Tulsa Pt. 1
Tulsa, Oklahoma was a bit of a mystery to us as we first arrived. We knew that there were three nights of great racing ahead at Tulsa Tough that we were excited to see—including the infamous Cry Baby Hill—but we figured it would be best to ease into the weekend first. Meeting up with some of our local teams for a ride got things started in excellent fashion. After a café gathering and breakfast tacos the group of riders was properly fueled to roll out. We began by heading north through sleepy Friday morning neighborhoods to the edge of the city. Riders jostled each other for position at the head of the group for a bit of camera attention. Soon those neighborhoods blended into various highway stretches and concrete interims before hitting green fields against sloping hillsides. A heaviness to the morning air. Sky turning to a deep gray perimeter. Summer storms were predicted for the weekend, but thankfully they skirted the area in the morning. Most riders were preparing for the Friday evening race and the last bit of a grind up the final hill may not have been what they had planned, but the the distant cityscape on the horizon of hill country couldn’t have been better before a full weekend of racing.
Up Next: Tulsa Pt. 2: Tough