Miles: 115 Miles
Ride Time: 7 hours 25 minutes
Avg. Speed: 15.5 Mph
Total Climbing: 3164 feet
Work: 4223 kJ
Today the Oklahoma wind came out full force to prevent us from completing our ride. The wind almost won but we battled back for a tie.
The plan was simple, start early and try to finish as soon as possible. The morning went well. We were out at the crack of dawn preparing and on our way as the sun rose on the horizon.
Our path took us through the first scenic parts of Oklahoma we have seen. We winded though Boiling Springs State Park and rolled along NS 221 for our first pleasant riding in Oklahoma. After passing Waynoka the wind made its present felt with a good 15 mile cross wind. Again the Oklahoma roads were terrible and made the situation worse as we rode across bump after bump.
We reached lunch for a much needed rest. Trek had picked out a wonderful spot in the middle of no where which was just par for the course for Oklahoma. After lunch the wind picked up from the south as we headed east. To combat the cross winds the Colorado boys and I formed an echelon. Even though the wind was brutal, I felt we were making good progress. However, at mile 88 with the wind gusting up to 30 miles an hour, we had a brief touch between Dave, Greg and me. While Dave and Greg maintained their balance, I was not able to and ended up on the ground. We had not been going more than 12 mph so I only had some minor road rash on my right leg and a small cut above my eye where my rear view mirror holder on my sunglasses scrapped my eyebrow.
The bike was fine and we soon back on our way. There would be sections ahead where we would turn straight into the wind but we cut our pace line rotations to half a mile each instead of the normal one mile. We joked about calling the van for a ride but we were never going to let that happen.
We stopped for milk shakes and burgers at Braum. The shake was the largest I had ever seen but they were gone in no time. We had definitely worked up an apatite today. Two hours later we ate dinner like we had not eaten all day. I wonder why?
Yes the wind had spilled my blood but we came back to finish. The score now is 1-1-1. Two days left in Oklahoma.
Today’s photos at Flickr.
All Photo sets at Flickr
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