Brent, Cheryl, and Duane

editor’s note:   Andrew Hoodwin and Mike Emmons were PBA heroes during the HHH. Not only did they transport the PBA Trailer for enjoyment pre and post the HHH ride but they made sure that everyone who visited was treated well and pampered. THANK YOU to both of you for all your efforts!

Friday Afternoon

Eliane

El Cid and his date

Bill

Mike (Emmons) and I took off Friday morning for Wichita Falls pulling the PBA trailer for its first trip with the intentions of supporting our members that rode this year’s HH100.  Greg Thurmond had supplied Mike with a couple of names…I should say “key” names of HH100 workers that were in charge of vendors and the likes of us. Not sure what they would classify us as since there probably aren’t any other bicycle clubs supporting their riders the way we are.

Kathy and Susan

We pulled in at about noon on Friday and Mike called Meg, one of those key people. She instructed us on where to meet her which was between the Arena and Expo hall. I had no idea what we were doing at that point as I hadn’t done this ride in a few years. They had changed the start/finish line so I had no idea of where we needed to be. Meg showed us a couple of spots along that sidewalk that didn’t seem to work since we wanted the trailer to be near our tents. So we walked across the way to near where we ended up and she gave us a couple of choices. We picked a nice spot between a couple of live oak trees with the trailer right behind us. Mike and I thought that the spot looked alright; we had no idea how good but gained an appreciation for it as the day wore on. We were within 100 yards of; the finish line, the sound stage, all the vendors, the ice truck and the port-a-potties were literally 50 feet behind us. Plus our trailer was in a protected and roped off parking area. When the fire department set up their water cannon right in front of us, both Mike and I were wearing ear to ear smiles as we were feeling really lucky.

We spent the day setting up the tents and figuring out what we were going to do. I had volunteered to help a vendor (one of our sponsors) at the expo so Mike stayed behind and watched the site. As I saw members at the expo I sent them outside so they could see where we were parked. By the time I finished working the expo at 10pm Friday night,  Mike had most everything locked up and had his tent pitched. Yes, he was also our overnight watchman. Oh, forgot to mention, the start line was 100 yards behind us so when  Mike woke Saturday morning he had little to do to get ready to join the14,000+ riders on their journey.

Since I wasn’t riding I was determined to sleep in; no such luck. I had bunked with Greg and the doors slamming at 5:30am didn’t allow for much sleeping in. I did however take my time and even soaked in the spa before heading out to our campsite. The riders had started at 7am and I didn’t expect any of them until at least 11:30 so I had brought some reading materials. I didn’t get a chance to even look at them. Roxanne called me at 9am and asked where I was. “Huh?  What are you doing back so early?”  With knee problems she only did 25 miles and was already finished.  I began to panic thinking I had miscalculated so I rushed over.  (BTW: Roxanne said that she was the very first rider to go through the Air Force Base and all the personnel gave her a standing ovation, so her nickname is now either, “Standing-O” or “Speedy”. Take your pick. She was quite embarrassed by the attention she was getting)

Elliptical Bike

Jon Damon

Greg called me as soon as I got to the tents needing some Sweat-Gutrs out to where he was doing his devil thing (you’ll have to ask someone if you haven’t been there)  which was at the 50 mile rest stop. Roxanne was gracious enough to take my car and deliver the products to him. I really didn’t expect to see her back as I had to snake my way to our location as all the roads were blocked. I was just hoping to have my car back by the time we needed to leave. Turns out that “Speedy” knew her way since she had just rode it on her bike and she made it back fairly quick. She destroyed my preconceived ideas of female drivers…

The rest of the day went pretty quick as I stayed busy taking care of the many tired riders that dropped their bikes anywhere they could and stumbled into the tent.  With the water cannon going in front of us, the shade of the tents and plenty of iced down water and soft drinks, they all recovered pretty quickly though and seemed to enjoy the festivities.

PBA had many accomplishments that day.  Jon Damon said he was the first of the non-racers to finish the 100 miles; way to go, Jon!  That spouted a discussion with Roxanne’s husband who though his group was first; Sorry Joe, Jon was back before you. Of course Roxanne’s riding first through the Air Force base. A few of our talented riders finished the 100 miles in under 5 hours which is mind boggling. I’m not sure I could drive my car that quickly. There were many first time centurions and several that had never done 100K before that day. I would attempt to name them all but am sure I would leave out several. Guess I should have kept score.

There were a lot of things going on that day. There was “yoga girl”. Ask El Cid about her. We saw a cross between an elliptical machine and a bike; pretty cool looking and hope to have them demo it after one of our rides this fall. The air rescue helicopter was also within 100 yards and as it took off at about 1:30 we were convinced that George had not made the entire journey on his bike and they were going in for an assist.  Jimmy spent some time on the ground with a major leg cramp; I didn’t think his face could contort the way it did. It looked really painful as I’m sure it was.

Mike E

The Cannon

We had; Sheryl and her two body-guards, Captain Morgan and his first mate, the Rudolphs, the Russian, Pat, Elizabeth (a new member), Brent, Kathy and her son David (Mike Emmons played “dad” when David was eyeing the beer at the beer stop, mile 97), Steve Standifer, the crazy French lady, John, Marc McWorter (El Cid’s mule), Bill, Max and a slew of others that I’m certainly forgetting at the moment…sorry.

We waited and waited and waited for the last riders to come in. Turns out the Evans were spending some extra time at the beer stop, but they strolled in with smiles on their faces. Laurie and Lori both did their first 100 miles and had to drag John that last 20 miles or so. So much for his new bike…Way to go, girls!!!

It was a blast and if you haven’t gone before, this is a must. There is plenty of dormitory type housing, campsites and hotels available. However, if you want a hotel room it’s strongly suggested that you reserve it as soon as you can as they will book rather quickly. The date of the ride next year is August 27, 2011. No need to preregister for the ride itself; they have the late registration down to a science and it doesn’t take long at all.  Hope you can make it; not sure how we’re going to top this year’s results.