Oklahoma Freewheel – Tahlequah to Prior
Oklahoma Freewheel is celebrating it’s 32nd anniversary this year. As with anything that’s been around a while, there are those things that occur year-in and year-out simply because that’s the way it’s always been. That’s the case with the group of musicians shown below.
Every evening, they gather to make music. It’s kind of old-fashioned, homespun cowboy or folk music that you just don’t hear too often. Songs like “Tumblin’ Tumbleweed” were drifting through the air to my tent as I awaited bedtime last night.
At 56 miles, with less than half the climbing of yesterday, I hoped today would be a pretty easy day, but it really wasn’t. Just outside of Tahlequah, we began a series of climbs that let my legs know they had worked a little harder yesterday. It was kind of hard to tell how much we were going up since the road was encased in a tunnel of trees, but it soon took pity on us and gave up a nice 2.5 mile downhill run before pitching up even higher over the course of the next 8 miles. From there (24 miles), it was literally downhill all the way to Prior, but you really couldn’t tell because of all the rollers mixed in.
At about mile 36, the landscape changed from rolling hills to prairie grass and the wind began to kick up. Luckily, it was behind us the biggest part of the day.
All week long, I’ve seen the prettiest display of little yellow daisy-like flowers with a rust center. They’re everywhere along the roadside and woods.
Some people even have plantings of these things in their yards. Anyone know what they are? They would make a pretty good addition to my native plants if I could find out what they are.
I gave away my quick link today. On the last significant climb of the day, a guy in front of me had broken his chain. I had an emergency quick link and another guy had a chain tool, so we could have fixed him up. Believe it or not, he really didn’t want us to. Somebody said one of the bike shop repair vans was not too far behind, so he opted to wait for that. The guy with the chain tool was looking for a break from the hills, so he declared he would wait for the bike shop guys just in case. Since he was waiting, I left the quick link in his possession just in case. He said he would try to find me tonight, but I’m guessing it won’t be possible.
By about mile 36 today, we had left the hills behind and were riding across the prairie grass of Oklahoma. I’m not sure if that makes me glad or sad. On one hand, it means no more hills, but on the other, it’s not as scenic and the wind is usually bad.
Just outside of Prior, we got onto some of the worst pavement I’ve ever had to ride on. The picture below doesn’t do it justice! It literally slowed me down to 10 mph, and at that speed, I felt like my teeth were about to rattle out of my head.
I’ll leave you with this goofy self-portrait of a happy bike rider although you can see from the look on my face that I’m starting to get tired. By the time I made it in today, the wind was starting to pick up and the somewhat rough roads had taken their toll.
God bless…
TW
Tags: Cycling, Fitness, Oklahoma Freewheel, Prior Oklahoma, Tahlequah Oklahoma
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June 22, 2010 at 8:23 pm
Tracy
The wild flower is
Golden Coreopsis (Wild Flax, Garden Tickweed)
Jerry