Awakening at 3:30 am in order to drive 125 miles and arrive at Meers, Oklahoma by 6:30 am wasn't exactly my idea of an ideal start to a great riding day. "Damn.... I'm going to be tired before I even get there" I thought. A couple cups of coffee, load the last minute stuff in the car, double check the bike (wouldn't do to have it fall off halfway there), grab an oatmeal to go bar.....and I was off! This is a long drive at 4:30 in the morning .... stopped at McD's for a cuppa on the turnpike....maybe that'll help. They changed the route getting to the place, gotta be alert, or I'll miss the turn-off. Fat chance of that happening, they were much more prepared than I. They just had barricades out across the road and directed all the traffic a mile north, and three miles west and into the pasture they were using as a parking lot whether you wanted to go there or not! I guess they figured that no one in their right mind (read bicyclists here) would be up at six in the morning and on their way to Meers unless they were there for the ride.
So..... I arrived here about 6:20am, and promptly crawled through the barbed wire fence to the road and hiked a quarter mile or so to the fire station in the pre-dawn to pick up my packet....
The tiny little building ......wayyyyyy in the distance is the fire station .... where our packets, and maps were. A little pre-ride hike and exercise was in order....
Packet picked up, tee shirt got, maps in my pocket and was greeted outside by the rising sun on the top of the Wichita Mountains...
The ride started at 7:30 to beat the heat, (it was supposed to get up to 92 today), but that wasn't early enough for me, so I hiked back to the car, got the bike and myself ready to go, and rode back to the fire station ...... "why didn't I do this the first time", I thought ...ah well, no matter, I was ready to go.... then I spotted THIS.......
A VERY cool racing trike. Probably not so much in the 90 degree heat with the canopy closed, (I wondered briefly if it had air conditioning). Still....I LOVE IT!!!! Later on, this trike came blasting by me downhill like I was backing up, only to have me catch him on the next uphill. Apparently, the extra weight imposed by the body and supporting structure wasn't too much of an advantage uphill. Saw it one more time after it got hot out, and he was riding with the canopy open.... definitely NOT an aerodynamic advantage that way.
In case you might be wondering what Meers might look like ....... here it is in all it's glory! The whole shebang, downtown, business district, and residential area combined..... the Meers store. Home of the world famous (literally) Meers burger. Several sizes including a whopper of a five pounder, for those with larger than life appetites. And for those of you who are curious, no, I didn't get one! The line after the ride is a quarter of a mile long, I went to Subway back by the turnpike and was served in five minutes, and probably ate healthier to boot. Someday maybe.
This tiny town has virtually NO tax base to support a very much needed volunteer fire department, and it is very much needed here as was evident during the horrible fires of 2011.
Road signs .... and roads like this aren't seen too often in Oklahoma, so enjoy them here....
The entrance to the preserve....
Getting going a half hour early allowed me to stop and take a few pictures of the wildlife (yes here, longhorns and bison are wildlife) before the onrush of cyclists chased them away from the road.
Both the Longhorn Bull and the big bison bull in the following picture were just a few feet off the road, there are no fences on the preserve, the animals are like they were hundreds of years ago.
The big ol' bison decided he didn't like his picture taken and galloped across the road twenty feet in front of me to join the larger herd across the road. The rumbling beast gave me a wake up that maybe I need to use a bit of discretion here. If that thing had run over me, instead of in front of me....I wouldn't be here writing this. I could actually feel the ground shake when he ran! Huge animals. With our recent spring rains, the wildflowers were stupendous, even in the burned out areas. In fact, the new growth in the burned areas surprised me by how fast the area can recover. It'll be years before the trees come back, but it was still beautiful .... Just another reminder of why we are riding, and helping to support this tiny little, but so necessary fire department.
About this time, after all my time killing taking photos, the rest of the group had started and were catching me, and passing me, and riding away from me up the long winding hills.
From here, we passed out of the wonderfully scenic roads of the preserve, and out into the hustle and bustle of the city.....
The metropolis of Cooperton sensed a shindig, and came out in all it's glory to give us a helping hand and a rest stop. They still hold old time traditions high in Cooperton....
Gee, this WAS Saturday after all.....I could just wait for it..... nah, it's only 9:30am, be a long wait. So, leaving Cooperton behind, it was on to Saddle Mountain, where there wasn't quite so much going on, but here it is anyway.....
And on up the road, Mr. Gelding was soooo curious as to what he was missing that he had to come up to the fence for a chat...... you didn't really think I was going to publish a blog post without a horse in it did you?
"Oh.....don't take the 57 mile route, the roads are terrible".....
They weren't of course, they all looked just like this. Zigzagging left and right back through the mountains to return to Meers, the traffic all looked like what you see in the picture above. I should take the time to mention here that even though the roads were nice, and the traffic light ..... the famous western Oklahoma winds were NOT! On the entire northbound leg of the ride, my bike speedometer never saw anything below 30 mph, sometimes maxed out at 36, but then I turned the corner to go east, and the ferocious side winds hit me and slowed me to 13, then back south on this leg, and I was down to 8-9 most of the way. Still, scenery like this parting shot kept me interested to the end of the ride, almost exactly the advertised mileage, at 57.9 miles. One of my favorite rides, and one of my favorite charitable causes keep me coming back year after year.
May 19, 2012
Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Yes folks...... New Mexico is really in the United States of America..... really..... no, you do not need a passport to enter. Furthermore, I've found Santa Fe to be one of the friendliest places in the world to get lost in. Which is a really, really good thing, as it seems as though every time I go to Santa Fe, I get lost. It may be because all of their streets run kitty-corner, or around in non-sensical circles, or it may just be because I enjoy getting lost in Santa Fe. I always meet the nicest people, and no matter where you end up in Santa Fe, you find something, or someone, interesting.
I arrived in Santa Fe a day early for the Santa Fe Century bike ride to acclimate myself to the elevation, or so I told myself..... actually, it was for the food and the beer. Santa Fe is a wonderful city to bicycle in. They have several bike paths, and most streets have bike lanes, making it very easy to get around. We had a small group of three of us on Saturday morning and we were going down to the Plaza via Farmers Market and the Tune-Up Cafe. Last year, the cinnamon rolls were delicious, this year, not so much, the breakfast burritos looked much better. On the way, it was decided by one of our group ..... "lets go a different way"...... "you lead, Richard"..... Hmmmmmm!! So, I led out, knowing at least the direction I wanted to go, and after several wrong turns, and wrong streets, we ended up here...... A place where they make and sell yard artifacts....
I never knew it was here, and so, once again, I found something new in Santa Fe. We continued on, and soon I found a spry older lady at a bus stop and asked her which way I needed to go in order to find Hickox Street. She looked at me for a second and said ..."I'll bet you're looking for the Tune-Up Cafe, aren't you?".....I was a bit surprised, but replied that I certainly was. "Well, no problem young man....just go to the diagonal street, turn right, go to Saint Anne's Church, and turn left, and it's only a block or so"....... so we left, following the directions, only I somehow turned on the wrong diagonal street and we ended up here.........
Where we had to play on the fun stuff for a while....
After playing on the toys for a while, , even I got in the act by sliding down the slide, we decided if we didn't get to the cafe soon, we were all going to die of starvation. Actually, there was probably no danger of that happening, but we pressed on anyway. Somehow, after many turns, little tiny streets, and unknown corners, we arrived at our destination...... the Tune Up Cafe.....quite and completely by accident.
It didn't take ten minutes and we were best friends with everyone there. One of the ladies a couple of tables over and I struck up a conversation about the bike ride Sunday.... she said she'd look for me. I know how that is....a couple thousand riders, nobody's going to find me.....but at Stanley, there was a tap on my shoulder, and who was standing there smiling at me but my friend from the Tune Up. We all ordered the Cinnamon rolls, which turned out to be a mistake as I mentioned earlier, but we ate anyway. Before we left, I had to get a picture of the classic bike locked up to the fence there, more rust than paint, but such a genuine classic, I needed a picture.
We all saddled up, and that was when I discovered that the flat gremlin had visited my bike while we were eating, and poked a piece of glass through my virgin Continental rear tire. So, we walked the bike across the street and proceeded to change the tube and check for any more glass before heading a few blocks down the road to the Farmers Market. Standing around there waiting for a couple of other friends to find us, I met several more new old friends, and chatted away 15 minutes or so. Santa Fe is so much fun...... It is however, a town that is very difficult to find a parking spot in ....
After our fun there, we took off to find the Plaza. I remembered this church, and the turn just past to head downtown.... Such definite Spanish influence in their architecture.
After stumbling around for a bit, and all of us by now knowing where we were, we came upon the big church with the unusual staircase. I stayed out and watched the bikes while the others went in. While I was there, I enjoyed the arts.
After killing a little time there, we headed over to the Plaza.
They had a break-dancing show going on put on by some local youngsters, and they were very good. We watched for quite a while.
Teesie decided she needed to go to a local store to get some chap stick about that time, and I saw our friends riding up into the Plaza from the Farmers Market.
This is the way you get around on a bike in Santa Fe.....neither cars, nor bicycle riders seemed to be bothered by each other.
They arrived safely.
A couple more riders braving the traffic and narrow streets.
We decided to all get together for a group picture, grabbing a local and handing him our camera, he took this.....
AND...returned my camera afterward.....another new-old friend in Santa Fe. There is always lots happening on the Plaza.
And so....we left the plaza figuring we'd try and get lost a new way going back, got a block away going the wrong way on a one way street, and my phone rang.... another dear friend who was wanting to meet up with us, she was close, so we returned to the plaza to wait for her. When she arrived, it was time for another group picture.... another walker-by grabbed to take it, and it turned out fine. I was glad to see her, as I thought in all the activities we might miss each other. She was visiting from Tucson, however, she was from Santa Fe, and had family there, so it was hard to get together, but we managed
This time, we all departed, found the bike path, and headed back. I stopped back at the Farmers Market area in REI to buy a new tube and a couple of inflator cartridges. By the time we got back, it was time to get cleaned up and ready for dinner at the Second Street Brewery, a definitely must-do place in Santa Fe. So....we had lots of fun, met lots of new and old friends, saw things we never saw before, and found many new streets we had never been on, talked to lots of strangers, who weren't strangers when they departed, and enjoyed the heck out'a Santa Fe. Can't wait 'til next year!
Once again, I reluctantly talked myself into doing the whole enchilada, the whole shebang, the entire 103 mile Santa Fe Century bike ride. the passage of a year slipping under me didn't make it one bit easier. This time I had company. A friend from Estes Park Colorado came down to do this one also.
Jim Bangs and I on the road
I thought maybe I'd have better luck if I had a friend along. Turned out the altitude and old age didn't help me quite as much as I hoped. I mean really..... I've had many more years to train and develop strategy, so I ought to have a definite advantage over a young man.... right? Nah....didn't seem to work that way at all. But we did enjoy the ride together. Santa Fe Century is in my opinion one of the better bike rides in the country. It's one of my favorites anyway, or I wouldn't come back to beat myself up again on it.
Early morning picture of Jim ...
The first 40 miles is mountainous riding, winding south from Santa Fe on the Turquoise Trail, Highway 14. There wasn't any shortage of long steady climbs up through Madrid, and up to Golden.
Starting up the climb south of Madrid...
This is a tremendously historical area. The tiny almost ghost town of Los Cerrillos was a mining town in the early days, and a trading center. It is one of the oldest towns in the area. Today, they mine turquoise around the surrounding hills, but the town is mostly a ghost town. Because of the unpaved Main Street, and boardwalk that makes it look like an old west town, it has been the object of more than a couple western movies. We didn't go into Los Cerrillos on this ride, but I did last year, so I included one of those photos of the Los Cerrillos main street.
The main building here is still a functioning country store. A very unique little town, and if you don't mind the extra couple of miles, well worth the visit.
Madrid, is another old mining town, built by the Santa Fe to mine coal for their steam engines. It's company town heritage is still very evident. Today, it is an artist colony, and tourist attraction. Nothing much open there on Sunday. Another picture of Madrid from last years ride.
The old steamer in Madrid.
A little of the artwork in Madrid.
Golden, is what the name implies, an old gold and silver mining town that was at one time a bustling metropolis, but today is mostly a ghost town. The store and post office is about the only thing here.
Leaving Golden, the road continues to wind up a bit higher before dropping off a bit to our turnoff for "Heartbreak Hill". An extremely steep climb of a little over a mile that is a walking hill for most of us.
Heartbreak from the bottom.
And from the top looking back into the valley we started from.
After we got over Heartbreak, it was downhill a bit, then through a bit of a valley to the small community of Cedar Grove where we had another rest stop at the local fire department. Down the road a bit after the rest stop, we turned east toward Stanley, and what should have been the easiest leg of the ride, the dash mostly downhill to Stanley. Should have been....... except for the east headwind, one of the toughest winds we had faced all day, and turned it into a tough ride. The small community of Stanley has it's heritage in ranching, and from the looks of some of the old buildings, the town is probably from the 1800's. This entire ride is through very isolated roads and sparsely populated communities, most have nothing at all for purchasing supplies, so the excellent support of this ride is what makes it possible.
Stanley...
Stanley rest stop...
From Stanley on, we had a tailwind, which was very welcome. Gallisteo was the next town on the route, and again, a very small town that rolls up the streets on Sunday. Not much there except for the little church. Another rest stop before the long and steady climb back up into Santa Fe. By this time, I was getting very tired, and took more frequent rest stops of my own. Jim had to wait on me several times between here and Santa Fe. Finally though, a little five mile dash on I-25 back into town, past the hospital, down the bike path and a confusing little maze of neighborhood streets, and we were back at our hotel.....
I was tired....Jim looked like he could do another.
And so....another Santa Fe Century bites the dust. I may have been tired at the end, but very satisfied, and while I didn't set any speed records (13.1mph average), I DID finish, under my own power. I was even stupid enough to invite a skeptic to ride it with me next year, just to see if he can climb Heartbreak under pedal power. I guess next year will tell the tale.
