From: cs4331at@chaco.cs.unm.edu (Paul Sery)
Subject: Hotter'N Hell Hundred Cat 3
Organization: Computer Science Department, University of New Mexico
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 21:37:41 GMT


Hotter 'n Hell Hundred, August 29

The race started in Wichita Falls, Texas with light winds and relatively cool 
weather.  My NM Velo teammate Sean Van Court and I started with over 100 other
Cat 3's.  The first five miles were neutral with a pace car maintaining a 
21 mph rate.

After 5 miles the course wound it's way back through downtown Wichita Falls
and the Amarillo based Flatlanders team upped the pace. Things settled down 
once we left the town. Then Darren ? (Bikes Plus) took a hard pull and the 
guy behind him let the gap open.  It was only 15 miles into the race and 
nobody seemed to care and he kept going and was soon a minute up.

The Flatlanders and Hotter 'n Hell teams kept the pace up and Darren's lead 
never got much above one minute.  Now as I recall the race flyer never 
mentioned any Hot Spot primes for the 3's but the first two went by like
there was lots of money.  I nearly got dropped at the second one at about 
40-45 miles.  Three guys split off after the mystery prime as the course 
turned directly north with a tailwind and immediately got a 15-20 sec gap.

The course turned back west at the 50 mile point and there was a wicked 
Southerly wind by then too so I made sure I was at the front at that point.
Also, last year some jerk had sabotaged the course with oil in the turn
and there were many crashes; my friend Waz (Jim Warsa) went down in it 
last year.  We made it through the turn okay and this really big guy started 
to pull like a man possessed and guttered everyone.  Brian Deblanc 
(Flatlanders) was on his wheel and I was on Brain's.  After about 100m we had 
a gap and bridged up to the three guys up the road.  I was biting my bars the 
whole way.

We linked up and started working together and reeled in Darren.  I shouted at 
him to sit on as we went by but he immediately jumped into the rotation!  We 
worked well together but the wind took its toll and our gap hovered between 
20-40 seconds.  After 10 miles we were caught as the course turned briefly 
back south.  Our effort had taken it toll on the field which was down to 
about 40.

There were plenty of guys willing to rotate through in the cross wind but
it never went fast enough to really split things up.  No Knickmans or 
Freys in this race!  There were a few attempts to get away but nothing was 
successful.  At the 80 mile mark a small chase group made its way back up to 
us.  

Things started to pick up as we turned back towards town and the rollers were
entered.  We picked up the cross-tailwind again and three-six guys including 
myself and Sean started to rotate through.  This split the field and there 
were fourteen of us left.  The final six miles were directly into the wind and 
except for a few feeble attacks (mine was among the feeblest) we were content 
to roll at the bare minimum necessary to hold off the chase group.

I really would have liked to win this race, which is one of the coolest I've
ever entered, but I didn't feel I had the suds left for the sprint and I 
didn't think any of us were capable of getting away either.
Something had to be done to break things up within sight of the finish. 
I told Sam Childs (Whole Foods), who had been active all day but being an 
old guy like myself (oh please;-) didn't appear to be a sprinter, that I 
would let a gap open for him if he wanted to try a long one.  I don't know 
if he really heard me but that's exactly what he did with about 500m to go 
and I let the gap open.  Everyone looked at everyone else as he slowly 
increased his advantage.  When it was about 20m I shouted at my young 
wunderkind teammate/meal-ticket to go and he did.  He got halfway across 
the gap before anyone reacted and that was it!  Sean got Sam's draft for a 
little bit and then went around for the win.  I was right about my own 
chances as I barely hung on for ninth.

This was a really enjoyable race as it did not end in 100+ man downhill
field sprint like last year!  These folks really get into it.  Everything
about the HHH is first rate and everyone is really friendly.  Check it out 
next year!

1. Sean Van Court (NM Velo Sport) 4:06.55
2. Sam Childs, (Whole Foods)
3. Buster Brown (BMC)
4. Scott Brown (Bianchi)
5. John Winstead (Mid Cities Wheel)
6. David Hodge (RCCA)
7. Paul Diefenback (Twister)
8. Brett Gabriel (Texas Road Club)
9. Paul Sery (NM Velo)
10. David Stapleton (River City RC)


Oh yeah, the criterium.  Well 80 guys started the 10 turn (!) beast.  We rolled 
around for an hour and the first 79 guys sprinted on the last lap.  Me, 
I'm scared of the damn things and I was the very last guy for the entire race
and especially the field sprint.  Funny, I used to contest stuff like that
when I was 18.  I wonder what's different now?

Paul Sery
Albuquerque, NM
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.racing