The start was different this year. I was in the 100 mile Hopefuls south of 5th Street. The pickup and trailer holding us back waited until the groups in front of us reached the start line before letting us go. Once that happened I clipped in and didn’t stop pedaling like previous years where the groups would bog down at the bridge. I started rolling around 7:25. No fly over this year either. The weather at the start was fantastic from these photo screenshots.

This has to be the most talkative HH100 ride I can remember. In the first few miles Bill Block Watt rode up beside me and asked if I was Texbiker. I said yes and we started talking for the next 3 or 4 miles. He is a regular reader of Texbiker.net and recognized me from the Texbiker.net jersey I was wearing. After Bill and I separated another rider pulled up on my right and said he overheard some of our conversation and we started talking. I didn’t get his name but he is from Austin and this is his first century. I stopped at the 1st rest stop to take some pictures and he rode on.

After leaving that rest stop I noticed a group of cyclists wearing a Mello Velo Cycling Team jersey and I asked a man where they were from. He said Little Rock. We talked about biking there and the hills west of Little Rock versus the flat lands to the east. Later I saw two women from the team stopped on the side of the road.

I stopped at the second rest stop to take pictures and then left. On the road I caught up with a rider I saw earlier. He wore an Ohio State University jersey with one of those school banners that attach to a car window on his back. I rode up beside him and we talked about the OSU football season and the University of Cincinnati football team. He was from Akron, Ohio and moved to Texas 38 years ago. I told him I was from Zanesville and got here in 1971. We parted on a hill and I headed to the 100K turn to start the 100 mile section. Next stop was Electra where I took a potty break, filled my water bottle and ate some cookies. After leaving another rider came beside on the right and said Stradalli bikes weren’t very good. When I looked over at him I saw he was on an all black Stradalli and we laughed. We talked about the bikes for a mile and then he fell back and I moved forward. Later I saw him again and I told him the same thing and we both laughed again.

Between the 3rd rest stop and the 4th one a man from Kansas city came up to me and asked how to say the name of my bike. I told him and he said he not seen one before. He left home Thursday evening to start the 500 mile drive to Wichita Falls. He camped the first night on the way here. We chatted for several miles before we separated.

It was silent for awhile until I got to the rest area just before Hell’s Gate when I stopped to take pictures. A man pulled up beside me and we started talking. He had a crash earlier when he reached for his water bottle and went over the handlebars. Up until then he had been riding at his best and felt sure he could do the 100 mile route. Now his knee was hurting and numb. I said he should go to first aid but he said t wasn’t bad enough. He was waiting for Hell’s Gate to open. I said he didn’t have to wait because that was the route I was taking. He decided to wait and was still there as I rode away.

From there I took Pete’s Shortcut (75 mile route). Normally riding south along I-44 the wind is in my face but today the wind was from the north and the tailwind made for a fast ride to the next rest stop. I took a break to eat some more cookies, fill my bottle and drink some sport drink. Thankfully all of the rest stops had red sport drink instead of the not very good tasty lemon-lime. After resting a few minutes I was back on the road.

I always look forward to the route through Shepphard Air Force Base. This year the street we normally enter on was under construction so we took a detour and this added a mile or so to the ride. I stopped at the rest stop to call my wife to set up our meeting time at the finish and took another potty break before getting back on the bike for the last 5 miles to the finish. I got there about 1:20. the weather was still nice.

Sadly I saw two events where a rider or more were injured. The first was around 15 miles with an ambulance and two other emergency vehicles assisting. The next was around 49 miles when I came to a place with a biker down in the middle of the road and several other bikers gathered around him. He looked in pain as he moved on the road.

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