Kansas Cyclist - Kansas Bicycle Guide and Reference

The Oklahoma FreeWheel is Oklahoma’s premier bicycle touring event. It starts June 8th at Marietta near the Texas border, and ends at Caldwell, Kansas on the 14th. This year will be the Oklahoma FreeWheel’s 30th anniversary.

Along the way the tour passes through numerous small towns, and with over 1000 cyclists, as well as hundreds of support people, the tour creates a major impact in the communities it passes through.

For most of the towns, FreeWheel is the biggest event they have each year, FreeWheel’s director, Ellen Proctor, said. “We have many towns that request us to come because we’re a huge economic boost to some of these little towns. We probably come in with about 1,200 to 1,300 people to their town, and eat and fuel vehicles. They’re going to spend money,” Proctor said.

“It’s a week with nature and good people; it’s the best way to see Oklahoma. This is how you can meet the wonderful people of Oklahoma. This is like the best-kept secret of 30 years you’ve never heard of — it’s a great family vacation, great entertainment, and that’s what we want it to be for everyone who takes part.”

Read more: Bicyclists bring a boost from Tulsa World.

David Lee Harrison of Enid, Oklahoma was killed after being struck from behind by a car.

Harrison, 46, was riding his Allez Elite Vittoria bicycle when he was hit by a 2008 Toyota Avalon driven by Duard Spleth, 84, of Waukomis. According to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol report, the cause of the accident was listed as “distraction inside vehicle”. Spleth said that he looked down to adjust the air conditioning controls on the steering wheel and hit Harrison’s bicycle from behind.

The accident is under investigation, according to the OHP, but charges have not yet been filed.

The collision occurred on Tuesday, April 29th, at at 5:40 p.m. and Harrison, who was wearing a helmet, was taken to St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center, and admitted in critical condition with head and trunk injuries. He died about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday morning.

Harrison worked as a physician’s assistant in the emergency department at Integris Bass Baptist Health Center under Dr. Michael Ogle, who said “He didn’t make a fuss out of caring for the patient. He worked 55 hours a week for me, he was a hard worker. It will take two people to fill that hole.” David leaves behind a wife and 2 boys.

Read more: Bicyclist is critical and Man killed in bicycle wreck remembered from The Enid News & Eagle, and Bicyclist Dies After Wreck from KSBI-TV in Oklahoma City.

Hal McKnight, chairman of the Oklahoma City Trails Advisory Committee, says that as more trails are built people are beginning to view them as more than just recreation. “With the warmer weather and high gas prices, we are seeing these trails used for people to get to and from work and running errands and shopping,” McKnight said.

Oklahoma City currently has more than 47 miles of bike and pedestrian trails, and the city’s Trails Master Plan, adopted in 1996, envisions 208 miles of trails, though the remaining mileage has not yet been funded.

Many of those unfunded trails would branch out from the current system through residential areas.

“The intent of the plan was also to get a network of trails that would be accessible within a couple of miles from most all developed urban neighborhoods,” Larry Ogle, assistant director of the city’s Parks Department, said. “Part of the intent of this is to not only have recreation. It does provide an alternate means of transportation.”

McKnight said he expects the pace of trails construction to pick up as more people begin to use them and see how convenient they could be with more trails through residential areas. “What we are already seeing is that the more trail expansion and improvements we have in this city, the more they are used,” McKnight said. “I think it’s catching on very quickly.”

Read more: More using city’s trail system as a way to get around town from NewsOK.com.

Oklahoma is a great mountain biking state, but few people realize it.

So says Christian Combs, president of the Oklahoma Earthbike Fellowship, an Oklahoma mountain biking and trail-building club dedicated to the enhancement of off-road cycling.

Many people perceive Oklahoma as a relatively flat state, but it has a diverse geography and plenty of rugged terrain, particularly in the southeast corner of the state. There is no shortage of places to ride in Oklahoma.

Combs was shocked when he moved from Seattle to Oklahoma and discovered the abundance of great trails for mountain biking.

“We don’t have the Alpine riding that people associate with mountain biking, but we have lots of valleys and rolling topography that make for some of the best mountain biking you will find. You can go an hour in any direction from Oklahoma City and find five or six quality trails,” Combs said.

Read more: State’s rolling terrain provides an abundance and variety of great trails and Oklahoma’s best mountain bike trails, from NewsOK.com.

Image courtesy of Oklahoma Earthbike Fellowship.

On his CycleDog blog, Ed Wagner writes about Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Tulsa Townies bike-sharing program, and the lack of credit Tulsa has received for the initiative.

Bike-sharing programs were apparently one of the hot topics at the recent National Bike Summit, with both Portland and Washington, DC close to launching new bicycle-sharing programs. Some reports even indicated that the two cities were fighting to be the first such program in the US.

Meanwhile, the Tulsa Townies program, which allows the public to “check out” a bike from four self-service kiosks along the Tulsa trail system, was launched in 2007, and plans to expand its services this year.

Regarding the program being largely overlooked by national bicycling groups and media, Ed says that “Yes, it bothers me greatly. We have a good system here. It works. And since Tulsa isn’t known as a trendy cycling town, that popular bike share program is relegated to obscurity.”

In addition to the self-service-style bike sharing programs such as Tulsa Townies, there are also “bike library” programs, which allow bicycles to be checked out from a central location, sometimes for longer periods. Programs of this type include the Fort Collins Bike Library in Colorado, the Iowa City Bike Library in Iowa, and the Healthy Pedals program in North Platte, Nebraska.