Flower Power Ride 2014

April 26, 2014;

Muskogee, OK.

The Flower Power Ride has become for me, a test of wills. Who is the strongest, Mother Nature, or me. She has so many weapons at her disposal. The last four years, it has rained every single time. I felt that sooner or later, the law of averages has to be in my favor. This year, as it was, the rain fell on the Oklahoma Marathon on Sunday morning instead. It had originally been predicted to rain on Saturday for the ride. We weren't let completely off the hook, however. No rain ........ how about a little wind instead? Like maybe 20mph winds with gusts of 30 or so? Ah me, it's still a pretty ride. This ride is held in conjunction with the Muskogee Azalea Festival every year, hence the name Flower Power. While there are azalea bushes growing around in the wild here, the festival is held in a park downtown Muskogee.

Azalea Bush;

Our little get-together is held at the Three Forks Harbor on the Arkansas River between Muskogee and Ft Gibson, OK. This is a first class place to host a bike ride, and this group puts it on wonderfully. Spacious clean rest rooms, a large meeting room for registrations, showers after the ride, and they always throw a bar-b-que and beer fest all included in your twenty dollar ride cost. Hey runners ...... try to find that kind of bargain on an organized run! This is the Three Forks Marina building.

Some of the group at the start. There was a "normal" group of about 350 riders for this ride.

Coming into downtown Fort Gibson. Fort Gibson was an important army fort and trading post when this was still called "Indian Territory", well before Oklahoma was a state. It's an old town.

The old bridge leading north past the restored fort and out of town. This was the scene of police crowd control at it's most  (in)efficient. Just past the bridge, there is a road that turns left and goes along the river for a ways. There was a local police cruiser set up there, blocking the group from going straight and sending everyone to the left. I got there, and thought, "why are we turning left here?" I pulled over a minute to check my map, and pretty soon, here come 100 riders in a group coming back, past the police car, and headed back into town. "Dead end" they yelled as they came by me. I went back a little ways and stopped and talked to a young lady who was also waiting to watch the outcome. She looked at me as I came up to her and exclaimed..... "Everybody'll get their 50 miles in riding back and forth here"...... We agreed that we needed to go straight, always did, and we should now too. So, we started out squeezing past the police car, who's officer objected, but we continued anyway, soon to be passed by the thundering herd of the original group of 100 riders who had gone back into town and back across the bridge again, past the police car and caught and passed us. We agreed that we hoped this would be the last of the confusion.  This is the bridge that goes across the Neosho River, just north of Fort Gibson. Neat old bridge.

We did make it to the first rest stop without further incident. Unlike the Choctaw ride from last week, this one had wonderfully stocked rest stops.

This little rest stop at Hulbert, Oklahoma had homemade sandwiches, lots of fresh fruit, and the usual cookies, Gatorade and water. Nice to have the sandwiches.

I was getting ahead of myself a bit just to show the rest stops together. Most of my pictures on this ride were taken "on the fly", at least going in this direction as right here we had the 20mph wind at our backs. This was to be a rare occurrence as it seemed that every time we made a turn, the wind would come at us from the front.

This is the dam that backs up the Neosho River forming Ft Gibson reservoir. Up until this point in the ride, most of the roads were fairly flat, with some gentle rollers. This is going to change, starting right across the dam.

As soon as we got across the dam, we got to take the "high road", as you can see by the sign on the roadway.

This grade continued on up and over the ridge and then on some more after that. A good mile and one half of grade before we finally topped out. Not the steepest of the ride, but for sure the longest.

After leaving the little town of Hulbert behind, the countryside changed into more of a "hill country" appearance. The roads changed into big long rollers, over and over again. This time the wind was right in our face all the way across the longest straight leg of the ride. I had made the acquaintance of a young man at the rest stop at Hulbert who was riding a single speed 'cross bike. Strong young man! He stayed with me across most of this north leg of the ride.

The horses had plenty to eat, and looked fat and happy.

The rest stop where we turned back south. We would again have the tough old wind into our faces for pretty much the rest of the ride. This is the young man with his single speed.

At the rest stop, I was talking to a young lady who was riding a beautiful bright green Trek, and complimented her on the bike. It was an older aluminum model, but I loved the color. This was her first Flower Power. So we chatted a bit. She was a Tri racer, and was with some of her Tri group. Into the wind, these young, strong riders were a blessing, as I let them pull me through the wind. Most of the time, we were riding 15mph or so into that 20mph wind. As long as I could hang on, it was cool. Hey .....my Mama didn't raise no dummy. I'm not so macho that I won't stay behind younger and stronger girls, and let them do the work. Besides, I was pretty sure that I had the best seat in the house.  The gal in the blue jersey, and the green bike rode with me for most of the ride afterward.



 

 

 

We travelled south on this small road before intersecting with state hwy 51 just north of Tahlequah, and then continued past the airport to Mud Valley road. Saw neither mud nor a valley, but it was a fun name to chat about. Just before we got to the turn off, the rest of the group had gotten away from the two of us for a while, and we were trading off pulling into the wind, trying to work together. We were coming up close to the turn and I was watching for the arrows when what sounded like a tornado siren started sounding ...... very loud! A high pitched siren sound, up, and down. We looked at each other and said almost in unison "What the heck is that?".... About that time as I was looking around, I spied a donkey in a corral next to the road ......neck stretched out, mouth wide open, and "singing" to the top of his voice. So loud ....... not so much Hee-Haw, as more of an undulating Heeeee,heee,HEEEE ..... Funny .... we had enough to laugh at for a couple more miles. After another ten miles, and 51 miles into the ride, we finally came up on the "famous" hill of the ride. "The Wormhole". This is the start, the steeper part is a bit above my photo and out of sight. We had the wind quartering behind us as we approached, but when we made the turn to the left, it hit us right from the front. My legs were already sore from riding into the wind for so long, all the hills, and trying to keep pace with a much younger crowd. I gave it a heck of a try, but two thirds of the way up, the legs just quit. I got off the bike and walked the rest of the way. Notice I didn't say I stopped and got off. No ...... the bike was already stopped, I just got off before it fell over. If you look close, you can see the rider just below the power pole partway up the first half.

 



 





 

There was a rest stop, very welcome, at the top of the hill. Where, low and behold, two young men were there with coolers behind their bikes filled with ice cold beer and sandwiches. I would have voted them for President right about then.



It was at this rest stop, where, if you notice in front of the empty chair, there is a water bottle ..... mine ..... I walked back to my bike to get my camera, then walked back to put the camera back in it's pouch on the bike and when I got back, my chair was taken. I was ready to leave, so I just got on my bike and left. When I got five miles down the road, I went to take a drink and ...... no water bottle. Fortunately, there is one more rest stop, and the lady there gave me a bottle of water which lasted me the rest of the ride. The rest of the ride back in was uneventful, which was a nice change of pace. They had a great lunch waiting for us with bar-b-que hamburgers, hot dogs, and beans, along with ice cold beer, and as much as you wanted. This is definitely a first class ride, and they always have a first class Tee to go along with it.

All of this great treatment is what brings me back year after year to do battle with Mother Nature. I was very, very tired after this one however, with very sore legs, and it left me wondering about my capabilities. I did complete the ride, with an average speed of 14.4, so, sore or not, I was happy I at least got-r-dun. The ride comes up a bit short of 70 miles, I got 68.2 and that includes the bit of back and forth at the start.

Choctaw Land Run

April 19th, 2014

As I'm sure most of you have read about, or studied in school at one time or another, the Great Oklahoma Land Run of 1889 was when the United States Government opened up part of the "Indian Lands" for settlement by offering free 160 acre homesteads on a one day rush to claim and stake the land holdings out. Chaos was a good word to describe it, but by the end of the day, virtually all of the available land was staked out and claimed. There were a few that snuck into the "promised land" the day before to seek out the more desirable pieces, then at the start time the following day ......drove in their stakes, claiming their land well before anyone else could get there. These "Sooners" had established a name for themselves, and with it, established a nickname for the population of the entire area, that held up to this day. Oklahoma is still called "The Sooner State".  Many accused them of cheating, but the letter of the law was upheld, in that they did not claim their land until the start time.

So now, we have a bike ride with the "Land Run" name. Actually two .....there is the Land Run 100 up in Stillwater that is all gravel, and this one here in Choctaw that is all paved. This is the Tee for the ride......

The ride organizers said they named the ride for the fact that we travelled on the "Indian Meridian" road for a while during the ride. I had assumed that the name had to do then with dividing the "Indian Lands" to the east, and the "open settlement lands" to the west. I'd have been wrong. The Indian Meridian was an arbitrary north-south line that intersected with an east west line called the "Indian baseline" and between the two, all land measurements were drawn for the State of Oklahoma. The only reason for the "Indian" part of the name is because all of Oklahoma was called "Indian Territory" at the time land measurements were initiated. So, I guess, in that way, the Land Run could not have happened if a land survey was not done first. And so, enough history, .....here we all are at the start. There were around 150 or so riders this year, the biggest turnout they've ever had.

My good friend and riding buddy from last year, Crystal wanted to get back on the bike, and decided that this would be a good one to start on. She runs long distance marathon runs during the winter running season, but that ended for her early this year with a severely sprained ankle. This is our first organized ride of the year ..... at least the first I've attended.

It was cool enough at the start to warrant the use of light jackets, but with a promise of a good warm up later, most wore shorts. My useful little trunk bag not only carried my ride number, but also held our excess clothing when we "undressed "a little later. I'm not really sure why we needed numbers at all. Two rest stops and no food, only a little water and a few bottles of Gatorade at each of the two rest stops were hardly enough to worry about needing numbers for.

The countryside and the little farms and ranches were very picturesque.

This course was very, very hilly, plus ...... they saved them all for the last half, along with the 20mph headwinds. I took this picture for the Lil' Abner house on the hillside to the left. You could almost see "Grannie" sittin' out on the front porch with her corncob pipe in her mouth. This was near the top of one of the long, steep rollers that persisted throughout most of the ride.

Empty roads, and pretty scenery was the order of the day.

By the time we got here, we were both getting a bit tired. Crystal had put on two brand new Conti tires just before the ride, and she had two flats within the first ten miles. Both pinch flats. It's a good thing she had two tubes, because my huge touring tire tubes wouldn't have fit in her tires. To be fair. her rims make installing tires very, very difficult. I can usually install Conti folding tires on my rims without a tire lever, just using my thumbs. With hers, it's a struggle even with two tire levers. But, I used all the care I could installing them, and after we had changed both, there were no more flats. Good thing too, or I'd have had to break out my patch kit which I carry on my touring bike. My trusty Topeak Road Morph pump got a good workout this day. The time spent changing tires just gave the wind that much more time to gain strength, and it took it's cue, and did just that.

The countryside was very pretty, however, and kept us trudging up and down the rollers, and struggling into the wind. Then we got to a point where the map had us retrace our route for one mile, turn around and come back ...... three times over the same piece of road, so we wouldn't be shorted on miles. About this time, I didn't care. We finished the ride ..... not the fifty we had started out to do, but cut it short to forty-one miles. We were tired, it took longer than we anticipated, muscles getting a bit sore, and Crystal's ankle was bothering her. Ah yes ...... Crystal's ankle...... seems she fell while trail running 6 weeks ago and severely sprained her ankle. Not 100% yet, and she did this ride anyway. Never complained once. Except like me ...... I'm sure hungry!!!! I didn't take any bars or Gu along because there is usually an abundance of food on these rides. However, I talked to several riders after the ride, and they all voiced the same thought ..... "Why wasn't there any food?" So we quickly put our bikes on the carrier and headed for Braums and FOOD!!! Seems like after my weight gain this winter, I want to eat more. It was a pretty ride, and a challenging ride, and I have a little more understanding of some of the hardships that confronted the early Land Run settlers that pioneered this country.

 

 

 

A Long Spring Ride

April 11, 2014:

This is one of my favorite routes to ride, however, because of the wild spring weather fluctuations we've had this year, it's been difficult to get an early start. Today looked perfect! So, off to an early start, the sun almost peeking over the hill to the east.

Six miles down the road, I turned to go north for two miles before the long ride over to Hwy 99. The shadows were still long, and the morning still young.

The swallows are back from where ever they go to in the winter months, and they were busy moving into old nests under the bridges and raising this year's family. They always return to the same place every year.  I love to watch them fly, it seems as though they just love to be out there, a lot like me .... kindred souls.



The countryside is starting to finally turn green after a winter of black and white. None too soon for me either.

 

 



The politicians were out doing what they do best.

And the Oklahoma Redbuds were still much in evidence although the time for blooming is almost past. The Redbud is the Oklahoma state tree.

Long empty roads is the order of the day. The crossroad down there is Oklahoma State Hwy 9.To get here, I had to head east and south to the Little Cemetery, then east again for 4 miles and then continue south from the Strother School. This will bring me out 4 miles east of Seminole when I got here.

A very persistent tree.

Continuing south for another 4 miles, I turned back west toward Seminole on Lake road and back into town. There's a little hill on Lake road that I was going to get a picture of. It's kind of one of those OMG hills. A gentle curve to the right and a gentle upgrade is all you can see until you get around the curve, then it's straight up. Fortunately, it's not too long. To make matters worse, I couldn't get the front derailleur to shift onto the little ring on my triple, so I had to stand and struggle on up, no chance for a picture. Crystal and I went up that one last year, and as strong as she is, she almost didn't make it. It helps to know it's there. After that, it's an easy cruise back to Seminole

 This below is the bike path through the sports park in Seminole, the old oil derrick is part of an outdoor museum sort of thing. They have a real oil museum up on hwy 9 next to the Wrangler jeans factory. I didn't stop at that one, maybe another time.

 

A huge old walking beam pump. Behind it is an old steam boiler to power the engine, in the background, that turned the pump. Nothing is where it is supposed to be, except for the pump itself, but it's an interesting stop anyway.

How many of you are old enough to remember when oil wells were all drilled using the old derricks, and afterwards, the derricks just stayed there for maintenance purposes. Such an eyesore. I remember scenes like this very well when I was young. The photo is older than I, but scenes like this were still around in the fifties.

This is the old steam pump engine laying there, the huge flywheels, and the cylinder sticking out to the left. The piston was still in the cylinder. Engines like this both steam and producer gas, pumped a lot of oil in this area.

By this time, it was time for lunch. I was going to eat breakfast at the Bus Stop Cafe in Seminole, but by the time I got there, it was past breakfast time. A little early for lunch, but my stomach told me it thought someone must've slit my throat. So ..... Braum's is only a short ride from here and I made my way over there. I do like their burgers. 1/3 pound of fresh ground beef, and piled high with fresh veggies. I think the young lady and the counter must have thought I looked extra hungry because it came with double the veggies on it. Almost four inches high. I ate it ALL! With fries and a root beer ....

From there, it was west through Pleasant Grove, and into Earlsboro, then west into Tecumseh and back north to the Citizen Pottawatomie Nation Complex. Business offices, grocery store, casino, hospital, etc. Also, this cool bridge....

This bridge was closed to car traffic several years ago, but there is a gap in the barricade just wide enough for my little bicycle, so I still use it.

It crosses over a pretty little creek, and the tribe has built several walking bridges from the expo area and campground on the south side of the creek to the Firelake store,casino, bowling alley, whatever on the north side. It's a pretty area, made even prettier by the addition of my touring bike. 

"Put the pavilion right THERE"! "But boss, what about that tree?" "Well, you know ......Do whatever you have to...." "Okay boss, whatever you say".....

As you can see by the flag flying in the midst of the tree, the light balmy breeze didn't stay that way all day. The art work on the tribal water tower is well done.

One of the little pedestrian and bicycle bridges crossing the creek. I used to always go across that bridge, and into the supermarket parking lot and out their driveway to cross the busy four lane main road and head north. For years I did it that way, and it was always a long wait until traffic cleared from both directions long enough to safely get across.

 Then as I was talking to a young woman picnicking with her son, I noticed this .......

It's tight .... I ducked, even though I wouldn't have had to, but a taller person probably might have bumped their head. After I got under the main road, I rode through the tribal business complex and back onto the north bound side of Gordon Cooper Drive. Gordon Cooper was an astronaut from the Mercury era who made two trips up as a command pilot. He was scheduled for Apollo 13, but was prevented from going. Gordon Cooper was a Shawnee native son. This is painted on the side of one of the downtown buildings, and such a shame to see the paint peeling off, as it is a wonderful piece of art.

Right across from the Gordon Cooper painting is another mural depicting early Shawnee, including our Santa Fe depot.

After that, it was just wind my way north and west through town around our Expo Center where they have a Little Britches Rodeo every year, as well as a big Pro Rodeo that brings participants from all over the country. Hardly a week goes by that I don't see hundreds of horse trailers parked there. Then, north out of town on Acme (I always think about Roadrunner cartoon) to Garretts Lake road and then east to home again. On the last few miles there was this absolutely stunning lilac bush.

And so, arriving home after a wonderful day, it was indeed a long ride, especially on a thirty pound bike, but such an enjoyable day that the time passed like an eagle on the wind.