For those who love hills, the Tour of the Wichitas has been scheduled for May 2nd. From the website:
A beautiful ride through Ft. Sill and the Wichita Mountains. You will be leaving the Museum of the Great Plains at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday and riding either 2,10, 40, 50 or 60 miles through some of the most beautiful scenery in Oklahoma. We will also have a historic route by the Ft. Sill Museum and some of the most important historical properties at Ft. Sill. The longer rides will have a water stop at the Visitors Center in the refuge. You can pause here and learn about the make up of the refuge along with what types of animals it supports. Also the location of the hiking trails and fishing lakes. From the Visitors Center you may ride back by Mt. Scott through Medicine Park, or on a breathtaking downhill that will pass the Meers Restaurant and loop around Lake Lawtonka back to Lawton. This is a smell the roses ride. Take your time, look around and enjoy!
So, it’s been a long and dull week without the ability for me to ride (darn skinny wheels). After work, I decided to do an automotive run along the lake bike trails to see how the ice had cleared. Overall it looks really good which is as I expected. For those of you who ride out to Overholser to start their rides, I noticed quite a bit of remaining slush at the bottom of the last hill coming into the lake on 16th street. The trail itself is in fine shape and I didn’t notice any area of standing water that might be frozen up tomorrow morning. I can however now personally confirm that the old Route 66 bridge is very much closed. Let’s hope that they can reopen it soon.
The Overholser/Hefner trail seems to equally be in good shape. However, on the on-street portion of the path on Wilshire between Rockwell and Northwest Expressway, there was a considerable about a slush and standing water. Be very careful on this portion if you are riding early in the morning.
The Hefner trail is pretty good but there were a few areas, especially near the golf course where I saw standing water on the trail that might get frozen up tonight. However, overall both the trail and the road route seem very clear.
Mr. J. Wente has reported on the OBS Mailing List that the old bridge at Overholser is currently closed. Let’s hope that the repairs are brief and the loop will be back in business soon.
Schlegel Bicycles will be offering both the novice and intermediate versions of their Park School bicycle maintenance classes. The novice class will be offered on February 17th and the intermediate class will be on February 7th and 14th. The complete description of the courses are below:
Novice Bicycle Maintenance Class
Students get an overview of many aspects of bicycles maintenance. Tires and tubes, brakes, and gear adjustments are demonstrated, discussed and worked on by the students. The class content is similar to a 90 day check-up on the bike. This is an excellent class for someone with a relatively modern or brand new bike who wishes to learn about maintenance, but can only make a limited time commitment for the class. In the novice class, the emphasis is placed on knowing when there is a problem, and on cleaning the bike. The presentations will often be descriptive. For example, showing what rear cogs are and how they work is part of the class, but demonstrating or practicing their removal are beyond the scope of this class. This is about a three-four hour class. Cost for the novice class is $40.00 per person. This class is typically offered on a monthly basis.
Intermediate Bicycle Maintenance Class
The Class content will be similar to a basic shop tune up. Emphasis will be placed on adjustments, but components will not be pulled completely apart. This class might be an option for someone who has tried some basic repairs. The student should have some familiarity with the topics presented, but may not necessarily have the experience. Participants with limited bike knowledge might consider the novice class before taken the Intermediate course. The Intermediate class is approximately a 6-8 hour course. This course will be broken down into two classes. Cost for the Intermediate class is $90.00 This class is typically held bimonthly.
The bright pink, old-fashioned Townie bicycles stationed along River Parks appear to be a hit with park visitors.
With a full year’s worth of data still being evaluated, officials believe that the free bikes were checked out by about 13,000 riders, said Tom Cooper, a member of the Tulsa Townies LLC, which provides and maintains the two-wheelers.
Norman is improving and expanding the bicycle routes throughout the city. Hopefully Oklahoma City will start improving the street routes as well. I’d love to see a route going down to Norman and out to Lake Thunderbird for a great camping weekend.
Yellow “Share the Road” signs to urge motorists and bicyclists to coexist peacefully and safely will be popping up around town as the city’s Bicycle Advisory Committee works to make roads safer for both.
Sorry, it’s been busy around the office as of late and this site has been slower to get started than I had ever imagined, but I’ve got several posts to make and should be able to get started on the rest of the work soon.
I know it’s hard to imagine after yesterday’s beautiful weather, but we will get colder again. Bike Hugger has some good tips about riding in the cold. After the extremely cold weather last week, I’ve started taking some of these tips to heart.
