Tulsa. It’s only 3 1/2 hours South of Topeka, but is very much different. It’s a very interesting place. I bet if you’ve never been there you have a preconceived idea what you think it’s like. I doubt you’re close. I think of red dirt and cowboys when I hear about Oklahoma. Nope. Tulsa is a city I’ve loved since the first time I raced there. Recently, they have been putting a ton of effort into the downtown. It seems it is continually under construction. The downtown is a collection of skyscrapers with pockets of old warehouse district type areas that house super cool shops and restaurants. It is really into cycling with lots of bike paths. It has a bridge that crosses the Arkansas river that is specially for bikes and pedestrians. Really nice.

Tulsa Tough is finally coming into it’s own. Now that it’s a NRC event, the field is matching the prize list. Most the PRO teams had representation there. But, not with 8 guys each, which made the racing better. I don’t want to go into the whole race story today. I was 11th the first day, 9th the 2nd and 18th the third. I finished 9th overall which was a nice check. Each race finished in a field sprint pretty much. Not one of the finishes went well for me. My biggest problem was breaking a spoke in my rear wheel Sunday on the last lap. I felt great and would have finished much, much better. It was a very hard course and very hot, so I was pretty happy to be having a pretty good day.

Driving down to Tulsa is directly South on Highway 75. It is a really nice road, through rural Southeastern Kansas. I had time coming home to enjoy the scenery some. I stopped and moved a turtle out of the road at dusk. I always stop on my bike, but sometimes in a car it is harder. I’m going to make it a personal mandatory action from now on.

Nature Valley starts a week from Wednesday. I’m thinking of getting a TT bike before then. It might be the only time trial I ride the rest of the year. $$$ per mile that is going to look pretty silly. Kansas State Road Race and Criterium Championships is this weekend. I’ll see how I feel by then. I’m going to ride to Kansas City a couple times this week. Tuesday for the training criterium. Maybe once more to go to the Apple Store to get my iPhone fixed. That will probably be enough miles to endure the one long road race at Nature Valley. Okay. That’s all for now. Ciao.