needing a little rest, I was to ride up to Concours Mike’s dad's in the OK mountains, more specifically Winding Stair National Recreation area, North of Talihina, OK. The ride would be a good sample of what we are to encounter. 250 miles up, I would sleep on it, and 250 miles home. I would be gone just over 28 hours and would get to sample 2 days riding and 1/3 of our big bend ride. I would ride up alone and return with Mike.I rode up Thursday leaving at 8:45, fueled up in Atoka, cut across a sweet valley ride from Stringtown, birthplace of Reba, (OK hwy 43) to Sardis, OK and then on to Talihina. In Talihina, I fueled up, at
e a NASTY gas station cheeseburger and a snickers at the pump. I was at Mike’s dad’s place at exactly 1pm. I rode 230-ish miles in 3.25 hours. The temperature never got above 55 degrees.That evening we took a late afternoon ride to Heavner, OK for a nice dinner at Vickie’s diner. Do not expect to find much on the town square unless you can speak Spanish. There’s also an abundance of chicken farms and of course chicken trucks.
A few notes: My purchase of the Camel-bak classic 70 oz (2-liter) hydration pack was the greatest thing ever! When I left my house I did not put a foot to the ground until I hit a stop light in front of the Choctaw Indian casino 100+ miles away. I was able to gulp some water at the light. On fuel consumption, both of my stops required less than 3 gallons of premium. I averaged a little over 41 miles per gallon. The range of this bike is staggering in motorcycle terms. My camera crapped out on me during my 4th picture. It turned to be batteries.
The return trip was cool, with us hitting the road at a leisurely start time of 9:30am. Starting temperature was 55 degrees. Our first leg was on OK Hwy 1, better known as the Talimena scenic parkway. The section we rode was about 25 miles of bombing up and down small mountains racing from hair pin to hair
pin at speeds of 60-80mph with a stop at the final look out before descending into Talihina. Every day should begin this way.The most notable events of the ride home: Mazzio’s pizza is the most popular place in Atoka. The wind ran 20-30mph in our face and across us beating us to a pulp the entire trip home. For the first time ever, in my witness, the Red River had A LOT of water in it. It looked like a river. We were home at 2:30pm.
A few (more) notes: Long distance riding is an endurance sport. I have plenty of will & determination, I however am a little short on the endurance side of this endurance sport. My goal for the next 55 or so days is to spend some time increasing this endurance with walking, riding my mountain bike and with liberal use of my dumbbells.
