{"id":7229,"date":"2017-08-29T12:50:30","date_gmt":"2017-08-29T18:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/?p=7229"},"modified":"2017-08-29T12:50:30","modified_gmt":"2017-08-29T18:50:30","slug":"not-quite-so-hottern-hell-100","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/2017\/08\/29\/not-quite-so-hottern-hell-100\/","title":{"rendered":"Not-quite-so-hotter’n Hell 100"},"content":{"rendered":"

The heat is my KRYPTONITE.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I tend to die a quick and early death when it’s super hot.\u00a0 So, it makes sense that my choice for a ride this summer was Hotter’n Hell 100<\/a>, in late August in Wichita Falls, TX, where the temperatures can climb to 105+, right?\u00a0 I knew it was a stupid idea, so I did stupid things<\/a> like ride outside for 3 hours at 5pm on the hottest day of the year in feels-like-110 temps and bike commute two days a week in the heat for the last month to prepare.<\/p>\n

Then came hurricane Harvey last week.\u00a0 The devastation in the Houston\/Galveston area is terrible, and I would not have wished that on anyone for any reason.\u00a0 However, a teeny silver lining, the effects up north made for some really unseasonably cool and still dry temperate weather.<\/p>\n

We stayed up too late on Thursday night because we are dumb and I have determined that we need an adult sometimes to tell us to go to bed.\u00a0 Friday morning, we finished final packing and drove our Turtle Home to work for a half day.\u00a0 Showing off the trailer to a coworker, we realized that we had a tire about 10 miles away from blowing out (ack!), so we took time to fix that and got on the road later than expected.\u00a0 We stayed just a little ahead of the storm the entire time and found Wichita Falls a little wet but sunny!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We didn’t get into town until after 6pm, got a little lost trying to find packet pickup (but got to see some awesome fast boys crit racing which was exciting!), and then by the time we got camp set up and cooked a very quick dinner it was after 9pm.\u00a0 After falling asleep around 10, our propane leak sensor starting wailing at midnight.\u00a0 We fixed it pretty quickly, but… crap.\u00a0 Two pre-race nights full of sleep fail.\u00a0 Not optimal.<\/p>\n

Let me step in here and give a shout out to the KOA campgrounds in Burkburnet, TX.\u00a0 They. were. awesome.\u00a0 They offered free shuttles to the race… which was 14 miles and a few towns away.\u00a0 Instead of stressing about parking (and with 12,000 people racing, I’m sure that would have been a NIGHTMARE), they dropped us off at about 6:30 AM (45 mins before the race) a block away from our corral and gave us a number to call to be picked up whatever time we finished, bikes and all.\u00a0 They were all also super nice and it was family owned and the vibe felt good.\u00a0 If I do this race again, I would ABSOLUTELY stay there.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

12,000 people with bikes looks about what you would expect it to – we swarmed this downtown area.\u00a0 I have never seen or experienced anything like it.\u00a0 I was terrified of that many people that close together with bikes, but they know what they’re doing with the start.\u00a0 I was able to get across the line with minimal space invasion and freaking out.<\/p>\n

The first 10 felt easy, but I had to stop at the first aid station.\u00a0 Normally I would hate to stop so early, but I felt like I couldn’t drink because I had to peeee, and not hydrating could have been a HUGE problem later.\u00a0 There was a\u00a0 HUGE porta potty line, but it was necessary, so I waited.\u00a0 After that, I consumed some redbull and some fruit and then we got back on the road and I could drink again had a gel and life was good.<\/p>\n

We met a guy who used to work for REI and we spent about 10 miles talking about Novara bikes and the store and all sorts of other randomness.\u00a0 The temperatures were cool and apparently I was overhydrating, I had to stop again for the second aid station potties.\u00a0 I think I waited for about 20 mins that time.\u00a0 Sigh.\u00a0 In my face went more redbull, watermelon, and a bunch of cookies.\u00a0 The bottles were filled, we let the cookie monster jersey people know that this was their aid station because they had cookies, and we rolled out again.<\/p>\n

In the 30s, riding started to feel a little tedious.\u00a0 This is my least favorite part of any long ride – when you have enough miles down where you feel like you’ve ridden bikes (achy arms and hands for me before anything else), but you’re not even halfway yet.\u00a0 Mentally, I felt like I was starting to slip, and we had turned directly into the wind, so I asked my husband if we could take turns every mile or so pulling.\u00a0 He agreed that it was a better idea than riding side by side so we did that.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

That made all the mental difference for me.\u00a0 I had something to count down to, and\u00a0 alternated the effort of pulling (harder) and recovering (easier) was better for me than riding a flat pace.\u00a0 I felt so (hahaha) pro actually coordinating our efforts to conserve energy vs just riding.\u00a0 We skipped the next but hit the fourth aid station around 40 miles with a little more of a quickness.\u00a0 Pee, stuff face with PBJs, fill bottles, and hop back on.<\/p>\n

At this point, my pulls started to pull away from my husband.\u00a0 Something wasn’t completely right but I figured he was just having a moment and he’d be pulling me later.<\/p>\n

To do the full hundred miles, you have to get to Hell’s Gate (mile 60) by 12:30pm.\u00a0 We laughed about this earlier and said no problem.\u00a0 Well, we started calculating times and it was looking like it was starting to become a potential problem, not because of our riding pace (over 15 mph at that point), but our really long stops.\u00a0 There was debate at that point whether it was at 60 or 62 or 66, so we picked up the pace a little to make sure we didn’t get diverted.<\/p>\n

We passed by the next aid station to stop instead at camp, since our route went DIRECTLY by it.\u00a0 It was our quickest stop yet, hitting a real bathroom with no line, eating some chips, putting some gatorade in our bottles, grabbing some 303s, and we got in and out and on with our lives in about 7 minutes.<\/p>\n

Zliten seemed refreshed after the break and feeling better, and we turned away from the wind, so we enjoyed riding side by side a bit again.\u00a0 Sadly, mile 59 had the aid station I was looking most forward to – bbq sliders (real food!) – but we had 20 minutes to make Hell’s Gate, so we stopped for some cliff blocks instead and put in one more good effort to gain insurance if the gate was more like 66 than 60.<\/p>\n

And then, it was indeed mile 60, and we were through with 15 minutes to spare.\u00a0 My husband let me know that riding that effort definitely burned a match for him and he needed to slow a little.\u00a0 We started comparing heart rates – he was in the 160s and spiked into 180s and I’d hear him panting and complaining about the heat (it did reach 90 and sunny but still…) while I was leisurely pedaling with a 130-140 heart rate and feeling fine while pulling.\u00a0 I wasn’t going to leave him, but the slower pace was KILLING ME.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

When we got to the 70 mile aid station, I told him that we were stopping, and for a good while, until he felt better.\u00a0 We sat under mister tents for at least half an hour.\u00a0 The guy next to us was taking a nap.\u00a0 I ate probably a jar of pickles and a power bar and some fruit.\u00a0 Nothing at the aid station was either palatable or wouldn’t cause an allergic reaction for Zliten so I went and grabbed him some blocks out of his bike bento box and gave him some of my gels because he had left his on the table in the camper.<\/p>\n

We started out and got a mile before he went to take his turn to pull and just immediately stopped pedaling and started wincing in pain.\u00a0 I had to block a bunch of cyclists that were drafting off us from running him over as he pulled over to the side.\u00a0 We waited for the cramp to pass and I said, “look – we’ll go whatever pace we need to finish and if we have to stop and stretch every mile, so be it.”\u00a0 I don’t know who this person is who was so rational and kind and positive 70 miles into a bike ride, but I’m thankful that was the version of me that showed up that day.<\/p>\n

I’m also thankful that we didn’t have to get off the bike that often.\u00a0 We took turns pulling, me for 2 miles, him for 1 mile, and got to the next aid station.\u00a0 We almost didn’t stop, but we pulled in to top off the bottles and heard tell of hot dogs, and sure enough… real food he could eat (and FRITOS, which *I* pigged out on).\u00a0 Later, he said it tasted so good he almost cried while eating it.\u00a0 We thanked those volunteers profusely and then headed back out fairly quickly.<\/p>\n

Another mile out… and another cramp.\u00a0 Same deal, block my husband from getting run over by wheel suckers, stop, let it pass, and then get going slowly.\u00a0 I didn’t have one damn person besides Zliten pull for me but I was constantly trailing between 3-7 people who never took a turn at the front.\u00a0 One mile before the next stop, another really bad cramp hit him in a different spot and he got off the bike and sat down on the side of the road and I had to talk him out of sagging out.\u00a0 At 89 miles.\u00a0 With 11 to go.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I convinced him to get to the next aid station, a mile up ahead, and figure it out from there.\u00a0 There was an ice bath, which may or may not have helped him, but it was something to do.\u00a0 There was an annoying kid that kept throwing ice at us, but it was late in the day and he was probably super bored so I cut him some slack.\u00a0 Zliten said he was going to medical but instead he just sat down for a bit until he was prepared to tackle the last few miles.<\/p>\n

We took it really slowly the rest of the way.\u00a0 It wasn’t windy anymore, so I just let him pull so he could pace us to his comfort.\u00a0 It worked until about mile 99, riding up an overpass, which he ended up doing with one leg while the other was cramping, and we pulled over one more time to wait it out before we made the final descent into the downtown and through the arch at about 4:45pm.\u00a0 7:16 riding time, 9:20-ish total with ALL the stops.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Here’s probably my second complaint about this ride – at the finish, there was no water, there was one booth handing out cups of coke or sprite but no gatorade, the beer tent was closed, and all the food cost money.\u00a0 They hyped the finish line village and said it was open until 6pm, but nowhere on the website did it say that there wasn’t any thing freely available for athletes.\u00a0 We drank our sprites and called the KOA people for the ride, and we were so thankful they were there to shuttle us to Turtle Home instead of driving.<\/p>\n

After a shower and getting changed and shoving about half a bag of popcorn and some strawberry cake in my face and using the recovery boots, I felt pretty great!\u00a0 We grilled up chicken, potatoes, corn, and had some pre-made salads for dinner, which is incredibly healthy compared to the normal gluttony that would ensue after burning about 4000 calories riding bikes.\u00a0 We sipped our beers (and a flask of fireball) and relaxed and watched a beautiful sunset.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While this is already “longer’n hell”, I liked the race enough that I would consider going back if it fit into my plans (doing a back to back 100 mile ride\/13.1 mile trail run would be EXCELLENT Cozumel training next year).\u00a0 So, here are things I learned and what I’d do differently next time.<\/p>\n