You're coming from Burkburnett?

Driving south on the freeway there will be traffic backups at the exits leading to the MPEC. I think this is the "Business 277" exit. If you keep going south you can take what looks like an exit for "Holiday Street/Business District". This takes you down to the street level instead of the overhead that continues farther south. Traveling south on street level you can take the first left turn that doesn't look overly busy. Like I said I usually turn on 10th street, but you can probably turn on 8th street. She can drive down to Travis street or so, drop you off, and head back out to the freeway. At 8th and Travis you are only about 4 blocks from MPEC, a little farther from the start line on Scott street which will be heading north.

My parents live on the route, about 12 miles from the start. (By then it's only the 100k and 100M routes.) He was up this morning so he sat on the front porch and watched the bikes come by. He called and told me that he thought all 14,000 entries came by. He said he actually was a bit cold sitting out there, so maybe most people won't have to deal with heat. I told him it was likely between 1/2 and 2/3 of the riders that came by on those 2 routes.

I heard unofficially it was a record turnout for both the rally and the races.

Very nice... it was also very cool (literally) feeling the temp down below 70F in the morning!

I had a good ride out of it. It was pleasantly cool (ie, I didn't notice the temperature) up until the 50 mile rest stop. When I left town, though, my car thermometer was showing 98 degrees, so it did warm up.

Normally, when they mention the numbers, they are including all the events (including races and mountain bike stuff).

Had a blast today.

I did hear the announce say at the finish line that the event broke the record for riders at over 13,000 from the 2008 record, and he made a point to say it didn't include the racers. Amazing that the turn out is so big!

Big Kudos to the organizers and thousands of volunteers. It's so well organized it boggles the mind.

I did hear there was a long delay along the 100k/100 mile route with the medivac shutting down the course to land for someone. Not sure how long, but some friends had to walk for about 30 minutes I think.

Oh, and 3 of the nutjobs in my group are getting up tomorrow to finish the Triple Threat...I'll be sleeping in!

I think they had 16k riders at some time in the past. There were supposed to be 14,200 last year.

I did make the Hells Gate even with starting at 7:30 and about 30 min delay when they closed the road. My 2 colleagues didn't make it before they closed the gate.

The ride was exceptionally easy until we passed Electra and turned East on 240. From then on the wind was brutal.

I am not sure what happened that we started so late.

They claimed they had more "port a johns" than previous years , but the wait in Electra was terribly long.

I feel great completing my first century on my 61st birthday.

Congratulations on the ride.

Way to go Greg and Happy Birthday.:bday: Time to buy a new bike :D

Thanks for the congratulations. I wasn't happy with my performance. I did much better on an 88 mi ride about a month ago. I guess too much time elapsed between between the 88 mi ride and yesterdays ride.

I will need a new bike. I lost mine yesterday.

It is ironic because I got the bike for my 60th birthday and lost it on my 61st birthday.

How did you loose a bike?

I just read that about the bike on the other sub forum. I'm really sorry to hear that. A bike a year, could get pretty expensive.

damn did someone hit the easy button?

cleared the gate at 10:45, was drinking beer by 1:15/30, pranced over the finish line at 2:30 to go drink more..

I was on the chrome fixed gear with green bar tape and wheels, say hey if we rode together!

I remember a fixed-gear with green wheels, but you should have been an hour or more ahead of me, so that wasn't you.

green bars and a silver/green/yellow jersey
?
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=167306

I made it to hells gate as well, but was caught by a train early in the ride, in the delay for medivac too (hope the guy was ok?) and paused a second time by a train. I rode the intentional pyro's retreat route, taking the shortcut to go down through the military base. Total about 75.5 miles. It gave me time to head back into the consumer show before they closed.

I agree about the stretch after Electra. The first part was great with a tail wind, but after that turn folks weren't looking too happy (including me) That seemeed to suck the life from me.

I saw dozens and dozens of people heading off the wrong direction from the MPEC and Bridwell center to jump the start after the bridge. I started from Scott and 7th back with my wife who was doing a shorter route and we didn't roll until 7:40am

holy crap there were a LOT of water bottles on the course. I also counted two blinkies, two hand pumps, and several bottle cages too.

It's still a fun ride!

I was wearing my Las Vegas jersey and a red (nashbar framed) bike if anyone saw me.

You should have been behind me somewhere, but I do remember seeing a UNLV jersey at some point on the ride.

The HH100 site is saying this year holds the record now...not sure what the old numbers were:
http://www.hh100.org/

14,205 last year. I thought the 1st or 2nd year I did the HHH when it started out at the stadium, there was 15,000 riders one of those years. That would be only the rider count because that was all there was back then.

I was amazed at the number of bottles on the course too. I got stuck behind that bad wreck and the train as well. Also for as exposed as the rest stop was and as late in the course as it was the one just before the really nice one at the orchard with the girl in the chaps and cowboy hat was very unorganized and tough to navigate.

The highest bib number I saw was 13,898.
I counted at least 5 of the new Camelback Chill water bottles laying on the road in the 1st 10 miles.
Once again I'm astounded by the insanity of people doing the ride with no clue as to how to fix a flat. One woman I asked if she needed help said "I don't know how to fix a flat", she had neither spare tube, pump etc.
as I was on tubulars I had no tube to help her. I did stop and 'lend' my frame pump to 3 different riders who had spare tube and no pump or CO2 cartridges.
Very nice of the airmen/airwomen on Sheppard to hold your bike at the last rest stop, and the gauntlet of screaming, applauding troops was a nice touch too.
I was on the Blue and white Trek 770, say hi if you saw me!
Marty

This was my first of what i hope will be many HHH 100s. The first 50-60 miles seemed to go by easily and then we hit that headwind out of Electra and it was a slog from Hell's Gate to the finish. I had a great time however and while i have never seen so many dropped water bottles (i swear there was one rolling down the first bridge when i crossed it at 7:30) I was impressed with the competency of most of the cyclists out there. i might have a different perspective had i been in the back of the pack and saw everything but there seemed to be few incidents, unlike the MS150s i've ridden where there are calamities of some sort every other mile.

i've said it here before but as unpleasant as TX cycling can be (dangerous drivers, lousy roads, etc.) i really admire the strength and coordination of the DFW cycling clubs and organized rides. i would love to get up to ride with y'all some weekend!

I was on a black GT track bike with neon green seat bag and bar tape. black and cyan jersey.

My first HH100 as well. 6h 20min pedal time, with an additional 1h45min spent in water lines. Next time I'll bring more than 1 bottle... but i didn't want one in my back pockets. Heck, I zip-tied a cage to my track bike for the ride... so how was it so many OTHERS lost bottles or entire seatpost bottle holders when mine was the rigged one?

For those that said it would be flat. I think it might have been flat... but it sure wasn't level! Then again, my riding is all houston area. But still... more hills than expected. Not a problem with them, just glad I didn't gear down more cause decents would've been a pain.

Weather was great... spent friday night in a hammock with shorts and started to get a little chilly at times. On the ride, it was no where near as hot as the training days I've been doing.

So, I have to go back. I mean, what's a HH100 when it isn't hot, right? Also, want to beat 6hr pedal time.

At least one downed rider that was flown out was reported as OK on HH100's facebook page. Smashed nasal cavity and some other issues... but relatively OK.
HH100 roads are beautiful. I've never done a ride with so many smooth roads. The worst HH100 roads are mid-grade for sooo many rides I've done in the past.