NORMAN – Sept. 4, 2019 – Scores of bike riders will converge at Norman’s Reaves Park on Sept. 21 for the third-annual Rotary Road Rally & Flat Armadillo Festival, an event created to benefit Norman Public Schools.

The tour features 34- and 54-mile rides, with the longest going to Flat Armadillo Road near Lexington. Routes will follow some of the best cycling roads in Central Oklahoma, and rest stops will be hosted by Norman icons, Midway Deli and O’Connell’s Irish Pub and Grill.

For families and casual bike riders, there will be a 5-mile campus district tour of historic sites around the University of Oklahoma, including Campus Corner and Heisman Park.

The long rides begin from the south parking lot of Reaves Park, 2501 Jenkins Ave., at 8 a.m. and the campus district tour starts from the park at 10 a.m. A Norman bicycle patrol officer will lead the campus district tour, designed to be family friendly, flat and fun.

All rides will end at Reaves, where the Flat Armadillo Festival will be in full swing with music and free lunch from the Midway Deli food truck. There also will be inflatables, giveaways, games and face painting for the kids, as well as a TV tent with college football.

“Flat Armadillo Road is a great name that everyone seems to enjoy. We named our festival for the quirky two-lane east of Lexington because we wanted to celebrate riders who rode all the way down there and back,” said Ride Director Chip Minty.

“It should be a fun atmosphere to kick off Fall on a Saturday when the Sooners do not play,” Minty said. “Even people who don’t ride bikes will enjoy this event. For $35, they get a great t-shirt, a pasta dinner and a beer at O’Connell’s the night before the event and they can have lunch at Reaves from the Midway Deli food truck while they enjoy the festival.”

The Rotary Road Rally was established in 2017 to help raise money for the Norman Rotary Club’s Rotary Success Cycle program, which provides bicycles to elementary school students as an incentive for excellent attendance. More information is available at www.normanrotary.org.

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