At about 7:05am two F-16s and two prop planes (what were those planes?) flew over to signify the start of the ride. Great to see those F-16s! This year the organizers released the starters based on their assigned areas on Scott Avenue. At the Keepers Pole we had a ribbon barrier across the street. In front of the barrier we could see the riders get ready and start rolling. They rolled all the way through the start line before we got our go-ahead. This really helped prevent crashes and kept people more separated. Even as it was we rode for the first 20 miles with lots of other riders around us. It wasn't until we got to the turn-off for the 75 mile route when things really thinned out a lot. There were rest stops about every 8-10 miles and we stopped at them all, getting water, ice, sports drinks, bananas, oranges, cookies, muffins, even peanut butter on a spoon! These made the stops well worth it. Each rest stop had two large tents setup, one had food at the tables, the other was a medical tent. This 2nd tent became more important after about mile 65 when the temps and humidity started taking their toll on the riders.

The routes all start in downtown Wichita Falls on Scott Avenue and head out of town to the west. Those on the 25 mile route soon turn north to loop back around through Sheppard AFB and back into town. The 50 milers are next to turn right and loop back around. At about mile 27 the 100 milers turn left, west onto a larger loop through Electra then east to Burkburnett and Hell's Gate. It is important to get to Hell's Gate before 12:30pm if you plan to ride the full 100 miles. The organizers will close HG at 12:30pm and force everyone to a 75 mile route, straight south along the I-44 access road through Sheppard AFB and back into Wichita Falls. A rider won't even know that Hell's Gate has closed when it happens. One must follow the cones and turn sharp left to get on the 100 mile route. When they close HG they simply pull up the cones and remove the signs. You don't even know you missed the turn.

We were either going to do 62 miles (100 kilometers) or 75 miles, but had not decided yet. It would depend on how we felt at mile 27. We paused at the turn, looked at each other, "How are you feeling?" "Good! You?" "Good!!" We turned left and headed for Electra, TX on the 100 mile route. Electra is the "Pumpjack Capital of Texas", and Yep! we saw tons of pumpjacks in the fields around Electra. It was at this point that the field of riders really thinned out. The fast 100 milers were long gone and all the other routes had peeled off. We were left riding with much fewer people at our fitness level. It was very pleasant, for a while.

Probably the longest stretch of road was the right turn north of Electra where we headed east on highway 240. Long, flat, straight, 20 miles to Burkburnett, TX where we made a sharp right turn to the south and Hell's Gate. We have a vivid memory of a past HHH where there was a group of kids in lawn chairs under the trees on the side of the road. They had a water hose and hosed down riders as they biked by. It felt great! We missed them this year.

Here's a note on e-bikes. The last time we rode the HHH we got to talking to a guy at a rest stop. He was riding a fat-tire e-bike. He could do 20-25 mph without much effort, sitting upright, really enjoying the ride. We asked if we could tuck in behind him, Sure!, so we got the benefit of his slipstream for about 20 miles. This year we saw many more e-bikes. Some were really fancy road models with drop handlebars, carbon fiber, disk brakes, etc. It reminded Stewart of disk brakes. They appeared on bikes for the first time a few years ago. They were a novelty, most bikes were the old fashioned caliper brakes. Now, disk brakes are everywhere. We rarely see caliper brakes anymore. Are e-bikes going to dominate the rallys in a few years?

While training together on Zwift we had worked out an arrangement where Anne would lead for 2 minutes then Stewart would lead for 2 minutes. Since Zwift accurately simulates wind resistance the trailing rider gets a big benefit in the slipstream. On the road we did something similar initially swapping out every two miles. After a while this seemed like too long so we reduced it to every one mile. On this longest stretch into Burkburnett this worked great giving the trailing rider a rest.

The organizers decided to close Hell's Gate at 11:30am this year due to the heat and humidity, one hour earlier. We never even saw the 100 mile turn-off and wouldn't have taken it even if it were open. We pulled into the rest stop at about mile 62 and refilled our Camelbaks and water bottles. Turns out our friend Bob Mione was working this rest stop! But we didn't know it and missed him. It was very crowded. We were talking with some of the volunteers in the food tent and they pointed us at the barbecue over to the side where they were handing out hot dogs! They were the best hot dogs ever. We went over to the medical tent to sit and eat our dogs and a volunteer brought us caregiver gloves filled with iced water. Oh my, it was heaven to lay those frozen hands on top of our heads and necks.

The route from Hell's Gate to Wichita Falls is straight south 15 miles into the wind along I-44. It was very warm on this segment and getting warmer by the minute. Luckily, we had a rest stop in Sheppard Air Force Base at about mile 70. We stopped at the entrance and an airman took some pics for us. Then we rode by the F-16s, A-10s, and other aircraft out near the airfield. We both worked on the F-16 program at TI and later Stewart at Raytheon so it was great fun to see them here, and in the fly-over. The airmen were out and about and cheering us all on as we biked through the base and out the south side. We met a woman here at Sheppard AFB at that took our photo for us. This was her first HHH and she was riding it alone. So brave!

It was 5 more hot windy miles into Wichita Falls and across the finish line. Yay! Lots of people all around cheering and partying, music, and they handed us our finisher's pins. At this point Anne's Garmin read 116 degrees on the pavement. We were both pretty cooked and the car was somewhere off to the south beyond the MPEC. We walked our bikes across to the MPEC then remounted and biked south looking for the car. Stewart remembered it was "easy to find, right beside Central Bail Bonds". We were too hot and tired and biked in circles for a while until we saw a woman closing up her shop on the corner. She was so friendly helping us to locate the car and wishing us the best, glad we didn't need the Bail Bondsman for their real purpose!

Back at the car Anne's Garmin was now reading 121.6 degrees. We were so cooked. Stewart got in the car and started the AC, then we both washed off using tepid water from Stewart's Camelbak, loaded our gear into the car, and just sat there in the AC cooling down. That worked. After a few minutes we both felt much better, and maybe a little less cranky. We had no problems at all getting back to the Home2 Suite. It was probably 2:30pm as we drove back. On the way we saw a Wendy's so we pulled through the drive-thru and picked up a couple singles, fries, and large diet cokes.

The Home2 had a nice service setup to check bikes on the first floor. We took advantage of it on the return so we wouldn't have to take our bikes up the elevator again to the 4th floor. We'll definitely use this service next year to skip the elevator competition, maybe also get a room on a lower floor!

Back in the room we kicked back, ate our Wendy's lunch, and tried to remember everything that had happened on the ride. Then a shower, some biking clothes burritos, and more relaxing. It was only a 2 hour drive home and the kittens were calling to Stewart, so he volunteered to drive back. We packed up, loaded the car, got our bikes out of the bike-check, and drove home. We got home about 6:30pm. Our cat sitter Nancy had already been there and fed the kittens so we ate leftovers from whatever we found in the fridge.

Time then for some Vuelta a Espana, lap kittens, and serious relaxing. Another Hotter'N Hell Hundred complete!