The Things You Can Think About On a 2-Hour Bike Ride!

So -- this crossed my mind... when I started this Cardiac Ironman journey, I committed to providing reviews of all the products I included in the Cardiac Ironman "kit". And I will, starting with today's review of my new HED 9 wheels. You can read that on my website, at www.CardiacIronman.com/review.html. It will be there sometime tonight.

But something else I thought people might enjoy reading, and contributing to, is a review of a different kind... not vendors, not products, not even how well our events are produced/managed. I want to know what people think is the event with the best community support. What gets the local folks out there? What vibe do you get from them, as you participate in the event? I can tell you from my experiences as a volunteer at a number of events, and as a spectator at others, the athletes literally feed off the positive emotion you give back to them.

I don't mean this is any kind of rating process, one over the other. I just want to see what events participants come away from with a positive feeling, one that says "I am DEFINITELY coming back to this one!"

So I am going to put the question out on Facebook, and maybe some other places. Hopefully, folks will leave comments here for the rest of us to read.  And I will even start it...

For me, the #1 event so far has been the Hotter Than Hell 100, in Wichita Falls, in August 2009. This ride offers multiple distances, up to a century, which naturally is the reason I went in the first place. The event was huge in 2009 - over 14,200 riders -  and I heard even bigger in 2010. Some of the shorter-length rides actually take you down the tarmac of the Air Force base, and you get to see all the aircraft. The soldiers are standing out there cheering on the riders, and I am told they have as good a time as us riders. In the century ride, which honestly is fairly flat, we passed by hundreds of people, the grandparent types to small children, sitting out alongside the curbs, cheering and waving, or the little kids who are "racing" alongside you for about 50 feet. There was a short section out in the rural part of the ride where there weren't as many supporters, but even out there, you come across farmers who have set up a table, a "rest stop" of their own making, where they are slicing up watermelon and handing it out to the riders. Let me tell you -- when you have ridden 80 miles basically non-stop, and you come across these folks, you STOP! And you almost hate to leave, they are so friendly!

The race support staff is pretty great too. All the rest stops (yeah, we passed all but two) appeared to be staffed sufficiently by volunteers, many of which were standing there willing to hold your bike up while you went and grabbed a PB&J or more Gatorade. A few of them had young kids available with loaded water guns willing to hose you down if you wanted to cool off from the humid heat. They were having a good time, too.

So, there you have it.... now it is your turn. Leave your opinion in a comment for others to read. Who knows - you might give somebody a reason to try a different event. Thanks!