HUMBOLDT — Sisters share a special bond, few more so than three in Humboldt. OKLAHOMA HAS had more than its share of bad weather this spring, but the first day was the only one that wasn’t sunny on the southern plains for the OKFreewheel, with daily temperatures teetering in the 90-degree range. TRIALS OF long distance riding left the threesome tired by quitting time in late afternoon. They started just after dawn each day to escape as much heat as possible and reached daily destinations by mid- to late afternoon. THE SISTERS haven’t put away their bikes.
When one joined tap dance lessons in Chanute, soon all three were click-clacking across the floor.
Then, Terry Broyles, the eldest at 64, took up distance bicycle riding.
In 2008, to celebrate her 60th birthday, she and Peggy Hillman, a Humboldt pastor, started a ride across Kansas, and made it about halfway before Hillman fell from her bike and broke an arm.
Ever the adventurer, Broyles two years ago did a 450-mile bike ride across Oklahoma, the OKFreewheel that starts on the south edge of the state and goes to Joplin, Mo.
A year ago Becky Stanley, 54, caught the bug, and the two of them peddled across Oklahoma.
Debby Daniels, 62, more a horsewoman than bicyclist, decided she didn’t want to be left out.
This year all three congregated in southern Oklahoma, made a 40-mile preride to the Texas-Oklahoma state line, and then on June 9 rode 68 miles — the first leg of the 450-mile ride — from Idabel to Antlers.
“Why not?” Broyles answered the question of why three women, one (Broyles) recently retired and the other two working — Stanley with Southeast Kansas Mental Health and Daniels for Community National Bank in Chanute — stepped so far out of what most would consider their comfort zone.
Broyles was the first with a serious attachment to two wheels and a triangular seat. Stanley joined her for jaunts in and near Humboldt. Daniels started riding last fall.
“We talked her into it,” said Broyles of Daniels. “We told her how much fun it would be for all three of us to ride together.”
Broyles is most serious of the trio, by virtue or retirement opening time for more riding.
“I ride all year, unless it’s raining,” even in the winter when a day has milder temperatures, she said. “In 2012 I rode about 2,500 miles,” and may do more this year with the new Southwind Rail-Trail opening another vista for her daily exercise regimen.
Preparing for the Oklahoma ride, Broyles rode about 200 miles a week, including 50 a day three days a week to prepare for the daily grind.
“I’m not retired and can’t ride that much,” Stanley mused, but did try to get on the road each evening and weekends in the run-up to the event. Daniels also rode when she could, getting in prep rides around her bank job and horse riding.
In all honesty, Daniels said, “I did it because of them. It was fun and a good experience and good sister time.”
“When we started out, the sky was gray and we ended up riding for an hour in rain,” said Broyles. “We had planned to stop along the ride and attend some little country church, but decided against that after the rain. We were all gritty and wet.”
The three mostly rode in tandem along the course that usually was over secondary highways, an effort to avoid heavy traffic. Even so, they often met heavy trucks and sometimes had little shoulder to shift to. Main highways were better in that respect, with more off-lane riding space, but with much more traffic.
They were together all but one leg.
Stanley, with a giggle, said she couldn’t resist the Honobia Hill Challenge, which took her 10 miles farther than her sisters — 73 total — on the second day.
“It was called a hill,” she explained. “It was a mountain! It kept going up, up, up. I didn’t like the up — it was hard — and it was too fast coming down.
“I don’t know how fast I was going coming down, I was afraid to look at my speedometer,” she said. “I rode the brakes so much a tire heated up and blew out.”
About 600 riders were registered for the event, including an 86-year-old fellow in his 19th Oklahoma ride. He was an inspiration, Broyles said.
“Sometimes you’d feel like giving up or slowing down, and then here he’d come and go by you,” she said of the octogenarian.
When they pulled into each town, a tent, comfortable chair and bottle of water was awaiting.
“We arranged for a tent service,” Broyles said, “which gave us the rest of the day to ourselves,” not having to scramble for arrange a place to sleep each night.
Most of the riders stayed in one area overnight, with a shower truck — a semi-trailer with stalls for men and women — hooked to a fire hydrant for water.
In some towns civic groups provided meals, morning and evening, as local fundraisers. The sisters took advantage, but also skipped off to local restaurants on occasion.
Will they do the Oklahoma challenger again?
Broyles having done three and Stanley two, allowed that was a likelihood.
“Are you ready to go again,” Daniels was asked.
“I can’t answer that yet,” she replied.
This week Broyles took a jaunt on Southwind, and raved about how nice a ride it was on the recently completed path that connects Humboldt and Iola atop the old Santa Fe Railroad right of way.
In July they plan to make a four-day ride on northern Missouri’s Katy Trail.
“We’ll go two days out and two days back,” with nightly bed-and-breakfast accommodations, Broyles said.
That will be a piece of cake for bikers as veteran as the sisters.
Freewheeling sisterhood Humboldt sisters ride across Okla.
