EJ plotted the course from Dallas to Wichita Falls. I think it was right around this time he mentioned something like "I'll be waiting for you at the finish line."
The HHH lived up to its billing as the temperature reached 108. Some 9,000 entered and a less than 1,000 of them made it across the100 mile finish line on their own power.
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The official team vehicle with bikes loaded and ready to roll - my Honda logged over 850 miles from Friday to Sunday. | |
EJ plotted the course from Dallas to Wichita Falls. I think it was right around this time he mentioned something like "I'll be waiting for you at the finish line." |
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In Wichita Falls Friday evening - the heat was intense! | |
EJ at the spaghetti dinner the nite before - behind him you can see some of the throngs of participants |
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The convention center which housed all the events also had a huge bicycling trade show. Lots of cool gadgets, good prices and interesting people | |
There was a professional criterium race Friday evening - I scooted as close as I could without getting run over to get this shot. |
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With every hotel room within 100 miles sold out - I secured these luxurious accomodations on the gym floor at the local YMCA. By nightime - every spot on the floor had someone crashed out. | |
At the starting line Saturday morning. We got there very early so we could be toward the front. The start was still over an hour away. |
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There was even some whacky religious right radicals there saying that because we spent money on our bikes we were sinners. I don't remember that passage in the bible or the one he was holding up. haha | |
The sun is up and the start is just moments away.. EJ is looking confident. |
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Finally after almost 15 years of putting this off - I am about to embark on my first ever attempt at the Hotter N' Hell! | |
At a feed station twenty miles into the ride, I am having a great time... |
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...and EJ is asking for some Tylenol from the medics | |
Fourty miles in - we are both having a great time and not dreading the sixty miles remaining |
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At seventy miles into the ride, I have a water bottle filled with ice stuffed down the front of my jersey while people are starting to get fluid through IVs in the background behind me. | |
The bodies are piling up as makeshift MASH units are becoming overrun with heat victims. It is at this time that the hospitals in Wichita Falls started admitting record numbers. |
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Volunteers like the little girl who sprayed us down at the seventy mile mark are what made it possible for anyone to finish. | |
This was the last feed area that EJ and I spent any time together as fortunes would soon take a turn for the worse... |
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I held up 8 fingers, but we were close to ninety miles at this time. The lense of the camera was covered in grime and sweat. | |
EJ trying to eat something and attempting to cool down with cold paper towels over his head. It was at this point he told me to go ahead and that he was just going to lay on a cot for a few minutes and then finish. |
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After crossing the finish line with a crowd of cheering spectators - I paused to capture the moment of victory. I have finally defeated one of my major goals - the Hotter N' Hell Hundred!!! | |
Now was the tough part - waiting for EJ... I searched the myriad of tents filled with recovering riders, checked rolls of people sent to hospitals and had ride coordinators radioing to each of the check points to search for EJ - we couldn't find him anywhere. |
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An hour later, EJ stumbled from one of the medical vehicles to the triage tent. | |
EJ's new best friend, Dr. Kyle checks his vitals after they hook his fourth IV up |
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At this point, I think he is seeing Elvis... | |
...but I know he is okay when he manages to laugh when I mention how people are going to give him shit about all the talking he did before the ride. |