FreeWheel 2001by David Kincannon| Intro | Day 0 | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | |
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FreeWheel
Day-2: Monday, June 11 Today will have some of the biggest challenges of the week. The
day started with a 1,000-foot climb in the first 3 miles going up
Kiamichi Mountain on Indian Highway Road. I started early, used
a lot of granny gear, and enjoyed a fast seven-mile downhill on
the other side. Fast means you can easily travel over 40 mph. There
was one hairpin curve that had the best of some bicyclists; I met
two of them. Dennis Muret of Blackwell laid his bike down in the
curve and got road rash, Jordan went over the guardrail but was
okay. It was a great "screamer" in the cool air and morning sunshine.
If they had a "ski lift" for bicycles, I might have spent all day
there.
Fruit stops were at Mile 17.4, Talimena State Park (29.0) and Wister
Lake (50.0). I started solo to the first fruit stop where I had
a two banana breakfast, and I had an excellent hot fresh made pizza
at the E-Z Mart in Talihina. That pizza was worth the 10-minute
wait. Terry Raymond, Mike Kelly, Jim Flescher, Chris McWatters,
and Alex Welch caught up with me there and we rode together for
the next several miles.
There was a super fast straight downhill coming off of the Winding
Stair Mountain. Sometime later I figured that I had gone 45 mph.
I'm sure several others went faster, but I don't remember any trophies
being handed out at the bottom of the hill. I rode though Wister
Lake State Park with Terry to the fruit stop. Several other FreeWheelers
took a dip in the lake to cool off. We were going to stop at a swimming
area near the dam but we missed the turn. In a brilliant strategic
move, Chris McWatters and I stopped at the Dairy Hut in Wister for
large soft serve ice cream cones and the ice cream headaches you
get for eating them too fast. A brain-freeze.
Although we tried to persuade then, several cyclists failed to
stop for ice cream. Feeling refreshed after the ice cream break,
Chris and I soon caught up and passed them. We made sure to announce
that we were riding on "ice cream power". It was a great final nine
miles to Poteau on relatively flat land. One rider tried to pass
us in the final mile, but he underestimated the power of ice cream
on a hot day.
Camp Poteau was all over the campus of Carl Albert State College.
We had a chicken and rice dinner served at the camp. We had access
to an air-conditioned lounge with vending machines.
We watch the sun set over Cavanal Hill, the world's tallest hill
at 1,999 feet in height.
David Kincannon |
Intro | Day 0 | Day
1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day
4 | Day 5 | Day 6
| Day 7 |
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