Oklahoma Director of State Parks and Recreation, John Russmeyer (far left) and Oklahoma IMBA Rep Charles Duke (second from right) pause for a picture with Nicki and Joey (center).
IMBA State Rep Charles Duke and other OEF founding fathers survey the fruits of their labors.
NuDraper trailhead in Oklahoma City. OEF has partnered with Oklahoma City to create over 12 miles of fun single track and a new 100,000-dollar parking lot and trailhead facility.
20 members of Oklahoma Earthbike Fellowship after an assessment ride of their fantastic trails at Roman Nose State Park.
Roman Nose State Park. Photo by Marcel Slootheer.

Oklahoma Is More Than OK

We returned to Oklahoma City for another visit with the Oklahoma Earthbike Fellowship. OEF is in its tenth year as a mountain bike club. Working with the local land management agencies, OEF has played a major role in the design, construction and creation of killer trails in six parks open to mountain biking near the city. OEF continues to maintain these great riding spots.

OEF invited us back for a look at their parks and to hear our suggestions on how to make them even better. 20 members participated in a slide show and discussion on spectacular trail systems we have seen around the world. Later that weekend we assessed trails at Bluff Creek, NuDraper and Roman Nose State Park.

On our last day in town we met with Oklahoma Director of State Parks and Recreation, John Russmeyer. John manages over 50 state parks and is excited to see the sport of mountain biking enhance the trails in his parks. John gave us an opportunity to meet with supervisors and personnel from 35 Oklahoma State Parks. We presented a slideshow on mountain bicycling success stories and how to design exciting shared use trails. Afterwards we went for a hike at Lake Thunderbird where we pointed out and talked about various trail features.

As always, it was a blast working with OEF members and we made many new friends in OK State Parks. Oklahoma has some of the most diverse ecosystems in the nation and many of these parks have world class trail potential. We hope to return next year to work with State Park officials and to ride more great Oklahoma singletrack.

Joey Klein and Nicki Williams, TCC2

See more pictures of the TCC visit on OEF's website.