Quote from dd5339 on Aug 26^th, 2012, 7:40am:

 
He passed me right at the beginning, then passed me again at around mile 75 (he obviously made a longer stop than I did somewhere).

Lynn and I carpooled up in Dave Rothgeb's van, with another GDB rider.  The drive up was uneventful, we unloaded at the LBC, and went over to the Expo, where we registered, shopped a bit, then went to the HoJo hotel for a very disappointing spaghetti buffet -- won't be going THERE again!!!  We had thought the LBC was doing pizza again...
 
The LBC continues to get better and better, although they could definitely use some more bathroom stalls...  the A/C didn't freeze us out this year, and the breakfast was very nice.  We rolled out a little after 6AM, picking up Carolyn along the way, then found that they had erected chain link fencing to "corral" the riders at the front area -- and it was quickly obvious that they hadn't left enough room for all the recumbents and tandems!!!  I then discovered I had dropped my sunglasses somewhere, and was not looking forward to the ride without them -- when suddenly Jim right next to me sez "Anybody lose some sunglasses???"  I just hugged him...!!!  THANK YOU!  I talked to various other bentriders in the start area, meeting some new folks and reacquainting with old ones.
 
Once we started rolling, Dave and I hooked in with Ricky Kiker on his V3-Ti, and cranked along at 20-21mph all the way to Mile 30, with mostly open roads and very few people passing us.  I'm glad we had consulted the map the night before, because the 100K / 100mile split at Mile 14 was NOT very well marked, and I'm sure that some folks went the wrong way than they originally intended....  And the new southwest leg of the 100 mile route kinda sucked, between the long stretch of washboard and the two cattle grate crossings.  However, I DID pick up two of the insulated Camelback bottles along this stretch!!!!
 
While we were stopped at 30, the big packs started coming by...   We passed the 40 stop, and continued on to Electra, where Dave needed a break due to oncoming leg cramps -- so we hung out there for a while, and finally suggested to Rick that he head out, which he did, wanting to keep a 20mph average (we were just under 19 at that point). Here, we saw a HUGE truck transporting an industrial A/C  system, that was trying to make his way past the rest stop, crawling about 3mph trying not to kill anyone...  bad timing, for sure!!!  
 
I also saw Kent(?) lying on the ground with an ice pack to his thigh, and his trike on the SAG wagon -- he was done for the day with a pulled muscle.  I also spoke briefly with a Cruzbike rider who was in from North Carolina, which was cool...  then as we were about to leave, I talked to an 80-yr old on a CA2 -- he was done for the day, but had averaged ~18 through 50 miles!!!
 
The stretch after Electra is always nice, and we had it up to 30 occasionally -- then we turned east into the crosswind, and backed it down.  We passed Mile 60 stop, which was really crowded - then the 100K route rejoined ours at Mile 68, so the Mile 75 stop was a total madhouse - they had run out of food!  We stopped there, and our average had dropped to 18 by this point.
 
Continuing on, we saw that Margaritaville had moved to just past Burkburnett (yes, very nice streets there!), but we passed it to start the southbound stretch on the service road -- but made a last second decision to pull into the Braum's by the old Hell's Gate point, for some ice cream!!!  Mmmmm....   We then headed south, rolling at 12-13mph into the wind, but passing rider after rider on MTBs, trikes, you name it -- I do love a recumbent into the wind!!!!  the SAG truck was having a field day at this point...  (Jim, you made it to the Mile 90 stop, that's AWESOME!!!)
 
We cruised through the AFB with a brief stop for water, and just cruised in the last few miles, not trying to push it at all...  My odometer said 97.7 miles at the finish line, with a 17.1 average -- which is actually my slowest HHH other than my very first year, but it had been a conscious decision to ride with Dave at a more casual pace the latter half rather than trying to keep up a particular average, so no big deal.
 
Overall, the route change sucked, but it was a successfful ride, with no flats or mechanicals, no crashes, $22 worth of water bottles obtained, and a large Shiner beer at the end.  I just wish the HHH jerseys weren't RACE CUT!!!!
 
Good to see everybody -- I'll have my pics up on photobucket later today.
 
Paul

Here are my recumbent-related pics
 
http://s977.photobucket.com/albums/ae256/pbrown8js/HHH2012%20Recumbent%20Pics/
 

Quote from dd5339 on Aug 26^th, 2012, 7:40am:

You didn't find any oddball stuff? I thought the $5 demo jersey I bought there was pretty oddball.

congratulations JimFPU  you made it further than i would have!!
 

Ricky was just behind you...   less than a minute after you went by, he passed me with Rothgeb behind him, so we all hooked up together and rode the first 50 together...

The 25 mph wind was more of a help than a hindrance? Ok, where's my hip boots? It's getting deep here...