Day 5 (6/7/2012): Quartz Mountain to Great Plains State Park (43 miles)

 Posted on June 18, 2012

Woke up to a grey, crisp morning eager to get on the road. After a nice oatmeal breakfast, I hit the road. It misted all morning, but it never really rained on me and with the temperatures under 70 degrees I made really good time without any worry of overheating. After a few hills coming out of the mountains, the land really opened up back into flat farm land and not much else. [Read More]
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Day 6 (6/8/2012): Great Plains State Park to Frederick (27 miles)

 Posted on June 18, 2012

I woke up to a beautiful dawn over the lake and enjoyed a great breakfast of oatmeal and tea. I left the camp refreshed for the very short and very flat ride into Frederick. With almost no wind, I covered the distance in a couple of hours and arrived in Frederick before 10 AM. It was obvious that the rumors about the effort Frederick had made in anticipation of Freewheel were true. [Read More]
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Day 3 (6/5/2012): Foss Lake to Quartz Mountain (44 miles)

 Posted on June 14, 2012

I got a really early start this morning. My mother drove us into Elk City for a fast food breakfast and then she gave me a bit of a head start by getting me through some busy highway driving first. But now it was time to see if I could really make this happen. Well, it was like Sunday had never happened. My legs felt great and I started eating into the miles. [Read More]
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Day 4 (6/6/2012): Rest Day

 Posted on June 14, 2012

Today was my first scheduled day off, and I wasn’t going to pass up the chance to be extremely lazy. Woke up to a beautiful sunrise and had some nice oatmeal for breakfast. Then, I went back to bed.:) I repeated this system of getting up, eating a bit and going back to sleep for most of the day. Which is about the perfect way to spend a vacation day. [Read More]
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Day 2 (6/4/2012): Unexpected Rest Day

 Posted on June 11, 2012

Or Where Our Intrepid Hero Questions His Choices Or Do I Really Need That? So after a long night of cramping and hydrating, I woke up with at least enough confidence to continue the ride but now I had to figure out how to make that happen. Grace had offered to wake up super early on Tuesday and drive me out to Red Rock again, but that would have required me to ride every day for the rest of the week and I wasn’t sure I would be up for that. [Read More]
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Day 1 (6/3/2012): OKC to Red Rock Canyon (55 miles)

 Posted on June 10, 2012

Or Disaster Strikes Or Where Our Intrepid Hero Gets Bit on the Backside by Hubris Or What Were You Thinking??? I don’t know about you, but I find that the week before a vacation can be more stressful and busy that any of the weeks preceding it. There always seems to be too much to do and so the night before is always a mess of chaos and frayed nerves. This trip was no different except that I was tired from my ride during the day. [Read More]
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Oklahoma Trek - Day 0: Prologue

 Posted on June 7, 2012

Or, Things Start Looking Rocky but are Ignored Through Enthusiasm for the Adventure. It is a sign that it has been a troubled trip when it is almost a week in before I start posting trip reports, however things are improving greatly and I have the time and the energy to start catching up. Saturday was a day that I had been dreading for sometime. I had volunteered to lead any of this year’s Freewheel training rides that no one else picked up. [Read More]
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A Great Cause, A Great Ride

 Posted on May 30, 2012

I don’t often put out fundraising pleas to this blog, but this is a cause worthy of all the attention I can muster. As fellow Oklahomans, you know all to well the severe impact that diabetes is having on our community. As of 2010, more than 10% of the Oklahoma population had been diagnosed with some form of diabetes, far greater than the national average. That doesn’t even begin to count the large numbers people who have the disease but remain undiagnosed. [Read More]
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A Great Cause, A Great Ride

 Posted on May 30, 2012

Many of you have expressed upset, if not downright dismay, at the lack of head shaving from me this year. While I really enjoyed the St. Baldrick’s Day event, this year I am serving on the organizing committee for the Tour de Cure ride in Mustang, Oklahoma. This ride raises critical funding for diabetes research for the American Diabetes Association. As of 2010, over 10% of Oklahoman’s have been diagnosed with some form of diabetes and many more remain undiagnosed. [Read More]
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#30DaysofBiking Day 7

 Posted on April 8, 2011

I was tired on the way to work.  Then I had to work a 13 hour day.  Then I had to ride home in the dark, after midnight, while facing a 15-20 mph headwind.  So today I learned that cycling while exhausted is completely possible . . .

30daysofbiking