Hotter 'n Hell 100 - Wichita Falls TX

[Aggie_Ama]

I just wanted to say the ice in the sports bra trick along with water over the head really works! I had not done the ice trick until yesterday, we were riding without a lot of clouds and temps in the 90's. Really brought the core temp down and I was faster after that!

[NMRider]

Additional note - I checked out the HH100 forum again, and that wasn't the forum where I thought people were "spouting off," my mistake - not sure where I was reading where it was mostly just a fight-fest over who thought it was good that the course shut down early in a previous year and who thought it was a bad idea...

[denda]

My husband and I will be doing the HHH for the 3rd year in a row. Last year we did not make Hell's Gate because they closed it SO early. If we had not stopped at the rest stop before Hell's Gate we would have made it! We will not be stopping at that rest stop this year. We also start toward the front of the crowd. We have not had to wait an hour to get rolling, but this year they may prevent us from starting so far up. The reststops have water, gatorade, pickle juice, oranges, bananas, and cookies. We also take a peanut butter and honey sandwich, powerbars, paydays and some powdered gatorade to mix our own. Theirs does seem to be too weak. We don't usually stop until the 3rd or 4th rest stop.
We are staying with one of the host families this year. We waited too long to try to get a hotel room. So this will be a different experience.
HAVE FUN!!

[denda]

Oh, by the way, NMRider
My Daddy lives in Las Cruces!

[NMRider]

Thanks again to all who shared the good advice. I like the pb & honey sandwich thought, too...
Had my last long ride yesterday, 88 miles from Cruces to Hatch and back. Tailwind on the way there, headwind all the way back, and it was hot... but latest weather report for WF looks like the temps are heading way up. Ouch. Gonna start upping the fluids all week long. And ice in the sports bra is sounding more and more appealing. Anyhow, I look forward to hearing about everyone's experience. Luck to us all!

[li10up]

Well, I'm off to meet a friend at his house who will be driving us up to the HHH. I'm pretty excited. We'll get up there fairly early so we can enjoy all the festivities and do some shopping. Thanks for all the well wishes and advice everyone.

[Tuckervill]

Have fun! I hope this rain that's swelling through right now will cool it off a little for tomorrow.

Karen

[li10up]

We are staying with one of the host families this year. We waited too long to try to get a hotel room. So this will be a different experience.
HAVE FUN!!

Denda, let me know how the host family thing works out. Sounds like a good alternative. What kind of fees do the host families typically charge?

[indysteel]

I just wanted to say good luck to all of you doing the HHH. I hope the weather gods smile upon you and give you some cloud cover and lower humidity. Short of that, I hope you have a safe and fun ride.

I'm really looking forward to the ride reports, so please report back.

K-

[li10up]

Thanks Indy! I'll let you know how the ride went.

I have another quick question though. I've found that I need to eat something in the morning before doing a long ride. Since I'll be staying at the Y my options will be limited. Anybody have any suggestions of what I could eat for breakfast? I usually like to eat oatmeal or pancakes before a long ride but that won't be practical on this one. Energy bars don't usually sit well with me and a banana just isn't enough. If there are any restaurants around I'm sure they'll be too packed to get in. Suggestions needed.

[indysteel]

J-

I ran into the same problem at RAIN. I'm usually an oatmeal, banana, yogurt girl before a ride. For RAIN, I bought a (rather oversized) muffin from a bakery near my house the day before the ride and ate it with about 2 hours to go before the start of the ride. I then ate a banana and a package of Teddy Grahams about a half hour before the start. At the Horsey Hundred, I ate a Pop Tart when I first woke up and then at the cafeteria about an hour later. For me, it isn't so much what I eat, but when. I find that if I eat something two hours before, followed by something to "top it off," plus drink a bottle of water, I'm good to go.

You could do muffins, banana bread, granola, bagels, donuts, etc. plus a banana. That should do it.

Have a great ride,

Kate

[sspoor]

Isn't there a pancake breakfast at the MEPC Center? You could always try that.

I've done the HHH twice. Both times the weather gods were in my favor and there was cloud cover and light rain. I skipped last year when the temperature got up to 106.

I think the HHH is a great ride to say you've done it. It's really cool to be there with so many other riders. The organizers do a great job, but the number of people do make it challenging. I've seen others comment on the length of time it takes to get started. The 2 years I did it, we were lined up by 6:30 and then stood around waiting for the 7:30 start. It then took another 30 minutes to move forward to the actual starting line. You need to factor this in as you consider what you're going to eat that morning since you'll probably go about 2 hours between when you eat breakfast and when you get to the first rest stop.

Also, because the HHH is such a popular ride, you get many novice riders doing the shorter routes who haven't really trained and/or don't ride on a regular basis. This tends to cause major traffic jams on all the hill climbs.

Have fun!! It really is a festive atmosphere and something every cyclist in the area should do at least once.

Susan in Dallas