Today was the much anticipated day of the races. Officially the Magnolia Bike Tour. This is the twenty second year of the event, and I was curious how big it was going to be, since this was my first one here.
I had decided to limit my distance to the 42 mile loop, rather than try for the whole 67 mile loop up through Milburn. I had ridden this route just two days ago, and was pretty sure I could do it again.
The day dawned still and already muggy with high humidity. The Oklahoma heat had not come yet at 6:00 AM when my alarm went off, but there was no doubt it was coming. They even warned us of the possibility of scattered rain storms through the day.
I arrived at the Durant High School at 7:00 AM and there were already lots of cars and bicycles there at the starting place. Everybody was tuning bikes and airing up tires in preparation for the start at 8:00 o’clock.
I had aired up my tires at the house before I left. I took them right up to 50 lbs. They both hold pressure well, as Oklahoma doesn’t have nearly the amount of puncture vines as Nevada does (they call them goat heads here) and the tires stay up for weeks at a time. That never happened in Nevada, even if I put “Green Slime” in the tubes to seal them.
I slowly pedaled around the parking area, mainly to see if I was the only guy riding a mountain bike in the tour. I only found one other young guy riding his mountain bike. His name was Jordan, and he admitted that he came in last the previous year, which was his first ride. I hoped we would be able to ride together part of the way, since we were similarly handicapped by our bikes.
Otherwise, the range of road racing bikes was spectacular. I saw machines I had never seen before, such as two recumbent streamliners from Dallas, Texas, with bodies made from carbon, I assume, and tricycle disc wheels that tilted the machines into the curve as they steered.
There were several bikes with carbon frames and large semi disc wheels that only had about half enough spokes to reduce weight, I’m sure. Some of them must have been right at the physical stress limit riding on Oklahoma “pavement”.
I even saw one couple riding a tandem bike (bicycle built for two) and they had matching Spandex suits. I felt a pang of deja vu, as Carolyn and I rode a tandem now and then, back when that was possible for her. We first rented one on Catalina Island on a vacation trip, and cycled over every paved road on the island.
All together there were over one hundred cyclists participating in the tour. My local friends think I’m crazy for riding as many miles as I do. They should have come out this morning. If I’m crazy, it must have been weekend pass day at the Oklahoma State Hospital for the Mentally Irregular. I am trying really hard to be politically correct here.
They had three police cars with all the red and blue light flashing to guide all the bicycles out onto the highway and hold traffic back as the huge mass of pedalers churned out onto the course. I started about halfway back, since I intended to ride the middle course of 42 miles.
The cluster of bikes quickly strung out as we headed north on North First St. out of town. When we all came to the side road to Armstrong, everybody peeled off in that direction, but my understanding was that the main course stayed on Hwy 78, so I assumed that they were all doing the short 24 mile course to Caddo and back.
So I broke away and went straight up the highway to the junction turning west to Cobb and Brown. As I got lined up going west, I glanced back to see that I was all alone. Well, I was the loner, anyway. I was the only one wearing Levis. Everybody else seemed to have bare legs with Spandex shorts.
What can I say? I come from Nevada, where iconoclasm is a virtue, and curmudgeons get a lot of respect. Besides, I have terrible psoriasis all over both legs, and I don’t like to show them off. My elbows are bad enough.
So as I pedaled west, my mind went to the story of “Wrongway Corrigan”. I had figured out by now that they must have reversed the route from the earlier map I copied, which meant that I should beat them all to Nida, since I am going the wrong way. At Nida, I had the choice of turning around and following some of the bikers back to Durant. That would reduce the miles to only 34, but hey, I just came for the tee shirt anyway.
My bike is not in the same league as all these racing bikes. Four or five years ago I came in first in class in a race in Paradise Valley, Nevada, and got a beautiful belt buckle at the finish, but there will be no trophies for me today. With the heat rising the way it was, I will have accomplished something if I ride in still pedaling and not in the back of a pickup.
I stopped at Nida, drank a Gator Ade and ate a banana. When some of the bicyclists finally got there coming from the other direction, I followed them back toward Durant. I am using the term “following” loosely. They ran off and left me, of course, and the only nice thing about it all, is when they went by me, the draft from their speed helped break the head wind for me.
I stopped and chatted with a guy at the Brown Baptist Church, where they had a rest stop with water, Gator Ade and protein bars. They also had several jars of dill pickles, which seemed to be very popular with the hottest riders. Seems I learn something every day. I didn’t try it, though.
The rest of the trip back was uneventful. As soon as we turned back east at Brown, we got a tailwind that scooted us right along. I ran out of gears high enough on my bike, so I got to coast long stretches when I couldn’t pedal fast enough.
When I got back to the Finish line at Durant High School they had tables set up with all the drinks you wanted and hot dogs on the grill. Lots of benches and chairs, too. A couple of young riders were doing slow circles out in the parking area and I asked them if they had started late, joking of course. No, they were just cooling down, they said. I noticed that on the side of the circle with the wind at your back, you got hotter.
I figured a better cool down tactic was to sit down and have another Gator Ade.
Well, this describes the morning pretty well. I left the High School and drove back to the house, showered off the sweat and put on my new tee shirt. Then I went to Featherstone to relieve Darlene, who was staying with Carolyn while I went out biking. She is still in that awareness mode, and cried several times today. We just hold her hand and reassure her that we will take care of her always.
I left her just after supper in the front lobby watching a movie and eating popcorn. I normally put her to bed, but the aides said they would be glad do it.
For some reason I was extra tired this evening.
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