Troopers
Motherly
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June 16, 1979 By ROB KERBY VERA - We all joined Larkin's Cavalry several miles south of here Friday as Free Wheel '79 rolled from Sand Springs to Bartlesville. For several afternoons Tulsa Webster High School history teacher Earl Larkin has been commanding a long line of the 431-mile bike ride's under-12 riders. "Mount up!" he bellows as the kids mount their 1--speeds and small town residents stop and smile. "Forward HO!" Between here and Skiatook, as autos zipped around Larkin's Cavalry and all the other riders on Oklahoma 20, a Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper escorting the tour for the first time Friday decided one of us was going to get killed as he watched bikes, cars and trucks maneuvering around each other - in what sometimes looks like a death dance. I remember the feeling the first days out: : - Watching Tulsan bill Glass, 26, wobble up a hill outside of Durant, his head down, his bike crossing the center line as a semi's CB antenna rose over the crest: - Holding my breath as Crystall Blackwell, 11 whizzed around a corner near Ada unaware a cement truck was passing a station wagon behind her; - Stifling a yell as donna Baker, 24, cruised northward while a school bus tried to put on its brakes. Yet no one has been hurt. God apparently protects drunks and bicyclists. Cars and trucks have threaded in and out of our sparse 20-mile line, some honking, most waving, all missing us. But Friday, the new trooper could take no more and brought the ride to a halt, then for a fie-mile stretch enforced a single-file line with patrol cars leading the way and bringing up the rear. And of course, the road-wise Free Wheelers - two -thirds of whom had just passed their 325-mile mark for the week - started revolting. For days no one had told them what to do or when to do it. Several have pondered the daily route maps purely as suggestion, then taking their own scenic or shorter courses. So imagine this scene: Troopers growing more and more frustrated as bikers milled along the road, wanting to know why everyone was stopped. Enter 250-pound Earl Larkin - knowing mutiny was imminet. Buzz, buzz went troopers and Larkin. Laughter, Good ol'boys slapping shoulders. And suddenly Free Wheel '79 was rolling again. "Wagone HO!" yelled the history teacher "Wagons HO!" yelled the kids. And in a two-mile line, the single file riders proceeded, singing to Larkin's off-key direction of the Star Spangled Banner. As the ride turned to a rural side road off of the busy highway, Free Wheel's casual, lackadaisical, stop-at-any-donut-shop-you-see attitude returned. Smiling, the troopers waved at all who passed and resumed their normal, helpful patrolling of the route. In other action: Consider piano-tuner Howard J. Rosenthal, 30, who joined thetour Friday on a rattling, one-speed with fraying balloon tires and rusting frame. He made it all 58.8 miles to Bartlesville. In Ochelata, riders bought out all the milkshakes at the Four S Sundry. Breakfast Friday was provided by the Sand springs' Lions Club, while in Bartlesvill the YMCA opened showers to riders and the chamber of commerce arranged for free soft drinks and an all-you-can-eat spaghetti feast. We picked up a handful of new riders, including Tulsan Bruce Bishop, 16, who joined up with Ricky Mattioni, 16, who has gone every inch of the way even through he had to tear apart his mother's bike. The Tulsa World and tulsa Wheelmen ride ends Saturday in Chetopah, Kan. Sunday about 50 riders expect to make the unpatrolled, unsponsored, 91-mile Renegade ride home to Tulsa with this reporter. | Next Day | Previous Day | Home to 1979 Page |
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