Conference noted::bicycle

    
    I don't know the course.  The area is not extremely hilly,
    I believe, but not flat.  (What a helpful description!)  
    That is, Wichita Falls is not in the Panhandle or West Texas,
    where it really is flat.  I remember it's often recording close
    to the warmest temperature in the State on many a summer day
    (vying with Presidio, on the Rio Grande).
    
    Note: I also believe there are shorter rides (100km, etc.),
    and that many of the skads of participants do those loops.
    I'm not sure if you can "gracefully degrade" into a smaller
    loop from a bigger one.  From your description, maybe not.
    
    Good luck!  Sounds like fun!
    
    -john

    Hi there,
    
    After the killer heat of 1988 with the prolonged stretch into the stiff
    south wind (30+ mp, the HNH organizers redid the 100 mile route to have
    much more East-West than North-South. The course is pretty much flat
    except for some minor hills at about mile 85. Also, don't worry about
    the scenery; there isn't any to distract you from your goal of
    finishing what amounts to a double century, 100 miles in 100+ degree
    heat.
    
    Will I be back there again this year? You bet! I've been at every HNH
    except '87 when I was at Paris-Brest-Paris.
    
    Keep'em spinnin'
    
    Gary

   Just by coincidence, this month's Bike Report (the Bike Centennial 
magazine) has an article about the HnHH. The subtitle is "Sweating for
seven hours in a crowd of 10,000 fellow cyclists. What more could
you possibly want?". The author has done three of them, and from his
description, I'd certainly like to try it myself! Friday night starts
off with a massive pasta feed, and is followed by a bike exposition,
with vendors displaying cycling goods of mind boggling variety.
Saturday, the ride starts off at 7:00, in the (relative) cool of the
morning. It quickly gets hotter, though, and the author goes on to
describe the consequences of the heat. And the heroic work of the
people manning the rest stops...

   Let us know how it goes!

						Rob

The votes are in...and that century is the Hottest on this 
planet. 

My son and I drove the 1500+ miles to Whicita Falls in a little
over 2 days. The weather was 90+ degrees and the wind was something
like a blast furnace. The ride was wonderfully organized. There was
oceans of volunteers for each part of the ride. There were actual 
doctors and nurses at rest stops which were every 10 miles. (There 
was probably more ice at one of these stops than all the bars in 
Europe.) There was a consumer show with all kinds of bike related
booths tragically not many bike manufacturers though, only KLEIN
had a significant number of bikes at it. 

I had no problem with training for this century after all I had
been in some horribly hot places in my life. Heck I was in Viet 
Nam for a month and a half! My son on the other hand had never 
been to Viet Nam and hadn't been on his bike for like a month so 
therefore I just knew he hadn't a chance of finishing the century.
I quizzed him several times before we started to see if he really
wanted to do the 100 mile route. He was insistant. So knowing he would
fail we were off. As most of the stories about this ride tell the 
first 20 miles are with a tailwind and the route is fairly flat
and we did about 15 mph no problem. Then it started getting hot and the
wind started to hit us and my son is something of a poke so I 
was doing fairly well. At the 50 mile mark I noticed people loading
their bikes in the bus. This rest stop had a wonderful addition COOKIES.
I, being really careful, had been slugging down exceed and water like
crazy and knowing that these choc. chip cookies would really be good for
me I downed several of them. I also told Dan to eat some but he foolishly
declined. Well for the next ten miles I started to feel sick to my
stomache. By the time I made it to the 62 mile mark I was feeling down
right sick! I had to call it a day loaded my and my son's bike into
the bus. Except for a stop for me to throw up the ride was uneventful.

My son handled my failure well. He is now convinced there is no reason 
to EVER listen to me as well as never training for a ride. (After all
I had trained and look at what happened to me!) I had to got to the 
hospital tent to make sure I was okay and Dan called my wife and left
message on the recorder that I was in the hospital tent but okay. He 
also switched from whining about the ride and the wind to what a shame 
we couldn't finish the ride. 

All in all it was fun. I hope to do it next year and maybe then my 
son will get sick and I'll be condecending to him! 

Fred Mudgett  

    
    Fred,
    
    Great write-up!  If it makes you feel any better, I would
    have gone for the cookies, too.
    
    Besides, I guess you could claim that, everything being bigger
    in Texas, a Texas metric is worth at least a 100 miles?  
    
    (Waiting for the backlash... :-) )
    
    -john

    Greetings 1991,
    
    Never one to leave a sleeping dog lie, I went down to Texas for another
    try at this stinking ride. This time no problem. The weather was
    only in the mid-90's. I did it in 9 hours of which 7 hrs was riding
    time. I was waiting for my son 13 who did 0 zilch nada nyet training
    for this ride. For those who didn't follow my saga last year I quit
    after the 62 mile mark do to cookie induced illness. This year I 
    was really hauling (for me) and averaged 16.something at the 50 mile
    mark, something akin to going light-speed in a Yugo, and was looking 
    forward to an equally easy second half. (You know the half I didn't
    do last year?) Ohhhhhh my its hilly and hot and all the stops I made
    (they are every 10 miles) and the headwinds of only 10 mph all ganged 
    up on  me  and I was crawling by the end of the ride. 
    
    If you've heard any of the HHH legends  ride stop 13 (at the 80 mile
    mark) is always worth stopping at. This year it was the highway to
    heaven. St. Peter was there to greet each rider and angels handed out
    towels. When we left the stop the devel was there and promised, "only 
    20 miles to go, all downhill and with a tailwind the whole way!"
    
    The town is terrific and really appreciates the event. The ride itself
    is just the opposite of any century I've ever been in with 1 or two
    rest stops with bike club officers with lots of advise, conversation
    and peanut butter sandwitches. This ride has one every 10 miles with
    ALL KINDS OF FOOD, nurses, doctors, ice tubs with towels and people 
    to hand them out to you and on and on. They know how to party down
    there! All other centurys seem dowdy by comparison (dowdy maybe but
    also not 1500 miles away). 
    
    My entire family went with me this year. They didn't ride of course,
    they were there only to whine, complain, be touristy and have the
    car delightfully close to the finish line. What a blast! Or perhaps
    I was in the sun too long.
    
    Fred Mudgett

Way to go! I've done two HHH's, but only the half C's. The first time, with a
buddy, we cruised out on max adrenaline with the crowd of thousands for thirty
miles. Then we headed back to town. We discovered that half the reason for
our smooth cruising was the 20+ tailwind, gusting over 30! Now it was a headwind
and the temperature had passed 100. The last 5 miles it was all I could do to
maintain 50 RPM and 9 MPH. However, I didn't die, and swore I would pace 
myself the next time.

The next time my wife went with me. We stopped at every rest stop except the 
first for a mandatory 20 minutes, avoided the sweets, and ate plenty of fruit.
The last 5 miles was again rough, but not nearly so bad. Considering the lack
of training we put in for it, we did very well. 

Sadly, we have missed the last two HHH's, and we will be leaving TX soon.
It's a blast. The entire town does indeed get behind it (they have to, they 
have not access to their roads most of the day!). I've heard that it accounts 
for a big portion of the annual economy, I guess due to the influx of 
12,000 yuppies in spandex, American Excess cards in hand, in an otherwise 
sleepy farmtown.