He rode 40 to 50 miles per day in preparation, but tragedy almost stopped him from finishing the race.

“Oh, crap!” junior Josh Hankins thought when his tire popped 97 miles into the 100 mile race, but the fact that his friends were there watching him kept him going.

This year, Hankins participated in the yearly  Hotter ‘N Hell Hundred Endurance Ride race in Wichita Falls, TX on Saturday, Aug. 23. Issues with his tire caused Hankins to finish the race walking instead of riding across the finish line.

Though many competitors practiced on routes all over the nation, Hankins spent months preparing for the ride and, “just training around Argyle,” he said.

Hankins’ friends and family traveled with him to Wichita Falls to cheer him on.

“We told our mom about the race he was participating in,”  junior Cooper Richter said, “and she told us we should go and support him on the difficult ride.”

Hankins friends and family, unable to watch him during the race, tracked him using GPS.

“On the 81st mile he stopped, and we heard that his tire wasn’t working, and he tried to get a new one but he couldn’t,” Richter said, “so he decided to keep pushing on.  It finally blew out on the 97th mile, but instead of giving up and calling for a car, he finished the race by walking.”

“Me, Slater and Cooper Richter, his mom and his dad, we all cheered him on,” sophomore Matthew Clayton said.

However, he finished the race with his bike over his shoulder.

“That’s Hankins for you,” junior Slater Richter said.

Though Hankins wasn’t able to complete the race the way he planned to finish it, he is not going to be stopped by this bump in the road. Instead, he plans to continue racing, as well as get his biking license in the months ahead.

“It was a good day for him,” Clayton said.