2007 Corinth Cycling Club Mt. Scott Weekend Camp
Of Prairie Dogs and Men
The first ever Corinth Cycling Club Weekend Camp turned out to
be quite the event. The weekend of cycling, laughing, and relaxing
took place at the Wichita Mountain Lodge,
located in Medicine Park, Oklahoma.
Medicine Park is a small town of 400 that lies in the shadow of the
Wichita Mountains and is nestled along the 60,000 acre Wichita
Mountain Wildlife Refuge. We departed Corinth on Friday night and
made a stop in Wichita Falls for some great Italian food. For those
of you that are taking part in the Hotter ’n Hell this year, you should
definitely plan on eating at Toscani's.
After our dinner, we continued up to Medicine Park and arrived early
in the evening. Well, those of us who were not relying on Jacque's GPS
arrived early in the evening. Somehow Jacque's GPS led him on a wild
goose chase on the most remote dirt roads that Commanche County
Oklahoma has to offer.
Roland and Rick had to delay their Corinth departure until Friday
night and the Midnight Cowboys didn't arrive at base camp until 2:00am.
Saturday morning came and the group was up at 7:00am sharp,
feasting on a breakfast lovingly prepared by Deb. The lodge buzzed
with activity as riders and part-time chemists mixed one concoction
and recipe after another in hopes of keeping their fluid and energy
levels high for the anticipated ride. The sounds of tires being inflated
and mounted also added to the buildup.
And then it happened. Ten minutes before wheels down Alex announces
"I forgot my cycling shoes". The words hung in the air like the fog in downtown
London, like the stench of a provoked skunk, like the smell of rain on a late Summer day.
Panic ensues.
Shoeless
Professor heartbroken
A local bike shop is 30 minutes away in Lawton but a quick phone call only
confirms they have not yet opened.
Options?
One option is to drive to the bike shop and either buy shoes and cleats or
platform pedals and then try and meet up with the group later. A second
option is to try and find tennis shoes that might work with Look pedals.
There is no option to not ride. You don't drive 2 1/2 hours and spend the night
at the foot of Mt. Scott and not ride because you don't have cycling shoes.
But not only does Alex not have his cycling shoes, he doesn't have
any tennis shoes.
The horror.
And then, like an angel beckoning from heaven, Ro says "Alex, I have some tennis
shoes that you can use".A sliver of hope radiates through the Lodge.
The professor proceeds to put on the Nike cross trainers as
silence embodies the room. The shoes fit, a good start but will they work
with Look bicycle pedals?
The drama moves outside.
The Professor mounts his extremely expensive bicycle and proceeds to pedal back
and forth in front of the cabin. "This might work" he says. "I am going to
give it a try and see how it goes". There have been many big moments
in the sporting world, Joe DiMaggio's 61-game hitting streak,
the 1980 Miracle on Ice, Jack Nicklaus winning the 1986 Masters at the age of 46,
but this had the potential of topping them all.
Could an over-aged professor from upstate New York, with barely a
lick of athletic ability and who's only talent appears to be using the word "Whence" in a sentence,
keep up with a strong group of riders over hilly terrain for several hours
with a huge climb at the end?
Since no one in our group had ever ridden in the area before, we were not
exactly sure how long we would be out. Scottie had laughingly suggested
it might be anywhere between 65 - 90 miles. After a group photo, we departed
from the lodge shortly after 8:00am under clear blue skies, light easterly winds,
and the temperature hovering around 70 degrees. Juan Ulrich attacked 1/4 of a mile
into the ride which got things off to a flying start and seemed to relax everyone
as his attacks normally do.
The group turned right onto Hwy 49 which runs directly into and through
the Wildlife Refuge. We pedaled easily down the smooth asphalt,
soaking in the beautiful scenery that encircled us.
And then it appeared. Its sudden appearance is best described using a military
term last used during the 2003 buildup to the Iraq war: Shock and Awe.
It was Mt. Scott and it looked beastly. As we rode by at its base, you
almost had to look straight up to the see the top. The first thought that raced through
my mind was, "How did they build a road up that thing"?
It was a beautiful mountain that had boulders as big as houses
tossed like toys all around its side.
The Beast would have to wait though, as we had other business to
attend to--and business was good as we began to settle into a nice rhythm.
The road ascended as the Yellow Train moved away from Mt. Scott and took
us up onto a nice plateau that offered views that quite simply were stunning.
Mountains surrounded us and miles of open prairie filled in the gaps.
After a few minutes, the road began to fall and we descended for several minutes.
We turned due South onto 115 and stayed on 115 until reaching Hwy 62, which
we took west. The pace was high on 62 and we rode at 21 - 23 mph for 12 miles.
Hwy 62 took us to 54 which we took north. The surface of the road
was splendid and we happily spun along as the miles
ticked by with the professor in tow. The only flat of the day occurred
on 54 when Matt suffered a blown tube. He didn't seem to mind, though,
as this was his first ride on his new Specialized Roubaix bike. The flat
was quickly repaired and we were again back on our way.
Our sag wagon appeared a few miles later and we happily restocked our fluid levels
We continued north into Cooperton where a big sign announced there would be
a "Dance Tonight". Since there appeared to be only one house in the town of
Cooperton one wonders who might have shown up that evening.
After a U-turn in Cooperton, Matt and Russell got the group organized
and we began riding in a rotating echelon formation. At first, the echelon
looked more like fleeing chickens than an organized unit, but the group
came together quickly and easily pedaled at 20mph for several kilometers.
We turned back east onto 49 as we started towards home and our date
with destiny. However, between Mt. Scott and that date with destiny was
a lot of climbing and a headwind. The climbs, although not terribly difficult,
did start to bite as we were now over 60 miles into the ride. We were
riding along in a valley during some of this time and with temps now in the
80's it was beginning to get warm.
It was about this time that Dice brilliantly suggested that we rendezvous
once more with the sag wagon before the ascent. We eagerly took his advice
and stopped to phone in our sag request at the local Prairie Dog hangout.
As the call for refreshments was placed, we all stopped and watched
hundreds of prairie dogs run and play and make all kinds of noise. It was
quite the sight....at least for most of us.
After phone connection was made with the sag wagon, we continued our trek
east towards the Beast meeting up with Deb about 3 miles before the base.
We swarmed the sag wagon like tourists hitting a free buffet in a Vegas casino.
Cookies were devoured, any and all liquids were consumed and energy bars
disappeared. After we were done, the back of the sag wagon looked like it
had been ransacked by people with water and cookie addictions.
The plan to start the climb together quickly fell apart after the sag stop. A few guys
left early and then a few more and finally Jack and Scottie were away.
Since Scottie had bonked five miles prior, bets were already being taken
to determine if he would survive to the top.
The Mt. Scott climb is about 2 1/2 miles long and over 1,000 feet. Many climbs
have certain areas, that, although brief, provide a quick respite from the grade and
allow one to somewhat recover. Mt. Scott does not fall into that category.
The Beast grabs you at the very bottom and squeezes you until the top.
Grades of 12 and 13 percent occur multiple times along the road that snakes
around the col. You either pedal to the top or fall over.
The views as you climb are spectacular. The mountain overlooks a beautiful
lake and it is easy to see over the side as elevation increases. The King
of the Mountain this day was Russell as he was first to the top with Matt in
second and a hard-charging Big Rick in 3rd.
Scottie was able to survive the climb but looked like death warmed over at the top,
and he decided to sag back to the cabin.
The rest of the group flew down the mountain and headed back. On the way home
the Professor and Dice decided they
wanted to do a century and took a sharp
left looking for more miles. After the
main group had arrived
back at the lodge, the shoeless horseman came flying by announcing they had
ridden 91.5 miles and just needed eight more.
After the 100 miles were accomplished, (it's the shoes) we proceeded to clean up
and hit the showers. The three cokes Scottie downed
in the span of 10 minutes also had him on the road to recovery.
Since everyone was starving, we went to dinner at 4:15pm and had a very nice meal
at the Fisherman's Cove. A toast was made to honor the great ride and for a
splendid day. After dinner, the group made it's way to downtown
Medicine Park to check out some of the sights and sounds that Mike and
Alex had discovered on their 100 mile quest.
The town was founded in 1908 and is located on the Medicine Park river with
a swimming hole called Bath Lake. It was here, as we strolled along the river,
that we noticed a girl struggling in the rapids below a spillway to keep her head
above water. She was drowning. Before we could get into a position to help her,
a young man jumped in and pulled her to the safety of a rock out of
the rapids. He saved her live. Mike and David helped to pull
the frightened young woman out of the river. It was an un-nerving ending to an
otherwise relaxing evening
.
Upon returning to camp headquarters, the group sat down and enjoyed the 2006
Corinth Cycling Club highlight DVD. Make sure you attend the upcoming
BBQ and picnic on June 23rd where it will be shown again.
How many cyclists does it take to start a fire? The answer is several. After seven
inches of rain just two days earlier, everything that might burn was soaked.
Never fear, the professor offered up some of his students’ literature papers for fuel.
The paper proved to be the perfect kindling as the campfire was soon burning. We spent
a few hours under the stars laughing, relaxing, playing with the dogs, and sipping
a few cervezas. Perhaps a few too many cervezas as Alex revealed
that he had absolutely no recollection of the two-hundred or so prairie dogs we
had seen earlier in the day. Not only had we seen them, we had stopped our bicycles
right next to them and stood standing and watching for 10 minutes.
After breakfast the next morning, we took a 30 mile recovery ride through the
Wichita Wildlife Refuge one more time. We rode past several buffalo, two
of which actually waited on us to pass before crossing the road and another
who challenged us to a sprint. We also saw a fox, several white-tail dear, more
groundhogs and some longhorns.
A tad different than our normal weekend riding.
Once we returned to the cabin, Deb proceeded to ask us "Are ya'll recovered now?"
After such a fun weekend, the answer must unequivocally be YES and in more ways than one.
2007 Mt. Scott Cycling Camp Photo Album
The 2007 Corinth Cycling Mt. Scott Camp Team
L - R
Russ, David, Rick, Scottie, Scott, Roland, Mike, Alex, Jack, Matt
Lake Lawtonka view from Mt. Scott
Recovery Ride in Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge
I've got my eye on you.
It looks like they want to cross the road
And thank gosh they were nice enough to wait on us.
This paceline looks a little slower.
Alex, can you find the prairie dog in this photo?
View from top of Mt. Scott
The road back to Mt. Scott
Jailed on a charge of just being "too damned fast"
If you guessed uphill, you win a prize.
A bicycle with a view.
What is that in the distance?
Your worst nightmare.
Nice legs!
'V' for victory.