Today, August 25, 2010, BikeTexas is posting an online petition against bike bans. Please take a moment to sign it and support Texas cyclists’ right to ride.

Many Texas cyclists are aware that the City Council of Bartonville, a small rural community just south of Denton, amended a city ordinance this past June to restrict the number of cyclists passing through their incorporated area.  Bartonville is a popular riding area for many DFW-area cyclists and clubs, and this ban will affect them greatly.

We are asking Texas cyclists to support the rights of cyclists to the road by signing the “No Bike Bans!” petition and encouraging family and friends, whether cyclists or not, to sign as well. This petition will also be available at the BikeTexas Hotter’N Hell booth this coming weekend.

Please take a moment to sign the petition as Cyclist has rights and fair share of roads.

Read the Full Article here from BikeTexas.org

We’re also having a post HHH sidewalk sale! We will have all the clothing from HHH 100: Jerseys from HHH 100 will be 50% off and all Shorts will be 25% off. Shoes will be 25% off and select shoes will be marked lower. Helmets from HHH will be 25% off.  There will also be other select items on sale!

This year’s Hotter N’ Hell 100 was the biggest and best ever setting a record with the most riders participating in the endurance race with a recorded number of 13067 riders.

Congratulations to Russ Walker winning the Men’s Pro Division and Jen Purcell winning the Women’s Pro Division.

How long has the event been around and how did it start?

The first Camp Eagle Classic was in 2006. We promoted the Kelly Creek Classic for 8 years before that. Kelly Creek was sold and we needed a new venue- Camp Eagle was looking to expand to do some events and the match was made

What was the motivation behind starting this event and who benefits from it? How have they been able to utilize the funds in the past?

We wanted to keep a mountain bike race in the hill country- unique terrain, challenging trails, etc. We also like to do more than the standard fare of just the cross country race. We created a few fun events, the Adult/ Junior Team Time Trial, the $100 costume crit, the $100 downhill We are a small group of cyclists that put on the race- we donate to the local Kerrville community- we have donated a bike to the Kerrville Bike Patrol, we sent some firefighters to the firefighters “Olympics”, we donated medical panniers and equipment for the EMTS to work big events, we donated money to build a skate park, and we have started a fund to build bicycle racks in downtown Kerrville. The Boy Scout Troop 111 comes and helps for the weekend and they get the proceeds from any T-shirt sales- we buy the tshirts and give them to the Scouts to sell.

Logistically, can you give us an idea how many volunteers, finances and planning it takes to put on this event?

Being at the Camp, it takes about 30 of the Camp Staff, 40 additional volunteers, $15,000 or so budget, planning, never enough!!

What’s the average number of riders per year who finish the race?

400

How many riders do you medically assist during the average race?

2-3

What was the worst accident you had in this event?

This event hasn’t been bad, Kelly Creek we had a punctured lung

What can folks do to support you and your mission?

Come to the race and participate

How many port-a-potties do you have?

18 but there are lots of bathrooms at the Camp

Any celebrities joining the ride?

We have a pro dirt bike racer, Cole Kirkpatrick racing this year. And of course, everyone is a celebrity in their own mind!!

Additional stuff you would like to let folks know about this years ride?

This is a great festival, the Camp opens up the property to all the participants of the weekend and there’s tons of fun stuff to do. It is a great event for the entire family on one of the more challenging mountain bike courses in the state. We’re offering up everything from kids races, to unicycle races, high school and collegiate races plus all the fun stuff.

Thank you Lisa for granting this quick interview and we hope we can catch up with everyone at the event.

Click here to view the event details for the The Camp Eagle Classic Mountain Bike Festival

1. SLEEP!!!! Make sure you get plenty of sleep from Thursday/Friday night.  The day before folks usually have a hard time sleeping.  So make sure you give your body the maximum amount of rest you can.
2. Pack your gear the night before:  Logical right?  You’d be surprised how many riders freak out in the morning because they realize they left that extra tube at home.

Quick Checklist:

• Bike
• Helmet
• Headband/do-rag
• Gloves
• Shoes
• Socks
• Bottles (filled with water)
• Heartrate monitor/GPS/whatever you use
• Sunscreen
• Extra tubes, patch kit, emergency bike tool
• Gu/Shotblocks/whatever you eat during the ride

3. Talking about tubes, make sure you have at least two extra tubes with you on this ride. For some reason, the combination of heat and awesome Wichita Falls road conditions is really tough on them.
4. Whatever you do, do not wear underwear under your riding shorts.  It’s a ‘sensitive’ subject but we speak from experience when we say that saddle sores, ingrown hairs and blisters full of puss… well, you get the picture. Some of the real manly guys use Chamois/Butt Butter.  Yeah, yeah… but it works!
5. Sunscreen: You are going to be in the sun for at least 5 hours or longer at 90+ degrees.  Nuff said.
6. Don’t listen to one of the Wheelbrothers called Wade.  There are more then one gears on your bike. Use them!
7. Find a great group to ride with and draft, if you are experienced enough to do that. Remember to ask for permission to do so before hand. 99% of the time it’s fine but there are anal retentive goobers everywhere.
8. Draft wisely: If you do not know the folks you are drafting of be careful. Figure out if they know what they are doing and if they can hold a steady lane.  If not, the potential couple minutes you are shaving of your overall time, might not be worth the road rash.
9. Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate: Read part 1 – yesterdays story on how to survive the HH100.
10. Keep your head up and have a great time.  ENJOY the ride.  Don’t take it to serious and relish in the experience of riding with 13,000+ other riders.  Make new friends and most importantly, if you see one of the Wheelbrothers say ‘Hi’!!!!