Tired Legs from HH100

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I didn’t think my legs were tired from Saturday at the Hotter’N Hell 100 in Wichita Falls but during today’s ride I noticed some tired muscles when I tried to speed up for a long stretch. The route took me north to Roman Forest and back to Valley Ranch. Exiting Valley Ranch I stopped at Stripes on FM1314 for food and drink. I brought the food and bought the drink. After about 35 minutes I left Stripes to finish the ride going through Briar Tree, Oakhurst, Kings Manor and then Kingwood. As I crossed FM1314 after leaving Stripes there was another biker waiting for the light to change heading east on FM1314. We exchanged waves as I rode down Old Sorters Road.

It’s still hot here but the heat did not feel quite as intense. I didn’t sweat as much and when I stopped at Stripes the paper towels weren’t soaked while I ate in the shade. I think once the HH100 is past the weather seems to lose its burning hotness. We are 2/3 of the way through summer. In a month it will be Fall. It was 94 degrees when I got home, 107 heat index and 56% humidity. The wind was from the ESE at 7 mph which wasn’t too big of an issue while I was biking.

Riding all of the miles in Wichita Falls I thought I would hold my weight but I ate way too much. Now I need to eat less and ride more.

Metrics for today’s ride. Click on the image to enlarge it.

8-25-2014 GC Ride Metrics

8-25-2014 GC Ride Metrics

For August I rode 828.95 miles leaving 17 miles to reach my goal. With 6 days left I think I have a good chance of getting to my goal.

Link to RideWithGPS map and metrics.

[iframe http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/573878071 465px 550px]

Texas Bicycling News Digest August 24th

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Safety Measures: Drivers, cyclists urged to take better precautions on road

by Kenneth Dean        www.tylerpaper.com

Leslie Shirley loves living near Lake Tyler, but said the past few years, weekend drives to Tyler have become increasingly dangerous as she and other motorists encounter cyclists on curvy, hilly, roadways obscured by the sun’s glare.
Mrs. Shirley, a surgery/procedure scheduler at a local physician’s office, said she has nothing against cyclists, runners or anyone else out exercising to get fit or maintain fitness, but she is worried about her family’s safety and that of cyclists riding on highways and…

Head for Afton

Saturday, Aug 30, 2014, 7:00 AM

River Run Plaza
1071 Country Club Rd El Paso, TX

5 Cyclists Went

7 a.m. Saturday Aug. 30. Meet at River Run Plaza and ride to Hwy 28 and up Afton Road. 54 miles 18-20 mph. Lisa Studdard,[masked]

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Tour de Cypresswood Bike Path

Saturday, Aug 30, 2014, 9:00 AM

Cypresswood Bike Path
1/2 Block East of Cypress Wood Crossing Blvd. Cypress, TX

4 cyclists Went

Tour de Cypresswood Bike PathIf you’re wondering what to do about that mountain bike hanging up in the garage, Come out and enjoy the trails of Cypresswood with us.People ask me sometime, “Tommy, It’s so difficult to get out and ride my mountain bike”. As an Expert Rider, I tell them, ” First of all, do not hang your bike up on hooks out of the w…

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Saturday Beginner Ride

Saturday, Aug 30, 2014, 9:00 AM

Performance Bicycle
4750 Fm 1960 Rd W Houston, TX

1 Bicycle Enthusiasts Went

Leaves from the store to Cypresswood, Cypress wood to TC Jester going north an then back.Please bring a helmet, spare tube, waterbottle, positive attitude 🙂

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Go for an easy beginner ride

Saturday, Aug 30, 2014, 9:00 AM

Performance Bicycle
7549 Westheimer Rd Houston, TX

1 Cycling Enthusiasts Went

You’re invited to join our Saturday morning, beginners group ride starting from and ending at our W. Houston, Performance Bicycle store. The ride is for beginners and those getting back on the saddle. The average pace will be between 10 and 14 miles per hour and the ride will last approximately one hour. We’ll explore some of the local bike paths a…

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Giant Regional On-Road Team

with Jim Gerhardt and 23 others


The guys line-up at 1:30PM today to defend and hold onto the overall leaders jersey at the 2014 Hotter n’ Hell Hundred. After an incredible race Friday Night finishing w/ (2) riders – Bret Crosby 3rd & Josh Thornton 1st – on the podium… yesterday’s road race proved to be everything that makes the Hotter n’ Hell one of the toughest road races in the country. Wind, heat and a field heralded by some as one of the most competitive fields in more than a decade… Josh and Geoff ended up off the front of the main field. Josh was able to hold on to…

Brake Hoods

Bike Noob


I’ve been riding the same road bike for more than six years now, and inevitably it’s going to show signs of wear and tear.
But one area I didn’t expect to see problems is the brake hood. These are items we take for granted. They’re a comfortable place to rest our hands during our rides, and 80 percent or more of our ride time is spent grasping these rubber sheaths.
So I was bothered awhile ago when my left brake hood started showing signs of wear. And tear. In fact, my first inkling that there was a problem was a small tear in the hood.
Of course, it doesn’t take long for a small problem to morph into a larger one — and that’s what…

Masters Track Nationals end Sunday with team competitions

www.usacycling.org

Redmond, Wash. (August 24, 2014) –The 2014 USA Cycling Masters Track National Championships came to a close on Sunday as riders combined forces for the team pursuit, team sprint, and Madison competitions. In addition to the 14 national titles awarded, the Best-All-Around Teams were named. Those winning teams can be found here.
Team Pursuits
The Odd Man Out foursome of Kurt Broadhag (Los Angeles, Calif.), Jonathan Davy (Torrance, Calif.), Kevin Phillips (Redondo Beach, Calif.), and Benjamin Sharp (Boulder, Colo.) posted a finishing time of 4:45.250 in the men’s 35+ team pursuit to beat out the East Plains Mt Men team of Daniel Casper (Northfield, Minn.), Brian Haas (Chicago, Ill.), Gregory Pent (Boulder, Colo.), and Jason Meidhof (Ramona, Calif.).
The men’s 45+ team pursuit was won by Team Sofa King riders David Brinton (Los Angeles, Calif.), Chris Carlson (Plano, Texas)…

Another 17 national titles awarded on penultimate day of Masters Track Nationals

www.usacycling.org

Redmond, Wash. (August 23, 2014) –Individual competition wrapped up at the 2014 USA Cycling Masters Track National Championships on Saturday with the final individual pursuits, time trials, scratch races, points races, and sprints. Best All-Around Riders were also named on Saturday. Those winners can be found here.
Individual Pursuits
Dean Phillips (Wenham, Mass./Fit Werx) won the men’s 35-39 individual pursuit when he bested Kevin Schiller (San Diego, Clif.). In the women’s 40-44 contest, Catherine Moore (Waco, Texas/Guru Cycles p/b Haute Wheels Racing) rode her way to the top of…

Wednesday Ride at Walnut Creek – slow intermediate ride level

Wednesday, Aug 27, 2014, 5:30 PM

Walnut Creek Metropolitan Park
12138 North Lamar Boulevard Austin, TX

5 Mountain Bikers Went

Unsanctioned ride!!!This will be a slow-intermediate ride doing around 10-12 miles.We can break into different groups if someone is willing  to lead a group.Please be there and be ready to roll by 5:30 pm. We meet in the parking lot near the pool in the middle of the island.Any question please call/text  me at[masked]Slow intermediate le…

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The Austin Mountain Bikers Meetup Group

Austin, TX
3,937 Mountain Bikers

Meet other local mountain bikers to organize rides, review trails, gear and trade tips. All skill-levels welcome. We’ll try to organize rides that fit all experience levels. M…

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Texas Bicycling News Digest August 23rd

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Muleshoe Bend Ride Pics – 7-12-14

www.austinbike.com


Sorry I am so late on getting these up, been a busy month.  Here are a few pictures from the Austin Ridge Riders outing at Muleshoe Bend a month ago.
It was a bit hot, but there was a…

Bike Shop Swap Meet and Sale – 8-30-14

www.austinbike.com

From the people that brought you the swaps at Mellow Johnny’s, there is a new event, the Bike Shop Basement Sale and Commercial Rep Swap Meet Austin, on August 30th.  The event will be located at…

Rep. Elliott Naishtat hospitalized after bicycle accident

By Tim Eaton    American-Statesman Staff

A state representative from Austin was hospitalized Friday following a bicycle accident.
Democratic Rep. Elliott Naishtat was attending the National Conference of State Legislatures’ 2014 Legislative Summit in Minneapolis when he was involved in an apparent incident with a car, said state Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, whose staff had communicated with Naishtat’s office.
“It was not critical,” Howard said.
Naishtat couldn’t be…

More national titles awarded on Friday at Masters Track Nationals

www.usacycling.org

Redmond, Wash. (August 22, 2014) – Seventeen more masters athletes slipped into Stars-and-Stripes jerseys at the Marymoor Velodrome on Friday as day four of the 2014 USA Cycling Masters Track National Championships featured more individual pursuits, time trials, scratch races, points races, and sprints.
…Women 55-59 Individual Pursuit
1.      Elizabeth Heller (St. Louis, Mo.)       Quantum Mesa Cycles       2:50.715
2.      Maryann Levenson (Menlo Park, Calif.)       B4T9/Foundation       2:51.132
3.      Ruth Clemence (Newport Beach, Calif.)       Sisterhood of Cycling       2:51.339
4.      Carol Johnson (Seattle, Wash.)       Puget Sound Cycling Club       2:54.867
5.      Valerie Tiemann (Spring, Texas)       Northwest Cycling Club       3:03.673 …

Hotter’N Hell Race Results

www.timesrecordnews.com


Here are the results from Saturday’s Hotter’N Hell road races.
Men’s
Pro…

Warm weather, winds make for challenging Hotter ‘N Hell ride

by Orlando Flores Jr.         www.timesrecordnews.com


WICHITA FALLS, Texas – The 2014 edition of the Hotter‘N Hell may not have quite lived up to its name — barely reaching the 100-degree mark around 3 p.m. — but it still presented plenty with a challenging, and fun, Saturday ride.
A little more than 10,800 people participated in the annual ride, ranging from those taking it easy on the 10K course, to the more dedicated tackling the 100-plus mile endurance ride.
The number is just shy of last year’s 11,100 participants, but the weekend’s entire participation number should break the 12,000 mark, said Roby Christie, Hotter‘N Hell Steering Committee chairman.
“It was a really good day,” said Christie. “The start had what looked…

Lawyers’ perspective on car crashes at BikeHouston’s Monthly Social

www.bikehouston.org

Cycling is not without risks. Every time people head out on their bikes there is a chance of a crash with a car. While we hope you will walk away unscratched, we receive too many calls from people who don’t. This month we present a panel discussion with legal experts on everything you always wanted to know, but were afraid to ask.
Sammy Ford, Trent Stephens and John Neese will join us to discuss what you really need to do when you are involved in a cycling accident. All three are cyclists and experienced representing…

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

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Hotter’N Hell Hundred at Wichita Falls – Hot and Windy

Texbiker.net Posted on by

I got up way earlier than I normally do jumping out of bed at 5 AM. The call of the start line was in the air. After getting dressed I went to our hotel’s breakfast while my wife got dressed to drive with to the start area. This year she didn’t walk with me to Scott Street. After getting best wishes and a kiss I headed off to 4th Street to line up amongst the 100 mile Hopeful group. I turned right onto 5th Street and when I reached Scott Street I ended up among the 100 mile Keepers. Nothing wrong with that since I would probably start 10 minutes sooner. Around 6:45 I turned on my Garmin Edge 510 to be sure everything was working. At 6:55 they began the run down of what would take place as 7:05 neared. I think they started a couple of minutes early with a prayer followed by the national anthem. when it was finished two propeller aircraft flew north parallel to Scott Street leaving a vapor trail behind them (see the pictures below).

Being 4 groups back the start announced by the cannon blast took awhile before we moved. At 7:19 they pulled the pylon out for our group to start. By 7:26 I was riding across the start line. And we were off. during rides I always watch for the highest number and today I started seeing numbers in the 13,000’s. I thought this would probably be the highest but later I spotted 14844 and a little later 14901. These high numbers are usually assigned to late registrations and there an be gaps from the process used. Somewhere are the Iowa Park rest stop number 14901 was spotted. It was rather unusual in that the rider was putting a bike on the rack on the back of a white Jeep Unlimited. I figured the rider was out of the ride but later as I was at the 21 mile rest (100 mile route) the white Jeep appeared with two bikes on the rear rack heading to US287 Business Route. When I got to US287 Business Route (100K route splits off there from the 100 mile route) the Jeep was parked in the grass on the left side of FM2384 and the Fuji bike was not on the rack. I wonder what happened?

Pacing is important for me on long rides like this. I decided to keep my gearing one step below what I normally use to force me to ride a little slower. Until we turned onto FM2384 at the 21 mile rest stop the wind was trying to slow us down. It was from the southwest and felt like it was significantly over 10 mph. Later at the 53 mile rest stop there was a line of flags on each side of the road and the wind was whipping them up big time (see photos below). When the wind was from my back was when I moved to my normal gearing. I was able to make up a lot of the time I lost battling the wind and pacing myself. On SR240 I saw two people I rode with and we spoke. Neal made a comment I didn’t understand when he rode by about I must be reeling in a big one. Not until later did it dawn on me he was talking about the sound my freewheel was making which sounds like a fishing reel when a fish runs with the line. After they passed me I caught up with Richard later and we chatted for a few minutes. They were riding the 100 mile route while I was taking the Hell’s Gate short cut in Burkburnett.

Road surface varies a lot from well worn chip seal to nice smooth asphalt. The concrete tends to be rough when it happens. On SR240 the wind was from the left rear and the road had big stretches of smooth asphalt along with some rolling hills. The wind helped riding up the hills especially for a flat lander like me from Houston. It was hot but not hot enough to melt the asphalt like some times in the past.

Stopping at rest stops to take pictures slows me down some but I only extended the stay at three. I filled my new CamelBak water bottles with ice water and ate numerous cookies while drinking red sports drink of some kind. The new water bottles were supposed to keep the contents cool 4 times longer and I can agree with the cool longer. I had ice left in the bottles each I refilled.

For a good change I did not see one crash along the route I was on. With this many bikers there were probably some, just not in my view. I hope the beginning prayer had a part in this.

I cannot say enough about the organization and volunteers for the Hotter’N Hundred. Everyone I came in contact with were pleasant, friendly and helpful. The rest stops were well stocked when I passed through. I read about the water shortage problem Wichita Falls is going through but it didn’t seem apparent as far as the ride. The finish line area had plenty of greeters and I received a red ribbon metal.

The route I rode was 74.4 miles long and I averaged 15.2 mph at Garmin Connect. I will see what Golden Cheetah calculates when I get home. I felt great riding. The stretch from the last rest stop on Sheppard Air Force Base to the finish line was into the wind and I was passing other bikers without others passing me. As I turned onto Scott Street to ride to the finish line I saw a biker sitting on the curb less than half a mile from the finish fixing a flat. Out on the route I saw people about every mile fixing flats. At the 64 mile rest stop they had signs warning riders not to park their bike in the grass because of the stickers. One year I did that and got a flat. I learned the hard way.

The ride according to Garmin Connect and the RideWithGPS link.

[iframe http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/572053726 465px 550px]

Click on an image to enlarge it.

At the start line before leaving
Burkburnett rest stop
Finish line when I got there
When we got back to the hotel

Pictures from along the route.

Start 100 mile Keepers
Start 100 mile Keepers
Start 100 mile Keepers
Start 100 mile Keepers
Planes flying over
Start 100 mile Keepers
Iowa Park rest stop
Iowa Park rest stop
Iowa Park rest stop
Iowa Park rest stop
21 mile rest stop
21 mile rest stop
21 mile rest stop
21 mile rest stop
Electra rest stop
Electra rest stop
Electra rest stop
Electra rest stop
Electra rest stop
Electra rest stop
Electra rest stop
42 mile rest stop
42 mile rest stop
42 mile rest stop
42 mile rest stop
53 mile rest stop
53 mile rest stop wind
53 mile rest stop
53 mile rest stop
Just before Hell’s Gate
Just before Hell’s Gate
63 mile rest stop
63 mile rest stop
63 mile rest stop
63 mile rest stop
Sheppard Air Force Base
Sheppard Air Force Base
Sheppard Air force Base
Sag wagon Sheppard Air Force Base
Sheppard Air Force Base
Sheppard Air Force Base airmen
Sheppard Air Force Base airmen