So here is my journal entry for June 21:
Henryetta, OK to Oklahoma City, OK
June 24th, 2012
Henryetta, OK to Oklahoma City, OK
“Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain
And the wavin' wheat can sure smell sweet
When the wind comes right behind the rain.”
The Musical Oklahoma hit the nail on the head with that song. Oklahoma surely has wind, and yep, it often follows rain (as we learned). The day started off with a great breakfast provided by the First United Methodist Church in Henryetta. A nice hot breakfast always helps to start things off right. So we rolled out well fed and excited about the day, well as excited as people can be about starting a 92 mile ride after riding 106 the previous day. Sore legs and all we rolled out and quickly took a wrong turn, oops. Once everyone got headed in the correct direction we ran into a pretty killer hill to test our legs. Ok so the hill was tough, but we had no idea about the brutal road ahead. It was literally the roughest road we’ve encountered on the trip. People’s bottles were flying off their bikes and flat tires were a common sight. On the bright side there was very little traffic. So once everyone got through that mess everything went quite smoothly all the way into first lunch. We were having an awkward family photo contest so people were plenty busy coming up with the best ideas. Rolling out after lunch everything seemed great… until we noticed the menacing black clouds in the distance. Britt, Laurie, Dina, and I were riding out front (we were riding slow but just had the quickest lunch stop) so we were the first ones to see the storms ahead. There was some thunder in the distance, but nothing too serious at first so we pressed on until it really started looking sketchy. Our group pulled off into a livestock auction building and parked under the porch just as we saw the first lightning and the rain began to fall. So Britt sent word out for everyone to find somewhere to ride out the storm. And that’s exactly what we did. Well, I kind of just napped. It seemed like everyone else kept themselves pretty well entertained though. So we headed out once we got the all clear and began to tackle the last 40 something miles of the trip. The wind definitely followed the rain; it seemed like every time we hit the top of a hill the wind would be blowing straight into our faces. It was a good ride into second lunch though. We set up lunch in the parking lot of a restaurant and stuffed our faces. The rain delay meant second lunch was later than usual and therefore even more appreciated. Laurie and Dina pressed on before anyone. Britt and I grouped up with a few others and killed it for the last 15 miles. The coolest feeling was all of the sudden cresting this bridge and seeing the skyline of Oklahoma City. Everyone was super stoked riding into the city. We pulled up to the church with 92 miles on the odometer... our group (Sarah, Nate, Hannah, Britt, Matt, and me) all sort of looked around and someone said “Well, why not make it a hundred?” So we made a few laps through downtown OKC and took in the sights on our quest to complete back to back centuries. We saw the arena where the Thunder play, the Oklahoma City Bombing memorial, Bricktown, and many other cool places. OKC is a really pleasant city to ride around. It’s not too crowded and quite clean. So we laughed and had a good time rolling around the city as we hit the 100 mile mark for the second day in a row (even Britt smiled a little, she finished 3 centuries in 3 ride days so she was a little extra tired). Another group went out after supper to do the same thing to finish their century. The long stormy day ended up having a sunny awesome finish. It was definitely one of my favorite memories so far from the trip. I love Bike & Build!!!
-Barrett Hoover
“Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain
And the wavin' wheat can sure smell sweet
When the wind comes right behind the rain.”
The Musical Oklahoma hit the nail on the head with that song. Oklahoma surely has wind, and yep, it often follows rain (as we learned). The day started off with a great breakfast provided by the First United Methodist Church in Henryetta. A nice hot breakfast always helps to start things off right. So we rolled out well fed and excited about the day, well as excited as people can be about starting a 92 mile ride after riding 106 the previous day. Sore legs and all we rolled out and quickly took a wrong turn, oops. Once everyone got headed in the correct direction we ran into a pretty killer hill to test our legs. Ok so the hill was tough, but we had no idea about the brutal road ahead. It was literally the roughest road we’ve encountered on the trip. People’s bottles were flying off their bikes and flat tires were a common sight. On the bright side there was very little traffic. So once everyone got through that mess everything went quite smoothly all the way into first lunch. We were having an awkward family photo contest so people were plenty busy coming up with the best ideas. Rolling out after lunch everything seemed great… until we noticed the menacing black clouds in the distance. Britt, Laurie, Dina, and I were riding out front (we were riding slow but just had the quickest lunch stop) so we were the first ones to see the storms ahead. There was some thunder in the distance, but nothing too serious at first so we pressed on until it really started looking sketchy. Our group pulled off into a livestock auction building and parked under the porch just as we saw the first lightning and the rain began to fall. So Britt sent word out for everyone to find somewhere to ride out the storm. And that’s exactly what we did. Well, I kind of just napped. It seemed like everyone else kept themselves pretty well entertained though. So we headed out once we got the all clear and began to tackle the last 40 something miles of the trip. The wind definitely followed the rain; it seemed like every time we hit the top of a hill the wind would be blowing straight into our faces. It was a good ride into second lunch though. We set up lunch in the parking lot of a restaurant and stuffed our faces. The rain delay meant second lunch was later than usual and therefore even more appreciated. Laurie and Dina pressed on before anyone. Britt and I grouped up with a few others and killed it for the last 15 miles. The coolest feeling was all of the sudden cresting this bridge and seeing the skyline of Oklahoma City. Everyone was super stoked riding into the city. We pulled up to the church with 92 miles on the odometer... our group (Sarah, Nate, Hannah, Britt, Matt, and me) all sort of looked around and someone said “Well, why not make it a hundred?” So we made a few laps through downtown OKC and took in the sights on our quest to complete back to back centuries. We saw the arena where the Thunder play, the Oklahoma City Bombing memorial, Bricktown, and many other cool places. OKC is a really pleasant city to ride around. It’s not too crowded and quite clean. So we laughed and had a good time rolling around the city as we hit the 100 mile mark for the second day in a row (even Britt smiled a little, she finished 3 centuries in 3 ride days so she was a little extra tired). Another group went out after supper to do the same thing to finish their century. The long stormy day ended up having a sunny awesome finish. It was definitely one of my favorite memories so far from the trip. I love Bike & Build!!!
-Barrett Hoover
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