Watching my wife run the White Rock Marathon last year with the Clif Bar Pace Team, I wondered why nobody had ever applied that idea to a bicycle event.
Every big event has a milestone, a goal that everyone wants to meet. For the Leadville 100, it’s 12 hours, and that Silver Buckle. For the Hotter’n Hell 100 mile Endurance Ride, it’s 5 hours.
The Official Pace Group for the Hotter’n Hell Hundred is tackling the 100 mile ride, and will finish in less than 5 hours. We’ll be the first group to start, so you won’t have to pass the 14,000 other participants. We’ll have full motorcycle support with spare bottles and spare wheels, and the group will be led by experienced cycling (and tri!) racers and coaches.
Watching my wife run the White Rock Marathon last year with the Clif Bar Pace Team, I wondered why nobody had ever applied that idea to a bicycle event.
Every big event has a milestone, a goal that everyone wants to meet. For the Leadville 100, it’s 12 hours, and that Silver Buckle. For the Hotter’n Hell 100 mile Endurance Ride, it’s 5 hours.
The Official Pace Group for the Hotter’n Hell Hundred is tackling the 100 mile ride, and will finish in less than 5 hours. We’ll be the first group to start, so you won’t have to pass the 14,000 other participants. We’ll have full motorcycle support with spare bottles and spare wheels, and the group will be led by experienced cycling (and tri!) racers and coaches.
Watching my wife run the White Rock Marathon last year with the Clif Bar Pace Team, I wondered why nobody had ever applied that idea to a bicycle event.
Every big event has a milestone, a goal that everyone wants to meet. For the Leadville 100, it’s 12 hours, and that Silver Buckle. For the Hotter’n Hell 100 mile Endurance Ride, it’s 5 hours.
The Official Pace Group for the Hotter’n Hell Hundred is tackling the 100 mile ride, and will finish in less than 5 hours. We’ll be the first group to start, so you won’t have to pass the 14,000 other participants. We’ll have full motorcycle support with spare bottles and spare wheels, and the group will be led by experienced cycling (and tri!) racers and coaches.
We’re the first rally group to start, so we’ll go off after the 100 mile USCF categories, but in front of all the others (the Tandems and Scorchers, for those familiar)
Official start time is 6:55, so we’ll be there for the fly-over, etc. (Info fixed on Bikereg)
Why not 4 hours? Why not 4.5? This is our first year, and we decided to shoot for 5 hours. That’s the milestone for most of the HHH participants. No it’s not blazing fast (our 3:55 for the race last year, that was fast!) and I realize it’s not something to challenge the hardcore racers. My thought is that anyone shooting for 4.5 can start with us, enjoy the support and draft, then take off in the last quarter. We’ve got time for a bathroom break factored in, so if you skip the stop and motor the last few miles, you’ll be golden. (If you can withstand the siren song of the beer tent at mile 98)
For 2011 we’ll have 3 groups, including a 4:30. For 2012 we’ll have a full slate of groups, and start branching out to the 100k and 50mi routes.
Congrats on finding a way to buy yourselves a full frontal starting position. :tiphat:
seems kinda spendy though, given there are still hundred of people out on the road that choose to start early from their hotel rooms that you’ll be dealing with anyway
Fun idea, but…will your group stop at all stop signs and traffic lights and follow all rules of the road? Or will the roads be closed to regular traffic or will police be at all intersections waving you all through? Are there twisting, hilly country roads with limited visibility? If so, will you be riding single file on those roads? There is a lot to think about concerning your pace group – liability and fueling car/bike animosity come quickly to mind.
Don’t forget that part of the entry fee pays for a custom Hincapie jersey, and those ain’t cheap.
I really feel the cost is reasonable, given the exclusivity (100 of 14,205), the support (rolling motorcycle hand ups) and the extras, like a raffle just for the Pace Group.
As for the other post, questioning rules of the road, etc, I can only assume that you’re not familiar with Hotter’n Hell? It’s the largest rally in the country. Yes, the roads are closed, yes the locals are expecting lots of bikers, and avoid the route at all costs, and yes, we’ll be obeying the laws.
As for the twisty, hilly roads… I know you’re not familiar with HHH! It’s got 10’ of climbing PER MILE. That’s right folks, a whopping 100’ of elevation gain!
The event has insurance, and the pace group has insurance.
Or will the roads be closed to regular traffic or will police be at all intersections waving you all through?
Although the roads are not closed, there is law enforcement controlling traffic at nearly every intersection along the 100-mile course.
Are there twisting, hilly country roads with limited visibility?
No twisty roads but there are some small rollers. The biggest factor is typically the heat/humidty coupled with what often seems like a relentless blast furnace temperature head wind the last 40-miles.
If so, will you be riding single file on those roads??
That is kind of hard to do when sharing the road with several thousand new found friends for the first 20-30 miles.
The biggest factor is typically the heat/humidty coupled with what often seems like a relentless blast furnace temperature head wind the last 40-miles.
Indeed, in 2006, head down on the last stretch south into the colossal hair-dryer-like gale in our faces, it was all I could do to make 14-15mph. I felt like such a loser, until I turned around and saw a dozen people lined up on my wheel. That year I took this pic of the bank’s temperature display just after we crossed the finish line…
Yes, it can get warm. And, that actually provides a nice seque…
I just finalized the details for the Official Pace Group Seminar Series. These are free and open to the public.
July 11 - Heat Acclimation. Presentation followed by Q&A, and we’ll have some products to show off to help beat the heat.
August 15 - Event Preview. Where to park, the secret port-a-potties, and the secret back way to the start line, and of course, course info.
Both will be at the JCC in North Dallas. See the ad and read the write-up in the July issue of The Racing Post.
Details for the ride were pretty much covered earlier in the thread, but to recap:
First to start
Full motorcycle support, with bottles and wheels
Motorcycle mounted photogs, for some sweet action shots
Custom Hincapie Cycling Jersey
Coupons and Discounts (like Rudy, Quarq, Sun & Ski)
Group Riding Seminar
Cat 1s as your domestiques
Tri bikes welcome
Jerseys are predominantly white and have the Official Pace Group logo, which is pretty cool, and designed by ST’er Chuck Cates, aka the guy behind all the cool Desoto designs and ads.
I can email you the artwork.
Strongly encourage everyone to wear the jersey for the ride, for identification before and during.
I would like to see the design. tullostech @ gmail . I was going to buy a jersey anyway, so I could see the value in the pace group entry fee depending on the jersey. I guess I’m weird like that.
I’ve never done a pace group like this, do I bring my own set up back wheels and tools? One of the guys in my tri club last year broke a wheel at mile 70ish and DNF. So the support sounds like a great deal. Is there an FAQ about what we should bring?
