This Saturday is it, folks. I'll be attempting to ride my old clunker bike (not the one pictured above, thankfully) 100 miles in one day at the Hotter Than Hell ride. I've done other rides this year, working my way up to 75 miles during one such excursion, but this one is the granddaddy of 'em all. Typically somewhere around 10,000 bikers attempt the endurance ride (the one I'm doing; it's not a race). That's a lot of wheels, pedals, spokes and sweaty people by the end of it all.
I'm hoping I can make it the entire 100 miles. The route, which starts and ends in Wichita Falls, Texas, offers some steep hills, screaming descents, oven-hot wind and the promise of at least some heat-induced misery. Last year, some idiot sat in the back of a pickup truck and misdirected riders off the official route. Some had gone 13 miles astray before locals stopped them, some offering rides back to town. Ah, the challenges.
It has also been a challenge for my family. The Petite Filet isn't real happy with the training I've had to do, or that I'll be gone a couple of days for the ride. The kids, particularly the Cutlet, have been affected. I've tried to spend as much downtime (between work, riding and sleeping) with him having fun.
I guess I can't fault her for being less than 100 percent supportive, but this was a goal I set at the beginning of the year. It was supposed to help me lose weight (which it has, but not all that I want to shed) and be a milestone goal that most semi-serious bicyclists want to achieve at some point.
She'll really be unhappy when I tell her that running a marathon is next.
maybe it isn't that she isn't supportive, it could be that t-bone out in the heat for 100 miles doesn't smell that good...