January 11, 2014;
I just love it when I manage to type in the correct year this early in the new year without making a mistake. 2014 ..... just seems like a Star Wars thing.
Now, where was I ....Oh yeah .... Saturday. Let's backtrack a bit back to last April 28th, The Flower Power Ride, it's here in this blog, .. 50 miles of wet, soggy bike ride that at times was so discouraging. About the only thing that kept me going was my faithful companion and new friend Dayna. Remember Dayna? It was her first organized ride, and what an experience it was for her, sometimes drizzle, sometimes pouring rain, and all day chilly. And here was this old guy trying to talk her into doing the 50 mile ride instead of the 30 she had planned on. In the end, she did the 50, and we both encouraged each other to finish. It turned out to be a great ride after all. Well ..... Dayna and I have remained friends ever since, and I think we have both benefited from our friendship.
Jump up now to Thursday, January 9th, 2014. Her; My birthday's coming up, and I want a pony. Me; How about I just buy you a beer instead. Her; We got to ride together again. Me; Okay, when. Her; How about Saturday ..... Me; Okay, it's a date..... and that's how it began.
So, Saturday came, and while it was chilly, and a bit breezy, the weather was very nice for a ride, so I loaded up the tourer (she said she hadn't been riding for a while) and drove up to Tulsa, and enjoyed a wonderful reunion with a great friend. Her place was an easy ride to the bike path. Because it had been a while since she had ridden, it was decided to just do the Riverside loop, including the Turkey Mountain trot. North along the west side of the river, and back south along the east side. First order of the day ..... deciding how we were going to get to the bike path. She wanted to take the short route, and I thought it would be nice to include the cool downhill we'd get from heading straight south. She reluctantly agreed, and I really should have listened to her..... turns out that there had been a lot of tree damage due to the last ice storm, on the section I wanted to ride, and they had been trimming and picking up branches, while dragging lots of mud and debris on the trail. Bad choice, Richard! It was fine with the touring bike..... just let it go, and zip down through the mud and debris like it wasn't there, but her, with her road bike and 23 size tires, not so much. We did make it down to the Riverside portion, and the path was clear and dry. They were doing a bit of construction and had a section of the bike path closed, and we had to get on Riverside Parkway for a half mile or so. Busy, road, but we finally made it safely to the Bear Statue where we would cross the river and climb up Turkey Mountain. Stopped for a picture of the two of us.... She was glad we didn't get eaten. By the way ....yes, Oklahoma has black bears, in fact in some areas of the State, notably in the southeast, the can be quite a nuisance.
I didn't stop to take a picture of Turkey Mountain this ride, but I had one from a previous ride done in the summer months. Here it is.... up and over.
Hey ...... Natural Bridges National Park has nothing on Tulsa, and Turkey Mountain. This was taken at the top, just before the short, steep plunge down the other side.
And then, we left, went past the entrance to the mountain bike trails, and zipped down the back side. This is by far the steepest grade, and a bit of a challenge to climb. It is much, much more fun to go down this side. This is at the bottom, and Dayna, rounding the last curve at speed.
At the north end of the Riverside portion of the trail. From here, you can either go west to Sand Springs on the Katy Trail, or through downtown and north to Skiatook on the Osage trail, but we only had the afternoon, we were getting ready for a lunch break, so we crossed the river on old route 66, and headed back south again.
Right under the Route 66 sign was a new sculpture (they are always adding new art along the path) this, a scene depicting a team frightened by a flivver .... a scene probably played out in real life frequently shortly after the dawn of the 20th Century. Here, however, we turned south, and headed for Elwoods Blue Rose Cafe. This is a cafe and beer parlor that during the busy season has an open air patio, as well as an inside. All hanging over the Arkansas River and having a great view while you are eating. It's right directly on the bike path, and is a great hangout for bicyclists.
No pictures of the outside this time either. I should explain some of the lack of river pictures on this trip...... there was no river! It was all but bone dry. I'm assuming because they are trying to fill reservoirs upstream and not letting much down, or the snows in Colorado haven't melted yet, and there just isn't much water flowing down this far. So, it really didn't look too attractive. Next time. Here is the inside of the Blue Rose. First class entertainment weekend evenings here, and very atmospheric as well. Some mid ride refreshment was definitely in order here.
Sandwich's here are delicious, as well as huge, so we ordered one club sandwich (which comes with wonderful fries) and two plates. Kind of like the old soda and two straws thing ...... goin' Dutch. The sandwich lived up to it's reputation, it was great, and half apiece was plenty. I had a Blue Moon pale ale, which came with an orange slice in it ..... it was also very good. A wonderful mid ride stop. It would have been a good place to stay a bit longer, but we had only covered half the distance, and still had to get back to her place. So, we departed, and headed south once again. This time, when we got to the trail construction part, Riverside Pkwy was very, very busy, so we decided to ride the trail, even though it was under construction. We had talked to another rider that came from there, and he said it was just off and on gravel. So, off we went .... and it looked like this....
There were portions with large gravel and loose rock, however that made riding difficult. Not so much for me with my big fat tires, but it was for Dayna. Alas, the first casualty of the day occurred here in the form of a flat. Her thin Conti Race tires proved to be not up to the task, and I think a sharp rock managed to slice into the tire and got the tube. So ....being a gentleman, I changed her tire, and put in a fresh tube after checking thoroughly for a cause. Never found anything, but the tire was very, very thin. We walked the bikes the next quarter of a mile and climbed up and carried our bikes (Think cyclocross) up and over a berm at the end to continue on south. Shortly after this, we turned up the road leading back to her house, and finished our ride. This was not a long ride, at 25 miles, nor a fast one, but it was so completely enjoyable for both of us, and it got her back on her bike, with a promise that she'd be ready for the Flower Power this April. We gotta do that again!!! Oh ... the pony? ....... No, but she got a bike ride and a beer and half a sandwich ..... can life really be any better?
