Hotter'n Hell 2013 Summary

This last weekend we headed up to Wichita Falls, TX to participate in the Hotter'n Hell Bike Ride. The Hotter'n Hell is one of the oldest and largest bike rides in the US with 13,000+ participates every year. My dad started doing it a few years ago and last year my sister and I joined him for the fun. However, this year was especially fun because Marci, my mom, my cousin, and his wife were also joining in on the action.

Side Note!: Check out my video from last year!

The Hotter'n Hell offers many different distances (25 miles, 50 miles, 100km, 100miles). All the newcomers were doing routes much longer than they had previously ridden, so this was exciting!

Red = 100Miles, Blue = 100km, Orange = 50 Miles, Green = 25 Miles

We took Friday off work and headed up to Wichita Falls to hang out with family, get some great deals on bike gear, chow down on spaghetti dinner, and catch some of the bike races.

Carbo Load!

Ryan demonstrating proper pre-ride hydration technique.

I don't know what I was thinking, but I had the wrong lens (wide) on my camera, but I still managed to get some decent shots of the bike racers. I tried, with some success, using a "pan and follow" technique to capture the riders still while the background was blurred. However, only the video really shows how fast they were going. Watch the clothing of the people on the sidewalk as the bikers flew by creating a wall of air.

Family Spectating

I lent Kate (cousin in law) my camera (as she is an excellent photographer herself) and she got this cool corner shot below.

We headed back to the RV and did some last minute gear fitting and bike maintenance before going to sleep. More excellent photos from Kate.

Marci and Rachael trying out new helmets. Ryan installing Bike Computers. 

Smiling for the camera.

The next morning we got up early (5:30 am) and headed out to the starting line. After the national anthem, cannon blast, jet flyover, and 15 minute wait for the thousands of riders in front of us to start moving, we were off! Marci and my mom were doing the 25 miles. My sister, myself, and my cousins were doing the 50 miles. My dad and his buddies were doing the 100k.

I led our group, or as we called it "The Train", and we kept a pretty solid pace the whole ride. Over time we got some "additional passengers" and at one point we had 10+ people in our "train", which was awesome. I can't explain it, but knowing I was pulling a largish group of people brought me great joy and energy.

A few rest stops, a pickle snow cone, and 50 miles later, we crossed the finish line triumphantly!

After everybody finished and cleaned up, we headed to "Gene's Tasty Burger" to undo all the hard exercise we had just punished ourselves with. My cousin and I were especially hungry and ordered both a Frito Chili Pie and a Bacon Cheeseburger. We put the Frito pie in the cheeseburger and enjoyed every delicious bite.

It was a great ride and a great time hanging out with family. I'm super proud of everybody for the great riding they did and am looking forward to our next ride!