ones they had were good, so I've ordered some.

I made the mistake of putting my number on my back, so I haven't been able to find a single pictures of me :(

bjtesch- Do you have any of the other photographer's web sites?

They gave you a bib number for your back, a cardboard number for your handlebars, and a sticker number for your helmet, and it's the handlebar number that is most visible.

On the Marathon website, they do have a place for unidentified or partially identified riders.
They also have links to another photographer's pictures.
On www.bicycle-stuff.com (http://www.bicycle-stuff.com), they have random ride pictures by two different photographers at the HH100.

At the Consumer Show, they had a big booth selling HHH stuff, including a bunch of shirts. I was wondering if those were still available or all sold. I've emailed from their website, posted in their forum with no response- anyone else know anything about this stuff?

Here is the contact for the HHH merchandise:

Patrick J. McBride
Internet Sales Mgr.
Texoma Cycling Center
502 Wichita Street
Wichita Falls, TX 76306
Phone: 866-723-7272

Just a quick thank you to all that gave advice on when to get to the start line. Some said an hour, some said 30 minutes. We made it to the line at about 45 minutes 'til and it worked really well. I had a horrible last half of hte day on the bike (body issues not related to the ride organization or weather) but am excited about going back and pushing the time down a bit on a better day.

I would also say (for anyone doing research later) that this was by far one of the best supported rides I have ever been on. Ice trucks at each stop. Really? That was cool, figuratively and literally. This was key to my ability to tough it out and finish.

we lined up at like 5:00am

we were the first ones there.

I also did get an email back on the HHH merchandise that said they had to inventory sizes and stuff and should have it on the website in a couple of days.

Is there a link you can go to to look at data from all the people that rented a chip? I didn't rent a chip, but I'd like to see how I compared with others in about my age group. I'm just glad to have finished! My 20 year old nephew (I'm twice his age plus some), a kid that's in pretty good shape, finished only about 10 minutes in front of me. He plays a lot of rugby and jogs, but he's not a roadie and not used to riding. He said this was the hardest thing he's ever done in his life. DITTO!

There is a link on the HH100 site- www.hh100.org.