This just goes to show how wrong you can be.
As the date approached I started anxiously, then obsessively checking the weather forecast which basically was the DNF trifecta: hot, humid, windy. More detailed forecast was heat index near 100 degrees, wind gusts 25-30 MPH and humidity in the upper 90% range.
Ouch.
For those who've followed my travails for a while, either here on my blog or in person, you'll know that I don't do heat well. The basic problem is that living in Wisconsin I never really acclimate to riding in high temperatures. When I lived in Texas, I used to run or ride in temperatures well over 100 degrees without a problem but now, any time the thermostat heads north of 90 the line between finishing and not is vanishingly small.
I've done 2 hot rides this year: the Texas 1000K at the end of April had temperatures in the low to mid 90's but it wasn't terribly windy (by Texas standards). I also did the Florida Sunshine 1200K in mid May and it was both hot (mid 90's) and very humid.
I was able to complete both rides with judicious use of fluids, electrolyte replacement (Enduralytes Extreme) and ice socks. Actually, on the latter, I use a sun sleeve that's too big. I tie a knot in one end, fill it with ice then loop it around my neck and tie another knot. The ice lasts about 30 minutes or so with the only downside being it drips down my torso and heads toward my crotch resulting in a perpetually wet seat. Heat, pressure and moisture are the E-ticket to saddle sore land so it's a tough choice between getting sick from the heat or suffering with saddle sores. I opted for the latter on the Texas and Florida ride and finished both albeit with a good deal of pain from saddle sores.
So back to the Hound Dog.
As the date approached and the forecast didn't improve (it actually got worse) I seriously thought about just cancelling. I had purchased non-refundable air fare so I decided I would go and try to be extra careful with fluids/electrolytes.
Because I was worried about the heat and maintaining hydration, I decided to wear a 50 oz CamelBak. On the positive side, I drink more when I wear it. On the negative side, the pressure on my shoulders generally gives me a blinding headache after about 100 miles that I've mitigated in the past with ibuprofen. As anyone experienced with riding in the heat knows, taking ibuprofen when dehydrated puts extreme pressure on the kidneys and renal failure is a very real possibility. Tough choice that...
I also decided to put aerobars on the Hampsten. I've ridden the Hampsten on a number of 1200K's and usually get a bit of numbness in my ring and pinkie finger on both hands but nothing serious and it goes away after several days. For some reason after PBP my hands were just a mess. Those two fingers literally felt like they'd been crushed and this persisted for more than 2 weeks. This was very worrying and I don't want to risk making them worse.
I've used aerobars to reasonable effect in the past, the big concern for the Hound Dog was that I didn't have a lot of time to adjust to riding with them. I'm fairly flexible through my lower back, glutes and hamstrings (I can easily put my palms on the floor with my legs straight) but being in the lower position on the aerobars takes some getting used to which I didn't have time to do. I decided to put them on anyway and vary my riding position on the bike as much as I could to give my lower back a break.
Day One
The route on day one had us going up to Tishomingo OK. The forecast winds were out of the SE so we'd have a screaming tailwind until Caddo at about 90 miles then a mostly crosswind with a bit of a push on the 30 mile stretch out to Tishomingo. After that, a cross headwind on the return to Caddo then a screaming headwind for the remaining 82 miles. The forecast also showed that the winds would build rather than decrease as night fell with the strongest winds at midnight.Here's the day one route:
Hound Dog Day 1
We left promptly at 07:00 and with the tailwind made great time out to the first store stop at 40 miles in Ector. I bought some Oreo's and ate them as I rode. We continued to have a good tailwind as the heat rose and we rode toward the second store stop at Durant at about 80 miles. I bought a c-store hotdog and drank a Coke there in addition to topping off bottles. I also filled my ice sleeve and put it around my neck.
It was really getting hot now as we rode toward Caddo at 90 miles. I stopped at the c-store in Caddo, refilled my water bottles and did a Skratch Hyper-Hydration in a bottle of water. I left the store by myself for the stretch to Tishomingo. The skies were cloud free and the wind was blowing pretty hard, cross-headwind as forecast and the heat index was close to 100. I arrived in Tishomingo pretty well cooked, did the info control and then went up the road to a Subway where I ate a wrap, bag of chips and drank 3 medium size cups of Coke. I refilled my sun sleeve with ice before I left.
I felt pretty good when I left. Just before I got out of Tishomingo one of the knots on my sun sleeve came untied and I lost about half my ice before I could catch it. I continued on toward Caddo and now it was really hot and more of a headwind. I stopped about every 5 miles or so and dumped water on my head (this was one upside of the CamelBak: I could use one of my water bottles to dump on my head).
I got to Caddo feeling really bad. Up to this point, I'd been taking an Enduralyte Extreme an hour and with benefit of hindsight I don't think that was enough. At any rate, I went to the Dairy Queen and got a large chocolate shake and drank it along with a large cup of water.
After that, I felt pretty good. I was joined by Amy R., Byron W., Jeff L., and Rob T., and we came upon Hamid A., after a few miles. We rode as a group for a good long while but eventually lost Rob and Hamid.
We stopped at the stores in Bokchito and Bonham. Looking back, I didn't really eat much on that stretch and started to feel it after we left Bonham so I made a brief stop and ate a banana and some Oreos.
The last store stop was a Kwik-Chek about 23 miles from the overnight and I made it a goal to empty the CamelBak before I got to the overnight to make sure I was fully hydrated. I've found in the past that if I go to bed dehydrated I wake up cramping in the middle of the night. I realize as I write this that I didn't take any Enduralytes from the last store stop on and in fact had reduced my intake of electrolytes considerably - that was a mistake. It was quite warm and humid all the way to the finish. This would come back to haunt me on day 2. Amy, Byron, Jeff and I rode together to the overnight and got there about 1.
I made a microwave TV dinner while I showered (meat loaf and mashed potatoes) and drank a bottle of Coke. I got into bed at about 2 AM with the alarm set for 05:45. I didn't sleep particularly well but did get up a couple of times to pee which said at least I was reasonably well hydrated.
Day 2
The day 2 route went SE for 58 miles then E to the turnaround at 98 miles. The wind was once again SE and gusting to the mid-20's and it was once again forecast to be near 100 degrees. It was also forecast to be overcast for a good part of the day but this would prove false as the sun came out fully at about 08:30. Here's the day 2 route:
 |
| Day 2 Hound Dog 1200K |
We'd agreed we were going to leave at 07:00. I hadn't really eaten that much on the ride the previous day from Tishomingo all the way to the finish and was really feeling hungry. I had two make it yourself waffles, 2 danish, some eggs, 3 cups of OJ and 2 cups of coffee for breakfast so I left the hotel feeling OK. When I went outside the cars were all covered with water like it had rained but it hadn't - it was just so humid.
Rob, Amy, Byron, Mark M. and I left and headed out into the heat and wind. I started to feel kind of bad right off the bat so I tried to make sure I was drinking a lot and upped the electrolytes to one every half hour. We stopped at the store in Lone Oak and I was feeling increasingly bad. I decided that I should eat more while I still could and had a breakfast taco and chocolate milk.
Leaving Lone Oak there were several long stretches straight into the wind and I was feeling worse by the minute. I knew we'd be going straight into the wind out to the turnaround and that the 70 mile stretch from Mineola to the turnaround and back had the most climbing on that days route. We were on about an 8 mile treeless stretch on FM 2324 and I was feeling pretty bad. I saw a road/driveway to the right with some overhanging trees and called out that I was going to stop and told the others to go on.
I sat there for a while pouring water over my head and drinking but it wasn't helping. I knew that the stretch out to the turnaround would all be into the wind with temperatures near 100 and would be hilly. I considered the possibility of my getting increasingly sick and quitting - how would I get back to Greenville (besides an ambulance)?
So I decided to call it while I could still get back on my own power. Even now as I write this, I think it was a good decision. It wasn't likely that I was going to recover given the conditions. I'll also add that the idea of riding along sick for extended periods of time wasn't all that appealing (BTDT) so the fun factor had pretty much gone to zero.
As an aside, I mentioned at the outset that I'd put aerobars on the Hampsten. As I was approaching the driveway where I decided to quit my back muscles were really tightening up - to the point of "I've got to stop RIGHT NOW and stretch". This also happened several times on the way back to Greenville so it's possible that even without the heat I'd have had trouble - hard to know for sure.
So bottom line: a DNF. As I write this, a final tally isn't available but I believe half the field on the 1200K quit with two riders going to the hospital for severe dehydration/heat exhaustion (they're both OK). (Update: 41 starters, 13 DNF). Although I'm always disappointed when I fail to finish a ride and will try hard to analyze what I did wrong (first thoughts: didn't take enough electrolytes and didn't take them regularly enough, didn't drink enough on day 2, didn't eat enough at the end of day 1, probably spent too much time on the aerobars and/or wasn't sufficiently acclimated to them) I'm content with the decision and feel like it was the right one all things considered.
I admire those with long strings of 1200K's with no DNF's but at the end of the day I do these to challenge myself and have fun. I've finished a number of very tough rides so I know I have the ability to push myself under trying conditions but I don't want to risk my health or ruin my enjoyment of the sport by doing "death rides".
Kudos to those who continued and are finishing. They obviously did a better job of managing their ride than I did (and in many cases are more experienced at riding in extreme heat than I) and I applaud their ability to finish under such difficult conditions.
