Post-Race Post

TFNP has some video of the Hotter’n Hell Hundred (or Twenty-five as was the case). I was very impressed that he was able to ride his bike and video. And I was thankful that he did not video me. Smart boy! Jesse just posted some of her photos. I stole these from her this morning before I realized that she has posted some of the same ones (great minds!). I thought I would post one of Jan since he was the top dog riding the whole hundred. Jesse and I got a kick out of this photo of the Piper - it is difficult to look mean in cycle-wear. Toby's favorite photo was the one with the beer sign toward the finish line. His comment, "How did I miss that?" I also threw in this pic of Jesse just for meanness.

Some "small world" things that happened at the HHH:
On Friday we were milling about the vendor exhibits, which were extremely crowded. Since I am a people watcher, I was spanning the crowd when I saw a tall man that looked familiar. Not being the shy sort, I approached the man and asked if he was Jim King. He was, and he had no idea who the heck I was. Jim was a good friend of my big brother all through jr. high and high school. He lived down the street from my grandmother where we had some serious sandlot football games. His wife also went to school with Craig and I, but I did not know her so well. Then he said that he was there with Brian Gillespie to ride in the HHH. Brian was another good friend from the old days. Brian was quite the hunk in high school. I had a little crush on him, but he dated and married (and later divorced) one of my best friends. Brian came over to say hello and visit. I doubt I would have recognized him with his gray hair, but he was still a handsome man. It was so cool to see these guys – it had been over thirty years.

I also ran into another high school friend, Bert Huff. There are lots of people that I went to high school with who still live in WF. I never see any of them, but I see Bert everywhere when I am in WF. He is a friendly guy who always takes time to stop and visit. He was not riding in the HHH, but just there to check out the activities.

After the race, we drove across town to eat at Parkway Grill. The place was packed so it was difficult to seat our large group. When Jesse came in, there was no room for her to sit with us, but there was a man sitting alone at a table near us. The man did not seem to mind sharing his table with a pretty girl, and Jesse sat with him. It turns out that the man was from Comanche, OK, which is a suburb of Duncan, and where we lived for several years before moving to our present location. He was a teacher at CISD where I did some subbing. We thought it was ironic that we would ride in a race with over 11,000 cyclist and then meet someone who lived next door. The man told us that since he had turned 50 years old this year, he rode the 50 miles. Yikes – more than I want to do!

This afternoon the gang is going to get together to ride. I guess I will ride with the herd again.