We did it! We had so much fun. Zach, our 16 year old son, did terrific. He rode on ahead of us, being as how he is so fast. He missed the 50 mile cutoff and went with the 100K group for three miles before he realized it and turned back, so he actually rode 56 miles of the Hotter N Hell rather than 50. Zach also finished ahead of us. We had ten miles to go and he phoned us to say he was through. AND speaking of Hotter N Hell, it was more like Hell Froze Over. Early morning thunderstorms and an overcast day made the ride downright pleasant. Gov. Perry was riding the 100K but we didn't see him. As for the 100 milers, Judge Harrison and three other Sweetwtater guys that we ride with every now and then, rode that. We visited with the Judge last night and he finished at 1:30 p.m. (start was at 7:00 a.m.) He said it was the nicest year yet due to the weather.
Judge Harrison heard that there were 8300 cyclists entered this year. The highlight of the ride for us was getting to go through Sheppard Airforce Base. The base is just beautiful and we rode across the tarmac through the HUGE C-130 Hercules planes. Amazing! The funniest thing Ben and I saw on the ride was an old tire hanging on a fence with these words painted in white "YOU Keep Out"! As opposed to just anyone they want YOU to keep out! We thought that was pretty funny.
Another funny incident happened at mile 35. I was starting to flag a bit as Ben and I had pushed so hard. We had stopped at 30 miles to load up on water and food. It was about a 15 minute stop. Usually we are loath to stop any longer than 10 minutes as it makes getting back into the rhythym of cadence pedaling harder but the Port A Potties had LONG lines.....ANYWAYS, at mile 35 Ben says, "Why don't you draft off of me". Okie dokie, so I am trying to pull up right behind him to get ready to draft and he takes off like a shot! Phooyie on that I think, so I settle into my own pace; I mean, I was really struggling to just pull up to him. Only he didn't realize I wasn't behind him. He's about a half mile ahead and this man rides up and says, "Well, your partner just off and left you!" Yep, I answered, and I don't even think him knows it! This guy rode with me for about a half mile then went on. Then another guy comes up and starts to ride with me. About that time the other guy reaches Ben and he told him that I wasn't there and you could see Ben look back (he was on a right hand turn) and it was too funny. You could just peg that moment of "oh crap!" I told Ben later that "Hey, no problem, I had plenty of guys willing to ride with me!"
The neat thing about the ride is that there are so many cyclist you are never alone. You are constantly passing and being passed. This was fun for Ben and I as when we ride around Sweetwater, unless we are riding with the Judge and his group, it is just us on the road.
As for Zach. This was ONLY his THIRD time on the road bike! He road 26 miles with us last Sunday for the first time and then on Thursday he rode 20 miles with the us and the Sweetwater group. That was it! He certainly had energy to go the 100 K. He was begging to do the 100 miles but we felt he wasn't ready for that. I wished he would have kept on with the 100K group when he missed his turn but he was afraid we'd get mad. (Apparently he hasn't learned his mother's talent for 'begging forgiveness is easier than asking permission.'
I really feel since it was so cool that we really didn't ride the HHH 100. Next year when we do the actual 100 miles and it draws not only sweat but blood I'll feel we have truly rode it. I can't complain about this year, we finished in 3 hours and 34 minutes beating our goal of 4 hours. And we've only been road cycling since later part of July.
The exhibit hall was nice and for us was like eating a whole can of chocolate icing at once, there was so much eye candy you just got punch drunk. So many jerseys and bikes and cycling paraphanelia. We bought six of those insulated Polar Bottles for $7.50 each, filled with ice and water and used those on the ride. Wow! Much, much nicer than drinking hot water. (no matter how much ice we'd put in our bottles on training rides within about 45 minutes was tepid and just kept heating up from there). At the end of mile 50 we still had nice, cool water.
Coming home Ben and I yakked nonstop like two old ladies reliving every moment. We just had too much fun!
BTW, if someone will tell me how to do it I'll post a photo of the three of us at the end of the ride.
