August 25, 2007
It is hard to believe I rode with 11,205 other riders. That was the official number. .0004% is what 4 out of 10,000 works out. I hope the other 99.9996% of the folks have near the fun and great stories that we had.
History
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| Chris, Sean, Bobby, & Rich the morning of the ride. |
I can blame Chris for planting the idea in my head. Chris and I rode 30 miles a few weeks before the HnH. I remember thinking "maybe I can do this". I remember Chris saying that maybe he should just do the 100k, 62 miles. A few more rides and a 100k ride the week before locked it that we would at least try the century. The goal would be to make it to Hell's gate before cutoff. Cutoff is 12:30. If you don't make Hell's gate by 12:30 you are directed back to the finish line and only get to do about 80 miles. After hell's gate the goal was easy, just to finish.
As for Bobby and Rich. Bobby is a very active and motivated guy. In the Tulsa Tough he did 100k in 3 hours and he was going to try to finish in 5 hours. Rich, Bobby's future brother in-law, is from CO and a very athletic person. Rich and Bobby were going to ride together. We had decided since they were going to finish so far ahead of us that they would drive separate. That way they wouldn't have to wait for us all day at the finish line.
Most of this story is from the perspective of Chris and me; however, Bobby and Rich added some of the more memorable moments.
Hotel
I booked the hotel on priceline. The lack of online hotels in Wichita Falls forced me to book in Lawton. I believe I bid for a 2 star hotel. That rating was 1 star too many. The lobby was somewhere well above 80 degrees. The girl had very little interest in customer service. There were no "non-smoking" rooms. Chris and I were in one room. The air conditioner worked little if at all. We went back to the front desk. I decided that I better confirm our reservation was for 2 nights. Originally, we had booked 1 night but extended it through priceline to 2 nights.
The girl at the desk did find us another room but said it was "non-smoking". Hmm, didn't we ask for that in the first place? Anyway, that was great. Then I asked about the reservations. She said we were only down for one night and at least was helpful enough to give us the phone number for priceline. At least the room was cooler. And it didn't have the "funky" smell, as Bobby described it, of our first room. Priceline told me to make sure to tell the Hotel that our reservation was actually 2 separate reservations.
Back to the front desk. While the girl was checking the reservation I made a comment about they should get the air conditioning fixed. She gave me quite a look in return; I was scared. By some miracle she turned into a person and actually started talking to us. Her name was Sara. We found out that her husband had brought a fan for her to use but had broken the stand in transport. It had a bunch of tape holding it together. Sara did check and we did indeed have a separate reservation for the second night. The problem being that we would need to check out/in the next day. Or we would get a late checkout fee.? Realizing that we were going to be gone all the next day she actually volunteered to check us out/in. Sara did come through and do this for us. Thanks Sara, I hope you got air conditioning.
HnH countdown
Rich was driving from CO. He didn't get out of work until late and had a LONG drive. He wasn't expected in until after Midnight. The three of us went to Wichita Falls to look at the trade show and eat dinner. Bobby and Rich had pre-purchased the spaghetti dinner. We decided to pick up Rich's ticket so that it didn't go to waste. I was going to pay for dinner; however, the guy gave Chris two tickets for some reason. Basically I got a free spaghetti dinner out of the deal. Yea! We looked around and bought jerseys and stuff. The jersey sales were crazy and it would have been very easy to walk away without paying. Gotta like those trusting Texas folks. I also bought a cartridge thing for airing my tires; whatever those things are called. Chris finally got a cycling jersey.
I think we got to bed a bit after 10:30. Bobby stayed up for Rich who rolled in at 1:39am after driving through some wicked lightening storms. Four AM came very early. We were meeting at the cars at 4:45. Bobby wasn't quite prepared, on the way to the start we had to stop for Claritin because of his allergies. We got to the ride at just about the perfect time. Got in line about 15 minutes early. Rich and Bobby went up front with the 100 mile "scorchers" while Chris and me lined up in the 100 mile "keepers" section. Whatever that means. Next in line was the 100 mile "hopefuls".
Let the games begin
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| Tons of bikes at the start |
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| Bikes as far as you can see for 30 miles. Amazing! |
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| Chris |
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| Sean |
The 50 mile rest stop was good. We stayed there quite a while. We had 2 hours to make it to Hell's Gate. We were seeing guys with smoked sausages and went looking. Found one and wrapped it in a tortilla. It was GREAT! Amazingly I had to use the bathroom which probably took 10 minutes in line. The worst thing about this stop is I got some mud in my cleat and had a hard time clipping in. Chris decided that he was hurting a bit and we shouldn't skip anymore rest stops.
My Moment of Glory. Or was is stupidity?
Somewhere between the 50 and 60 mile stops is the town of Burkburnett. There were people downtown watching us ride through. A girl had a garden hose and was spraying it for riders. I couldn't resist. After going through the hose I had to speed up to catch Chris. As I'm accelerating and cutting back into the line a bike starts cutting in front of me. I hit my rear brakes and the rear end starts sliding. I'm thinking this is not good. All the while I am saying "whoa, whoa". I guess I thought I was riding a horse. To me this is one of those moments when things start going in slow motion. I pumped my brakes 3 times; each time the back end was sliding out. On the second or third time I was staring at this guys' tire a few inches from mine as I was sliding, as I was strearing, and as I was leaning right to try and coax the bike away from him. Somehow he stopped coming over and crisis nearly averted. Now my momentum shot me to the right out of the line of bikes and toward the side of the road where a 9-10 year old boy was standing several feet from the curb. He should have been in a safe spot except for a crazy biker. As I was heading straight for this poor kid, I just kept thinking please stop moving and I won't hit you. He was looking at me with wide eyes and trying to decide for himself which way to go. Oh, and I pulled on my brakes for the 4th time and was sliding sideways yet again. He finally froze and I was able to avoid him and get back in the riding line. The guy who came in on me was saying it was his fault but I never should have been coming up so fast on the right in the first place. The more I examine the situation it was mostly my fault.
Hell's Gate
Finally made it to the 60 mile rest stop. Bobby caught up to us. He finally found the problem with his tire and had rode quite a ways without a flat. I asked him his new goal and it was to "finish". As we were leaving Chris decided to lose balance while clipping in and fall down. Landing on a soft BIKE. Got a nice cut from their rear cassette on his shoulder. Luckily he didn't hurt himself or the other bike too much. He did however bend the shifter hood on his bike. He took this to the mechanic to see if they could straighten it. Bobby took off. I rested and used a bunch of icy cold towels while waiting for Chris. That was very refreshing.
Bobby's stop
Just outside of the 60 mile stop was Hell's Gate. Nothing too exciting but it was nice to make this milestone. Finally we made it to the 70 miles stop. Chris asked if I thought he should have his wound cleaned. It didn't look too bad but it was greasy from the other bike. He went to the medical tent. There he found Bobby. Yikes! Or more appropriately Bobby saw him and called his name. When we see Bobby he is laid out with cold towels on him and a nurse taking his blood pressure. He didn't look so good. As we are there he starts looking worse. They gave him an IV and informed him nicely that he has had a good ride and his ride is over. He didn't argue. Chris and I left after hearing that they are going to be taking him to the main medical tent.
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| We found Bobby in medical |
Chris and I were off. We got conflicting information that Rich had already finished. That would have been impossible unless he caught the SAG back. SAG is the Support and Gear. Basically the help wagons that drive around looking for people in trouble. We made it to the 77 mile stop with little problems and sat under a tree for a while. The pit stops get closer together near the end. For some reason all the good cookies and snacks weren't available anymore. It was bananas, oranges, weak powerade and water. We found a couple of chairs and sat around with other riders complaining about the lack of any type of real food. I had decided not to carry any energy bars because I assume we would have more than we wanted.
As we were leaving the 77 mile rest stop I had a flat (or discovered I was flat). I took off the wheel and while I was still getting tools out of the bag Chris had the tire off and ready for the tube. Thanks to the CO2 cartridge I bought the night before we had that fixed in no time. It was kind of hard to get the aired up tire back on the bike. There would be a lesson I would learn from this.
The next stop is at 84 miles. As we pulled up to the stop my tire was flat again! Great! At least there would be a mechanic to change it for me. Or at least we thought there would be. I didn't have another CO2 cartridge to air up the tire and my small pump would be a killer. Also, didn't really want to use our only spare. Luckily there was a SAG wagon with a good pump and a spare tire. I learned two lessons. First, when you change a tire check it for the "reason" you had the flat in the first place. Or you will have a flat again. We found a rock in the tire; I guess that had to be the reason. Secondly, release the brakes and the tire will go back on much easier. I think we may have found a few cookies at that stop. That was much needed.
Leaving that stop I had a bunch of mud in my cleat and couldn't clip in my left shoe. I was doing terrible. Chris took off on my and I couldn't keep up. People were passing my like crazy. I was really trying to decide what happened to me. I didn't think I was having a heat stroke but I kept thinking I would stop if I got the slightest bit dizzy.
Not sure when but we found out that Bobby had been released from medical; that was good to know.
Chris was waiting for me at the 92 mile stop. Only 10 miles to go. I was beat. I blamed most of it on my shoe problem. As I was cleaning my shoe a lady suggested I use their water hose. That worked GREAT! We rested for a bit and some lady came by and put cold towels on our necks as we sat by this big fan. Chris was saying that he felt good. I didn't feel good. I felt like I could finish but would be tired and slow. I was hoping I would feel better clipped in. We started up the road and I quickly realized that I was starting to drag. And I heard something, something that I dismissed earlier. A rubbing sound. I told Chris I was stopping. That is when I learned my third lesson about a flat. Make sure your tire isn't rubbing your frame.
With my back tire free I was back in good form. I was passing a bunch of people who had passed me not long before. The only reason I stopped at the 96 mile rest stop is because I didn't know where Chris was. I hadn't been looking back and in true Chris fashion he was about 10 seconds behind. He did have a low tire so he borrowed a pump and aired it up while I got a quick drink.
It was now 5 miles to the finish. I felt like I had tons on energy and was ready to get this over. I rode about as fast as I could. I don't think I ever looked at the speedometer to even see how fast I was going but I did feel like I was flying most of the time. I had to slow down two times. When two bikes in front of me were riding too far apart and trucks were passing. I HATE when riders do that. Then there was a sharp turn and I had to nearly stop for a recumbant. Also, there was a bar and guys shouting "free beer" that made for a distraction. Not a distraction that I wanted a beer but a distraction that you had to watch for people around the corner. And it did look like one biker did stop for a beer. Who the heck would stop a few miles away from the finish?
I never once looked back for Chris. I thought about his low tire. I would have felt very bad if he had a flat and I left him behind. But then he could have called me :-).
At that point we were riding by a neighborhood. It was really cool that they either had the streets blocked off or an officer was stopping traffic. There was one good hill, overpass actually, going into downtown. That slowed me a bit. But coming off that overpass was great. Zooming into four lane streets taking corners wide and fast. I finally turned toward the finish line and raced past two bikers. I think one was saying they had a flat. Anyway, as I got to the finish line they called my name and people were clapping. That was cool :-). As I slowed down I spotted Bobby on the side sitting under a tree for shade. I pulled up to him and said something about Chris being somewhere behind me. And in true Chris fashion he was no more than 10 seconds back. The time was just after 4PM.
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| The Finish Line. |
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| We finished! |
I drove back with Bobby and Chris drove back Rich. We left while Chris and Rich were still getting in the car. It is about an hour back to Lawton. It was good to have my pikepass so I could quickly get through the toll road. Bobby was hungry and we were talking about food as we got near the hotel. I was saying something about waiting for Chris and Rich when we pulled in. Wouldn't you know it, Chris was 2 seconds behind me. I just can't shake that guy.
In all fairness to Chris he wasn't behind me much. I was often on his wheel. Considering he doesn't ride as much as I do he did great. I was also very impressed with Rich. I guess he thought about quiting near the end but somebody said they would ride with him to the finish. If I would have had leg cramps I would have taken an early SAG. Of course I am also impressed with how fast Bobby rides. Unfortunately I think of the saying "a candle that burns twice as bright also burns half as long" Then add the heat of Texas in August and well, the candle doesn't have a chance in hell ;-).
Our meal in Lawton was somewhat memorable. I'm not sure I remember what was going on exactly but Rich wanted a draft. The waitress came back 4 times with different stories about beer and then finally a manager came over. I believe finally Rich drank something out of a bottle. Can you tell I'm not a beer guy? The waitress was nice and other than beer issues the meal was good.
All in all these were a great fun group of guys and it was a great adventure. I hope to see them all next year at the same place and time next year. But this time at a nicer hotel and in Wichita Falls.
- Cyclepup
Miscellaneous stuff
On the way to Lawton we stopped at a McDonald's on the turnpike. Chris was buying me a drink. While he was paying, I came up behind him and grabbed my cup. In the crowd Chris didn't know it was me and told the lady the "some guy" grabbed the cup. She gave him another. Bobby got a free drink out of that deal. I guess I got a free drink too because I never paid Chris. :-)
Timing stuff
8:52:34 was the total time as the chip registered
9:04 was the time on the finish line clock when I came in.
6:14:59 riding time
Almost hard to believe we stopped for 2.5 hours.
101.95 miles total
16.2 average mph (based on riding time, not overall time)
29.7 max mph
551.15 my odometer. I got this bike on 7/5/07.
Chip results. Fastest Men's time 4:26:58, pace 22.5mph
my time 8:52:34, pace 11.3mph
785th place out of 801
there were 83 women. I finished before 3 of them
The timing chip cost extra. I didn't notice the timing chip on most people.
Wichita Falls weather
temp - high 94 low 78 (a very average temp for this day)
humidity - high 79 low 41
luckily it wasn't 109 like the previous record year. When Hell's Gate closed at 11am.
