DamJam Bike Ride

Another Dam Jam ride down the pipes! This makes number seven for me, you might say this is my favorite of all the organized rides here in Oklahoma. The scenery, the support, the rest stop goodies. This is one ride that I can carry only one water bottle and do so in complete confidence. This year, they changed the route due to road construction and added four miles to it making the route I signed up for 77 miles, almost exactly...... it was 77.1 on my speedometer. The advertized distance was 76.38, maybe the little discrepancy was due to a few backtracks for pictures. Close enough. It was chilly at the start that morning at 51 degrees, but was totally clear and due to warm into the low 80's by 5pm. I got done at 1:30pm, so I didn't see the 80's, but it was a most pleasant day for a bike ride anyway. Rained hard the evening before and into the night, but the morning of the ride was clear and chilly, and VERY muggy. There were about 400 riders participating this year, I think one of the largest turnouts.

Police support for this ride is outstanding! Not only in Pryor, but at every intersection, and every hazardous place on the road. Plus, you can't ride 5 miles without seeing a SAG vehicle. Homemade cookies, and watermelon made the rest stops unmissable. There was only one themed rest stop this year, on top of the "BIG" hill..... put on by a nurses auxilliary in Tulsa, they do it every year as the 4077th MASH unit. A fun, fun, stop.

I am getting ahead of myself now however, as this rest stop was at mile 51 into the ride, there was so much nice riding before this. By the way.....the young lady getting a drink from the cooler and her companion rode the entire ride with me, just at different times and places. Let me explain .... it wasn't really meant to be that way, but we left around the same time, were jostled around at the beginning by the crowd of riders, and enjoyed exchanging a few quips about close quarters drill, then I quickly rode away from them.....only to have them catch and pass me while I was taking a photo, then I caught and passed again...... this went on the whole ride, each time with a holler and a wave, and a funny bit of dialogue as we passed. They were such a fun couple, and I enjoyed their company very much. They were both from Tulsa, and this was their first big organized ride, but I'll bet I see them again. Here they both are;

In case you might be wondering about a few discrepancies in the photos, I have done this ride for 7 years now, but did not have a single blog post here on it, so I've combined several years photos into one blog.

Now to get back to the start again. The first ten miles or so is almost all VERY flat. They do this so you'll be suckered in far enough you won't turn back when all the climbing starts. Those who have done this ride before know it's very hilly. In addition, the wind was supposed to be up today also, 15-20mph from the north. Fun, the last ten or twelve will be headwind all the way in. This is a very rural, agricultural area, and thing like this nifty old tractor and the cattle in the following picture are common......

From here, a ride along the lake shore produces some really pretty scenes,

The old Iron bridge, just before the town of Strang, Oklahoma. A pity we can't clean this up and use it as part of a bike path instead of the generic bidge of no character that is standing next to it as a replacement.

Just on the other side of the bridge were a large flock of pelicans. Now, I've never really thought of pelicans as being anyting but a shore bird, but here they were many miles away from any ocean. I understand now, that these are common around this area, but just never noticed before I guess.

In addition to pelicans, you might be lucky enough to spot some wild turkey as we did on a ride a couple years ago.

The first rest stop I stop at is in the town of Strang, they have it inside the community building which includes a meeting hall, town library, and city hall, and senior center. Might as well get all the use you can out of a public building.

On the Mickey Mantle Highway. Mickey Mantle being an Oklahoma native

After Strang, about another 7 miles brings us to the tiny mountain town of Spavinaw. At one time a coal mining town, now attempting to survive by preying on tourists, and sportsmen, as there is a small lake nearby with good fishing. Still....not much town left.
 A beautiful long fast downhill with super smooth pavement lead a 40 mph dash into town.........  Here's Spavinaw....

Across Spavinaw creek.......

Then, up a long gentle uphill that will eventually lead us to the next rest stop.

Hills like these just made me think I was in the mountains the entire last half of this ride. Just absolutely beautiful.

A couple of other fast downhills, and some rolling terrain finally brought us up the "big" hill. It's still steep, but seems to have shrunk in length over the years. The first time I did this one, it was endless, this time, it was over too quickly. Here is tthe bottom, for lack of a better picture, this is one from 2008 and it had been rainy and foggy all morning ......

The babbly little stream near the bottom of the hill, just to the left on the picture above. It's unusual to find such nice clear streams in Oklahoma, most of ours are red, and too thick to drink, too thin to plow type streams. This one is pretty......

From here on it was just put-'er-in-low-gear, and slowly grind your way to the top. managed to not fall below 6 mph this year however. Here is the top, looking down toward the last curve, also from a previous year.

This is a sucker hill........ starts out gentle, and gets steeper, and steeper, and steeper, the higher up you go. The first time, I zipped up from the bottom and had to get off about halfway, the second time, I zipped up and slowed early, and made it, but it was tough...... this year, when I left the babbly brook, I put it in my lowest gear, and left it there, spun easy all the way up, and still had some left for the last 1/4 mile. Strategy is more important than strength when you get older. After this, it was flat and level most of the way back. The construction detour took away the wonderful long smooth downhill on the other side of Chimney Rock Lake. Too bad! Loved that downhill. Got to touch the outskirts of Locust Grove this year, but didn't go into town. If they keep this route next year, I may make a detour as it is a rather historical town, and I'll add a few pictures. The rest of the ride was just a push against a growing headwind to the finish. So much beauty, riding a bike through this country makes me feel like sticking my head through the fence to see what's arond the next curve........

77 miles this year, started at 7:45am, ended at 1:30pm, average speed 15.0 ....musta been the downhills........ You just don't want to hurry through this ride, there is just too much to see, and too many friends to make, and too much fun to be had. Can't wait 'til next year, makin' plans already.

The Tour Of The Wichita's

The weather prediction for the Saturday the ride was being held was 100 degrees, and with the humidity, the "real feel" temp was guaranteed to be higher than that. Still, this is a ride that I've been wanting to do for a while now, and always, the heat this time of year has scared me off. This year, it's gonna be different, I tell myself this every year. This year, however, it WAS different, because I actually went, determined to have a good time, and take in the sights. I registered for a shorter ride than normal, thinking I would finish before the heat became too bad. What I didn't figure on was my camera holding me hostage at so many of the scenic and historical places along the way. It was 99 degrees at noon when I rolled in at the finish. But, well worth it. This ride encompasses both a loop through Fort Sill and a ride through the scenic part of the Wichita Mountains Nature Preserve, as well as a loop through the wonderful little community of Medicine Park.

Arriving there early at 7:15am (the ride starts at 8) allowed me to check in at the registration booth, pick up my packet, and gab with some of my bicycling friends that are always at these kind of events. I saw several on this ride. I also got a few early snap shots of a restored frontier fort

The outside of the museum where the ride was held....

As well as the crowd at the start. They said they had over 1000 entrants, but I think maybe only about 300 showed up....I think the heat scared the rest away.

First ahead of me......

And then behind.....

Our escorts.... The officers on the bicycles were to lead us out, and they did, but were soon overun by the thundering herd of road bikes. They put forth a valiant effort however!

Still, it was nice to see that the City of Lawton, Oklahoma maintained a bicycle patrol of uniformed officers. Shawnee did at one time have some, but when our Chief Of Police retired to Florida, his ideas were soon trashed. Maybe someday, they'll be back. Anyway, with police escort, and bells and whistles......we were OFF! Heading for the main gate of Fort Sill, an artillary training facility for the U.S. Army. Going into the fort and around the airfield and heading west, we were still trying to get a little riding room before getting stretched out a bit. I did manage to get a couple of quick shots inside this part of the base however.

Soon, we were out of the base proper, and into the training areas, which were much more rural. Rolling hills, and glass smooth roads and NO traffic were the order of the day.

The first rest stop had not only enthusiastic workers, but also kept to the theme of the ride..

There was much beauty to be seen, even on the more secluded areas of the base.

Soon, however, we passed out of the military base, at least for now, as we'd be going back through some more of it later. Then we entered into the Wichita Mountains Nature Preserve. The traffic there was not too terrible either.

After our little zip through the Preserve, it was downhill (some of it was),  and into the quaint little town of Medicine Park, OK. Medicine Park got it's unusual name from it's location on both banks of Medicine Creek, called the cobblestone village because of the architecture of the buildings there, like this old station....

A lot of the buildings in town were built like this using the native rock and set in an unusual pattern to create a "cobblestone" effect. The real gem of the community however, is the stream that bisects the town....  The Riverwalk.....

It was obvious there, who had the camera, and who had the food! The town is just below the dam that backs up Lake Lawtonka, and the river stairsteps it's way through town in a series of little falls.

There was also some unusual yard art......

Leaving Medicine Park, we crawled our way out of town up the hill to the top of the dam, and then travessed a most delightful winding lakeshore road for a couple of miles, with tight winding curves, and fast straights, bounded on both sides by lake, or trees, it was a wonderful ride on a bicycle.

Mt. Scott from across the lake...

After I left the lake behind, I headed back east through the country roads and then turned back south, only to face some of the toughest hills on the route, as well as a stiff south wind that had picked up while I was noticing other things. I certainly couldn't help but take notice of the wind now, however, as it hit me right in the face. Hot and strong, trying to blow me back to the bottom of the hills. Entering the base again, this time at the north entrance, we entered into a different part of the base, much hillier and quieter than the south part. Soon, however, we were back into the base proper, and this time the ride took us past the old original army post from the late 1800's. The Army preserves this as a museum, and is well worth seeing. Time was moving on,  however, and the heat was building, so as much as I would have liked to spend more time there, I took in only a couple of  areas.

This was one of the old barracks buildings, and below, the "Quadrangle", or parade grounds, around which the fort was built.

I did take the time to go through the old Guard House. Most of the old buildings had at least one restored room or two like this in them, and growing up on a number of military bases as a child, I would have liked to spend more time browsing, but there was still more ride to do to finish before I was "roast bicyclist".

The guard House.....

The Sergeant of the Guards office. Please excuse the ghostly finger image at the top left, apparently one of the ghosts there must have not wanted me to photograph the area and got his finger in the way. (I know it couldn't have been mine.....I don't do those kind of things...)

The bunk area .....

Looking the other way, back toward the Sergeants office, notice the "water cooler" in the corner.

Alas, it's time to move on, but first, part of the outdoor display of some of the old artillery pieces on display.

Leaving here, it was back through the main part of the base, and out the south gate, where they checked my I.D. ..... surprising, because they didn't check any going in. You can get in.....but you can't get out! . Fortunately, mine was in order, so I was allowed to get back to finish the ride, change clothes at the museum, and head downtown Lawton for a much deserved lunch at the Golden Corral. I wolfed down lots of cold fruit, salad, and ice cream, but managed to sneak in a little hot food too. One of my most dreaded rides turned into one of my more favored rides, and, if I can get up enough tolerance to handle the heat next year, I may do it again. By the way, just as a historical note here, and one I never knew, Geronimo, a leader of the Apache nation (not a chief, but a very strong leader) is buried here at Fort Sill. See what you can learn on bicycle rides!