Miles: 130 Miles
Ride Time: 7 hours 33 minutes
Avg. Speed: 17.2 Mph
Total Climbing: 3797 feet
Work: 4720 kJ
Oklahoma will be one of the hardest states because it goes on for ever. It will take us 5 days to cross and the scenery does not change much. The day started out the same as yesterday; wind and bad roads. The road was the same poor condition with a bump every 10 yards that shock your body to the bone. I decided I was not going to let it bother me and power through it.
The wind was ever present and continued to get stronger as the day progressed. It acted as a small slap on the right check as it blew from the south against our eastward progress. When we turned south east to Woodward with 20 miles to go it became a price boxer, attacking me face on. The wind was not longer small slaps but full body punches that tried to send me back to New Mexico. But no wind today was going to get me down. I got down in a time trial position and started to crank it out. The wind countered with uppercuts but I shifted down and reached a cadence of 85. The wind then sent right and left hooks. I down shifted again and reached my Zen cadence of 90. The wind continued to battle it out with me by sending dust and hurling bugs at me. But by then I had crested the last hill and seen Woodward ahead. 4 miles to go and I was now locked onto my target. Nothing that the wind could throw at me now could stop me.
Since today was a long ride we had two lunches. The first was in front of an old abandon hotel that had dogs on the roof barking at us while we eat. The second was at Fort Supply Lake which was very scenic and was a nice break from our day riding across the Great Plains.
Today I beat the wind. It is now tired at one to one. 3 more days in Oklahoma to go but I’m confident I can beat it.
Today’s photos at Flickr.
All Photo sets at Flickr
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