Personal record on a 100m

[John Dorlon]

I rode the "Hotter than Hell Hundred" yesterday. This is a 100 mile ride in north Texas with about 14,000 riders. They also have shorter distances. It is a huge event, with a trade show, mountain bike race, crit races, 100 mile race/ride, and I think there is also a half marathon the day after the 100 mile.

I only did the 100 mile bike ride, but came in with my fastest time ever for such a ride. My cyclemeter app says I averaged 19.9 mph (moving), but once I uploaded it to Ride with GPS, that showed a 20.1 mph average, so I'll take it! Woo-hoo! Cyclemeter vs RWGPS showed different moving and stopped times. I came in at 5:25 at the finish, so I had around 20 minutes of stop time. The ride was actually 102 miles.

It is a pretty flat ride, and it wasn't very windy or hot yesterday either, so conditions were very good. I had about a 20.5 mph average until mile 80 or so, then hotfoot and tired legs set in and I couldn't keep that pace up any longer and had to slow down. Luckily the ride was almost over at that point!

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1687928

The Vendetta drew lots of positive results, as usual.

 

[Eric Winn]

Way to go John! How do you

Way to go John! How do you manage to average 20 mph with 14,000 riders? Seems like it would be a log jam the entire way.

-Eric

 

[Jim Gerwing]

Congrats, John

'I would walk 100 miles'. . . But, heh, you've got a Vendetta, so ride that bike like it was stolen.
well done,
JG

 

[John Dorlon]

Thanks!   It was only a log

Thanks! It was only a log jam until we got through the starting gate. After that we could use the whole road so it went from a log jam down to just "crowded". They had the fast riders starting up front and the slower riders in the back, so I we pretty much at pace with the riders around me.

 

[Charles.Plager]

But, heh, you've got a

But, heh, you've got a Vendetta, so ride that bike like it was stolen.

If/When I get a chance to ride a Vendetta, that's exactly how I'll be riding it (*cough* *cough*)

 

[Eric Winn]

The entire road as in

The entire road as in curb-to-curb? No motor vehicle traffic in either direction?

 

[gwoodbridge]

Plan on being there next year.

John,

I had some friends from the office go down and ride it. It was their first year riding the 100 mile route.

I plan on having my Vendetta there next year. Could not make this year since the components won't be in until tomorrow!

Are you going to ride the Wild Horse up in South Eastern Oklahoma?

Gary

 

[Kenneth Jessett]

Eric, when I rode the Hotter

Eric, when I rode the Hotter n Hell ride there was so many riders that if you were alert you could get carried along with the mass at very high speeds. It was like a giant vacuum cleaner sucking you along.

Crashes were occurring all over the place but you daren't look round or you too would go down. Imagine a double lane road crammed full on both sides with a huge pelaton of riders. Semi-tractor rigs coming the other direction had to plough onto the verges to avoid running over the riders. The drafting was incredible.

It is also the only event I know that has tables of pickle juice at the rest stops. The H n H is - in my opinion - a once in a life time race to go to. Too many people otherwise.

Glad you had a good time, John.

Ken.

 

[Tom Roberts]

HHH

I rode the HHH last year. It is a well supported ride and one I wanted to do at least once. There were tons of people, but it was not hard to ride your own pace. My pace was not quite yours. ...nothing wrong with the Vendetta, but the motor needs a little improvement.

 

[John Dorlon]

It wasn't the whole road curb

It wasn't the whole road curb to curb for the entire ride, but it was at first....and most of the time after that, we took most of the road. There were so many riders and so many support people there, that if someone was driving a car on the road, it was most likely a person supporting the ride, and they were way over on the side road, and moving slowly. It was not uncommon for bikes to be over the double yellow line at any point in the ride.

Tom, I rode HHH last year too (on a Silvio) and my avg then was only 16.9. It was a lot windier last year, and I think last year's "one-off" course was also hillier than the normal route this ride has taken for so many years, which they switched back to this year.

 

[kenhardwick]

My 2013 Hotter'n Hell Ride on Silvio 1.5

I also rode in the 2013 Hotter'N Hell Ride on my Silvio 2013. I had planned to ride the 100 miler but started getting muscle cramps at 60 miles so took the shorter alternate route of 74 miles. It was already 90 F at 10:30AM so felt another 40 miles just might be too much.
Through the 60 miles I had averaged 19+ mph and ended up with 18.5 mph for the 74 miles.
So, even though I didn't complete the 100m, I was very pleased with my ride and had a great time "Cruzing" on my Silvio.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/364984601

One thing John didn't mention is that they do have a "recumbent/tandem" corral that is in front of all the other cyclist and starts first.
Per my GPS readings, I started at 6:50am with the recumbents/tandems. Per John's GPS, he started at 7:05am - the official starting time.
So, with starting a bit early, I was able to get avoid the crowded start and was out at least 12-15 miles before the large groups of FAST riders came by.

Also, except for one large sweeping curve, the road is absolutely straight for the first 10 miles before taking 1st turn.

 

[John Dorlon]

Here's a photo of the

Here's a photo of the "recumbent/tandem" corral that Ken was talking about.

http://pbanews.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/hhh-tent3.jpg

There's a Quest in the foreground.