Freewheel Oklahoma 2009
Last week I was off on my bicycling adventure, otherwise called Freewheel Oklahoma, an annual ride that usually starts near the southern border and finishes up in Kansas. This year we covered 415 miles according to the official certificate I was given at the end. Basically, you ride several hours each day, covering between 50-70 miles a day. We left on a Sunday and arrived the following Saturday in Kiowa, Kansas. You could do it much more quickly but we rode way to the west and then went back to the east. I'm guessing that riding hard you could go from Texas to Kansas in about four day.
What surprised me was how early people got up and started out. Some people were on the road by 4 a.m. Do you know how loud a tent being rolled up is that hour? Oh, we camped along the way and put our luggage in a trailer that was then moved to the next town where we would be spending the night. Indoor camping was available as well. I usually left out around 6:30 a.m. and arrived about 11 a.m. Then I would shower and find something to eat. The hard part of the whole trip was the afternoons, which would have been fine if I had been traveling with friends but mainly I just spent the afternoons reading. I did meet quite a few people but not really anyone that wanted to hang out with me the whole day.
It was definitely a good time and I would do it again next year if I weren't moving to Malaysia. Maybe I'll have to start Freewheel Malaysia.
Posing in my spandex just before leaving Duncan.
Not sure what dad is doing here. My butt has spent many hours in that location.
On the road to Apache.
The campsite in Apache. Mine is the little yellow tent in the lower left hand corner. About 1,000 people either ride or follow Freewheel. A ten year old girl rode every mile and one guy turned 70 during the week. Also, a guy who was a leg amputee did it as well.
Cheyenne in the pre-dawn light. Makes for a great morning ride, watching the sun rise.
This is Thomas in the mist. By the way, there is nothing in Thomas. They don't even have a restaurant, just a little place called the Big T that makes take-away food.
