Personally, i'd prefer it if they went back to the combined tandem recumbent start!

This is such an event, everyone should go ride it at least once. Wichita Falls really goes all out for it. There were apparently over 14,000 riders this year. I got there Friday afternoon and walked a few laps around the bike consumer show, after picking up my t-shirt and registration stuff. It's always fun to wander through that much cycling stuff in one place.  
 
The rec center outdid themselves again this year. This year, they added a pizza dinner Friday evening, and a breakfast with all kinds of choices for Saturday morning. The gym was cold, as usual, and I remember tossing the covers over my head a few times during the night, but I slept pretty well.
 
I took the usual 6:00 am route to the ride start, cutting across Wichita Street, which takes you to Scott Street in front of the start. There were no recumbents and tandems on the Wichita River bridge this year; everyone was lined up at the start line just before the bridge. As I approached the start from the front, it reminded me too much of a can of sardines, everyone was so packed in, so I turned around and made my start from Wichita Street.
 
This is a flat route and has great traffic control, so I always use it to try for my best century time of the year. I made it past the thickest bike traffic at the beginning ok, and settled in to see how fast I could finish the ride. I have been slower this year, and today was no different. The past two years, I made it past mile 90 before my average speed dropped below 20 mph. That happened today before mile 70.
 
But my real problems came at mile 74. I hadn't made a stop yet, even though my arse had been hurting for more than a few miles by then. I think the filter foam seat cushion is completely worn out on the Roadster, and that may have a lot to do with what happened. At mile 74, I had the strangest muscle spasm I've ever had, such a serious cramp in my right arse cheek that I stopped. As soon as I stopped, a knot the size of a pear showed up, just beside my tail bone.
 
I layed on my side in the ditch with the ants and goatheads for 15 minutes, before a SAG vehicle showed up, policed me up, and hauled me back to the rest stop at mile 68. There, I was tortured by a massage therapist for 20 minutes or so, but the knot just wouldn't go away completely. There was just no way I could sit on the bike, so I asked to be SAG'ed in, and was told a SAG truck was on its way, so I waited.
 
And waited and waited. Every 15 minutes or so, I would sit on the bike again to confirm there was no way I could ride it. Finally, at 12:45, after an hour and 15 minutes of waiting for the SAG truck, I sat on the bike and said, "Maybe". So, off I went.
 
It's a very different view of the ride that I got, riding during hours when I'm usually finished. I figured I'd better keep a moderate pace to better fend off further cramps, but even with a moderate pace, I was pretty much passing everything on the road. 6 hours after the start, it seems there aren't too many racer types left on the course. Riding with the strong riders that I do, I feel pretty slow, but passing all these bikes today was a reminder that slow and fast are relative things.
 
And it's a different style of riding at this time of the ride. Many riders just ride side by side, and are pretty much oblivious to anyone coming up behind them. You need to use the oncoming lane for most of the passing you do. And at every rest stop that I rode past, at least one rider pulled out directly in front of me.
 
By mile 98, I was starting to cramp pretty seriously again. When you cramp at mile 98, there's only one thing to do. I stopped and had a free beer. Unfortunately, as soon as I stopped, the knot showed up again, and the beer wasn't nearly enough to numb the pain as I took off again. But within a short distance, the cramp was better, and I was pretty sure I could finish.
 
When I crossed the finish line, I didn't stop, for fear of a knot again. I just made a u-turn, and rode slowly back to the rec center. I ended up with 107.8 miles (rode from mile 68 to mile 74 twice), and a total time of 7:50. That likely qualifies this as the slowest century I've ever done.
 
The last few miles, there were more than the usual number of comments about how comfortable my bike looked, and offers to trade bikes. But they didn't bring the smile to my face that they usually do, because on this day, my arse was likely hurting just as much as their's was.

The definite stars of the day were Thomas and Dan.  Congratulations to you both!
 
I started the day feeling weak and with feet so swollen my shoes hurt as soon as I put them on.  Had a verbal match with a roadie at the starting line.  But otherwise it was another day of trials and tribulations, sore feet and knees to push through, but also seeing my best friends and everybody else I only get to see occasionally.
 
I finished just a hair over 5 hours.  About 20 minutes slower than my tica last year.  But most of the time I ride all alone and this year was great to have DJ along.  He stayed with me forever, and then I'd catch a surge and be gone, only to have his reel me in in a few minutes.  When he actually gets clipless pedals, it's be 'So long, sucka!" and he'll be the dot on the horizon.
 
The buffet was nice too.  I got us there with a minimum of wrong turns!

Yes, congrats to those who had personal bests today. HHH is a great stage for that. Let's see those ride reports! Some of us came in too late to hear the story there...

My ride ay HHH was good one, According to my puter on my bike I got 75 miles and got it in 5.5 hours and my fastest speed was 34 mph. Got to get a litlle more seat time for my feet to get use to pedaling that much. It was a good experience and the people was great at the Lamar Baptish Church
 Later Thomas J  

Had a fun time, indeed...  and the combination of no flats, no mechanicals, no wrecks, and no speeding tickets (in the car) always makes it a good trip.
 
After seeing the "sardines" at the start, Lynn and I and a few others went up to where the Cat I racers were staging, and just waited there, 200 yards in front of the main start line.  It was an excellent vantage point to see the racers take off, and to view the jet flyover at 7AM!!!  As soon as the planes passed, we were off, with the crowd coming, 100 yards back.  I hadn't planned on cranking it up, but you get caught up in all the paceline groups that you encounter, and with the relative headwinds we had, there was definitely an advantage to wheelsucking...  I hung with Bud for a while after the start, and saw a couple aftermaths of what looked like bad crashes between Mile 20 and 30... then stopped at Elektra for a bathroom break.   Approaching Margaritaville, there was a HUGE crash right in front of me, that I narrowly avoided by going onto the left shoulder...  I passed Margaritaville this year, opting for the pre-Gate stop, which was actually kind of a disappointing rest stop, having only water, gatorade, and Fritos...    But I was at the Gate by 10:30 -- I even stopped to get a photo taken with Pyro Pete.  
 
I made another bathroom stop at 78, then continued on to the Beer Stop, hitting there at 12:45, in just under 5 hours bike time, for a 20.0 on-bike average.  Had a bit of muscle cramping, probably due to not drinking the normal amount of fluids due to the cooler temperatures.  Spent three beers worth of time (about an hour) at the Beer Stop seeing who else would come in, but only encountered other GDB folks, no 'benters except for Beertruck (Rick) from Houston.
 
I took my sweet time cruising in the last three miles, just because... got in basically at 2PM.  It was enjoyable seeing everyone again, as always, and I'm glad nobody got involved in any nastiness out on the road.  Got some great pics, which I'm in the middle of posting, including a lot of photos of random 'bentriders I encountered.
 
I've sent a "Thank You" card to Susan and the LBCWF staffers, for the RBENT group.

These are two of my favorite photos from the trip...
 
 
 
Her beer is larger than her head....
 

 
 
Yes, I'm selling healthy apple-banana-caramel snacks, but gimme a CHEESEBURGER!!!