Hotter N Hell - CycleTime Trial

I cheated and borrowed Seb's training plan from Ahmed. Filled up a gel flask and put it in my back right pocket. Did a slurp of gel at 15 and 45 minutes. Took a salt tablet at 30 minutes. Had one 24oz bottle with ice water, one with 600 cal of HEED mandarin. Did not want to bonk. Also, did not want to be sloshy.

Once we finally started to ride, the first 30 minutes were a breeze. Got a little over-excited and was going too fast. Seb's plan called for his HR to be 125-175 bpm. We kept it around 17 to 18 once the initial rush wore off. Got separated from Steve around mile 15 or so. Lots of traffic.

Settled into an easy groove, bypassing the rest stops at 10 and 20. Seb had his camera in his Bento box, so he took a few pics of us riding and of the non-scenery. Legs started struggling around mile 28. Not good. Way too early for me to be bonking. Not sure what was happening there.

Took about a 10 minute break at the mile 30 aide station to top off the water bottles and recharge. Grabbed a couple of homemade cookies, which only made me thirstier. Also got some extra sunscreen so I wouldn't burn. Smart idea.

Legs felt good again when we hopped on the bike. Miles 30-50 felt great. Started running low on water, but I drank a little bit more from my cloudy bottle to keep my thirst at bay. Saw a helicopter flying overhead. Apparently somebody had to be care flighted out from the mile 50 rest stop.

Other than the heat, I still felt pretty good. The best news of the entire weekend was that using Seb's nutrition plan, I didn't have a sloshy stomach after 50 miles. I felt like I could run a half marathon at the point. Granted, not a very fast one, but I could have done a better effort than my run at Ironhead. I think my nutrition issues have been worked out.

Standing in line for the portajohns at mile 50 got really, really hot. We saw Steve at this stop, and he waited on us to recharge. Ate my first ever pickle after the head call. Can honestly say it was the best tasting one I'd ever eaten. Grabbed another one, and then washed it down with a couple of orange slices and some Pickle Juice Sport. Powerful stuff.

We rode together miles 50 to 60 and decided to stop again. It was fracking hot! We were just a few miles from the Hell's Gate cutoff, which closes at 12:30. Even with a couple of stops and having to walk forever to start the thing, we were there with an hour to spare. When we got off to reload, we got word they they had closed Hell's Gate at 11. A little discouraging. We would only get to do 75 today. Oh well. Seeing so many people in the SAG wagon, I understood why. Steve had ridden it last year, said it wasn't nearly as hot or difficult. Probably for the best. Talked to Robyn, who started at the front and did the whole thing - the late aide stations ran out of ice. Not good.

Turned south onto I-44 dead into the wind. No cover, no shade. Just us, the sun, and the wind. It was a struggle to maintain 14mph during this stretch. We stopped again at 65. This stop had misters. Very nice.

Finally about mile 68 we turned out of the wind. We were very relieved as we had a little break. This was by far the most interesting part of the route, going through the air force base. There was one last aide station, but the guy said "5 miles to go". No way we were going to stop again.

Finally made it to the finish line. Got recognized at 100 milers, just kind of shrugged it off. Even got a lovely finisher's pin. Wow.

Got back to the car and the temperature said 113. Ouch!

Start at the beginning of the pack so we could have finished the entire distance.

Nutrition was great. We saw so many people being taken off or taking themselves off. With 2 miles to go there was a guy lying down in the median under a tree. Glad it wasn't me.

Water hoses.


Heat was oppressive.


Maybe it was just me, I wasn't too impressed with this event. There wasn't much to look at other than people passed out on the side of the road, and there was WAY too much chip seal. It was just an uninteresting ride. I don't know what all the hype is about HH100 other than the title and that it's been around for 25 years. It certainly didn't live up to the hype (other than it being hotter 'n hell out there) for me.