FreeWheel 2009 Day 3: Cordell to Cheyenne
We said goodbye to the good people of Cordell this morning. They made a hard charge for winning the favorite town award—the people were great. The mayor was in a band, which played cover tunes for the crowd gathered at the city park—they were really good.
The road to Cheyenne is anything but flat. There were some flat sections, especially the road leading into Burns Flat (hence the name). The state was repaving the road, and parts of it were smooth and fast. In total, however, it was a hilly day. By the time we arrived in town, we had climbed over 2,200 feet. The wind was favorable part of the day, and when we were riding north, it felt great. Better than half the trip was headed west, so we had a cross wind, or maybe a quarter head wind, and that made it tough. Tomorrow should be better.
We knocked out 64 miles, which, in terms of mileage, puts us at about half way for the week (225). We were on the bike for 3:53, and averaged about 16.5mph. Top speed today was the best all week—43.5mph. The steak sandwich I ate for lunch was gone before I even ate it—I burned almost 4,100 calories today.
Tomorrow we will make tracks for Thomas. The weather should be much like today, and if it is, the southwest wind will carry us all the way. Let's hope so.
Here is a link to the ride on my Garmin site. And here are today's pictures:
Lisa took this shot of me and the boys as we made our way out of Cordell
I met a lot of really nice people on the road today:
Those Phillips Petroleum jerseys are a dead giveaway—these cyclists are from Bartlesville
This is Peter and his brand new Cervelo. Sweet bike. Peter runs the Brady Theater, downtown Tulsa
Spencer, doing a little climbing.
Paul, following close behind.
Spencer takes some cool shots. Notice the wind farm in the background. This could be an 80s album cover.
We raced a mangy old coyote for almost a mile, before he ducked headlong into his den. Pretty cool.
These are national park rangers from Cheyenne. They put signs along the road for 10 miles leading into town.
It is amazing how those signs motivate you to keep pushing. Great job, folks!
This is Jessie from OKC.
Only a couple of miles to go before Cheyenne, but if you look off into the distance, there is several hundred
feet of climbing to go before we get there. That hill just didn't want to end.
The road to Cheyenne is anything but flat. There were some flat sections, especially the road leading into Burns Flat (hence the name). The state was repaving the road, and parts of it were smooth and fast. In total, however, it was a hilly day. By the time we arrived in town, we had climbed over 2,200 feet. The wind was favorable part of the day, and when we were riding north, it felt great. Better than half the trip was headed west, so we had a cross wind, or maybe a quarter head wind, and that made it tough. Tomorrow should be better.
We knocked out 64 miles, which, in terms of mileage, puts us at about half way for the week (225). We were on the bike for 3:53, and averaged about 16.5mph. Top speed today was the best all week—43.5mph. The steak sandwich I ate for lunch was gone before I even ate it—I burned almost 4,100 calories today.
Tomorrow we will make tracks for Thomas. The weather should be much like today, and if it is, the southwest wind will carry us all the way. Let's hope so.
Here is a link to the ride on my Garmin site. And here are today's pictures:
Lisa took this shot of me and the boys as we made our way out of Cordell
I met a lot of really nice people on the road today:
Those Phillips Petroleum jerseys are a dead giveaway—these cyclists are from Bartlesville
This is Peter and his brand new Cervelo. Sweet bike. Peter runs the Brady Theater, downtown Tulsa
Spencer, doing a little climbing.
Paul, following close behind.
Spencer takes some cool shots. Notice the wind farm in the background. This could be an 80s album cover.
We raced a mangy old coyote for almost a mile, before he ducked headlong into his den. Pretty cool.
These are national park rangers from Cheyenne. They put signs along the road for 10 miles leading into town.
It is amazing how those signs motivate you to keep pushing. Great job, folks!
This is Jessie from OKC.
Only a couple of miles to go before Cheyenne, but if you look off into the distance, there is several hundred
feet of climbing to go before we get there. That hill just didn't want to end.
You made great time without a tailwind. Was it a relaxing ride with frequent stops to see the sights or was the nothing out there worth stopping for?
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Risan, Yes and no. It was a relaxing ride, and we stopped a couple of times. But mostly we put our heads down and just hammered the best we could. It was a beautiful day.
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Two cyclists were killed and another injured on highway 51 in Sand Springs yesterday. Apparently a woman in an SUV swerved into the shoulder of the road and hit them. They suspect she was drunk and she has a previous DUI. It took her 1/4 of a mile to figure out what had happened and stop - even though her car was a wreck.
Be careful out there.
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My buddy Joe is a Sand Springs police officer. He was giving me some details last night over the phone. Very said. I knew the girl that was killed, but I'm not sure about the other victim, didn't recognize the name. I hope people will have a higher awareness of our presence out there. Thanks Paul.
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