Free Wheel '79 Looks Different From
the Sag Wagon

June 14, 1979

By D. BRITTON GILDERSLEEVE
Of the World Staff

OKMULGEE - They don't call them sag wagons for nothing.

A boy and his dog (Don't mention that, it's against the rules. We only let him bring her because he's trained, you see. She rides in his basket...)

An 11-year-old boy rode 22 miles and asked his mother with a blistered grin, "How many miles today, mom?"

A girl with delusions of Wonder Woman, who insisted on pedaling hell-bent for leather with a bum knee ("But I want to be able to do it, Mom.")

And a traveling Brannon family.

Dewayne Brannon, 37, of Broken Arrow, brought a less-than-enthusiastic wife, a madcap son and a 9-year-old daughter on his week of vacation.

"Next week is my week," said wife Linda. "I'm one of those who likes a bathroom, a refrigerator... this is my first time camping out."

For someone who began the trip with reservations, Linda has become one of the better known figures on the arduous trek.

Sag Linda, they call her on the CB - an affectionate label for the quiet-spoken, tiny woman who drives an RV sag wagon - rescuing son Daland, who only began distance riding this spring, stopping frequently to ask lagging riders if they need a cool drink, a short of support, maybe just a short break.

Daland, who early in the day's ride from Seminole to Okmulgee broke a spoke, was sagging badly by 11; even his tousled hair wilted.

Still, not bad for an 11-year-old, especially compared with some of the more experienced riders. Like Dewayne, who had his fifth flat of the trip about five miles outside of Seminole.

The sag drivers are often walking wounded themselves.

Bob Childress, driving Mattioni's Misfits (a van lent by Tulsa Truck Rental named after Rick Mattioni, president of the Tulsa Wheelmen), pulled ligaments ("or something") in his knee Tuesday, and was drafted by.... someone?... Wednesday.

Childress and his son, Jean-Paul, began their bike pilgrimage in Dennison, Texas, with the rest of the bike brigade. Childress has been riding about a year.

But most of the riders questioned had little or no preparation for the long haul.

Tracy and Ken Kristopherson, 17, both of Tulsa, only decided to go Saturday.

The twins are swimmers. They credit their staying powers to that.

Libby Leiz, 20, also of Tulsa, had trained "diligently" for Free wheel '79, and complained good-naturedly, "I had a hard time keeping up with them."

A few of the sag drivers, Mrs. Rick (Jay) Mattioni, for example, are bikers themselves.

Bill Glass, 26, of Tulsa, drove up to the window of Mrs. Mattioni's luxurious Cadillac and asked if she wanted to ride while he drove sag.

Mrs. Mattioni, who had ridden her 10-speed Tuesday, explained that the window on her car wouldn't roll up and she didn't really wanted to leave it unattended. So she nursed it into Okmulgee, along with an itinerant reporter and an impatient daughter.

Zeta, 14, was resting a knee bent out of shape by 56 miles of pell-mell riding. She didn't seem to understand that protesting tissues may occasionally need a vacation.

Actually, none of the bikers seemed to realize that Free Wheel was not billed as a race. Some made the 63.7-mile trip Wednesday in slightly more than three hours. a determined Ken Groves, 23, of Dallas tooled into Okmulgee State Park by noon.

Even the laggards were in by 3 p.m. with few if any riders left on the road at 7.

It is for riders like these that the sag drivers, Linda, Bob, Dean Hewitt, Bob Haring, Hans Christensen, and Jay Mattioni are useful.

The Brannons' daughter Dalana, 9, was one of the younger bikers on tour and was picked up early in the day by an "unofficial" sag driver, the bicycle repairman.

Dalana's traveling companion, Catherine Holland, had bent a rim on her diminutive 10-speeed. Jim Frederick of Fays' Bicycle shop in Tulsa soon had the bike in working order, but the two girls, accompanied by Elizabeth Henderson, 8, and her brother Andy, 10, both of Tulsa had by that time decided that the back of a pickup was preferable to the battle in the Oklahoma sun.

By the way, it is possible that the hills on those last, breathless three-and -a-half miles into the park were landscaped by sadists?

the young Hercules who make it to the park in five hours including a two-hour layover, was heard to exclaim, "I can't believe I really rode those hills!"

The food, provided by McDonald's went much too quickly, But from what the bikers all said, it always does.

Riders who stuffed steak and shrimp and salad and bread and ice cream in their mouths in Okmulgee were see stuffing hamburgers and fried pies and milkshakes into the selfsame mouths only three hours later.

Don't go on a bike tour to lose weight. In fact, you need no better reason then the green Oklahoma countryside, the feel of wind as you "draft" behind a truck, and the camaraderie shared by people who face hardships enthusiastically.

Even a tagalong reporter who never got nearer a bike than the sag wagon could feel that.

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