Well, at least I tried touring...
This turned out really long. Sorry for all the detail. :p
This weekend I set out to do the first 4 days of Oklahoma Freewheel with 800 other riders. It's a supported weeklong tour of the state from S to N (why S to N?- tailwinds, baby).
I was sooooo excited because this was my first tour. I've been reading journals on Crazyguyonabike.com all winter long and was anxious to try my first tour. Hopes were high!
The night before the first day, my DH drove me to the start in Marietta, OK (about 2 hours S of us). We camped out, and the next morning he rode 10 miles with me to the first rest stop, then turned around to head back so he could drive home to work on Monday. We've been having the craziest wind this year (far windier than normal), with most days the wind sustained at 25-30 gusting in the 40's and 50's. I don't know what it's like to ride when the wind isn't blowing terribly anymore (and I get excited when it's only 10-15mph).
But I digress...
The first day was a lot of fun. Lots of riders on the road with all kinds of bikes. Beautiful scenery, lots of rolling hills, great overcast weather for most of the day, and really great rest stops. My highlight was coasting down a long hill where I hit a record speed of 42 mph. Scary and exhilarating all at the same time. I got terribly sunburned despite multiple applications of 50spf, and wearing my arm coolers with spf that I bought here at TE. :mad: We rode through the Arbuckle Mountains and past Turner Falls which was so pretty. I arrived in camp about 12:30 and set up my tent, then went to find some food and some shade. Spent the rest of the day reading in the shade and enjoying the nice breeze (well, nice gale force wind anyway- hee hee :p). I was in my tent and asleep by 9:00. It was a good day.
Monday we woke up to clouds and lightning in the distance. The forecast called for showers most of the day, so I wrapped my rain gear around my waist and headed out. About 10 miles in, it started pouring. Like the sky just opened up and emptied it's buckets. I had my rain jacket on (which I found out is not as waterproof as I remember it being:rolleyes:), but still managed to get completely soaked to the bone. I made it to the 32 mile halfway mark for lunch in 4 hours (2:45 ride time, 1:15 spent getting off the road due to lightning/hail various times). At the lunch stop, I called a friend back home and begged her to come get me. Temps were in the low 60's, the rain wasn't letting up, I was freezing, and the fun factor was below zero. She took me to the next town where I got my bags. Turns out the park we were supposed to camp in had majorly flooded, and they were trying to find indoor accommdations for all 800 riders (shuttling them all over town). I'm glad I didn't stay. My friend took me home (an hour away) and I showered, got into bed and slept the rest of the afternoon away. My 4 day tour ended up being only 1.5 days.
Despite being around so many hundreds of other people, I found myself surprisingly lonely. I'm usually very outgoing and super talkative, but I don't do well trying to make friends with total strangers. Spending the day all by myself wasn't the most fun. I'm not one to spend a lot of time alone, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to try the solo thing. I'm not good at it. I crave human contact with people I love. I did make some "friends" while there, but it's not the same. I had lots of fun talking with the locals about their towns and meeting them. That was fun and very interesting.
Sooo... I guess if I tour again, it'll have to be with someone I know and can enjoy company with, and it'll be overnighters close to home. Long touring isn't for me, but at least I tried. I'll always have CGOAB to live out my touring adventures through other people.
Thanks for reading. :)
I added some pictures.
#1 Me and DH at the first water stop where he turned around to head home
#2 Freddy Frog (my touring buddy) on my bike at camp
#3 The storm as it was approaching on day 2 (see- the stop sign was trying to tell me something)
