On my second run at it, I took a clockwise route. Starting from home, I rolled west on Reno to the entrance of Eagle Lake. Once on the actual bike trail it runs along the North Canadian upstream toward the Oklahoma River boating complex. The image on the left is the view looking south along that riverside trail where Interstate 40 crosses over. The riverbed is full of old pilings and such going back through at least four iterations of bridging at this site.
This being a Saturday and decently warm, I encountered dozens of other cyclists, plus joggers and walkers, once I got past the dirt road onto the Oklahoma River Trail. The rowing teams were out practicing and several coaches were giving instructions over bullhorns at several locations. While I didn’t pass too many cyclists going the same direction, I was overtaken quite regularly. My bike is a touring machine, not a racer, and I’m just about average in my normal speed. Having taken so many pictures along this route, I didn’t see anything new until I got close to the north end of Lake Overholser. This was the first time the weather and visual conditions inspired a couple of shots of the old Highway 66 bridge that crosses the upper North Canadian River.
The bike trail crosses over the old highway, but then drops down under the newer concrete bridge (on the right side of the image).
From there it runs across a dam and today the water was flowing into the canal up toward Lake Hefner. The bike trail essentially follows that canal. There were far fewer riders on this section between the two lakes. I was quite alone for the two miles running past Wiley Post airfield. As I drew near Lake Hefner I began seeing more cyclists and joggers. On the Lake Hefner Trail itself I was entering the trophy wives territory. This is a social phenomenon common in expensive parts of OKC. Even if you don’t see the housing at all, the real estate price can be estimated by the ratio of ladies who look like models in their expensive and stylish athletic attire. At the same time, the ratio of those likely to respond to a greeting decreases. Them is some high-maintenance gals. So as you might expect, Nichols Hills was loaded with such sights.
Speaking of high maintenance, this is a private corporate gymnasium owned by American Energy Partners (image to the right). The facility is ringed with a nice blue jogging track, too. If you click the link to the corporate website, you’ll be greeted by an image of the recently expired Aubrey McClendon, the man whose death saw the growth of an extravagant monument at the site of the crash. The website tells you he was the company founder.
Here’s the picture I took of the memorial on a previous ride in the North Hills.
