lotek 

lets face it, it's miserably hot here in DFW area and worse in Wichita Falls.
I know I'm not doing nearly as much riding as I should be, by noon it's too hot
for lunch hour rides. Last night it was 95 at 10pm.
My wife and her sister both were really hell bent on riding and both of
them are now considering either the 25 mile ride so as to not 'waste' the
registration fees, or not riding at all. I'm on the fence about it.
So what is your plan concerning HHH?
Unless this weather pattern breaks, and I don't see that happening,
I bet the medical tents are going to be pretty busy.

Marty

andboy

i'm planning on riding, if it gets too much i will take shorter routes.

I'm looking at is as several shorter rides each with snacks and drinks in between!

Bud Bent

I'll be there. They're letting the 100 milers start at 6:00 am because of the heat, so if I finish in 5 1/2 hours, I'll be done at 11:30 and out of the heat well before the hottest part of the day.

ppena

This is what I was thinking also.

StephenH

I'm not riding,but not due to the heat. In fact, in July, we had 29 consecutive 100-degree days, and I hit a new personal best for milage that month. But what I'm doing, there's a brevet that day also, and I got to thinking, "I can go ride with 13,000 strangers or go ride with a half dozen friends..which would I rather do?" And friends win out here.

Bud Bent

Each to his own. I'll be with more than a half dozen friends at HHH, and none of them will badmouth randonneuring as much as your randonneuring friends badmouth HHH.

bjtesch

I've ridden it 26 times, and some years it is obviously hotter than others. In recent years they have started earlier and earlier, so it is reasonable to think that you can be finished before it gets the hottest. Now if you are doing a century for the first time and it will take you 8 or 9 hours, then it is sort of a different story. I remember one year it was 106F when I finished, and I probably finished in 6 hours or so. My first century was almost 8 hours total time, my ex-wife's first century was 9 hours. Both days were hot but not as hot as what we have now.

Realize that it is pretty hot now, but it normally cools off a little bit by the end of August, plus if you start at 7AM you can finish a lot of miles before noon. I would say that anybody that really wants to do the ride should go and do 100K or 50 miles.

I train in the heat all spring and summer so the heat has never been an issue for me. On weekends I would do longer rides from mid-morning to mid-afternoon, on weekdays I would go home after work and do 15-25 miles. I can remember times when I would be riding through town and pass by those bank signs that would say 107 and similar. If you train up to it and drink plenty of water, it is possible to ride in the heat without endangering yourself. (YMMV of course and everyone should do what they know they are capable of.) And like someone else said- if they get too hot they can rest for awhile and take a shorter route back.

Bud Bent

One could always break off the 100 mile route at Hell's Gate and ride back through Edwards from there. I've heard lots of people say that going through Edwards was the highlight of their ride, but I've always done the 100 mile route so never been through it.

aggarcia

I am planning on riding the HHH100 this year. Heat is always a concern this time of year, but know your limits and eat/drink properly. Starting at 6 am should mean most of the ride is done before noon. At rest stops gets your business done and back on the road. Good luck.

lotek 

I've ridden through Edwards on the 100k route, and yes it's amazing.
Highlights include riding on the flight line under the wings of some of the
larger aircraft. Stopping at the rest stop on the base and having an airman
(or airwoman) run up to you and hold your bike upright while you get drinks,
fruit etc.
The response by the service to HHH is encouraging enough in itself but
the response back by the riders is absolutely the best (and well
deserved).
Marty

Creakyknees

No... I'm not riding HHH because of other factors besides the heat.

For those riding, various heat tips:
- acclimation over at least two weeks of easy /moderate / short-ish rides (no leg breakers / bonks / cramp sessions)
- those white arm cooler sleeves really work well between about 10 am and 6 pm in the sun
- take every opportunity to be soaking wet head to toe - when you leave home, if you see sprinklers, at c-store stops, water bottle / camelback squirts on hands, face, helmet
- ice in jersey pockets and helmet vents (this is awesome)
- frozen bottles (including maybe in jersey pockets)

StephenH

Guess my experience has been a little different. I've ridden HH100 the last three years, but rode by myself each time. And right offhand, I don't recall hearing HH100 badmouthed among the randonneurs; I have mainly seen that online here. I know Gary and Dana are planning to be up there.

Bud Bent

I'm staying closer to home these days (only four charity rides this year and a few close by club rides), so I would have cut down my LSR riding anyway, but their attitude toward any other kind of ride made me cut it down even more.

bjtesch

(that's Shepherd AFB)

Yes it is fun to ride through the base. They have one section of road with crowds lined up cheering as you ride through. I think the Hells Gate cutoff is supposed to get you about 75 miles. The 50 mile and 100K routes also go through Shepherd.

Anybody that is doing the 100 mile route- if there is a lot of heat they will likely close Hells Gate early.

andboy

Lovely ideas! I love dumping water through my vents, never occurred to me to fill them with ice. Or my jersey! Thanks!!!

I'll also try those arm sleeves then.

Thanks!

StephenH

I was trying to think who did what- I know I've seen Dan at the Goat Neck ride, seen Kalleen at the Muenster ride, seen Rani at the Turkey Roll ride, Pat and Charlie are helping run the Red River ride this week, Daniel's riding in it, Gary and Dana will be at HH100. We've had riders at Tour de Cure, Dirty Kanza, Bessies Creek, Leadville, RAAM, RAW, Sebring, GDB, FWBA, and Corinth club rides, tandem-specific events, TTT, and some assorted mountain bike rides I'm not so familiar with. All in all, seems to be a fairly varied crew.

mkadam68

I'll be doing the USA races (cat 3). We're off at 6:48am. We should be done by 11 at the latest (we're doing only 90-miles, not sure how or why). So I'm hoping we'll be avoiding the worst of the heat. Does that sound feasible?

StephenH

Here in N. Texas, we'll have some days where you just step out of the house in the morning while it's still dark and it's already hot, so it can be hard to say what conditions will be like on ride day. But in the last three years, it's actually been cooler at HH100 than it was earlier in the summer- mid 90's for a high, if I remember right, and even down in the 60's at ride start.

Bud Bent

Yes, a few of them are. You're wasting your time trying to defend others. You only stopped by this thread to badmouth HHH to begin with (typical of your crew). Why stay and argue?

Oops, don't know why I always want to call it Edwards.

I noticed yesterday that it's still pitch dark at 6:00 am. Guess I'll take my better light to HHH this year.

Doohickie

I pretty much stay close to home all the time. My rule of thumb is I ride to all my rides, which means the only charity ride I'm considering is the one out of NCHS in September (forget the name). The only ride I like to load my bike on the car for is riding with Chris up in Sanger.

Someday I'll probably do the HHH just to say I did it but don't feel compelled to do so.

Bud Bent

I had planned on cutting my traveling when I retired, but made the move sooner after I got miffed at StephenH's fair haired randonneuring group. Last year was the first where I put more miles on my bikes than my truck, and I want to keep doing that.

I do four charity rides each year. The Cowtown Classic is just 4 miles from home, so I ride to the start. Likewise with the Burleson Honey Tour, which starts 7 miles from home. After commuting by bike all 5 days that week, I drove the 25 miles to the start of Goatneck this year. I may ride to the start in future years.

I travel with a friend to HHH. It's the biggest celebration of cycling in this part of the country. I visit with a bunch of fiends there, enjoy the consumer bike show on Friday, and figure the ride is a good place for me to do my fastest century of the year, just to see where I am.

And completely off topic, I've finally gotten around to putting a blog together. Do you mind if I link to yours?

lotek 

I especially like the prices at the consumer show AFTER the ride on saturday.
vendors are not wanting to bring anything home so they sell items even
cheaper than they were before the ride.
Looks like predicted highs are going to be around 102 for the Saturday
of the ride.

and yeah, I KNEW it was Shepard AFB, just followed suit and put in Edwards
(which is in california).

Marty

Doohickie

Yeah, that's the one I was talking about. I registered to do it last year, wrecked in the parking lot (too much chaos in the lot), and didn't get to ride.

Sure. Blog etiquette doesn't require prior permission though. If Chris does another ramble up in Sanger (and I think he will), I highly recommend it. A ride of about 30 miles at a leisurely pace, primarily on unpaved backroads, through some pretty countryside.

Bud Bent

That's a good tip. I didn't realize that. I buy very little at the show, but I'll keep that in mind if there's something I can't live without this year.

62 miles from me. None of my recumbents are that great on unpaved roads, either.

StephenH

Bud, the original post asked "So what is your plan concerning HHH?". I normally check in here in the Texas forum quite a bit, so I answered that question. I didn't badmouth HH100. I've ridden it the last three years, and have enjoyed doing so. If I didn't have conflicting plans, I'd do it again this year.

I have ridden quite a bit by myself, have ridden in a lot of the local charity rides, and this year, have ridden a lot of the randonneuring rides. Each one has different positive and negative aspects. I try to be a glass-half-full kind of guy myself, and focus on the positive. If you focus on the negative, you can get into a state of mind where you just don't want to do anything at all, because there're always negatives. But if you focus on the positive, you can find a lot of good all around. So I've put in hours and hours riding by myself, and enjoyed that. Here lately, I've been riding with some of the GDB rides, and have enjoyed them- I'll be at one tomorrow night. I've ridden HH100, and enjoyed that, and have posted my pictures here and on bikejounal in years past- that's why the 64 degree picture up there. I've ridden rando rides, and have enjoyed them. Riding by myself, I didn't normally meet that many other people, but riding on the charity rides, I've met a few and got to ride with people I knew or sort of knew on others (I rode the Turkey Roll with Doohickie three years ago, I think it was). On the bike-shop rides and the GDB club rides, I've gradually gotten to know other people. And riding with LSR, I've ridden a lot of miles with some of the same people, and have gotten to know them better. It's all been good for me, though.