Hotter Than Hell - Hell's Gate

I believe it is at mile 60 and you have to be there by 12:30 at the latest.  The time can change though depending on weather.  I guess they have an independent panel of dr, etc. monitoring the weather and if need be the move the time up.

Clint... here are some lessons I learned last year:

1) If you get too far back for the start... you will lose serious time. We lost 1 HOUR thanks to how far back we were from the start line. It seriously took us 1 hour to get our wheels rolling slowly. I'm so slow... 1 hour lost for me is 16 miles. That's me making it to HG or not.

2) Well, thanks to then shutting it down early... 1 hour early (or maybe more?- around 11:00-11:15)... we weren't going to make it to HG. Unfortunately, a lot of people got screwed out of 100 miles last year because of this. So, near the end of the course you saw peopel riding BACK so they could get in the extra 25 miles (if you miss HG you go a 75 mile route).

3) If you need FOOD on the ride... pack some in your jersey. Around mile 40ish I was hungry... and the rest stop was stocked with crackers and pickles. Yea, uuummm... that's not food.

With all of that said... I know you Clint and you will make it to HG with no time issues to speak of. You will be fine.

I heard this year there will be sort of a wave start to help with the getting going part.  From what I heard the 100 milers get to start first so you don' t waste an hour getting going and give that time up for the cutoff.  Not sure if this is true or not.

Thanks for the encouraging words Karen.  This will be my first 100 miler, so I'd really like it to be 100 miles, you know?

Right... well it was that way before. You basically line up with your distance... and start according to how far you are going.

The problem is that a lot of people want to miss the heat (leave earlier = get back sooner)... and start with the wrong wave... the 100 mile wave... even if they aren't going 100 miles. This is pretty standard behavior at most bike rallys... HNH is no different.

In fact, with HNH people have been known to go up a few miles on the course and "wait in the bushes" until the start of the ride... so they aren't in that huge line. I'm thinking about doing this myself. HA!

I know for us, we got a little messed up last year because my friend had some bike issues at the start, so that put us back with the 20-10 milers. Yes, we dodged kids on bikes for a good 2 miles.

Oh,  I heard they were doing something new so maybe i missed something.  I would love to do it but with Praireman a 2 weeks later I doubt I will try it,  but who knows.

Last year was a crazier than normal start because it was the 25th anniversary so there were near 12,000 cyclists there.  Normally, it's around 7-8,000.  If you need to start at the ride start (I did a couple of times for the experience) that's fine, just get up as far as you can.  What we have started doing is taking off a little ways in front of the start from our hotel so we don't have to deal with the congestion.  It works out the same because we still had to ride back to the hotel (and the course is a little long) and it's not a race...well, there is a race, but I'm assuming your not racing it because you would be a Cat 5 and would only be doing the 100k route (you will find LOTS of people doing this).  If you do start up ahead of the starting line, wait until the racers go by (at least let up to the Cat 4's go by, the cat 5's may not catch up to you) because they will be hauling by you and that can make it dangerous for everyone (there is quite a bit of two lane roads with no shoulders).  The racers will have lead vehicles and a follow wheel truck.  There will be a few groups of racers, so don't assume because you saw one group go by that's all of them, there are several Cat's.  Also, back at the starting line...pay close attention when you start, for some reason everyone feels the need to take a drink at the start and has buttery fingers and can't hold on to a stupid water bottle.  I didn't know what Hell's Gate was the first 3 years I did it, didn't know I had anything to worry about, you will make it in plenty of time.  Last year I rode with a slower group from our club and we completely goofed off, stopped at rest stops for 30 min. at a time, they closed it early for the record heat last year, and we still made it.  It's a pretty flat course and with all of those cyclists you can MOVE, man I'm gonna miss it this year!

OK, now I just feel like a complete loser for not making it to Hell's Gate.

But we did like a 15.25 mph average. Yea... yea... slow as a turtle. I know.

OH... I was just giving ya hard time. You haven't ever talked to me in person... if you had you would know I wasn't serious.

Hey, I'm slow... I know it. I'm use to trailing behind the big dogs.

Yeah, I had mechanical problems pre-race last year and I started at THE BACK of the line. I had to wait well over an hour before I actually got to ride, and at mile 50 I heard a guy with a bullhorn announce that the Hells Gate was "closed" early and that we all had to call it a day, even though everyone at that rest stop was on course to make the 12:30 cutoff.

I was pissed. The problem will be rectified this year.