Henryetta, OK (106)

Our hosts at Henryetta Baptist are The Business. They’ve been hosting SC2SC through Henryetta since the trip began in 2006 and it definitely shows. We arrived to a giant “Welcome Bike & Build!” sign and a long table lined with nutritional food (even the coveted vegetable!) to tide us over until supper at 6:30. The potluck dinner drew in tons of congregation from the tiny town and I ate with Rebecca, Ryan and their little girl, Tinsley. Tins and I really hit it off and had a ton of fun playing (besides getting scolded during the presentation…).

This overwhelming display of hospitality was perfectly timed – today was also our first official century, clocking in at 106.4 miles. I stuck with Cindy the entire ride, a Chapel Hill native as well as a fellow UNC grad! It was a beautiful ride and we ran into the  nicest folks along the way. Cruising through Gore, OK, for example, we noticed a sign attached to a bike rim that said, “GO BIKE & BUILD! PEDAL PEDAL PEDAL!” and later passed by a couple of young guys who recognized our Bike & Build jerseys and shouted encouragement from their cars. We were even given an armadillo “tiny sip cup” (also known as a “shot glass”) by a lady at a gas station who heard about all the disgusting armadillo road kill we had ridden by that morning (Armadillo, you should know, is easily the worst –smelly dead animal out there).

The only real bump in our ride came when Cindy got a flat tire. She was struggling to inflate her tire when I offered her a hand. Little did we know, the psi gauge on the pump wasn’t working and I blew the tire up in my face. It was pretty hilarious, minus the fact we had to change the tube once again. Some locals stopped and offered us a hand, which we declined but consented to a very awkward photo opp. Such nice folks, these Oklahomies!

This is definitely our hardest section so far – our century today was fraught with hills and wind and tomorrow we’ll top things off with a 92 miler into OKC. Still, it was incredible to witness the look on several of the riders’ faces when they rolled into Henryetta and realized what they had accomplished. A beautiful thing, indeed.  Can’t wait to do it again tomorrow!

Tally Ho,

Lacy

A quiet morning.

 Sassy ladies pic.

 Simple beauty.

 Rejoice!

 Burnt.