Hotter n Hell Hundred. I live in Texas and I am a cyclist, so I just have to. The previous two years we found ourselves actually chilly before the start of the ride at 7am. I cannot even imagine. This summer is just so stinkin hot. So this year the ride lived up to it's name. Because of the extreme conditions (high of 108) and the fact that they close Hell's Gate which is at mile 59 if you do not make it through before a certain time, the ride officials let us start 30 minutes early. That was pretty cool. Thousands of riders took advantage of the opportunity, illuminating the streets of Wichita Falls with the blinking lights of crazy people who showed up to ride 100 miles in Texas in August. The ride is always great and this year was no exception. The last two hours were brutally hot, so I stopped at each aid station starting at mile 70 to get ice water and pickle juice. I drank 7 bottles of sport pickle juice and used an entire tube of electrolyte tablets. My question is, can you take in too many electrolytes? My guess is Yes. I felt great for the ride and even for a little while after, but around 3 hours post ride my legs felt tingly and tight like they do when you are retaining water at the end of a pregnancy, I weighed 4 pounds more than I did before the ride and my eyes were swollen. But what is strange is that my body didn't look like I was retaining water? Usually my midsection would be swollen and my legs and ankles would really show it. Pretty weird. It felt terrible. I was in bed early and woke up not a lot different and not a pound lighter (I usually weigh 3 to 5 pounds lighter in the morning than before bed). It took until mid-day today for that feeling to pass.
Other than that, it was a great day! Another HHH for me!
Thank you, blogger, for once again putting my pictures out of order.
My great friend, Nancy, who will always come to a suffer fest with me!
This was something new. This giant trough was filled with ice and people were sticking their heads in it to try to cool off. This was at mile 75
Pre-dawn gathering of the early starters.
