At MidSouth we were starkly reminded that there’s so much more to life than nutrition and choosing the best tire…
It was late afternoon the day before the big race.
Everyone had their game faces on and we were ready to go.
The entire course had been pre-ridden.
Dinner had been consumed.
Race day nutrition had been discussed and dissected repeatedly, and was now laid out on the kitchen counter.
Race day kit was dialed.
We were happy because the rain had stayed away and the course was running fast and dry.
Really, all that was left to do was to give the bikes one final wash and to get a good night's sleep.
That’s when the Stillwater, Oklahoma police pulled up at the end of the driveway of our VRBO with their lights flashing and their sirens blaring. “You have to leave,” said the officer over the loudspeaker. “Now.”
We weren’t so much surprised by this announcement, as disappointed. There was, and had been, a massive plume of smoke hanging over our house for hours. Stillwater was on fire. And specifically our part of Stillwater. We had been mildly optimistic that the fire was going keep moving away from us and/or the Stillwater firefighters would be able to get it under control.
But the 50-plus mile per hour gust of wind just made fire containment nearly impossible. And wasn’t just our neighborhood, there we multiple fires raging in Stillwater, across Oklahoma and across the West.
“I’m glad we saw that police car,” Bradyn Lange said as we rapidly packed. “It may have saved all of our lives.” So it was with heavy hearts and watery eyes, mostly from the smoke and ash blowing in our face, that we rolled out of town. We spent the next couple of hours scrolling our phones for information on the fire, information on whether Bobby would cancel MidSouth and trying to find early flights home from Dallas.
We bounced between hoping beyond hope the race would go on and realizing people were losing their homes and all of their worldly possessions. Talk about more important things than a bike race.
“I can’t imagine they are going to be able to run the race,” said Brennan Wertz. There was a brief period of time when MidSouth indicated the show would go on, but we had already made the group decision to pull the plug. We pulled into Guthrie, Oklahoma, reorganized our cargo, bid farewell to Salifu, who was driving home, and rolled towards Dallas.
The phones kept buzzing as we were getting updates from the other racers. Some were making alternate ride plans, some were re-booking plane tickets, but everyone was still in shock at the situation.
At around midnight Bobby Wintle, the mastermind behind MidSouth, came on Instagram and announced it was with a heavy heart he was cancelling the race.
“He did the right thing,” said Wertz. “He did the right thing.”
The car ride was long and the crew was spent, both emotionally and physically. We smelled like a pack of Camel cigarettes and the mood was not great. But like all good professionals the topic finally turned to what race everyone was going to do to fill the void left behind by our beloved MidSouth. And then our thoughts turned to those who lost today.
Note to selves to always keep the bigger picture in view.
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