Hotter n Hell Hundred - August 25, 2012

After imploding on the MS 150, I was determined to have a successful ride on the HHH this year.  While I was a little disappointed that Carson decided not to ride, it did give me the chance to ride my pace instead of helping him finish.  My overall time was 6:07:59.  We were hopeful that we would break the six hour mark, but there was a 20+ mph headwind the last twenty miles of the course.  Nevertheless I managed to finish in the top third:

Total Riders:    3,704      Place:  1,004
Masters (35+)  2,278      Place:     620
Age 40 - 49:         941      Place:     272


With six hours on the bike and another 4.5 hours driving from Wichita Falls to Seminole, I had plenty of time to reflect on what I learned from this ride. Here is the list I came up:

·        Successes are sweeter after failures.  Even though my time for this ride was almost a personal best, but what made it really satisfying was it came on the heels of having to be SAG’ed on the MS 150 ride. I learned from my mistakes and put in the effort so that I would not fail again.

·        The wind giveth, and the wind taketh away.  Therefore, when you have a tail wind, pin the ears back and take advantage of the momentum.  Always remember though, that for every tail wind, there is also a head wind.  When faced with a head wind, you just need to put your head down and push through it.  

·        Training isn’t enough, you have to hydrate and fuel.    

·        Know when to open your mouth and know when to keep quiet.  When you are in a pace line, no one speaks.  Everyone is focusing on the wheel in front of them and doing their job.  In a one-on-one situation, the miles go by a lot faster when you engage the person next to you in conversation.  I happened to pair up with a guy who lives in Dallas and is geologist.  I told him that I lived in small West Texas town which he probably had never heard of before.  Come to find out, before moving to Dallas, he used to work for Hess so he knew all about Seminole.  One of the hardest things for me as a teacher is to be comfortable with silence.  Sometimes the silence can be a great teacher. 

·        Break up big goals into smaller ones.  The course was mostly on roads that are long and straight and can be intimidating as you look at the climb in front of you.  There is a great deal of satisfaction that comes from looking at the goal, focusing on the wheel in front of you, and then checking your progress every once in a while. 

·        Ride your pace.  When a pace line would go blowing by us, it was sooo tempting to jump on it.  However, if I am a 18 mph rider and it is a 20 mph pace, I am going to blow up.  Conversely, while Ross and I rode together until about the 60 mile mark, I eventually headed out on my own. 

·        Choose rest stops wisely.  There were 12,000 total riders in this year’s ride so you can imagine the confusion at the rest stops.  We probably only stopped four time because every stop would cost about ten to fifteen minutes of precious time.  It was important not to rest too frequently or too long.  

·        Most burrs can be avoided.  Without fail, within a mile of every rest stop, you would see someone on the side of the road with a flat.  Why? Because they had parked their bike in the grass at the last rest stop and would pick up a burr in their tire.  Uncle Ross and I tried to keep our bikes out of the grass but if we couldn’t, we would examine our tires before we got back on the road.  Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy but most of the time, the “burrs” can be avoided if we plan properly.

·        You can’t be half-way prepared.  When I rode, I had a spare tube and tire levers but no pump.  What good would it be to replace the tube if I didn’t have a way to inflate it?  Fortunately, I didn’t have any flats but I was pressing my luck.  What is the old saying – when the moment for performance arrives, the time for preparation has passed.

·        The journey is more fun with family and friends.  While I didn’t ride the entire day with Ross, I was able to be there when he crossed the finished line and he was very excited about my time.  I could have called him and told him about it, but he being there made it all the better. 

·        Sometimes the people thanking us are the ones we should be thanking.  Part of the route this year took us through Sheppard AFB.  After we rode across the flight line (picture above), one of the base roads was lined with Airmen cheering us on.  Compared to what they are doing in serving our country, our little bike ride in the heat really was insignificant.    

·        Reduce distractions.  Okay, this wasn’t something I learned on the bike but on the way home.  Between the GPS, the XM radio, the radio, and the lights from the dashboard, there are a lot of shiny objects in the car.   As I drove home from Gail to Lamesa, there was a brilliant lightening storm to the south.  With all of the backlighting in the car, I couldn’t see it.  I turned them all of and enjoyed the storm for about an hour in silence and in relative darkness.  

·        Be at least as gracious as your host.  Instead of camping out like we did in 2006, Ross was able to find a host family last year and we stayed them again this year.  She literally lived on the other side of the tracks in a double wide, but was as gracious as could be.  She even got up at 4:30 to cook us an awesome breakfast.  Because Ross and his gal-pal Barbara were so gracious (and non-judgmental) last year, we were able to have this blessing this year.