WICHITA FALLS ( KFDX/KJTL ) — Hotter’N Hell is getting ready to kick into high gear. With the first day of registration, riders and volunteers can practically smell the starting line for the rides and races over the weekend.

The first day of Hotter’N Hell festivities kicked off with day one of the Consumer Show and ride registration at the MPEC.

Riders who pre-registered checked in with volunteers and went to receive their packets with commemorative gear for the ride. Late Registration is where some mystery comes into play.

Michael Boyle handles the off-road registrations, and he says the number of late registration riders can be high on Thursday and Friday.

“You never really can tell who’s going to show up on late registration… on average, low end, we probably have about a thousand people that will sign up late registration,” Boyle said. “We’ve had as much as 4,500 people sign up for late registration. So, it’s always kind of that unknown, just kind of waiting to see how many show up. We’re always hoping for the most.”

After riders register, many make their way over to the trade show across the hall. Vendors, both local and national, set up shops hoping to meet the needs of anyone who needs to prepare or maybe get something new before they take to the streets over the weekend.

Boyle said it’s evidence of the growth of Hotter’N Hell.

“It’s kind of evolved over the years, you know, as it started off just the endurance ride, just the road ride. And now that we’ve added the mountain bike events and the gravel events and the run, so it’s really an exciting thing,” Boyle said. “Like you said on the consumer show, people get excited about doing the event, so they want to go buy gear. They want to buy stuff to remember the weekend.”

Riders and others who want to participate in the Hotter’N Hell spirit will have all weekend to take in the sights and sounds of one of the oldest cycling events in the nation.

The off-road mountain bike races start early Friday morning at 8 a.m., and the spaghetti dinner starts at 5:30 p.m. that evening. It’s $18 to get in at the door of the spaghetti dinner .

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