Hotter'N Hell Hundred and Triple Threat Wrap-up

Wow, where to start! So many amazing things. First off the sheer magnitude of this weekend's events was incredibly impressive. There were 13,000+ people that did the 100 mile ride on Saturday alone. I've heard that there were 17,000+ people that participated in the wide range of events. And the organization and support that went into these events was top notch. The indoor expo was great where there were lots of vendors and organizations, including Bike Texas! :-)

Now to start from the beginning, Friday's Mountain bike race on the Wee-Chi-Tah Trail. This was my first mountain bike race/ride of any sort so I didn't know what to expect out of the start in terms of how much I should push myself, and how fast people would be going out of the gate. After the first mile or so when I was seeing people fall and pile up trying to go up pretty basic hills, I knew I needed to get past them! So eventually I was able to get past people, which took some getting used to. The trail was awesome and lots of fun. Pretty tight turns, very smooth, quite flat, lots of 10 foot ups and downs, and lots of bridges. Was fun going through the metal house, culvert, and long narrow bridge. There was a bridge that was about 100 feet long that narrowed to a good 12 inches wide with 3-4 foot drops on either side. This was enough to cause some to panic and fall or put a foot down and walk. Was able to finish 2nd in my age group with was a huge surprise! And the winner wasn't too far ahead of me either, so without getting caught behind people I think I would have been able to catch him. GPS details on mountain bike race.

Then on Saturday was the Hotter'N Hell Hundred mile ride. I have never ever seen so many cyclists all in one spot! 13K+ people is a lot! There was a fly over with 4 jets which got everyone excited and ready to go. Things were a little hectic at the start, but eventually we were able to get into some good fast pace lines and take off. And when I say "we" I mean the SwRI Roadrunners. I'm now an adopted member with a jersey and all! :-) We pushed hard for the first 40 miles, and at that point I felt good and we had a 23 mph speed at that point! We were able to keep it pretty fast until I slowed a little on hill climb probably around mile 55 or so. And I wasn't able to catch up. Also realized that I probably couldn't push that hard and not be sore afterwards for the run the next day. So I went at my own pace mostly on my own from then on out. I was VERY impressed with the rest stops that were every 10 miles and bustling with volunteers. There was a free beer stop less than 10 miles before finish. And I passed it up because I didn't want to add more time with me hanging around rest stops. As I biked passed I thought that there must be something wrong with me passing a free beer stop! At the end they had lots of vendors to buy food and drinks from and pretty decent music as well. One other thing that really stood out for this event was that the signage was very good for the ride. Granted we didn't need it because there were always a ton of people around you, but still. And pretty well all the roads were closed off which meant that you could use the oncoming traffic lane for passing. Very nice not to have to worry about cars! GPS details on HHH ride.

Then there was Sunday and the half marathon. This was the event that I was most concerned about. But I kept telling myself that I had trained for this and now knew the trail, so it would work out. First mile was a little fast, but not too fast that it burnt me out. Then I slowed down and too it easy. Then after 2 miles I started to speed up, every mile taking about 5-15 seconds of each mile split. This way I felt that I wouldn't get burnt out, and if I was getting tired I could always settle at that pace. Plus this way I could finish nice and strong! Running on that trail was so much fun including the steep ups and downs! There were about 3 times that we had to go across suspension bridges which was challenging. Kind of felt like running on a trampoline that was unpredictable in how it would bounce! So I'm definitely going to do more trail running. Running people are incredibly friendly to start with, but trail running people are quite possibly more so. And the run felt much more chill and small compared to other runs I've done.

I was able to finish 26th overall in the Triple Threat and 2nd in my age group! I was really surprised and pleased, especially since I was doing it for fun and not to place! I could have shaved about 20 minutes by not waiting on people in the rest area, but where's the fun in that! Plus the guy that was 1st in my age group was 2nd overall and was ~2 hours ahead of me in the combined time of all events! GPS details on the half marathon.

One note on Wichita Falls. They aren't joking when they say that they have some of the friendliest people in their town. I know we must bring in a lot of business to the town, but the kindness towards us cyclists was awesome. There were so many people sitting out front of their houses cheering us on for the ride, offering up watermelon, or spraying us down with a hose to keep us cool.

Overall an amazing weekend, getting to hang with friends, see people I hadn't seen in a while, meet new people, and have a lot of fun doing the different events. Oh and I got this ol' hunk of wood :-)