Hotter N Hell Hundred Trip Report
I awoke at 5:00 am and got dressed for the ride. Ate a blueberry muffin, drank a bottle of water then picked up my bike from the bike lockup at the Y. I was riding with two friends and we met up at the start line. After the national anthem and the jet fly-over the cannon blasted to signal the start of the event. We didn’t move for about 10 minutes but when we did we had to “skateboard” our bikes for several blocks. We finally got moving a bit just to be slowed to a crawl going up the overpass. For 20 miles it was shoulder to shoulder and wheel to wheel. I started thinking to myself, “Why in the world do people want to do this ride? This sucks. I’m turning off at the 50 mile mark.” I hinted at that to one of my friends but she said she was going on as planned. So, I decided to stick it out. We stopped at the 30 mile rest stop. I needed my derailleur looked at so I had to wait in line for the mechanic. After that I got a couple of orange wedges and refilled my two bottles. Back on the road it started to thin out a bit. The riding was more enjoyable. We were cruising along at anywhere between 18 and 22 mph. We weren’t even working hard. When we pulled out of the 50 miles rest stop I said to my friends, “I’m feeling really good. Maybe we should think about doing the whole hundred.” We had planned to take the shortcut at Hell’s Gate back to the finish line. They both agreed. A few rotations of the crank later I felt the thump, thump, thump of my front tire. I squeezed the brakes and started moving over to the side of the road. Before I could get stopped my front tire exploded. I got off the bike and saw an inch long gash in the tire. The tube had a hole in it the size of a dime. We tried booting the tire but when we aired it up there was a big bulge. Just then another friend rolled up. I sent my other two friends on to finish their ride. I didn’t want them to miss their chance for their first 100 mile century. My other friend and I caught a ride back to the rest stop. I was able to purchase a tire and get back on the road. She wanted to take the shortcut at Hell’s Gate and I wanted someone to ride with so that’s what we did. We rode through Sheppard’s Air Force Base. They had the trainees lining the street and cheering us on. I pulled out my camera to take a picture and that just made them cheer even louder. One of them stuck out his hand and I tried to high five him. I couldn’t make it to him in time but then all of these hands were stuck out. I rode down the street high fiving them. Everyone was going nuts. I made it to the finish line in 5:49:24. Ride time was 4:39:10. Avg. speed was 16.3 mph. It turned out to be a good ride even though I’m really disappointed that I missed out on getting my first 100 mile century. I’m pretty sure I’ll be doing the HHH again.
