Originally Posted by
Roadplay
I signed up as a Scorcher with the goal of riding a sub 4:30 for the 100m course. I lined up 25 yards behind the start line, got there an hour early. As I passed the start line I could see up the road to the bridge, I could not believe how many people where up a head of me, it was an endless wave of riders. Of course, none of there folks had timing chips because they started after the chip scanner, so I new the majority of these folks were leisure riders and realized this could be a bit dangerous. I stayed all the way to the left, basically the fast lane, behind other riders trying to make good time. Last year when we hit mile 20/25 things thinned out a little. This year at mile 25ish it was still wall-to-wall riders. This was then things turned BAD for me. I was all the way to the left edge of the road when apparently something up ahead caused the group to bunch. As I was all the way to the left I had no where to go when the guy to the left moved in on me putting his pedal/foot into my front wheel. The next thing I remember was kind folks were all around me trying to help. Long story short… I was ok, a little road rash all over (face, hands, knees, elbows) but no broken bones. I was so thankful I didn’t go down in the middle of the pack and hurt someone else. I new better than to get in the middle of a pack with some of the riders I saw up front. Anyway, as it turned out, my day turned out to be a great day. I found a buddy doing the 100K, so I partnered up with him, we took our time, visited several rest stops and the best part was going through the Air Base. Turned out to be a fantastic ride.
Oh yeah, I got to thank the very kind medical folks that took care of me at the rest stops. At every rest stop they actually came to me and dragged me in for medical care. Really great folks to volunteer their valuable time. I was also amazed at how many other people were being attended to for medical care at EVERY stop.
I know this thread was directed at slower riders that start in front of the racers. But Roadplays post shows why another large group of riders skip the official start. Living and riding in DFW I know many of those riders ... they start a mile or so down the road after the racers go by. They are fast club riders on high end bikes, they ride year round in group rides and can hold Cat 4/5 paces. Most are looking to finish 100 miles between 11am and noon. They don't want to be in pace lines with people whose skills are unknown and want to minimize exposure to the many casual riders at HHH. The last thing they want is a stupid crash causing injury or thousands in equipment damage. They do want to ride fast, get valid comparisons to prior years and current goals, ride 100 miles with no stop signs and spend time with friends they trust pace lining with at 25mph. To re-emphasize they make a point to not impact the racers, by waiting until they pass by before rolling out.
Don't bother yelling at me about this, I didn't even ride HHH this year. But I know lots of riders with this outlook, as well as lots of others who value the energy of starting with 14,000 new friends. Far be it for me to tell any of them what they should do, I just go out and ride.