Yeah I did it in 2021 and it was my first 100. It’s an amazing event and you are going to have a blast. It’s a pretty approachable course, and nothing too technical. There is a little pavement then some double track towards the beginning which is nice because it helped sort the race out before it hit single track, which there is about 60 or 70 miles of.
Starting field was around 250 people, and everyone was super nice. People were really cool about asking to pass and pulling off to let faster riders by. The aid stations were super helpful. I rode straight through Aid 1 (24 miles) and the water stop at 33 miles. Stopped at Aid 2 (48 miles) and Aid 3 (64 miles). The aid station crew were really helpful and literally ran to get my drop bags. I’m not sure what the crewing situation will be in 2022, but if there is no crew allowed on course you will be fine. The volunteers will take care of you.
You definitely need to put in the work upfront. I was around 3 watts/kg at the event and did an 11:15. I did not stay on top of my nutrition after mi 48 and paid the price. There is a fairly consistent climb up about 3,000 ft of vertical over about 10 miles. I stopped eating there and suffered from really low energy in miles 65+. The profile looks like all the climbing is done at mile 60 but there are enough punchy climbs in the end to make you work. Most of the descending is on sandy single track that can be loose in places. My energy bonk really brought out the worst of my skills in sand. I felt like I could be in the mid to low 10 hour mark with better eating a little better descending. It was warm too. I think bend hit over 90 that day but a lot of the race is in higher elevations in the mountains so it stayed a little cooler.
I would recommend running a hydration pack. The single track makes it hard to take a bottle in a lot of areas. I never got behind on water and I think that was helpful. I saw a ton of bottles ejected from bikes too, but never lost either of mine. I ran a Epic Evo full suspension and it was comfy. I could see doing it on a hardtail though if you are used to that. I would also probably run clear lenses instead of shades. I had shades and patchy tree cover make it hard to read shadows a lot. I ended up taking my glasses on and off a lot. Ran ESI chunky grips and recommend them, I think they saved my hands over the long distance.
FWIW, I did Leadville this year and pound-for-pound the HC100 is the better mountain bike race. Leadville is bigger, more history, and a harder ride. But it’s all double track and roads. The HC100 is really a mountain bike race in my opinion.