March 21, 1982

SAND SPRINGS - Tom Campbell, M.D., has bicycled every inch of every FreeWheel family bicycle ramble across Oklahoma.

That's been some trick for the annual event's volunteer physician.

Each year, he has been summoned by the walkie-talkie that officials carry to the one or two serious mishaps that each ride has seen.

He's gone with accident victims on ambulance rides to the nearest small town hospital and on into Tulsa with the injured when Life Flight helicopters were called in.

Then after dark, he has been taken back out to the point where he had been pedaling. And alone, he rides on into camp.

The emergency specialist only got into bicycling during FreeWheel '79 - on a borrowed bike, which he wrecked, then shamefacedly bought.

He's still got it (he had the bike fixed) and keeps it on hand at his Keystone Regional Medical Clinic in Sand Springs - just in case he gets a few minutes spare time.

"Oh, I bike every chance I get," he says. "It gets hard not to. Bicyclists come past my clinic in droves on the weekends."

The clinic is on Oklahoma 97, a popular cycling route to Keystone Lake beaches.

It's also on the 1979 route. In fact that's where Campbell first spotted the corner.

"I stopped on this lot and I remember several people taking my picture, but I never dreamed I's end up buying it and building my clinic here."

Campbell is a familiar sight at other sporting events - such as Charles Page High School varsity events, the Tulsa Run and Cystic Fibrosis runs and bike-a-thons.

He recently took a leave of absence from Hillcrest Medical Center as business picked up at the clinic.

"And I'm putting the word out that I'm looking for partners," he says. "If I don't get somebody, I'm going to have to hire help so I can go on FreeWheel."

FreeWheel '82: The Cherokee Trip is scheduled for June 5-12.

The Tulsa World's Fourth Annual Family Bicycle Ramble FreeWheel '82: The Cherokee Trip from the Cherokee Strip to the Cherokee Nation - 500 Miles Across Oklahoma.

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