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General Category >> Upcoming Rides >> Hotter'N Hell 100
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Message started by wolfeitz on Mar 23^rd, 2016, 8:09pm

Title: Hotter'N Hell 100
Post by wolfeitz on Mar 23^rd, 2016, 8:09pm

Date: August 27,2016
Registration opened at 12:01 AM January 1, 2016
http://hh100.org/

This will be my first HnH and far and away my longest ride yet so I figured I'd register and commit early to give myself plenty of training time. My 'plan' at the moment is to get up really early and drive out there the morning of the ride. It's a long way that early but I figure I'll probably still get more sleep.

How is the parking situation? Many of you going?

2015 Catrike Expedition

Title: Re: Hotter'N Hell 100
Post by jcsadowski on Mar 24^th, 2016, 8:49am

Quote:

How is the parking situation?

I Hane been driving up for over 25 years and have never had a parking problem.

Title: Re: Hotter'N Hell 100
Post by MrWizard on Mar 24^th, 2016, 11:16am

Don't ride, bike .. there's a group that rides up there from Plano each year .. [smiley=laugh.gif]

The HHH is really a good place for your first long-est ride as its completely supported and you can comfortably bail out and take a shorter route back at nearly any time though its better to just grind on and take lots of rests at each of the stops.

As far as training for it goes .. RIDE .. ride a lot, start joining the club rides (Theres plenty of options around the metroplex) get a plan together which has realistic millage goals. If you are just starting out both GDB and PBA have beginners rides .. (as do some of the bike shops) but you'll need more than that. plan on about 10 hours a week of on-bike time to work up to this kind of millage .. The good news is you will be in much better shape even if you don't make the whole 100 the first time around at the HHH

Title: Re: Hotter'N Hell 100
Post by bentMSrider on Mar 24^th, 2016, 2:25pm

I live in Wichita Falls so I can't really speak to any parking issues that are a problem for me. Seems that staying somewhere local would better than 3 or 4 hours windshield time and then riding. There are lots of homes that open up for riders to stay at. Also camping areas but end of August can be uncomfortable temp wise to say the least. I agree support for the ride is second to none.

Title: Re: Hotter'N Hell 100
Post by reever on Mar 24^th, 2016, 2:59pm

One thing to consider about driving up there and sleeping in the parking lot is sweating all night before a century. I did that one year and started the race dehydrated.....didn't finish that year. At 83 miles I cramped all over--hamstrings, calves, quads, back--all at once.

Title: Re: Hotter'N Hell 100
Post by Patti on Mar 24^th, 2016, 6:32pm

I have done the ride a few times now. Much prefer arriving the day before, having time to browse the Expo, having a nice early dinner and getting a good night's rest. I've not had trouble sleeping, but taking along a pair of earplugs and a sleep mask will help if you are easily disturbed. I also bring a comfy cot. Stayed previously at Lamar Baptist Church but last year the church was not available so we reserved space at the YMCA. It was quite a bit more crowded than the church but we got there early in the day and secured an out-of-traffic corner. The five-minute ride the next morning, to the start, was great.

Title: Re: Hotter'N Hell 100
Post by rmillay on Mar 24^th, 2016, 7:03pm

You may already know, if you reserve a motel room in advance, they only take two night reservations in town during the event. Some only use one night and leave after the ride. Kathy and I did the motel one year. It was somewhat noisy, but they had early breakfast and lots of cold bottled water to take. They also had afternoon snacks. We stayed Saturday night and had a relaxed drive back home Sunday. The other time we drove up early Saturday and found lots of parking spaces a couple of blocks from the start. That time we came in on a side road and darted into the parade after the starting gun. The drive didn't seem to affect our performance adversely, although it was one of the best years, weatherwise. But the drive back home afterwards was not so nice.

Title: Re: Hotter'N Hell 100
Post by wolfeitz on Mar 25^th, 2016, 8:56am

For any of you who have driven up the morning of the event before, how early should one plan on getting there in order to park, pick up the registration packet, and get lined up before the start?

I have several friends on bicycles that are thinking of going this year but no one else on a trike. Do the trikers ever stick together and do trike pacelines or is this event too chaotic for something like that?

Thanks for the tips so far on preparing for this ride. So far I've been out pushing myself hard over a 16 mile ride several times per week but soon I will have to start making time for much longer trips. The though's crossed my mind several time to join up with one of the local clubs for their ride but I'm really not sure that a trike would be all that welcome.

Title: Re: Hotter'N Hell 100
Post by GBRAD on Mar 25^th, 2016, 11:09am

The recumbents and tandems have the option of going to the front of the HHH and starting about 6:50AM. This gets you out of the main chaos and on the road prior to the main packs. There have been at least 200 recumbent bikes & trikes in the last three HHH. This would allow a group of trikers to ride together, but do not ride side by side as the main racing bike groups will be quickly closing in after the 7:00AM official start and they will need room to pass (you will see what I mean). I would plan to arrive at least an hour prior to your start time (an hour & 1/2 if you've never been there before) if you plan on parking, unloading, picking up your packet and getting to the recumbent section at the front of the group. Hope that helps.

Title: Re: Hotter'N Hell 100
Post by MrWizard on Mar 25^th, 2016, 6:42pm

I ride (and have ridden) trikes with pretty much every club ride in town from slow to OAS+.. You might get some curiosity questions but you might not be the only one either.. the lower and mid-level GDB & PBA rides almost always have a recumbent and/or trike or two . At 16 miles being your current sized ride I'd recommend the GDB "easy going ride" and/or the PBA novice ride. The shorter RBENT route this saturday (starting from RBM @ 8:30am!) is also a good option at 20 miles and a starbucks stop in the middle.

http://gdbclub.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=87&club_id=747333&item_id=490975
http://planobicycle.org/index.php/component/jevents/icalrepeat.detail/2016/03/26/26008/49/saturday-novice-ride-starts-april-2?Itemid=1&filter_reset=1

wolfeitz wrote:

Thanks for the tips so far on preparing for this ride. So far I've been out pushing myself hard over a 16 mile ride several times per week but soon I will have to start making time for much longer trips. The though's crossed my mind several time to join up with one of the local clubs for their ride but I'm really not sure that a trike would be all that welcome.

Title: Re: Hotter'N Hell 100
Post by jcsadowski on Mar 25^th, 2016, 7:48pm

Quote:

For any of you who have driven up the morning of the event before, how early should one plan on getting there in order to park, pick up the registration packet, and get lined up before the start?

I get up at 2:45 leave the house (Richardson) at 3:00 am. - Stop in Denton at the IHOP for breakfast and get there about 6:00 or so.
I usually park on the JS birdwell Agricultural Center on the other side of the river. It seems to fill up last.
You have to cross a long footbridge to get to the registration area.

Note: The colleges seem to open the same time and IHOP could be full of drunk kids. And maybe 2 or 3 cop cars in the parking lot. This year I think I will take a sandwich.

Title: Re: Hotter'N Hell 100
Post by wolfeitz on Mar 25^th, 2016, 8:04pm

MrWizard wrote:

Wish I could join you but I've got two young kids both playing different sports. My Saturday mornings are spoken for, for some time yet though I may be able to get in a ride on my own at the crack of dawn. My rides are limited to 16 miles at the moment only because I usually manage to get out on my lunch break. On my old upright I could do the 16 miles of the Cottonbelt trail in just under an hour. Right now I'm a few minutes over that but I figure if I keep pushing myself hard for an hour it should not be too hard to transition to a lesser pace over a longer distance. Obviously 16 mile rides will not prepare me for a century but I'm off to a decent start and building up the 'bent legs.

Title: Re: Hotter'N Hell 100
Post by wolfeitz on Mar 25^th, 2016, 8:07pm

jcsadowski wrote:

That is exactly the type of information I was hoping for!
Thank you all very much!!