Oklahoma

I haven’t had dim sum in a long time so it was a wonderful way to kick off a productive Sunday.

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I found this interesting article on The Atlantic about the areas of growth in bicycle commuting. While we’ve all seen the large number of articles regarding the growth of cycling commuting, it is interesting to see the geographic concentrations of this growth. Unfortunately, Oklahoma City shows no growth (we sit at a 0.1% so not any room to drop either). However, Tulsa shows 200% growth, though that only represents an increase from 0.2% to 0.6% of the population, but that is still substantial growth.

The Oklahoman has a nice story about last weekend’s MS 150:

In April, walking across a room was challenging for Robin Tilly, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2009.

During the weekend, Tilly, 54, joined 567 cyclists in the 26th annual Bike MS: The Mother Road Ride — a trip along Route 66 from Tulsa to Oklahoma City to raise money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Oklahoma.

“It was wonderful this year,” she said. “It’s a very loving, supporting community.”

[Read More]

Several weeks ago my bicycle, Ms. Blu-Haul was vandalized by some creep while locked up outside my office. Thankfully, she now gets to spend the work day in a nice and cozy spot in the file room.

As a small aside, I will try to post my photo on the same day, but sometimes it just won’t be possible . . .

So, it isn’t another lake picture, but it is another zeppelin picture. But how often do you get to see a zeppelin anyway? I caught this shot as I came around Wiley Post airport on my ride into work. It is quite a spectacle though I didn’t get any pictures about which I was particularly pleased.

Last of the Lake Hefner pictures for a while, but the lake does figure a lot into my day-to-day life.  One of the best parts of my day is my cool off from the ride into work.  This is the view I get to enjoy as I get ready to get down to work . . .

The Oklahoma Bicycle Coalition is putting together the first annual Oklahoma Bike Summit on November 4th and 5th at the Chesapeake Boathouse. This event is the first of its kind in Oklahoma and will feature a variety of speakers and sessions. From the event registration page:

Friday, November 4th

John LaPlante will lead a day-long bicycle facility design workshop. Mr. LaPlante is currently Director of Traffic Engineering for T.Y. Lin International. He has over 45 years of professional traffic engineering and transportation planning experience. He is involved in several national committees and was principal author of the 1999 AASHTO Bike Guide. His hands-on workshop, which includes updates from the soon to be published 2011 AASHTO Bike Guide, will benefit professional engineers, city traffic planners, architects, and anyone who is involved with redesigning the urban landscape on a human scale. Planning professionals can receive 8 hours of CM credit from the American Planning Assocation for attending.

[Read More]

In case you are really bored, not living in Oklahoma and would like to spend some time watching snow fall, I present Snowpocalypse Cam. You too can watch a really fuzzy image for hours on end, enjoy!

Watch live streaming video from radicalwacko at livestream.com

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The route for the 32nd Oklahoma Freewheel has been announced and will go through the East Central part of the state this year, which will mean some longer legs but probably a few less hills than last year.  The itinerary is as follows:

• Day 0, 6/11 – 40 Miles, Durant to Red River and back
• Day 1, 6/12 – 66 Miles, Durant to Coalgate
• Day 2, 6/13 – 60 Miles, Colgate to Wewoka
• Day 3, 6/14 – 75 miles, Wewoka to Checotah
• Day 4, 6/15 – 74 miles, Checotah to Bristow
• Day 5, 6/16 – 85 miles, Bristow to Pawnee
• Day 6, 6/17 – 52 miles, Pawnee to Tonkawa
• Day 7, 6/18 – 40 miles, Tonkawa to Caldwell, KS

The cost for this year’s ride has not yet been announced, but will be available in mid-February when early registration begins.

Grace and I along with Gwen and Mercedes attended the Flaming Lips New Year’s Eve Freakout last night. I only had my camera phone which isn’t the best of cameras, but here are a few snapshots plus a video from a pretty amazing show:

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