Craziness leads to Craziness

I rode the Hotter Than Hell 100 on Saturday. It wasn’t that hot – 97 or so…

Craziness leads to craziness. When was the last time you drank two entire bottles of pickle juice? (They have it at the rest stops to keep your legs from cramping due to loss of sodium while sweating like a pig for 5 hours straight.)

This year the HHH 100 was all good. No flat tires, no crazy man diverting us 13 miles the wrong way like last year, my legs felt fine the entire ride. At about mile 98 there is always a big party going on, and people standing there handing out free beer. I always stop and have a beer with them before finishing the last few miles. Don’t worry, there is no Open Container law concerning driving a bicycle.

I don’t know why I like this ride so much. I suppose part of it is the camaraderie. 10,000 people sharing the same road, wind, blazing hot sun, and pickle juice. At that speed, while one’s legs do get achy, you hardly ever get out of breath, so it’s easy to strike up conversations along the way. And bikers work together, forming little groups which draft on each other, and take turns being the lead biker and fighting the wind.

I also like the Texas prairie. It looks so beautiful. Mile after mile of peaceful, rolling prairie with only the sound of the wind in you face. And then, occasionally a line of riders comes whirring up from behind and blows by. That sound, how can I describe it – like a mini tornado. I love that sound. I don’t know why, but my heart-rate goes up, and I feel like a child at the circus when I hear that whooshing rush of air, stirred up by tires and cranks – legs circling in a flowing combination of power and dance and effort and grace. Like a bug to a lamp I find myself attaching myself to the end of the line, inches away from the next bike, eating up miles of burning pavement like a bird on wheels.

Why do I like this ride so much? I don’t know. I suppose it is a break from the normalcy and regularity of day to day life. It’s a little adventure, during which the unusual is the norm: otherwise normal people dressed in spandex shorts; getting up at dark thirty on SATURDAY morning; staying out in the heat of the day; 100 miles; pickle juice; celebrating with Budwiser and sausage on a stick. Craziness leads to craziness.

This ride also gives me a sense of accomplishment. As I wrote in an earlier entry, the highlights of one’s life are often the big things one attempts - things with the possibility of failure. There are 365 days in a year, most of which pass without notice into oblivion, but the one day each year I ride across 103 miles of North Texas prairie remains fresh and vivid in my mind.