I did my first century today.

"Mike Kruger" wrote in message
et...
"Pat in TX" wrote in message
...

"Roger Zoul" wrote in message
...
Good job. Sounds as if you'll be doing this every weekend in no time at
all. You should shoot for an english century this fall, depending on
where you live.


I "shot" for a century yesterday at the Hotter 'n' Hell Hundred. Make
that the Hotter 'n' Hell 75 miler! They closed the course because, "it is
too hot." Imagine that! I am so p#$%^d off about that. At the 60 mile
point, "Hell's Gate", they told us it was "too hot to ride a bicycle."
And then, they told us to ride a diverted route which turned out to be 15
miles back to the start. So, it's "too hot to ride a bicycle" but, oh,
by the way, go ahead and ride one 15 more miles....

Somebody has to ask: "How hot was it?"
In search of my own answer, I checked the website. http://hh100.org/ This
gets more interesting. The Hotter 'n' Hell Hunded site has this to say:

"Hell's Gate Closed at 11:30
We have had to close Hell's Gate only a few times in 25 years.
During the late 80's we establish a hard and fast rule for closing the 100
mile route when heat stress could be fatal. The decision is made by the our
medical officer. The decision is not made before the ride but in response to
weather conditions as they occur. Dr. Keith makes his decision based on
heat, solar light, wet bulb thermometer, black bulb thermometer, wind, and
the speed at which the stress indicators are accelerating through the
morning. I am the chairman of the ride and might want to hold it open for
the sake of opinions. That is why Dr. Keith makes the decision. His process
is based on fact, not my emotional response to want to please everyone, and
is made to protect rider health. If you have ever been responsible for other
people; children, elderly parents, co workers, etc. you know the level of
commitment you must have. Your decision and that of Dr. Keith should be
based on what is best for the other person whether they think it is their
best interest or not. If there was a thunderstorm that was capable of
producing ground lightening our response would be the same. We would not
wait for the first person to be hit by lightening. No apologies, it was the
right thing to do and done for all the right reasons. "

I have no doubt that it was unpleasantly hot and likely
dangerously so. But it's interesting that in this web posting on the
official site there are no numbers provided. It's hard not to be curious
about the conditions under which they abort a ride in Texas. Today in
Wichita Falls the forecast is 88 for a high 73 for a low, which frankly
doesn't sound that extreme by Texas standards. So, what was yesterday like?

It's as if a brevet in Seattle was cancelled due to rain. You'd
want to know exactly how hard it has to rain to stop riders in Seattle. Or
it the Iditarod winter sled dog race was cancelled due to snow.

I "shot" for a century yesterday at the Hotter 'n' Hell Hundred. Make that
the Hotter 'n' Hell 75 miler! They closed the course because, "it is too
hot." Imagine that! I am so p#$%^d off about that. At the 60 mile point,
"Hell's Gate", they told us it was "too hot to ride a bicycle." And then,
they told us to ride a diverted route which turned out to be 15 miles back
to the start. So, it's "too hot to ride a bicycle" but, oh, by the way, go
ahead and ride one 15 more miles....

Pat in TX

I'm glad I'm not the only one who was pi$$ed at this. I mean, it's
called "Hotter N Hell Hundred", for cripe's sake! They bill this ride
as being very, very challenging. Come ride one hundred miles across
Texas in the August heat! Then they quit early because someone decides
it's too hot. Thanks for deciding my limitations for me, guys. I'm too
stupid to know when to continue and when to quit.

I trained for months, took time off work, planned and paced my ride so
that I would pass the cut-off point with plenty of time to spare, and
some pointy-head closes early. And as mentioned above, if it was so
deadly hot, why make everyone ride another 15 miles to the finish. If
it was that hot, they should've had a fleet of buses there to shuttle
everyone back safely. The race organizers will surely say that the
decision was made to ensure rider safety, but that's bunk! If you
wanted to ensure rider safety, you'd never have the race in the first
place. I mean, is there a 100% safe way to ride a bike 100 miles across
Texas in August? No.

Ya know what's even better? When another cyclist and I asked the poor
volunteer at Hell's Gate what would happen if we chose to continue the
100 miles route on our own, a policeman (who bore a striking
resemblance to Oliver Hardy) walked over and rudely informed us that we
would be arrested for disorderly conduct. For riding a bike. Welcome to
Burkburnett, TX.

I thought this race was one of the last great examples of rugged
individualism. Not so. Maybe they need to change the from "Hotter N
Hell" to "Warmer N Tampa".

Mike Kruger wrote:
"Mike Kruger" wrote in message
et...
"Pat in TX" wrote in message
...
"Roger Zoul" wrote in message
...
Good job. Sounds as if you'll be doing this every weekend in no time at
all. You should shoot for an english century this fall, depending on
where you live.

I "shot" for a century yesterday at the Hotter 'n' Hell Hundred. Make
that the Hotter 'n' Hell 75 miler! They closed the course because, "it is
too hot." Imagine that! I am so p#$%^d off about that. At the 60 mile
point, "Hell's Gate", they told us it was "too hot to ride a bicycle."
And then, they told us to ride a diverted route which turned out to be 15
miles back to the start. So, it's "too hot to ride a bicycle" but, oh,
by the way, go ahead and ride one 15 more miles....

Somebody has to ask: "How hot was it?"
In search of my own answer, I checked the website. http://hh100.org/ This
gets more interesting. The Hotter 'n' Hell Hunded site has this to say:

"Hell's Gate Closed at 11:30
We have had to close Hell's Gate only a few times in 25 years.
During the late 80's we establish a hard and fast rule for closing the 100
mile route when heat stress could be fatal. The decision is made by the our
medical officer. The decision is not made before the ride but in response to
weather conditions as they occur. Dr. Keith makes his decision based on
heat, solar light, wet bulb thermometer, black bulb thermometer, wind, and
the speed at which the stress indicators are accelerating through the
morning. I am the chairman of the ride and might want to hold it open for
the sake of opinions. That is why Dr. Keith makes the decision. His process
is based on fact, not my emotional response to want to please everyone, and
is made to protect rider health. If you have ever been responsible for other
people; children, elderly parents, co workers, etc. you know the level of
commitment you must have. Your decision and that of Dr. Keith should be
based on what is best for the other person whether they think it is their
best interest or not. If there was a thunderstorm that was capable of
producing ground lightening our response would be the same. We would not
wait for the first person to be hit by lightening. No apologies, it was the
right thing to do and done for all the right reasons. "

I have no doubt that it was unpleasantly hot and likely
dangerously so. But it's interesting that in this web posting on the
official site there are no numbers provided. It's hard not to be curious
about the conditions under which they abort a ride in Texas. Today in
Wichita Falls the forecast is 88 for a high 73 for a low, which frankly
doesn't sound that extreme by Texas standards. So, what was yesterday like?

It's as if a brevet in Seattle was cancelled due to rain. You'd
want to know exactly how hard it has to rain to stop riders in Seattle. Or
it the Iditarod winter sled dog race was cancelled due to snow.




You do know how people like to sue these days, right? They did it to
cover their own asses so nobody got heat stroke from trying too hard to
emulate Lance, not Floyd. If somebody did kill themselves out there you
can be sure a spouse or relative would be signing up a lawyer the very
next day. Loss of a suit like that would kill the event forever, so it
is better to deal with your frustration. They could have had a waiver
for you to sign that said "Sure, I'm crazy enough to try it, and you
will not be held responsible for my stupid actions.".
I had a SAG wagon pick me up before the finish of a Century ride due to
rain about 10 years ago and I was somewhere past 80 miles. They got me
on the third pass as they were starting with the stragglers and working
their way up to my group. We were just pedaling and talking when the
wagon (big van) came up and said "It's canceled due to the rain.", and
this is in California. The problem is that we were close to the mini
mountain range that makes lightning out of an otherwise boring drizzle.
Bill Baka

wrote:
I "shot" for a century yesterday at the Hotter 'n' Hell Hundred. Make that
the Hotter 'n' Hell 75 miler! They closed the course because, "it is too
hot." Imagine that! I am so p#$%^d off about that. At the 60 mile point,
"Hell's Gate", they told us it was "too hot to ride a bicycle." And then,
they told us to ride a diverted route which turned out to be 15 miles back
to the start. So, it's "too hot to ride a bicycle" but, oh, by the way, go
ahead and ride one 15 more miles....

Pat in TX

I'm glad I'm not the only one who was pi$$ed at this. I mean, it's
called "Hotter N Hell Hundred", for cripe's sake! They bill this ride
as being very, very challenging. Come ride one hundred miles across
Texas in the August heat! Then they quit early because someone decides
it's too hot. Thanks for deciding my limitations for me, guys. I'm too
stupid to know when to continue and when to quit.

I trained for months, took time off work, planned and paced my ride so
that I would pass the cut-off point with plenty of time to spare, and
some pointy-head closes early. And as mentioned above, if it was so
deadly hot, why make everyone ride another 15 miles to the finish. If
it was that hot, they should've had a fleet of buses there to shuttle
everyone back safely. The race organizers will surely say that the
decision was made to ensure rider safety, but that's bunk! If you
wanted to ensure rider safety, you'd never have the race in the first
place. I mean, is there a 100% safe way to ride a bike 100 miles across
Texas in August? No.

Ya know what's even better? When another cyclist and I asked the poor
volunteer at Hell's Gate what would happen if we chose to continue the
100 miles route on our own, a policeman (who bore a striking
resemblance to Oliver Hardy) walked over and rudely informed us that we
would be arrested for disorderly conduct. For riding a bike. Welcome to
Burkburnett, TX.

Why I live in California. The only time I ever go to Texas is when I am
driving cross country and stop at the steak house in Amarillo. Other
than that I know Texas is there but don't care. It gets well into the
hundreds where I live so during the summer I take shorter rides, like
under 50 miles in 95 degrees. I tried to ride in our record breaking
110+ heat wave in June but found that 30 miles in that much heat is more
than enough. 3 water bottles and I still drank about a half gallon of
green tea when I got home, then weighed myself and was still down a
pound. Some days really are not meant for riding unless you are a real
masochist.
Bill Baka

I thought this race was one of the last great examples of rugged
individualism. Not so. Maybe they need to change the from "Hotter N
Hell" to "Warmer N Tampa".

Mike Kruger wrote:
:: "Pat in TX" wrote in message
:: ...
:::
::: "Roger Zoul" wrote in message
::: ...
:::: Good job. Sounds as if you'll be doing this every weekend in no
:::: time at all. You should shoot for an english century this fall,
:::: depending on where you live.
:::
:::
::: I "shot" for a century yesterday at the Hotter 'n' Hell Hundred.
::: Make that the Hotter 'n' Hell 75 miler! They closed the course
::: because, "it is too hot." Imagine that! I am so p#$%^d off about
::: that. At the 60 mile point, "Hell's Gate", they told us it was "too
::: hot to ride a bicycle." And then, they told us to ride a diverted
::: route which turned out to be 15 miles back to the start. So, it's
::: "too hot to ride a bicycle" but, oh, by the way, go ahead and ride
::: one 15 more miles....
:::
:: Somebody has to ask: "How hot was it?"

Hotter 'n' Hell.

You do know how people like to sue these days, right? They did it to
cover their own asses


Yes, I do and yes, they probably did. Don't make it right, though. I
mean, I'm pretty sure that in all the fine print of the ride
application there was some sort of waiver statement, and we all signed
it. And I still can't get over the irony of the Hotter N Hell Hundred
being cancelled because of heat. As mentioned above, that's almost as
funny as the Iditarod being cancelled because of snow.

Nothing is 100% safe.

63 miles averaging 17.5 mph (there are a lot of hills in
this state, give me some slack)

so your time was around 3H30', right?
for 63 hilly miles you are certainly riding well...

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Mike Kruger wrote:
"Pat in TX" wrote in message
...
"Roger Zoul" wrote in message
...
Good job. Sounds as if you'll be doing this every weekend in no time at
all. You should shoot for an english century this fall, depending on
where you live.

I "shot" for a century yesterday at the Hotter 'n' Hell Hundred. Make
that the Hotter 'n' Hell 75 miler! They closed the course because, "it is
too hot." Imagine that! I am so p#$%^d off about that. At the 60 mile
point, "Hell's Gate", they told us it was "too hot to ride a bicycle."
And then, they told us to ride a diverted route which turned out to be 15
miles back to the start. So, it's "too hot to ride a bicycle" but, oh, by
the way, go ahead and ride one 15 more miles....

Somebody has to ask: "How hot was it?"

Hot enough that the limiting factor stopped being fluid intake but
whether or not you were going to suffer from hyponatremia.


-Scott

Somebody has to ask: "How hot was it?"

At 11:00 a.m., when Hell's Gate was closed, the temperature was 95 degrees
F, the humidity was 40 %, the wind was from the south southwest at 11.5 mph.
http://tinyurl.com/r72ng

This is NOT extreme. I have trained this summer when the temp was 107 and
106. In fact, in 2001, the temp was around 104. Yes, the temperatures did
get to 102 later on in the afternoon (, but the decision was made at 11 a.m.
The rumor was "some people have fainted." Well, it was probably people who
didn't train for it. Why should their problem become everyone else's? Are we
going to have to quit when the kids on their 20" wheel bikes get tired,
next?

Pat in TX

"Ted" wrote in message
oups.com...
Ok, it was a metric century (I am a very continental guy). It was
still over 63 miles averaging 17.5 mph (there are a lot of hills in
this state, give me some slack) and I have never gone that far in one
day before on my bicycle. I know, a bunch of you will say you do it
every day up hill through the snow under the hot sun, but I haven't
before.

Just thought I'd let you know.

Ted.

Well done Ted! I sometimes go touring and aim to average 100 kms per day.
Sometimes I hit 150 odd, and once I did just over 200 - but don't seem to be
able to repeat it. I don't find it to hard to exceed 100, but can't keep it
up day after day, so an average of 100 is my target; although my last trip
was 1350 kms and it took 11 days carrying full panniers front and rear.
But I can't hit your sort of speeds. Terrain around these parts is hilly,
and I usually average about 18 - 19 kms per hour, or about 11 mph. You are
doing brilliantly!