Bike

The last day started off beautifully. The weather was predicted to be clear with a strong south tailwind with storms moving in for the afternoon but long after I would have gotten into South Haven. With Grace being so kind as to pack up camp, I was out on the road by 6:30 and was setting a good pace. However, it wasn’t long into the morning until it quickly became clear that the weather people had gotten their timing wrong.

So after a weeks worth of rest, I felt more than ready to tackle the last ride of this Oklahoma trek by riding in this year’s Tour de Cure. It was great feeling of accomplishment to see this fundraising effort coming to an end. It was also great to see a bunch of the other Freewheel riders back from their rest and ready to go, like Sharon who completed her first Freewheel this year and is already ready for more:

Today was Flag Day so it was only appropriate that I deck out the bicycle as much as possible. However, today was also the day of Freewheel that I had kind of been dreading all along, and like most things that we dread, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I had thought. However, the ride certainly was hilly and hard, evidenced by my lack of photos for the day. However, they were mostly rollers which really aren’t that bad once you get your rhythm setup properly.

Today was a pretty day of rolling hills, trees and fields and river roads. However, it was also the longest ride of the trip and it was a hot day to boot, so it certainly wasn’t an easy day. Realizing that the main part of my journey was coming to an end, I rode with a certain amount of vigor and confidence. Therefore, I was relieved when Dennis’ rest stop appeared as the last stop before the destination.

If I had to choose one word to describe today’s ride, it would definitely be flat. However, with a crosswind, it still wasn’t exactly an easy ride. However I still really enjoyed it and it was without any mechanical difficulties. The high point of the ride was the spontaneous creation of an 30 person paceline made up of mostly Oklahoma Bicycle Society members. I don’t ride in pacelines very often, but when I can find one I can keep up with, I will certainly join in. We kept up a good pace for about 10 miles and while it certainly took a bunch of energy out of me, I had a blast doing it.

Today was the perfect day for everything to go wrong. Traditionally, the third day of Freewheel is Crazy Day where riders don the silliest costumes they can, if you don’t consider our normal spandex wear as silly. :) After two years of failed costume attempts, I had high hopes for this year. I was planning to cover my bike with pinwheels and go as an out of work wind farm with a cardboard sign reading, “Will generate for food.” Unfortunately, my pinwheels hadn’t survived the first two days well and I barely made it out of towns before one-by-one the heads of the pinwheels started flying off and I just didn’t think I had the time to perform the necessary repairs.

Today was much shorter and flatter than the previous day, but for some reason it was much more tiring. Maybe it was because it was a route that had been extended from about a 28 mile direct route out to a 63 mile scenic one. For some reason my transportation mind can’t always happily accept the long route. However, it was a nice ride through some rolling hills and some pretty sights.

I slept in a bit this morning and we then headed back to Frederick for the Day Zero Freewheel ride to the Red River and back while Hollis and Grace went out for a little bird bothering. It should have been a piece of cake ride with nothing resembling a hill to be seen, however a stiff headwind made it slow going down to the Red River.

Up really early to drive back to Frederick one last time before heading back out towards Elgin. It started out nice and flat with a great tailwind, but we all knew that once we got into the Wichita Mountains, things would get tougher. However, the ride in was beautiful with the prairie, wild flowers and the mountains all around.

Woke up to a grey, crisp morning eager to get on the road. After a nice oatmeal breakfast, I hit the road. It misted all morning, but it never really rained on me and with the temperatures under 70 degrees I made really good time without any worry of overheating.

After a few hills coming out of the mountains, the land really opened up back into flat farm land and not much else.