Sunday, August 29, 2010

Hotter-N-Hell Hundred Part 1: Before the Ride




THE event of the year! Talked about by riders year round.
Hotter-N-Hell Hundred
August 27-28-29, 2010
Wichita Falls, Texas
Preparation for HHH is SUPPOSED to begin at the start of the cycling season to get ready for the big ride of the year. Almost every organized bike tour from March through July states that it is a good warm up for HHH. The Byers, Texas ride even states its tour is the warm-up for the warm-up ride for HHH.

We have found that an event as epic as HHH could not be covered in one write up so we have broken it into parts. Part 1: Before the ride. Part 2: The100 mile ride. Part 3: The 100K ride. Part 4: After the ride.

Motel rooms in Wichita Falls must be reserved a year in advance or one is out of luck finding a place to stay. Many show up and camp on the grounds near the trade show and coluseum. There are even host families and individuals who open their homes and apartments to out-of-towners.

Camping arrangements run from the nice big home on the left to the pup tent under the shade tree.


Campers also must reserve in advance to find a spot.

And good luck on finding a parking place.

For some of us, much of the weekend excitement is the number of vendors who come to the event. A cyclist would be hard pressed not to find a biking need, want, or accessory at the trade show. And top names and brands from all over the nation are available--much at discounted prices. 

  

Some years back the spaghetti dinner was served in this center. As more vendors vied for space, the dinner was moved to the floor of the coliseum.

Besides vendors at the trade show, there are many friendly people such as Beth Nobles (white top) who had information of interest to cyclists and outdoors lovers. For a look at some of the cycling opportunities in  West Texas and around TX forts check out www.texas mountaintrail.com. She also has a nice blog full of interesting articles, pictures, and other information.

  
The spaghetti dinner is now located in the Coluseum adjacent to the trade show.

If one walks around outside, it is almost impossible to not see someone you know.

Greg Wheeler, Christine Jones, David Durbin, and Mark Seals.


Liz Rappe' from San Angelo was to be Christine's riding partner on Saturday.


Dan and LeAnn Waldron and daughter. Dan brought his three seat tandem bicycle so all could enjoy the ride.

Wee-Chi-Tah Off-Road racers Scott White and Shane Plymell.



Neal McSpedden, another San Angelo Wee-Chi-Tah racer. All three, Scott, Shane, and Neal did really well in the race either in the top twenty or had an impressive finish. Interestingly enough, if they had raced in the "Expert" class instead of "Sport", all would have finished in the top ten with the times they posted.

Chad Freeze, another racer from San Angelo participated in the Saturday race (HHH photo not available). On his first race, he entered the Masters 40 + Cat 1-4 and posted an impressive 26.9 mph.

Next on our list of things to do on Friday was to watch some of the Crit races.

This is about the only angle you can actually see the riders. All of the side shots were just blurs as they whizzed by.


Just a scene I liked as the day was winding down and it was time to go eat the spaghetti dinner.

Flags waved a farewell to the day. It was time to settle down to get ready for the big ride on Saturday.


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