International Christian Cycling Club

August 24-25, 2007
Wichita Falls, TX

The North Texas Spoke was able to fully experience God this weekend at the 26th annual Hotter'n Hell Hundred Rally and USCF Road race. We attended this event to promote the entire club, the local spoke and most importantly we looked for opportunities to share Christ with those that do not yet know Him.

God made this event happen for us, starting way back in April or May of this year. We have an IC3 brother (Ken "Woody" Smith) that works for Richardson Bike Mart in Richardson, TX. RBM has been a HHH sponsor and exhibitor every year and has a tremendous relationship with Roby Chrisite, Executive Director of HHH. Woody was kind enough to mention us to Roby when negotiating floor space for his shop. Roby is a Christian and offered us a tent in the "Finish Line Village" at no cost. Less than two weeks before the event, Roby let us know he had a booth inside at the Consumer Expo as well...also at no charge. This additional space was a blessing, but left us scrambling to find the additional people, banners, etc. to work both locations for 2 days. God will never call you to a task without giving you the tools to accomplish it!

Brother Gary Pennington flew in from Southern California to be part of this event, taking some of his own vacation time to do something that would likely benefit North Texas far more than hisown spoke.

We made it to Wichita Falls on Friday about an hour before the FLV opened, and just a little after the Consumer Show opened for the day. We were immediately swamped inside with people wanting more information and signing up to be on our contact list. A few people that were personally known to the NTX spoke came by to visit as well. The FLV started getting very busy as the USCF race Start/Finish was just a few dozen feet away from our tent. We got a semi-harried call over the walkie talkies from Brother Pat as traffic started increasing there as well.

We made it through the evening making friends, meeting Christian Cyclists and just talking to folks. We packed it in after 9pm and headed out to the empty house we were allowed to borrow from a relative of Pat's. Indoor camping is definitely the way to go. Wichita Falls is about 90 degrees in the evenings, and the hotels sell out for 30 miles around 10 months ahead of the ride. Some are likely already booked NOW for 2008.

The rally and USCF Road Races are on Saturday (Elite men and women Crits are Friday night), starting around 6:45 and 7am. Brother Craig was set up early providing free mechanical support in the IC3 tent, and handing out free bottles of Fuze Fruit drinks that had been given to us free by the vendor (she was not returning for Saturday). Pat and Kevin grabbed their floor pumps and walked the start line looking for anyone that need to be pumped up or topped off. Someone on the BikeJournal.com website saw this and referred to us as good SamAIRitans...

The FLV tent was the hotspot for the day, as riders starting coming back in from the various distances around 9am and continued well past 3pm. we had probable 100-200 people come through to chat, get support or just rest in the shade we had available.

Brothers Dan, Tyler and Gary were able to go out and do the ride, so we had a presence inside, outside and on the road. Dan got his first Century, Gary got through a very hot metric, and Tyler was able to finish a metric despite having been ill recently.

We packed it in around 3 and realized we were blocked in and may have to sit for several hours. But...after a few minutes of enjoying the free entertainment a hole opened up in the tent traffic and we made our escape back to Dallas.

Special thanks to all that worked this event:

God - for everything
Gary - Lovin' the rental bike
Pat - "I'm so hungry my stomach is about to eat my spine"
Craig - Wrenchmaster and his cousin - sorry...forgot his name :(
Tyler - Prince of the forgotten jersey
Robert - Gotta get him on a bike someday
Dan - rest stop 30 miles, 60, 80, 90, 91, 92....

We made the club known and impacted the cycling community for Jesus this weekend.

--Kevin