Oklahoma Freewheel – Miami to Joplin
Another of those “traditions” on Oklahoma Freewheel is that on Friday night there is musical entertainment of some sort. The past two years, it’s been nothing to write home about, so I went into the evening with pretty low expectations….
The venue for last night’s entertainment was the historic Coleman Theater. I had never heard of it, but it’s apparently one of the best small town refurbished old, ornate theaters in the nation. Owned by the city and rehabbed completely by volunteers over the course of twenty years, it’s a pretty impressive venue for all kinds of entertainment. You can barely see what it looks like in the picture below. I (and most everyone else) was blown away by the theater and it’s features.
If nothing else, I was content to spend an evening in the A/C in such a nice theater. Then, The Byron Berline Band came out. And absolutely blew us away. I guess Byron Berline is actually an acclaimed fiddle player who is well known in bluegrass circles. That’s not my genre, so I had no clue who he was or what to expect, but man, they put on a show that even a bluegrass neophyte like me could enjoy!
The crowd especially enjoyed the guy in the checked shirt. He played the rhythm bones, which is an oddity in the first place, but was such a blast to watch that he immediately won the crowd over. I left with a smile on my face and a tapping in my toes!
The final ride of Freewheel was a 38 mile jaunt over back roads between Miami and Joplin. I think I set a personal record of being among the last few people out of camp this morning. I just saw no reason to rush to Joplin and sit there waiting for the buses to leave at 2:00 PM. As it was, I had about a two hour wait anyway, and an earlier start would have compounded that!
To be honest, it felt like we were riding in circle sometimes and when we finally did get to Joplin, I would have sworn we came from the west but my garmin track showed us coming from the south!
We did pass by the spot on the corner of the DownStream Casino property where Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri touch. For some reason, I totally forgot to take a picture, so I had to “borrow” one to document the fact that I was there!
The scenery was unspectacular at best. We did pass by a couple of pretty good sized old zinc mining tailings, but they were both pretty trashy looking. I’ve really never been impressed with the landscape around Joplin for that reason. It’s just kind of “bleh”.
As we rolled into the park, there was already a huge crowd gathered. The early riders were gathering up their luggage and lots of wives were on hand to pick up their riders. As seen below, I pulled into the finish area with 472.88 miles on my computer. Not bad for a weeks worth of riding.
The only mechanical related issue I encountered was a serious scrape on the bike’s downtube when it was in the semi for the trip between Tulsa and Hugo. It’s not structural, but it sure looks bad.
In all, it was a pretty good trip that I enjoyed, but this particular route didn’t have a lot of “sights” to see along the way. In addition, the heat really took it’s toll. I mentioned in a past post about spending time in the libraries a few afternoons. That really was almost necessary, given the heat. I’ve taken a lot of trips this time of year, but this was certainly the hottest!
Now….it’s time to start planning next year’s bike trip(s). Where should I go?
God bless…
TW
Tags: bicycle, cycliing, Fitness, Oklahoma Freewheeel
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June 20, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Cover that scrape with mud and you’ll never notice it! At the risk of playing straight man, how hot was it?
June 20, 2010 at 5:40 pm
Congrats on a good week of riding! I’ve enjoyed your posts of your experiences. I’ve never heard of this ride before so it was good to learn something new.
I guess since I haven’t talked you into the Blue Ridge Breakway yet this year, I’ll go ahead and throw in my vote for your trip next year being the 2nd Annual Blue Ridge Breakaway!
- Zeke
June 20, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Steve,
I never saw a temp on my phone that was less than 95 degrees except in early morning and late evening. One night I remember 93 degrees at 8:00 PM.
Zeke,
You know, I have been kind of toying with the idea of a week long ride in the mountains on the tandem for next year. Part of me says it would be a blast, but the practical side says a week of climbing on the big bike might be kind of tough! We’ll just have to wait and see what comes up!
June 21, 2010 at 6:26 am
My friend Wood-man has a tandem and he and his significant other used to ride it all over the place. They would go from Waynesville over Hickory Nut Gorge to Lake Lure. That included a pretty significant climb. I don’t see many tandems around here and I’ve never ridden one although Wood-man is indicating he’s getting his out and getting it ready for the two of us to ride so I may have more experience later in the summer than I have now. We also don’t see many recumbents around here either. I’ve only seen one all summer and that was in in downtown Asheville.
- Zeke
June 22, 2010 at 9:53 pm
Enjoyed your account of this ride, Tracy. I’m considering doing it next year — Oklahoma is close enough to Texas, but far enough away to make me feel as though I’ve gone somewhere!