June 13, 1982

Here's to the unsung heroes of FreeWheel '82.

Throughout the week of the Tulsa World's fourth family bicycle ramble across Oklahoma, some appeared from nowhere:

Harold Lee, manager of the Grand Savings and Loan in Jay, was approached by a bicyclist who wanted to cash a check after offices had closed Wednesday night.

"I was astonished when he answered, 'Aren't you one of the bicyclist? I'll just lend you 4$0,' " said rider Norm Barrow. Stilwell Chamber of Commerce President Mark Hodson, devoted most of Friday arranging rides to Muskogee for drenched riders who didn't want to brave a hailstorm.

Some of the week's heroes had signed on for the adventure:

For no pay, medics Ron and Linda Van Voorhis, owners of Field Medical Services ambulance company, put in 16-hour days performing medical duties beyond the emergency care they had agreed to provide.

In a new ambulance packed with supplies donated by Hillcrest Medical Center, they patrolled the line of riders - which sometimes stretched for 50 miles - and treated everything from mosquito bites to sunburn to sore feet.

Some of the heroes just added refreshing touches after long, hot days:

Mrs. Linda Kelly, secretary of the Barnsdall Chamber of Commerce, after hearing some riders wishing they had somewhere to go to soak tired, aching muscles borrowed a church bus and began ferrying riders out to nearby Birch Lake.

Some of the heroes performed incredibly tedious, but vital tasks:

Jessie Fullingim, a state Department of Transportation traffic engineer, saw to it that the entire 500-mile route was marked clearly with painted red arrows. When sponsors ran out of the 1,500 maps given riders, the arrows were the only thing for some to follow along rural section roads and unfamiliar highways.

Fullingim's painted arrows saved the ride from chaos Thursday and Friday when crises brought about by violent weather kept workers too busy to mark the route with official green and red FreeWheel arrow stickers.

And there was Van Poplin, president of the Adair Chamber of Commerce, who when he heard that a half-dozen bicyclists' gear had been rifled for valuables during the night at an earlier host town, stayed all night at the Adair campgrounds with Mayer County sheriff's deputies.

Some heroes were there on salary, but put in long hours for which they knew they wouldn't be paid:

Joe Bryant, son of Porta-John Co. owner Bill Bryant, kept the ride's small village of portable toilets immaculate, despite the extra numbers of riders.

Dennis Shelton, driver of the MK&O "Super Sag Wagon" for the second year, stayed out on each day's route until the last wanderer finished. Then he volunteered to join the corps of volunteers who work during the year to put on the annual event.

Just who is responsible for FreeWheel?

Annually the lackadaisical bicycle wander is coordinated by and major funding is provided by the Tulsa World.

Co-Sponsors are the Tulsa Bicycle Club, the Tulsa Wheelmen and the Bartlesville Pedalers.

The clubs provide the expertise, volunteers and guidance to put on what is America's largest family oriented week of bicycling.

Major assistance is provided by:

• Facet Enterprises, a Tulsa-based corporation that provides the big semi-truck that carries riders' baggage.
• MK&O Bus lines, whose John Allen has for three years sent along the air-conditioned MK&O Super Sag, gathering the weary.
• Oklahoma Gov. George Nigh, providing Tulsa aid Paul Patton, who assists in a variety of ways.
• Dr. Tom Campbell, bicycling physician and co-ordinator of FreeWheel's medical services.
• Herald Givens, of Visual Impact Producers, Tulsa, who has produced the spectacular light and music shows on the rides. His firm, C.E.S. Two-Way Communications, also provides the radios used by ride officials.
• Charles V. Robertson of the Tulsa district of the Department of Transportation, who provides whatever men he can spare during the week to supplement the sag wagons.
• Gen. Robert Morgan of the Oklahoma National Guard, who provided FreeWheel with a large sag wagon and drivers.
• And, officials of the state Department of Safety who provided FreeWheel with Highway Patrol troopers throughout the week

There are the volunteers and officials of the chambers of commerce at Guthrie, Tonkawa, Barnsdall, Adair, Jan and Stilwell. There are the staffers at Tonkawa's Northern Oklahoma College and Muskogee's Bacone College. There are the sponsors of Broken Arrow's Summer Festival.

And there is a long list of volunteers who provide a variety of daily, mundane chores during the event.

They remain among the unsung heroes of FreeWheel '82.

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