bjtesch

The ride seemed to run very well. The weather was hot but not as hot as it could have been, I think the official high was about 93F. Today's newspaper reported 11,200 riders. There were 2 crashes on the course in the first 13 miles, I haven't seen that before. I seemed to see more people standing on the course than before, hopefully they didn't cause any other crashes. The finish line village was great again this year.

I trained more this year than last year but I find that the older I get the longer it takes for me to respond to training. I thought I should probably do the 50 mile route this year but decided to do the 100k for a change of scenery. By about 35 miles I was thinking that this was not a good decision and I felt pretty tired by the 55 mile rest stop. I sat there for awhile to recover and managed to finish the 65 miles without much difficulty.

texbiker

I saw more crashes on the 100k/100m route. You can read my thoughts and see pictures at this link at Texbiker.net:
https://www.texbiker.net/blog/2013/08...4th-bike-ride/

Creakyknees

I stayed home and had a nice ride with friends in the Cedar Hill area. It was hot.

mev

Wichita Falls recorded high yesterday of 98F. My Garmin got up to 109F but that was over hot asphalt (https://connect.garmin.com/activity/364502565). Fortunately, in early afternoon we got some clouds and that cooled things down (and perhaps didn't get to 98F?).

I'm not particularly fast and in 2012 I classified myself as "hopeful" which meant I didn't pass the starting line until ~7:45am. That start along with the headwinds meant I sagged in from 72 miles last year. This year I vowed to do a few things different:

1. I rode my recumbent. That made a big difference since recumbents and tandems started at 6:50am this year, even before the starting gun. Not sure why recumbents and tandems should be any different, but I wasn't complaining. It does mean after the first miles a lot more people will be passing.
2. I was better about fueling, cooling and hydrating. After 30 miles stopped in briefly at each rest stop and filled on water and made sure I was cooled down. I also stayed in Wichita Falls rather than drive 90 miles in early morning before the ride.
3. I think the weather probably was also easier, particularly less wind.

I wasn't particularly fast, but came past Hells Gate at 11:00am and finished at 2:35pm. There wasn't a Hells Gate in 2012, but don't think I would have made a cutoff time if it had been there. Hence, this year was a lot easier on multiple counts than 2012.

bjtesch

Rick it was interesting to read your account of the event. I was the guy that was sitting next to you on the cot just north of the air base.

I had trained a lot this summer and each of the 4 weekends before the ride I had done 40-43 mile rides. I was more tired on the ride by 35 miles than I should have been. I decided to sit at that rest stop 10 miles from the finish line for a full 30 minutes and I did. That recharged me enough so I could do the last 10 miles reasonably strong. I didn't ride much last summer and did the HHH 50 mile route in 2012, I crashed 2 years before that and was not able to ride for a full 2 years. I'm just now regaining a little of my endurance. And this was my 28th year to do the event.

As for your age- there was a story in the Sunday morning Wichita Falls newspaper about an 80 year old rider that did the 100 mile route this year. I think I can keep going for many more years but I'm not sure I can make it to 80 years old.

texbiker

Fancy our meeting and now crossing paths again. Thanks for remembering me.

bikepro

Trained for five weeks with a group of other cyclists from the Dallas area. Rode progressively longer rides around the Blue Ridge area. As part of the package, we started in the second group on 2nd street. We started with five in our pace line. We had one slower rider and had to slow down for him to catch up several times. Eventually two dropped out and went on their own. The three of us remained in the pace line until about 10 miles from Hell's Gate. At that point the slower rider was off the back again and couldn't be seen. We discussed waiting for him but decided to go on -- it was about 45 minutes until they closed the gate. We picked up the pace to around 20 mph and made Hell's Gate with time to spare. Once past the gate, we slowed to around 15. Around the 75 mile mark it started to sprinkle. It felt good, but when it stopped about 10 miles later, the humidity was higher than normal for the area. The temperature was in the mid 90's, but the breeze was someone cool. Unlike most years when it's 100+ and the wind is unbearably hot. At one of the rest stops we finally made contact with our third rider -- he also made it though the gate -- but just barely. Said not to wait for him. We held a moderate pace until about mile 90 and then picked up the pace again. Getting to the finish line was all we could think about. We finished about 4:30. On a side note, when we met up with the third rider, he finished in the very last group on the course. They closed each rest stop when they left it. When they got back to Wichita Falls, all the traffic cones had been picked up. They had a police escort of about five cars all the way to the finish line. This was his first time -- he asked if everyone had a police escort. This was the first time I've done the full century since 1985 -- August 24.