Sport-Touring.Net - The GOAT Ride

October 3, 2020, I did the group ride of the GOAT. The Green Country Oklahoma Adventure Tour. It’s a 483 mile, two-day tour of backroads and dirt roads around northeastern Oklahoma, with an overnight stop on the Illinois River near Tahlequah, Oklahoma. A couple short sections cross over into Arkansas and Missouri. I had ridden nearly all of it in day rides but never the complete route at once. I’ve ridden with the route planner (Daniel) several times and I had suggested a couple roads I was familiar with that I figured most people didn’t know existed. Those were eventually included. Being old, fat, and tired, I knew that I probably couldn’t do it all so I agreed to do day one, which I knew to be the better half - then if I felt up to it, I would ride a portion of the second day. I dropped my truck and trailer off at the campground on Friday and had Lisa drop me and the bike off at the start on Saturday morning.

We met at 7:00 a.m. in Langley, Oklahoma. About forty riders showed up.

I’m the one in red.

This is Bob. He lost his right arm in a farming accident when he was a kid. He uses a Mert Lawwill prosthetic to ride. It was inspiring. We rode together quite a bit and I had to work to keep up with him. Just amazing.

We left Langley as a group. It was suggested that since it would be a dusty ride, we divide up into groups of three or four. I rode with two of my riding buddies, Steve and Chris. This is Chris. He goes all out on riding gear.

We immediately encountered the low water crossing under the Pensacola dam- the longest multiple arch dam in the world.

A couple guys actually dropped their bikes on the descent to the crossing but everyone made it through the water okay.

Again, I’m the one in red.

Bob made it too.

A couple miles later, we came to a power line maintenance road. It had a short, gravel downhill with about a thirty foot elevation drop. This confirmed that many in the group were inexperienced riders. We were completely backed up with guys afraid to ride down or guys locking up their brakes and sliding down out of control. Many just bypassed it altogether. I saw an opening and took it with no problems. In doing so, I lost Steve and Chris.

I rode by myself for several miles until we came to another powerline maintenance road. This one was uphill. I could see several bikes struggling and considered bypassing it but when it cleared up, I went ahead. It was easy. At the top, I caught up to Chris. I told him about an off-route trail through the upcoming wildlife management area and he said he wanted to ride it. He rode ahead with two others and as we passed the wildlife area, I pulled off. I waited, and waited. Not a single bike came by. After about ten-fifteen minutes, I gave up and rode alone. I kicked it up to a very fast pace that bordered on dangerous a couple times when I hit some rain ruts. I managed to somehow save it and carried on. After about twenty-five miles, I caught up to a couple other guys. I hooked in with them for the last few miles before the first gas stop. At the gas stop, I was surprised that no one was there. Me and the two guys gassed up and talked for a minute. We went inside the store and I asked the lady if a bunch of bikes had stopped as we were on a group ride. She said, “Nope, you’re the first.”
We each got a snack and hung out while some of the others finally started showing up, Chris among them. He said they had taken a wrong turn and went out of the way. I asked if he had seen Steve and he said no. It turned out Steve had only ridden a portion, then went home.

A chicken at the gas stop. After all, this is Oklahoma.

I told Chris and the other two guys about an old school that I knew of, hidden in the middle of the woods but only about a quarter mile off the route. They wanted to see it. We rode the trail down to it, stopped and took pictures.

On the way out, the other two guys and I made it back to the road but Chris never showed. We waited a few minutes before one said he would go look for him. They both came riding out later but Chris had to stop, remove his boot, and check his ankle. He had ridden off a wash out and crashed. It looked pretty bad and was already swelling. I gave him my two Ibuprofen that I had in my tailbag and he insisted on finishing the ride.

We let one of the others lead from here since he had the route programmed into his GPS. I rode in the third position. We came around a gravel downhill sweeper that led to a concrete low water crossing. The guy in front of me slid slideways and as soon as he reached the concrete, he low sided at about 30mph. I had to run off into the ditch to avoid him but I stayed upright. He was physically okay but a little shaken up. The bike only received scratches. We slowed the pace down a bit after that. We made a quick stop at this old country store. It was the setting for the general store in the movie “Where the Red Fern Grows.”

By the time we made it to the lunch stop, it was already about 2:30 and we weren’t even at the halfway point yet. The other two wanted to eat lunch. Chris wanted to ride on because Daniel’s wife was making Indian tacos at the campground and he didn’t want to miss it. We left them there. We caught up with a few more guys at the next gas stop, including Daniel, the ride leader, and rode with them.

The next challenging section was Old Stagecoach Road. It’s a rough, rocky, narrow, three mile, uphill ride through the woods. We caught up to a guy in a side x side who was scoping out a hunting spot. We talked with him for a while and waited for some of the other guys who had dropped behind. I decided to go on and left Daniel and Chris to wait for the others. I knew this was a fun section as I had ridden it a few times before and I wanted to do it at a spirited pace. As I finished the section, there were a few riders waiting there already. We all waited until Daniel and Chris showed up. They said the others had taken the alternate route. About eight of us rode together from there. It was really dusty so I worked my way up to the second position behind Daniel to get out of most of it. Soon, the sun went down. Daniel continued at a very fast pace and I stayed with him. The others weren’t comfortable with that pace in the dark and dropped way back. I think I was used to it from all the night motocross racing I did. The tracks around here always had poor lighting. We made it back to camp about 8:00 p.m., 265 miles for the day. Daniel said, “I wondered who that was behind me.” I think he was surprised that the old man still had it in him. The Indian tacos were really good. Chris showed up about thirty minutes later and said he lost all confidence when the sun went down. The two guys who stopped for lunch, didn’t make it back until about 10:00.

The next morning, I felt pretty good and said I would ride with them up to Flint Creek, then head back to my truck. I hung out at the camp and took a few pics while some of the other guys went to breakfast.

Sunrise on the Illinois River.

It turned out that this guy was from my home town but was about ten years younger than me so I didn’t know him. He asked my name and who my family was. I told him my dad was Dr. Bissell. He said his dad was Dr. Martin. I remembered his dad and I knew where they lived. He said he has the property now. Small world.

There were only eight of us riding out in the morning. Chris was in too much pain and bailed. To start, I rode in the back. I stopped at a spot I like on the river to take some pics while the others continued on.

I lost their dust trail, made a wrong turn, and went about six miles out of the way. I came to a paved road that I knew connected back to the route. I did about five miles of this road at 70+ mph trying to catch them. I finally did when they stopped for a photo op. From there, it was really dusty so I worked back up to the front with Daniel. When we got to Flint Creek, I pulled over and told everyone that was where I was turning off. Bob stopped and asked, “What was your name?” I replied with, “Jay.” He asked, “Bissell?” I said yeah. He said, “Keep in touch. I want to ride with you.” Weird how so many know me now from my riding pictures. Another rider who wasn’t familiar with the area followed me back to camp as he was heading out early too. I ended up with 65 more miles this day. It turned out that only four riders finished the entire route. And it was after dark that day too.

I don’t often do group rides but this one turned out to be really fun. We’ll do it again next spring.

Topic: The GOAT Ride (Read 10024 times)