Route miles  -  412

 

Ride, Eat, Sleep, Rain
June 2003

                                                                                                                                                                 By Laurie Allshouse

 

     FreeWheel, Oklahoma’s annual cross state bike ride, started in Denison, Texas on June 8.  This is the 25^th year that spirited, friendly bike riders from 7 years old to 84 years young ride their bikes from Texas to Kansas.  Denison was a lot prettier than I had anticipated.  There were lots of trees and lots of hills, which should have warned me of the terrain to come.  We set up camp at a local school and were lounging around in the shade when a shifty eyed character came up and told us we might want to camp elsewhere.  He had noticed sprinklers going off in this area earlier in the morning.  We looked around at the crab grass and weeds for the telltale evidence of a sprinkler head.  Not finding any sign of a hydration system nearby, we decided he must have wanted this prime real estate for himself or some friends of his.  Snuggling into bed for some shuteye before our official 6:30 a.m. start of FreeWheel, we were awakened about 3:30 a.m. by a flash of lightning and the clap of thunder as a storm passed through.  We woke up enough to close the windows of our tent and drift back to sleep, secure in the knowledge that our tent doesn’t leak.  Jim woke up about 4:30 and could hear the rain coming down in sheets.  He HAD to go to the bathroom so out of the tent he ventured.  Lo and behold, the rain had quit but the sprinklers were now discharging their duty in full force.  Returning to the tent in a timely manner as to miss the impending spray, he told me that the sprinklers had indeed kicked on.  I was totally confused in my befuddled morning brain, thinking that I had heard thunder earlier.  As I dressed to the rhythmic rhapsody of water hitting our tent, it stopped at 5:15 and I could exit in relative calm.  About 15 other tents had joined our prime dwelling habitat and were now the laughing stock of camp.  It would have been much funnier if the thunderstorm hadn’t warned us in advance so that we could close our windows.

     Many riders put their gear on a truck supplied by Central Tech out of Drumright to get their clothes and tents to the next day’s destination.  We, however, had our own private sag driver.  Chris Van Winkle, Diana Lerma’s sister, drove Johnnie and Diana’s pickup loaded with our gear to Tishomingo and found us a camp spot.  She didn’t stop there.  She erected our tents and loaded ice into our water jug in anticipation of our hot, tired bodies arrival in camp.  She repeated this drill over the next six days.

     Sunday, June 8 was a perfect day for riding.  The overnight storm left a cloudy and cool morning to ride the 65 miles.  Our route took us through Durant, where we had to have our picture taken with the world’s largest peanut.  Two fruit stops per day were manned by a Girl Scout troop from Enid.  They camped and fed us fresh fruit every day of the weeklong sojourn.  Tishomingo, the home of Murray State College, hosted a great band named Dark Horse.  We rocked out on the lawn of the college but the band had been warned that bikers go to bed with sundown.  What a rowdy bunch we were!

     Monday, June 9, dawned cloudy and cool again for our ride to Ada.  The sun peaked out a bit early for my taste and we took respite at The Amish Store about half way to our destination.  What a special treat the homemade lemonade was!  With home baked goodies and our refreshing drink in hand, the Amish children gazed at the colorful lycra clad crowd of strangers inhabiting their front yard. 

     As we neared Ada, the hills and heat increased.  Thankfully Chris had found a camp spot in shade trees across from an air-conditioned bathroom.  We were camped right below our son, Brandon’s, old ECU dorm room and even had dinner in his old cafeteria.  The evening’s band was made up of lawyers and judges from Ada.  Who knew they could rock?!?!?!

     June 10th dawned cloudy and cool.  With lots of hills, we enjoyed a wonderful tailwind for our ride to Wewoka.  Tuesday is traditionally Crazy Day where everyone is encouraged to dress up themselves or their bikes.  OBS members were dressed as Baby Huey (Rolf Jacobi) and the Hulk (Andy Baker).  Other riders were dressed as two bumblebees on a tandem, a sheriff on a stick horse and the winners - three schoolgirls.   

     Chris found us camping right outside the showers at the high school but the bad news was that they were ice cold.  The main contingent of campers was located downtown and being bussed to our location to “enjoy” their ice cold treat.  The entertainment in Wewoka was exceptional.  A blues band headed by Garrett “Big G” Jacobson based out of Oklahoma City, had everyone tapping their toes and ready to boogey.  FreeWheel veterans proclaimed this the best FreeWheel band EVER.

     Our overnight thunderstorm turned Wednesday into another great cool day for riding.  It was cloudy until our lunch stop in Bristow.  After 74 miles of hills, the killer hill in downtown Drumright was almost too much.  The friendly people more than made up for their terrain as they served us Bratwurst and carameled apples to satisfy our starving bodies.  Many other goodies were offered and it was hard not to order one of everything.

     Our exhausted slumber was sharply awakened by claps of thunder and flashes of lightning that produced rain and hail during the night.  Our location in an L shaped corner of building shielded us from damaging winds.  Other campers were not as lucky as the winds played havoc with their temporary homes.

                                                   

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Cool, refreshing weather greeted us on Thursday morning as we rode to Hominy.  We encountered even more hills with two especially long hard ones that forced some people to walk.  I used my granny gear and trudged slowly upwards and on to our destination.  We arrived before noon and took the opportunity to walk all over Hominy.  We visited the Cha’Tullis gallery and he signed our jerseys that he supplied the artwork for this year.  Cha’ has inspired various paintings and sculptures around town that make the buildings and the skyline very unique and photographic.  On our walk back to camp Jerry Neville happened to notice a phenomenon in the sky, which he said was an orealis borealis.  It looked like a rainbow that had straightened into a line and swept across the sky.  It was absolutely beautiful and one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen.

     Hominy doesn’t have a lot of places to eat but the local churches remedied that fact and opened their doors for some of the best food of the week.  We chose the Methodist Church which was serving chicken and noodles with mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, salad and a myriad of desserts, including my favorite, blackberry cobbler.  I heard high praise for another church that served lasagna to die for.

     Friday was a strange day for me.  I felt just a little “off”.  I had a banana for breakfast that decided it didn’t like me.  Indigestion and pain started to take over my life.  But before I had a chance to wig out, we were stopped at Woolaroc for a rest stop where Jim was able to scarf down pancakes smothered with peanut butter and syrup.  As we were lamenting the fact that they wouldn’t allow bicycles in the preserve to ride to the museum, up drove the Team Crude bus.  This is an old school bus that 14 people from Tulsa chipped in and bought.  They painted a black crude oil symbol on the side and took out much of the seating.  The back portion has shelving for luggage.  The middle has two couches and two tables with benches on each side are towards the front.  The top of the bus is outfitted with places for their bicycles to ride.  They have taken the bus to Ragbrai, the MS 150, Ride for the Roses and of course, FreeWheel.  These great people offered to ferry riders into the museum for those who wanted to visit Woolaroc.  We jumped at the opportunity and took a quick tour of the facilities.  Exiting the museum I spotted an exhibit that I wish I’d missed.  The image of shrunken heads will forever haunt my memory of Woolaroc. EEWWWWWWW.  Somehow I missed the human finger necklace someone later told me about. 

     From Woolaroc I rode slower and slower.  My stomach was playing havoc and I didn’t know if I was going to make it to Dewey or not.  10 miles out of Dewey, the New Harmony Church had set up a great rest stop in the shade surrounding their church on Hogshooter Creek.  As I was trying to relax and regroup, I read the story of a man and his wife who settled in this area.  She developed Alzheimer’s and for the past 14 years the parishioners helped this man and wife until her death in January, 2003.  I looked at Jim and said, “This looks like a good place to die.”  I was hoping he’d dig a hole and just roll me into it.  Diana tried to encourage me with, “Only 10 more miles.  That is just one trip around Hefner Lake.”  I pressed on.  After 2 ½ miles I had to take a rest.  Jim said, “Here comes a sag vehicle.”  I hit the top of my helmet, the sign for help, and an older gentleman stopped his pickup and my bike was loaded for the 8-mile ride into town.

     Jim practically carried me to the shower.  Diana watched over me and kept asking if I was okay.  On my walk back to our tent, Gloria, a friend of Barbara Lamb’s, gave me a cold Gatorade and it helped revive me a little.  One of our camp mates who we often camped near us but we didn’t even know their names, brought me a jug of PowerAde.  I crashed into bed by 7:00 and slept most of the night uninterrupted except for an occasional scream of a nearby peacock.  I was too tired to care but in the morning Tod Langford commented that he dreamt of peacock noodle soup.

     Saturday was our final ride into Coffeyville, Kansas.  I was still weak but when Jim asked me if I wanted to sag in, I replied, “No!  I’m riding to the Kansas border!”  There’s nothing stubborn about me!

     I was slow.  Jim pushed me up the hills.  Jim pushed me on the flats.  Heck, Jim even pushed me on a downhill.  A patrolman pulled up beside us and commented, “Now I’ve seen everything.  That’s one fine husband who’ll push his wife up the hills.” 

     I was still burping that darned banana.  Dennis Clark gave me some acid medicine and 20 minutes later I did start gaining a little momentum.  Finally we arrived at the Kansas sign and took the required photos.  We were only 3 miles from the end.  I had made it! 

     On the final approach into Coffeyville, we crossed several extremely rough railroad tracks.  After one such crossing, we spotted a tandem with two flat tires.  Those tracks ate up more than one set of wheels.

     After a quick shower and a little food to tide us over, we sat in the shade for the closing ceremonies of FreeWheel 2003.  Randy Prahl from Henryetta sang a song he wrote which has become the FreeWheel anthem.  Libby was presented with a metal yard bicycle decoration and she gave away many prizes.  Diana won a colored poster with every one of the 25 FreeWheel routes marked on it.  Jerry Neville won a $100 gift certificate at the bike shop of his choice.

     Now some people think we are crazy for cycling across the state but Jerry Neville really takes the cake.  He lives in Tahlequah and on the day before FreeWheel he rode from his home to Denison for a total of 192 miles in one day.  He averaged 24.5 miles per hour.  He’s not a man, he’s a machine!

     Or what about that nut case Mark, who rides a unicycle.  In 2001 he tried riding the FreeWheel route that took us through the Kiamichi and Winding Stair mountains.  He messed up his knees.  I saw him last year too, but I guess he didn’t finish.  This year a great roar of applause greeted Mark as he rode into Coffeyville.  400 miles, one wheel and one fixed gear.  He made it!

     A special thanks goes to the guy who rode with a pannier filled with a music box.  One day I heard this music man riding behind me for quite a ways.  It was great to have the tunes to pedal by.  The next day he passed me and I just couldn’t keep up. 

     The people are what make FreeWheel so great.  Scott Freeman brought 16- year-old son, David and his friends Mark and Stefen.  Mark had ridden with Scott last year and became one of those people that Jim can tease and Mark will dish it right back.  These are great kids who are out enjoying life with all of us “older” folks.  The people in the host towns and rest stop towns couldn’t have been more helpful and glad to see us.  Four towns were voted favorite host town this year.  There just wasn’t a clear cut favorite.

     Now if I can just get used to taking those cold and colder showers, I’ll be ready for next year.

 

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Created by Jim Allshouse
last modified March 01, 2008
jim0740@cox.net