America’s biggest and hottest gran fondo race is set to take place in Texas (where everything is bigger) on Saturday 26 August, with upwards of 13,000 participants tackling a sizzling 100-mile route at the 42nd Hotter ‘N Hell 100 – or as Texans just call it, HHH.

With a high pressure heatwave parked over Texas, this year’s event promises to be one of the hottest, if not the hottest, in the event’s 40+ year history. Latest meteorological forecasts, including race day, show daily heat indexes of 110F, highs of 107F, and north Texas blast furnace winds up to 20mph.

In other words, the 2023 Hotter’N Hell will truly be hotter than hell.

To keep riders as safe as possible, over 800 medical volunteers including doctors, nurses, EMT’s, ambulance support, helicopter evac teams and support staff will be on hand at 19 en-route aid stations and the finish line. They will treat everything from bees stings to emu bites, road rash, saddle rash, under hydration, over hydration, heat stroke, as well as broken riders – both physically and mentally. Also, with roving aid vehicles, no rider will ever be more than 5 miles from professional medical care.

Yes, HHH organizers take medical care seriously, very seriously.

At the 1989 HHH, which took place under the same weather conditions expected this weekend, Texas Monthly reported that 273 riders needed emergency IV saline solutions to treat dehydration and 92 went to hospital emergency rooms with heat exhaustion and fractured bones. One 52 year-old cyclist was twice ordered by event doctors to stop during the event. Nevertheless, like most HHH riders, he doggedly continued in the unforgiving heat, eventually reaching the finish line only to dropped dead of a heart attack in front of the medical tent.

As locals are fond of saying, “When the devil wanted a place on earth, sort of a summer home, he picked Texas.”

Photo Credit: KFDX 3

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