Is that all there is my friends?

I’m going to spend most of this post with pictures and videos. A lot of people have told me they enjoyed reading the blog and my sense of humor. I tried to share the trip with you the reader in as candid a manner as possible to give a taste of the fun, the toils and the issues that I as a rider faced. I tried to keep it clean but not sanitized of the human emotions and flavors. So like life it was sometimes funny, sometimes boring and most the time in between.

Let me get you caught up. On Friday we rode from South Haven to Grand Haven. On Saturday we rode from Grand Haven to Grand Rapids which was my shortest day. We gathered at a central point and rode onto the grounds of Calvin College in mass formation. It was fun. On Sunday we gathered in Fifth Third Ballpark for a rally and listed to Shane Clairborne speak. If you get a chance to read one of his books you should. Look him up on Amazon or find him in your local library. He spent years working with Mother Theresa and his outlook on what it means to serve is right on with alot of issues.

The rally marked the end of my portion of the Sea to Sea ride. It also means that 60 people are joining for the last 2 weeks to the Atlantic ocean. I can’t imagine what it will be like in the gear truck, the bathrooms, the food line and of course the evening digestive symphony with the extra 60 wind instruments!

In Grand Haven those of us leaving had to give a few words of goodbye to our fellow riders. What I shared with them was: 1) On the first day of the ride I imploded and the people who helped me were just a sample of the caliber of people who are on this ride. They are good caring people who are sacrificing for something greater than themselves. 2) I was proud to be part of something that was working to fight global poverty and hoped that all of us would continue to do something after our part in this ride was over. 3) I looked forward to the day when I’m in heaven that someone walks up to one of us and says “I’m here because I saw these people ride by on a bike and learned that they were sacrificing themselves for others.”

I hope this ride has made you think about what you can do to help those around you. It does not have to be something big and huge like this ride. It does not have to be about people on the other side of the world. Make it small and about those people in your town. Walk through your house and ask do I need two of these and three of those? Will I ever really use that thing I’ve been saving for someday? How many coats, pants, shoes and gloves do I really need? Couldn’t I share these with people who don’t have even one? Could I sell this stuff and give the money to those who need help? Do I need a vehicle the size of a house in many places around the world? Do I need a house this big? Do I need to use so much of the worlds resources for my own personal pleasure? Then go do something to help those around you. Do anything. Its easier to just go do something than it is to plan or research or decide. Just walk around the corner to the local shelther, food pantry or other organization and say “I’m here, how can you use me?” Here are the pictures and videos and thanks for sharing this journey with me.

Terry

Final Ride Stat’s

Flats – ZERO!!

Crashes – Zero

Mechanical Failures – Zero

Click any picture for a bigger shot

Madison the Capitol of Wisconsin

Hey what else but Brats in Wisconsin

In the middle of Madison

Leaving Wisconsin for Illinois

I’m faster than these!

The Paramount Theater in Chicago

The site of the movie Groundhog Day,

Dirt biking on the Fox River Trail

The Fox River Trail Runs for 40 miles through metro Chicago

Indiana Dunes State Park

Here’s where our gear gets piled

The inside of the gear truck, we each get 2 baskets

Trail closed? Yup but we trod onward.

cyclocross anyone?

We make it through

So many trains

The site of the 15 cookie massacre

Add Indiana to the list of states

Another state down

Moon rising over Michigan

The Tenbrinks in Grand Haven

typical bike parking during the tour

Ever seen a 4 wheelin semi?

Lake Michigan, its starting to feel like home

getting close

the last hurrah

Finish Line

 

Rocco the Racoon

Today we rode 82 miles from Chesterton Indiana to South Haven Michigan. We rode into a 7 – 10 mph headwind all day but it was clear skies and temps in the 70’s. Overall a beautiful day and a nice ride. A rider today was hit in the hip by a truck’s side view mirror on the road. I saw her walking on crutches. She hopes to be able to ride tomorrow but is badly bruised. I think she will be very sore tomorrow. Maybe you could encourage those around you to give us just a little more room.

The Hares in the group love to tease the tortoise (me). But I get to camp about the same time. Oh sure I have to ride non-stop from beginning to end and they still pass me 6 or 7 times in a day. Each time they pass me I know they have just stopped for a cold pop or ice cream or breakfast or second breakfast or lunch or second lunch. They love to cheerily say hello as they fly past quickly becoming just small dots ahead of me and disappear. I still help unload the gear truck. There is another group called the London Express, its about 8 riders from London Ontario who ride a paceline everyday and make very good time, they are fast. They are not as fast as the Hares.

I was starting to wonder if I can make the transition back to being an inside dweller. I spend all day on a bicycle creating my own breeze being outside in the sunshine, rain, cold and hot. Then I sleep in a tent sometimes freezing and sometimes sweating puddles. But last night at the campground we were told the raccoons are quite numerous and aggressive. So here I am sitting in a dome made of fabric designed to be as light as possible (that means thin) wondering how I can protect myself when the Rocco the Raccoon takes his razor sharp claw and slices his way into my tent looking for those sweet treats that I ate yesterday. I could use my bib shorts and try to smother him or I could bludgeon him with my jar of chamois butter. So there I lay tossing and turning listening for the slightest sound of Rocco creeping towards my tent. This morning I decided I’m ready to return to a building with walls that keeps out Rocco, freeways, trains, mosquitoes, big crawly bugs. I’m ready, I’m ready oh boy am I ready! I don’t think I’m a wimp but I am ready for a night of sleep where I’m warm, dry, bug free and noise deprived.

Tomorrow we ride to Grand Haven and then Saturday we ride into GR. There are going to be about 130 “guest” riders who will be joining us on the ride. Then we are going to all accumulate about a mile from Calvin and ride in as a mass group. It should be a good photo op. I also heard the service on Sunday is going to be 3 hours long. I hope that is an exageration because that’s a long time to sit out in the sun.

I took some more nice pictures today. What I’m going to do is post them all on Saturday night after my last ride. So stay tuned for a massive finish with lots of photos from the the last week.

 

Symphony In The Campground

Ummmm today I ate 15 different kinds of cookies. They were all fantastic. But I had to, I did not want to be rude and we made 3 stops at area churches along the route who wanted to treat us to snacks. You can’t say no to people who go out of their way to be a part of this fantastic cycling event. So I was extra courteous as were all of my Sea to Sea brethren. It’s amazing how much food we can eat. Last week at Dordt and last night at Trinity we ate them out of food and they had to order more. I mean we ate like a hundred pizzas last night. In honor of us being in the chicago area they served deep dish chicago style pan pizza and salad and lots of cookies. Today not only did we have the 3 church stops but we also had a church here at Indiana Dunes State Park with at least 30 different kinds of cookies laid out for us when we arrived. So overall its pretty good I only ate 15.

I’m really impressed at how well the human body was made. There are alot of people that I call a senior with ages in the late 60’s and 70’s who are just crushing the bike everyday. No tape, wrap, ice or pain killers. And its this way with pretty much everybody who has not had a fall or crash. It seems that impacts and failures of pedal clips cause most of the limps and hobbles.

Once again I have alot of cool pictures for you.  Sigh.

Today we started at Palos Heights Illinois and ended at Indiana Dunes State Park. It was 55 miles and took us 6 hours including the cookie and lunch stops. We passed from Illinois to Indiana which makes 7 states I have cycled through. The temps were in the mid 70’s again with a wind 5-7 mph from the east. We rode in groups of 6 or more today for safety as we biked through lower Chicago and Gary. I did not feel threatened or unsafe in any manner on the road. I think today’s route was actually safer than yesterday because traffic was much lighter. Some of the areas we rode through were very poor and was a good reminder that some of the money we raise during this ride will be used to help the poor. At one point of the ride we were on a bike path for about 10 miles. In the middle of this stretch the path was closed because they were building an underpass through the road for the path. But it was not done yet and we had to portage our bikes across the expanse of broken gravel and sand. It was fun. Overall todays ride was alot of stop and go as we traveled through the city. It was a big change from miles of unbroken road to stopping every quarter mile for a light.

Tonights meal was baked beans, ground turkey and hotdogs all mixed together, with salad made of raw broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. It was good and the night symphony will be playing at full volume! In case you did not read the earlier post the night symphony is the symphony of sounds made by all the bikers digestive systems. I bet some of those tents would go up like the Hindenburg if there was an accidental spark.

Tomorrow we ride to South Haven which is 74 miles. That will be my last ride over 50 miles before the end of the tour. So far I’ve riden the bike far enough to ride from Grand Rapids Michigan to Disney World in Florida.

 

Ground Hog Day

Today I woke up and put on my biking clothes, grabbed some food for the road and road to a new place. I did that yesterday. I am pretty sure I’ve been doing that almost everyday for weeks. Its like Groundhog Day.

We rode 86 miles to Palos Heights which is a suburb of Chicago and are staying on grounds of Trinity College. I’m actually inside their computer science room using one of their machines. I still have not found my cable for my camera so no pics. I took quite a few nice ones and I guess when I get back to Grand Rapids I’ll get a cable and post all the pics as a final hurrah. It will give you a reason to check my blog next week.

Trinity College is also going to feed us dinner tonight and that means PIZZA, ummm I love pizza. Tomorrow our start is going to be delayed until 8 am. Then everyone will leave together. We have not done that while I’ve been on the tour so it’ll be interesting to see how all the riders shake out.

We only have one more ride over 60 miles this week and then its all short rides as we time our landing into Grand Rapids. There is a rumor going around that on the Saturday we ride in from Grand Haven there will be 11 stops provided by local churches.

Yesterday we stopped at a church in Delavane IL and they provided awesome food including sandwiches so if its like that then I think we will all gain a few pounds on the way.

Last night we stayed in Woodstock IL which we learned was the place where they shot Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray. I think the movie came out in the early 90’s. The town square that they show in the movie is actually Woodstock IL, its a very nice little town and the opening to my blog today is a tribute to the town and the movie.

Todays ride started a little chilly with winds from the south at about 5mph and temps in the high 50’s this morning. We rode down for about 35 miles on the Fox River Trail which is a bike path that took us from 10 miles south of Woodstock into Aurora. The trail has alot of twists and turns and other trails branch off and merge into the Fox River. So alot of people got spun around today. Once we got to the streets in Chicago it was a little hairy. Cars here don’t like to move over. Most of the roads we were on had no shoulders or narrow shoulders and the traffic was pretty heavy. So far I have not heard of anyone being hurt today so that is a real miracle considering the number of cyclists, the drivers attitudes and the amount of traffic. At one point in the route we were coming up to fresh asphalt as they were repaving the lanes on one of the roads. The asphalt was so fresh that we had to stay off the new stuff as it would melt our tires! I could hear it hissing and sizzling next to me. As we entered Trinity College we were warmly welcomed with cheering throngs of well wishers (ok maybe it was like 10 people). It felt good. It feels good to be doing something to try to help those who are in poverty. The key is to act. Do something in your own town. I don’t know what you should do but think about it and find a way. If your already doing something, great keep it up and Thank You. Pretend I’m your personal throng of well wishers.

 

Tan Lines

It’s Monday and I’m in Waterloo Illinois. Yeah I thought it was in Wisconsin but it seems as if the third age of cheese has come to an end. Todays ride was a short one, only 81 miles. Got to camp about 1:00 and then had to go tour the town while waiting for the gear truck. Yes you heard right, I beat the truck. But so did about 12 other people so we went into town to see if we could get people to ask what we were doing. The day started at about 49 degrees and ended up in the mid 70’s with winds from the east at about 5 mph. The countryside is starting to flatten out with the hills getting smaller and steeper. Overall a beautiful day and a beautiful ride. This is my last week of riding and it ends with some very short days. I’m hoping I can find a cord to upload my pictures so you don’t have to read endless lines.

Hey I don’t know if I mentioned this but my fingers have tan lines. All the parts that stick out of my gloves are tan while the rest of my hands are pale. I also have a circle right on the top of each hand where the hole is on my gloves for the velcro straps. I’ve been wearing my glasses as little as possible but I’m starting to get that reverse racoon look. You know where the eyes and temples are several shades lighter than the rest of the face? I’ll take a picture to show you. Overall between the dark face with white bandit strip across, arms that are all flakey and brown, hands that are two colors and feet with flop tan lines I make quite a nice picture. I don’t really think I look bad this way, but boy oh boy do the other riders look weird! I guess I just have an ability to pull that look off well. I’m sure it’s not my looks that make convienence store clerks act so nervous when I come up to the counter.

We had a church throw us a lunch today at mile 51. It was nice. They even had a hot relish made with jalapenos, man that was good and the first thing I’ve had with any spice in over two weeks. But the food is still good. It’s amazing how much food the kitchen puts out for dinner. I’ll take a picture of the kitchen and someday upload it for you to see.

 

Madison

Madison is a really nice town. They have lakes, a huge college and lots of bikers. But I’ve noticed the bikers are not all very friendly. They won’t give you back the biker nod or the biker wave as you pass. They just look steely eyed and pretend they can’t see you. I know they can see me, com’on I’m on a red bike.

The nicest part of a day off is that I don’t have to sit on that little leather thing that was invented during the Inquisition and is now called a saddle. Whooooweeee am I sore. Well a rest day means rest for everything. I hope I figure out a solution to the camera thing. Otherwise these topics may become very disturbing.

When you drive along in a car you see the occasional road kill. When you ride a bike you not only see and smell that stuff but you also see an incredible number of dead birds on the side of the road. So I wonder, did they get hit by a car or did they just land there and then pass away or do they fall out of the sky? Because if they fall out of the sky there must be thousands in the fields around here. But I rarely ever see a dead bird in my yard. So I think they must hit a wall of air rising from the road and die of surprise or they almost get hit and are buffeted by the wind from the cars or trucks and die of fright. I don’t think they get hit because they are whole and don’t look broken or spread out. Their wings are all tucked in and its like they are sleeping on the side of the road. Hmmm what do you think?

Well this is my last off day and it was a busy one. Between the service, ministry market place, lunch and afternoon activity it wasn’t until about4:30 before we could call it a day. Next week though I’ll be writting my entries from the comfort of my living room.

Tomorrow we head to Woodstock, WI which is 81 miles away. I’ll let you know how it went. Hopefully we will have connections over these next few days.

See ya

 

Disaster!

I cannot find my uplink cables for my camera. I’m afraid that if I don’t find a solution you will have to suffer endless pages of just words with no pictures.

 

Thank You

I wanted to write a separate thank you to all the people at Calvin CRC who took the time to make me a care package and send it ahead here to Madison. I’m enjoying the treats and sharing them with fellow riders. The mints are a big hit, the Red Bull will come in handy on those sleepy mornings, the sunflower seeds are good anytime or anywhere but especially when you need salt. The prop-ell and crystal light (light?) will be nice to flavor my endless bottles of water, mmmmmm beef jerky, after which I’ll chew a stick of gum. I’ve already devoured the animal crackers and some of the trail mix, the mints are a big hit with the group and a special thank you for your thoughts and prayers as signified by the card. Thank you very much.

 

Terry To Earth

I have been in the wilderness. 40 4 days I wandered and thirst in the great plains. And lo when I thought I was lost the chorus of the GPS rose up and said “A hundred miles, a hundred miles, a hundred miles, a hundred miles you can hear the whistle blow………. look its a train track, that must be our campsite!!

Since we left Dordt College we have not had a connection to the outside world. Without TV, cell phones, computers, radio or motorized transportation the world quickly shrinks down. The conversations of those around you and what needs to be done to get through today is all that enters your mind. You think about getting water, food and sleep. The day starts before the sun and ends long after sunset usually with the help of a little 3 LED headlamp. I live like a marginalized person with no electricity, no running water, no bathroom of my own, if I want to go somewhere I have to walk or ride my bike. But today (actually tonight) I am clean, my clothes are washed, I am air conditioned, I am sitting under electric lights, using electrical outlets to charge my computer and camera. I am back in the wealth of the western world and it feels really good. So lets get caught up.

Wednesday

I woke up after an incredible sleep in a real bed. I never slept in a bunkbed before and man that header from the  bunk above me was a rude awakening as the alarm went off. But it was my own fault, I was trying out my cell phone as an alarm clock. Usually I wake up to the sounds of the local diesel locomotive or tent zippers. But I was in a room with walls and windows and was afraid that I would sleep late. So I figured out how to set my cell phone as my alarm clock. My son does it all the time so I figure it can be done. It was easy. I just forgot that I had the phone volume on high so I could hear it while it was in my pocket. When its in your pocket and on high its not too loud. But when its about 3 inches from your head on a night stand its VERY VERY LOUD!!!  I sat right up when the alarm went off and immediately found myself laying back in the bed holding my forehead and looking at all the pretty stars. Once I regained consciousness I dressed to ride the first of 3 consecutive 100 or more mile days. I tottered down the stairs holding both handrails stepped into the lobby of the dormitory and noticed everyone had on rain jackets and leg coverings. I look outside and what do I see, lots of rain. Do I have a rain jacket? Yes I do! In Grand Rapids! Because I did not have room for both the computer and the rain suit. So I walk to the cafeteria and enjoy a yummy breakfast of scrambled eggs, waffles, syrup and coke. Ummm love that coke especially for breakfast. I’m trying to keep my streak going as I have not had coffee since I started this ride.

The ride was great. It rained until about noon but even that was a really good thing. It was a great change from those 100 degree days. I must have a motor that runs hot because in the cool air with the rain falling I was chugging along and feeling great. We even had a tail wind! Part of the ride was on a closed road that had been freshly paved and not yet open. It was so fun!

Wet, smooth and flat as a pancake

This ride of 114 miles was the longest distance I ever rode. I started at about 7am because of the rain and arrived into camp at Algona Iowa around 3pm with 6 stops for water, water, water, water, Gatorade and beef jerky the ultimate long ride food.

All on a little leather seat

A taste of camp life, in order to ride you have to clean your clothes by hand and find a way to dry them. So anything that can hold clothes up to the sun and wind gets used.

After all the worries about the 3 long days for the first one we were given rain to cool us, clouds to shade us, a wind to push us and a beautiful sunset. I don’t think it was coincidence.

Thursday

From Algona Iowa we headed off to New Hampton 113 miles away. No rain and no tailwind but just as important…. no headwind. It was about 55 degrees and it started with a wonderful sunrise.

This day was a little harder, no tail wind but cross winds. Did you know that Iowa has like a million windmills? I mean it seemed like every 20 miles there was another crop of them sprouting out of the ground. When you stand next to them while they are spinning the make a slow low woooshing sound. And they are BIG. If you look carefully in the next picture you can see a crop duster in the middle right of the frame.

The blades are about 100 feet long

Did you know that pigs smell really bad? I mean really really bad. While I’m on these roads in Iowa and Nebraska there was a livestock truck that would pass about every minute. After a while you can tell whats in them without looking. I started wondering, do you think that if those open air trucks are blowing past me and the air is rushing through that trailer and then past me that I’m breathing in little tiny bits that distressed cows and pigs are dropping on the floor of the trailer? I bet I am. I wonder if I have worms yet. Anyways back to the subject: pigs stink. They stink when passing you on a truck. They stink when you pass them in a barn and they stink when they are on the side of the road. I feel bad for pigs. I never really thought of them as anything other than ham, bacon and pork chops. I guess I never thought about their inner beauty, well inner inner beauty because bacon, ham and pork chops are the inner parts of pigs.  Pigs lead crappy lives, literally. I don’t think I’ll be eating a lot of pigs, who could eat such a cute little ham animal.

All right, I still like pepperoni, and BBQ baby back ribs, and italian sausage, and salami, and hot dogs, and smokey links, and brats, and ham, and pork roast, and pork sandwiches, and……

I should finish this so enough about pigs.

The sweep team I was on started on Thursday when we rode into camp. That means when we arrived we needed to empty the gear truck of all the duffel bags, help set up the tables and tents for dinner, get the food out, serve the riders, eat and then clean up the tables. After riding 113 miles it made for a long day. The next morning (friday) our chores continue and that means waking up before the others, getting breakfast out onto the serving tables, serve our fellow riders, clean up after breakfast, tear down the tables and tents and put them back in the semi, load everyone’s bags onto the truck and then ride the ride to make sure no one gets left behind.

Thursday I was in New Hampton and on Friday morning it was off to Fennimore Wisconsin a 100 mile ride. We left around 8:30 and arrived in camp around 6:00 as the sweep team. The end of a long day but also the end of 3 long rides. There is a big difference between Iowa and Wisconsin and I’d take Wisconsin any day. The farms in Iowa and Nebraska are all huge industrial farms while Wisconsin seems to have these small farms where the cows graze out in pastures of grass or in one case shoulder high grass fields where you could only see the heads poking up out of the grass. Our ride out of Iowa included a huge downhill to the Mississippi River where at one point I hit 40 mph. Then across an under construction bridge into Wisconsin and up the slope on the other side.

Fennimore is a cool little town with fresh Wisconsin cheese curds that people eat like potato chips. They come in the same flavors like garlic dill, ranch, onion and of course cheddar. The camp is along the edge of a baseball diamond with a long slope from the road down to the field. We were all sleeping with our heads pointed uphill. From the ball diamond we road a bus to a local pool and used the showers. It was unique to have 3 guys sharing each shower head. You rotate like when you share a sink to brush your teeth. First you get under the water and rinse, then you step out and soap up while the other two guys take turns under the water, then when it’s your turn again you rinse and step away from the shower head. Once you step away from the shower head you are standing in a room that is four walls and no roof, nothing but the open Wisconsin sky. Just one rule about shower sharing, no touching or bumping please! It was also great that it was windy or cold during shower time.

Here are some pics about the ride

Weeeee 40 mph on a bike

windmill blade

a windmills worth

Mississippi Queen, Iowa on left

Wisconsin, ummmmm cheese.

Well that’s all I have for now. I would tell you about a beautiful ride that I had today (Saturday) as we rode through lovely small towns and a hundred rolling hills. I could tell you how it was raining this morning as we woke up and so I left my camera in the truck as I did not want it to get wet like on Wednesday. Even better I could tell you about this really nice town that I recommend you visit called Mount Horeb which is the the “Troll Capital of the World” www.trollway.com but I don’t have any pictures so it seems a waste.

I’ll take some pics tomorrow and update you on my current location Madison Wisconsin.

 

Joy Ride

Today our joy ride wore everybody out. It was 60 miles of riding up one climb and then going down back to start another climb. I did not take any pictures today because I was either gripping the bars to pull myself up the hill or holding on going down. The roads today were narrow concrete two lane roads built right after the war. There is no shoulder to speak of so when one of the 1000 grain/livestock/milk trucks gets behind you and there is oncoming traffic all you hear is the change in pitch of the motor, the whooshing of their brakes and the squeaking and clanging of their trailers as the come to an 8mph speed while I toil up the hill. Just think about grinding up a big hill while behind you there is the chugga chugga of a big diesel motor who is waiting to pass but cannot because they cannot see what is coming down the other lane because of the hill. Oh man is it fun. I try very hard not to look up into my rear view mirror during those times because I’m afraid of what I’ll see and I don’t want to lose my concentration going up the hill.

I think whoever led me to believe Iowa was flat was also in charge of the altitude charts.

I have two new favorite animals, the tortoise and dragonfly. A couple of riders told me that truckers call a rig with an undersized motor a dragonfly, it drags up the climb and then has to fly down the other side to make it up the next hill…..dragonfly. Thats a very accurate description of my climbing style. The tortoise as in continuing on steadily to the finish line the hare zips around. So the next time you happen to see a tortoise or a dragonfly you can remember me.

Tonight we are staying at Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa. We are staying in the dorms. YES! We have a bed, we have air conditioning and best of all there is not a train track on the other side of the street. Since I left Denver almost every night has been with the train tracks within one block. Tomorrow we bike 113 miles to Algona, Iowa and the map shows a nice railroad right next to the school where we are staying. So tonight we feast on silence. Dordt is a nice place and the school has gone all out to take care of us. Its really humbling to think of all the work they have done to help us for just one night.

We have 3 very long days back to back so if you don’t hear from me for a few days it may mean one of 3 things:

1) We do not have an internet connection (the most likely scenario)

2) I was too tired to write (very likely).

3) I have become a SAG (support and gear) driver and don’t want you to know (unlikely).

Thanks to all of you leaving comments, I love reading them and they help me get on the bike and ignore the messages coming to me from the parts that are actually touching the bike. So keep them coming and I’ll try to answer you every now and then.

Finally and most importantly. Remember what this ride is about………Its about helping the poor and fighting poverty. So find a way to give with either your time, your skills or your financial resources. Find a group and pitch in against the fight. If you need a reminder flip over the the page on my blog called why I ride. If you want to give click on the links in the blog titled “I need money.”

Talk to you later

 

Can I have a word with you?

Man its tough to keep my eyes open. Below are the pictures of today. That one I shot looking down through grates was a little scary. It was a very skinny two lane bridge and that metal grating is really slippery. One of the ladies was hit by a car just before the bridge. It was a glancing blow but the driver took off. She says she is ok and the bike has a wobbly wheel that needs truing. After I took the shot of the fishing mailbox I happened to look down and my arms from my elbows onto the tops of my hands were covered in blisters, those kind that when you rub your hand over them to make sure they are not hallucinations they bust. I’m using 30 spf but maybe I need 50? They don’t hurt and its going to be not as sunny for the next few days.

Today’s ride was 89 miles, 91 by my odo. I started a little later and got into camp at 2 pm central. Winds were out of the north at about 15 to 20 mph and that was the direction we headed. We are at Sargent Bluffs just south of Sioux City. Tomorrow we go to Sioux Center and Dort College which is only about 60 miles. A joy ride! Today was a good ride even though I felt like I was falling asleep as I was riding this morning. Weird.

The aero bars were my good friends today and I’m getting pretty good at riding in them. They require a different set of muscles and it took a few days to work up to being able to stay in them for a significant period of time. They really are awesome on windy days.

Everyday someone hears our story and donates to the cause. Its awesome.

Fun fact: so far there have been 533 flat tires. Today there were no shoulders for us to ride on so the group only had 3 flats and 4 falls. Both are below average.

Ok I have to go to peleton meeting so I’ll share more tomorrow.

 

Pictures of Monday

Hmm, I thought today I’d start with pics and some descriptions

The last of Nebraska

This is another look at the downhill side of flat Nebraska, it was time to leave. The weather was cool this morning and as you can see very cloudy. stayed that way until about 9am.

They are everywhere!

I’m thinking this must be the outlet store.

Fishing for Mail

Lewis and Clark left from near here

Hard on skinny tires

Iowa

Iowa corn, see how its different from Nebaska?

 

Rest

Just a quick note, we are still struggling with the connection. This morning the church next door asked us to come over and have some cool water and snacks in their new multi purpose building. They not only had food, water and lovely air conditioning but they also had WiFi and a large screen projector which they graceously shared with us. So I’m laying on the floor in the lobby with about 30 other people using the connection to get out yesterday’s post and a few quick words today while watching National Treasure in surround sound. It is amazing that these good people have put themselves out for others they do not know. So if you are ever in Fremont Nebraska stop by the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church and thank them for their gracious hospitality.

Todays weather is sunny and 102 degrees at 5pm. There is a heat advisory with the heat index at 115 degrees. Small children and oversized bikers are advised to stay inside. Tonight there is a 30% chance of thunder storms and a 30% chance of thunder storms tomorrow.

The good news is we are headed north all day to Sioux City, Iowa about 89 miles and cross the Missouri river.

I started with the mountains at my back and the dry high plains where the altitude made me very sick, as we moved through Colorado and Nebraska the country slowly turned from brown to irrigated green crops and finally in the last few days we are seeing trees and flowers. Saturday was the first day I saw a flower and the first time we saw any number of trees that were not around a farm. Its been an interesting week and a long week.

 

Do You WAHOO?

This was written Saturday night. I did not get a connection until Sunday afternoon. I can’t fix the spacing for some reason, sorry.

 

 

 

It’s 9:30 pm and its 86 degrees outside. So I am blissfully sitting my shorts and t-shirt here in the Fremont, Nebraska YMCA hockey rink where its 55 degrees. What a perfect way to end a week that has seen the daily temp in 3 figures almost everyday. I think the dream I had the other night was actually a vision of being in this rink because I can almost see my breath and I have a cold can of coke sitting here next to me on the bleachers. Weird.

 

 

 Today began with waking up to the sound my tent bending over due to the high winds from the southeast that started around 3AM. The wind was consistent through the day. The route started by heading east for about 30 miles then tuning north for 20 miles, turning east again for another 28 miles and then ending with a nice 20 mile run to the north. The wind was around 20 mph with gusts up to 30. The first leg was straight into the wind. The morning was cool, there was cloud cover until about 9:30 and the hills were not too bad. After that followed a romp to the north and with the wind to our backs it took me about 1 hour to complete which included a rest stop to eat my breakfast sandwich. The first northern leg was so much fun that most riders agreed that they could endure the second eastern leg of the day because the last leg would again be to the north and the altitude chart shows a nice long descent for the last 20 miles. Besides the fun would begin as we arrived in a little called…..WAHOO! It seemed appropriate, even divine that we would begin such a great finish at WAHOO Nebraska. Oh ye fools who trust altitude charts and maps.

The second (and not to be the last eastward leg into the wind) leg was filled with rolling hills and the wind was so strong that I would coast down these hills at a stunning 9 – 10 mph. These were not the little tiny blips on the altitude chart, but we’ve already talked about how those charts lie. Here are two pictures standing at a crest of a little 1/16^th inch all downhill bump on those charts.

 

 

 

 

  

We arrived at the last stop of the day just before……wait for it…..now say it with me……..

Your assignment class is to tell me what these guys did.

 

 

Now ain’t that fun? We see Walter who is a retired gentleman with a heavy Dutch accent and drives a very nice large motor home that is equipped with an endless supply of cold water, watermelon and shade. Yeah, Walter is very popular with the riders. But today Walter betrays us! He informs us that the road to the east after WAHOO is closed for paving and we have to take a detour that heads north for 15 miles and then east for 8 miles back to the road into town. This new road to the north rises for the entire 15 miles, stealing our fun swoop downhill and down wind. The detour roads seem to be exactly wide enough for two cars, a white stripe on each side and a yellow stripe in the middle. There are no shoulders and the road sits about three to six inches above the dirt and gravel. There was weeping, there was gnashing of teeth. Some had loose bladders, weak knees and sailors tongues. It was a real joy sucker. No one expected that Nebraska would choose today to shut down 10 miles of major road for re-paving. Everyone at the end of the day agreed that today was the most difficult day because of the headwinds and narrow roads on the two detours.

 Well I left a little later today at 6:30 because I was tired and did not get up until 5:15 AM. I finished around 3:00. I was sure I was dragging in the tail of the group and was paranoid for the last mile or two that the sweep team would catch up any second but it seems I did ok. I don’t want the sweep team to have to wait for me because its already a long day for them.

I'm in Freemont Nebraska!

 

Best of all, since today is Saturday I don’t have to ride, take my tent down or put it back up tomorrow. I can even sleep in until 7am.

Sorry you won’t get this until we get a connection. The wireless satellite truck seems to be occupied by gremlins. It is completely automated. You park and push a button and the computer automatically finds the satellite and establishes the uplink and the wireless access. It sounds awesome, and it is when it works. Why it sometimes works and sometimes does not is a mystery to the person who runs the truck.

Well, I’m off to the hockey rink with my sleeping bag. See ya.

 

Orville Was Here

This morning I was sitting in my living room and the AC was on so low that I could see my breath and my pop was like a slurpee. I was enjoying a long, slow sip when suddenly a train rumbled past on the tracks right outside the house blowing its horn for about a mile before and a mile after my house. That seemed odd to me, you see I don’t live next to the train tracks. Thats when I woke up and saw, to steal a phrase from Brian Byrnes that this is not my beautiful house, this is not my ice cold living room, this is not my frozen pop. I’m in Nebraska, in a tent, listening to the digestive orchestra of 140 people who had beans for dinner. So lets take this musical on the road. Next stop – York College in York, Nebraska our destination for today.

Today’s weather. Hot. 95 degrees. Windy. Blowing from the east at about 15 MPH. Sunny. I have burn marks on my hand that are the exact shape of the circle at the top of my bike gloves. Dry.  Our trip heads east for about 60 miles and then turns blessedly north. For the last 36 miles. The Garmin GPS says total distance traveled was 96 miles with 2100 ft of climbing.

I started the moring before the sun and was able to capture the tallest structures in the state. There are buildings like this (grain elevators) in every city town (this one is Kohler) and are about 200 feet tall. What you can’t see is big boxy structure with a giant smoke stack spewing steam that smells alot like beer.

I love the smell of ethanol in the morning

 

They are making ethanol in the side structure.

 

The ride overall went well, the first 60 miles was into a strong headwind. There were alot of pacelines and groups rolling along trying to save some energy. This is where my slow speed works to my advantage and my aero bars were my best friends today. I spent about 9 hours total on the road and about 8 of those on the bike.  While on the bike I saw some of this…..

 

Yeah its kinda corny

And about 8 hours latter it looked like this……

I'd like a road tar tar please

 

Notice that this picture is where we had to get off our bikes and walk around the road. Good thing it was at 2pm and not early in the day when I was fresh.

During the ride we have been primarily on US 34 which is oddly enough a part of

 

Who knew?

 

Well sorry but I have to get the computer into the gear truck so it can go to Fremont Nebraska. I don’t want to carry this thing on the bike tomorrow. I think its about 96 miles. The weather is supposed to be in the high 90’s with no rain and winds out of the East. What a suprise. In case you were wondering we are still headed east and north. I’ll fill in the details after we get into camp tomorrow because we don’t have to cycle on Sunday.

 

I Smell Bacon

Today we arrive in Minden.  I woke up at 4:45 and left camp at 6:15 while it was still dark outside. I arrived in camp at 2:30 and helped unload the gear truck with about 15 other cyclists.

At mile 8 for the day

The country side has changed over the last 2 days and 200 miles with more trees. The sun is intense. In fact everytime I would stop moving I would smell bacon, umm bacon. Then I realized that it was me sizzling out in the sun. Every one of those hills on the elevation chart showed up just as advertised, I climbed over 2200 feet today and am proud that I only cried twice!! It was kind of unavoidable because just as I was cresting a long hill I discovered it was really just a flat spot in an even bigger hill. Thankfully though a tail wind kicked up around 10am and helped me to scoot into camp. It was 97 miles today. Tomorrow the tour reaches the mid point in miles. This week is also covers the most days.

Here is my humble home.

 

 

Here is the camp in Minden, pretty typical and always sunny!

 

Tomorrow we ride 93 miles with more of the same weather

 

Ummm Feel The Burn

Sunburn that is, Wednesday was a little over 100 degrees, winds were out of the south at about 15 miles per hour and the little altitude charts lie, lie, lie. If you were to look at the daily charts you’d see that its all down hill for the last 3 days with just these tiny little blips up for hills. Well today those little blips were like 200 to 300 feet tall and there were about 15 of them. Oh sure we are going down hill but we’re doing it by climbing 200 feet and then descending 220 feet. I don’t know where the flat parts of Nebraska are but they are not on the western 200 miles. Having grown up in Florida and lived in Michigan I have to say that I love to see hills and mountains from a plane, from a train, from a car, just not from a bike!!

 

With no television it only takes little things to amuse cyclists

I started on the road at 6:30am and arrived in camp at McCook, Nebraska around 3:30pm and traveled 93 miles. As I go down the road I find myself looking for anything that is throwing shade. There are so few trees along the way. Its like being on the beach for 9 hours, a beach with black sand. The heat is very tough, especially when you are traveling on fresh sections of black road. You can feel the heat pounding up at you. I’ve quit thinking about my water bottles on my seat holder as for drinking. At one point I had filled them up with ice from a gas station soda fountain (with their permission) and I started drinking the water from them right away. About 30 minutes later I got to bottles 3 and 4 and they were not ice, not cold water but warm water. If you fill those bottles up with plain water after 10 AM you can count on them being hot to the touch within an hour. I now just use those bottles to squirt on my head, my legs, and my back. It’s hot when it hits but they feel good as they evaporate. I stop about 4 times a day to rub suntan lotion on every inch of exposed skin. I am still burning however. Even my lips are burned and the inside of my lips are getting raw from sucking on the water bottles. I look around at all the red skin and lips with scabs on them and I know its just a part of the ride.

 

The worlds largest continous griddle!

I so miss that tall ice cold coke with lots of ice. I also have not seen a Wendy’s because I would pull in and get myself a rootbeer float. My thoughts turn increasingly to ice, shade trees, a real bed and a nice long hot shower. Have I mentioned how bad I stink during the day?

 

For tomorrow we have a cooler day – its only supposed to get to 95. The wind will be from the north, east or south at 15 mph. We are traveling east so of course the wind will never be out of the west until we start heading north or south. I counted 23 little blips on the elevation chart. A total of 1943 feet of climbing. I’ll be in Minden, Nebraska July 31 so if your in town stop by and catch my act.

 

 

 

 

 

Two down 19 to go

Phew! Its been a tough two days, its late here and I have to get up at 5 am to beat the heat. First tomorrow is going to be in the mid 100’s and the nurse called the conditions “dangerous”. Great. We have 93 miles to ride to ride tomorrow.

Tuesday we rode 89 miles and I was on the sweep team. So I left camp at 6:30 am after helping get breakfast ready and arrived in camp this evening around 6:45pm. I rode with Gale and we had a great time. Took lots of breaks and some pictures.

I guess after Ebenezer Scrooge’s meeting with the 3 ghosts in ”A Christmas Carole” he moved to Colorado and started an old folks home. It must be one stop shopping because right on the other side of the sign was the cemetery.

 

One of the younger cyclist was going a little fast today and had an accident running full steam into a hay bale. I got the picture just before the paramedics arrived. They said he was lucky there was not a cow on the other end. 

We passed one of the largest cattle feed lots in the USA today. The interesting thing out here is you can see towns five miles away so it feels like forever before you actually arrive. So I see these grain silos in the distance and as I get closer I realize its not five 20 story grain elevators its more like 20 and then 20 more on the horizon and stretching from the road to the horizon are cattle in feeding pens. That feed lot must have stretched on for over 3-4 miles. On  one edge is a railroad track and there is a constant stream of semi trucks pulling in and out. Some are hauling out liquid waste, some are hauling cattle in and out and the train is unloading grain. There was quite a stench and we were riding into a 15 mile per hour head wind all day. If not for that wind I hate to think what it would have smelled like. Everyone should read “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”. This feed lot was just outside of Yuma. Ironically we arrived into Yuma at almost 3:10, you know….. the 3:10 to Yuma???

 

 

 

 

I also stopped at this pathetic little graveyard and since it was break time we went looking at headstones. Turns out most the people buried here died in the 1800’s. Gee I just noticed I kind of have a graveyard theme to this post. Must be my frame of mind.

Yesterday (Monday) was an 85 mile ride that I could not finish. I don’t know what happened. I was feeling good until around mile 50. And then I started getting nauseous so I could not eat anything without gagging. So I bought a quart of gator-aide and slugged that down and felt ok. So I start drinking even more water. By mile 65-70 I can’t focus my eyes, my vision keeps darkening, the muscles in my thighs, calves, biceps, triceps, back and abdomen are all cramping in waves, I super dizzy, I’m breathing hard and my stomach is gurgling with nausea. So I was done for the day, my first day! Oh I could not believe it. All I can think of is that between the elevation of about 5500 feet, the 100+ degree temps, the strong winds and lack of being able to eat were a combo of altitude and heat sickness made more severe by not being able to eat for energy.

See ya.

 

I’m In Camp

Just a quick update. I’m in camp, the tent is up, I have directions to the next stop and I’m sweating bullets. It was 93 today with some light rain around 8 pm. I was told by everyone to let ya’ll know that the access to internet is spotty at best. So hopefully I’ll be able to tell you about tomorrow but if not then just wait and I’ll update as soon as possible. The route for tomorrow is about 90 miles.

Tyler B. broke his collar bone yesterday when the pace line he was in came to a sudden stop. He is going home tomorrow. Art went home also and will need surgery due to a recent wreck.

There are 12 new riders and 11 riders went home. Everyone looks so tan and fit!

Well, see ya’ll later I’m going to figure out how to get everything ready for my 5:30 wake up.

 

On your mark, ready, set

I'm in Colorado

I’m here and tomorrow starts the ride. I arrived in Denver on Friday and its been non-stop ever since. Friday started with a 4 hour plane ride and then a 3 hour ride in a shuttle van waiting for my turn to be dropped off. I went to the UPS store and learned that one of my supply boxes had been mis-directed, oops! Well the peopel at UPS were fantastic and they worked hard to get the box back to me on Saturday. I needed that particular box to put my bike together as it had all the tools and parts.

So while I was waiting I went around running my errands. I went to the camping store REI, a local cycling shop and I even had a little time to drive over to the mountains.

Needed a tent floor and stakes

Peaks hidden by clouds

 

The pictures just don't capture the beauty

 

 Since I’ve been here the weather man has been talking about how long its been hotter than average, more humid than average and how it should get back to dry and normal temps by the end of next week. Alot of the clouds and humidity are from the hurricane that hit Texas. Hopefully the system will pass by before monday.

Well the agenda for today is to get to the campsite by 1pm and then its orientation, cycling safety class and getting the tent set up. I’ll meet with my small group and sweep team. The small group is a small study group that meets each day. The entire Sea to Sea cadre is broken down into groups called sweep teams. The job of the sweep team begins in the evening by helping to unload the gear from the truck, help with dinner and then breakfast the next day and then to make sure they are the last ones in camp picking up any stragglers and helping those who have difficulties. This is to make sure that no one gets stranded on the road. I understand its a very demanding 24 hours.

One last note, I’m still learning how to blog so forgive the changing type face and some wacky script. Hopefully I’ll be able to let you know how the first day went tomorrow. It all depends on wether or not there is an internet connection for the day.

 

Nail Biting

Saturday I rode in the Holland Hundred which is a nice ride through the countryside south of Holland. You go across to Overisel, down to Fennville, south to Hutchins Lake, across to Lake Michigan and then up to Saugatuck and on back to Holland. Usually it’s a nice ride. When I started the ride it was just sprinkling rain, but it continued on steady for the entire morning. So it was a good test for what it might be like if I encounter 4 hours of rain during the tour.  My shorts with the bike padding turned into a super soaked diaper and my leather saddle began to threaten that if it stayed wet much longer it would go from being a comfortable firm seat to a floppy sling. So at the next rest stop I begged a bread wrapper from the church and used it to separate my super soaked diaper from my unhappy saddle. It worked pretty good and I’m glad I’ve been treating the saddle with wax all summer. About 5 miles from the end I was going through an intersection and as I cruised through a curve I was reminded that a large patch of painted road like a crosswalk is more like ice than road. I hit the ground fast and hard and slid across the intersection like I was on a slip and slide. Hello, that was a surprise! Luckily I just had a few small scrapes on my knee and elbow. The bike was fine and I continued on to the finish.

On Monday I shipped my bike and equipment by UPS to Denver. UPS has a cool system where you can ship your stuff to any UPS Store and they will hold it for you. The act of shipping has solidified this journey. Even though I’ve been training and preparing for this ride since last fall, taking my bike apart, boxing it up and watching it go down the conveyor made the ride real and I’ve started to get those pre-game jitters. This will just get worse until I clip in and start pedaling on Monday. I leave on Friday out of Flint on Midwest Airlines. It kinda sucks that you have to drive across the state to get a plane. A one way ticket from Flint is about $200 and a flight out of Grand Rapids is $600. Someone should figure that one out because it certainly isn’t about fuel costs or city size. I fly from Flint to Milwaukee then on to Denver where I’ll spend two days getting used to the altitude and putting my bike back together. Well back to biting my nails.

 

tire-dipping

tire-dipping

Originally uploaded by dr3×26

July 8 it started.

 

2 Weeks to Denver

I have all the things I need to start the ride in Denver. I have a bike and have added extra padding to the handlebars (double taped), extra water bottle holders, changed pedals to spread the load on my feet, changed shoes to fit the pedals, added aero bars to the front to give me another place to rest my hands during the ride, put on Bontrager Wheels to test for Trek, changed the rear sprocket to give me help climbing hills and put on a new chain.

I bought bib shorts, jerseys, socks, head scarf and gloves to wear while riding. I picked up extra inner tubes, tires, chain lube, degreaser, duct tape, electrical tape, sewing kit, shoe laces, CO2 cartridges, flat repair kits, velcro straps, safety pins and tools to fix things that break on my bike. I bought a tent, a sleeping bag, a sleeping pad, tent stakes, a headlamp, mess kit and waterproofer to have a place to sleep at night. Kentwood Cycle donated a nice box to ship my bike. I have reservations for the hotel for the two days before the riding starts to give myself a chance to get used to the altitude. I’ve booked the plane ticket and tickets for the rally in Grand Rapids.

I’ve been training since winter recently riding to places like Muskegon, Holland, Grand Haven, Ionia and Dorr on my bike.

All I need now is Gods blessing, your prayers and Luannes goodbye kiss. Oh yeah, I almost forgot….. I need the bank to approve that loan .

 

May News

Sea to Sea Cycling Shorts:

• There are now 218 cyclists: 104 Americans, 113 Canadians & 1 Haitian.
• Join the Sea to Sea riders at Calvin College on Sunday August 17 to celebrate their arrival here in Grand Rapids.
• The tour route has been finalized and it is 3,881 miles long. You can see it at www.SeatoSea.org.
• Sea to Sea t-shirts are available for order at $10 each from the Sea to Sea website.

 

Sea to Sea is about fighting poverty. I mentioned before that poverty is about people suffering and dying from lack of food to eat, lack of clean water to drink, lack of sanitation and the lack of opportunity to provide for themselves and their families. The storm in Myanmar (Burma) has resulted in 78,000 people killed, 56,000 missing and 2.5 million survivors according to the Burmese government. There is a shortage of food, shelter, clothing and clean drinking water setting the stage for diseases like dysentery and diarrhea. It takes weeks to die of starvation but only a few days to die of severe diarrhea. The news has been filled with the Burmese governments’ refusal to allow UN and individual nations to enter the country. Less reported has been that private humanitarian non government organizations (NGO’s) are in Myanmar providing aid. The United States, Canada, England, France, Germany, Russia, China, Japan, all of Africa and South America cannot get in to help but groups, like the CRWRC, equipped with your donations are serving in Myanmar. Do you need any more convincing? Myanmar is not fancy language or mission statements; you don’t have to wonder if your donation makes a difference because it does. There are people alive right now because of your faith and support.

 

I’d like to again thank you for your support of “Sea to Sea”. Because of your generosity I’ve reached the required  $4,000 and will have exceeded the minimum by the time I leave on July 25.

 

I mentioned in my last post that I was going to start riding to work and I needed to figure out how to deal with the issue of being sweaty and stinky. The solution was surprisingly simple – I lock myself in my office and speak to everyone by phone, email or through the crack under the door! Actually, I’ve become very familiar with the sink and so far no one is wrinkling their nose.

 

Last week I was part of  a group of  C2C riders that rode out of  Dorr as a way to get in some training miles and also meet a few of the local riders. It was a 50 mile ride and we completed it in a little less than 3 hours. There was a reporter from the CRC so if you’d like to read about it go to www.CRCNA.org and look for “Sea to Sea Riders Take a Practice Run”.

 

I also just completed a beautiful ride from Petoskey to Mackinaw City along Lake Michigan.  The ride starts by going up a small hill. Then you go up a bigger hill, the next one is even bigger, after several more hills you reach “The Hill”. You see all kinds of bikers going up this hill. Some are walking their bikes up the hill, others are just standing in the road looking up with their bikes laying on the ground, a few are crying, and a couple are mumbling and walking in circles about three quarters of the way up. As I reached the top, I learned that my fellow riders are very pious. They stumbled off their bikes, prostrate themselves on the side of the road and gasped “Praise God!”, “Thank The Lord!” and other more colorful praises and blessings. Some people were so overcome with emotion by the view at the top that they refused to move from where they sat (Don’t tell Luanne about this hill as I’m trying to talk her into riding with me next year). Lake Michigan must be about 2 or 3 miles away but you can clearly see it from the top just beyond the rolling farmland. You can retrace my route by heading up to Petoskey and going over to Boyne Highlands, wind through the back roads to Birchwood Farms Golf & Country Club, from there follow route 119 along Lake Michigan, stop at Cross Village and have a meal at the Legs Inn, continue along N Lakeshore Dr to Lakeview Rd, from there head east to M-81 and follow it north and east until you get to the ferry’s along Lake Huron. Make sure to buy some fudge!

 

My training continues over the next 10 weeks with lots of miles and riding in organized 100 mile (century) rides in Grand Rapids, Holland and Ann Arbor. I’ve also been doing a lot of logistical planning to prepare for the big ride. Some of the things I need for the ride include 4 pairs of bike shorts,  jerseys and socks; road shoes, cleats,  pedals, bike lights, aero bars, hydration back pack, tent, sleeping bag, bike box, bike tools,  spare tires, spare chain, head mounted flashlight, cycling rain coat and lots of Advil. I have an appointment with Fifth Third about getting a loan.

 

 

 

I Need Money!!

Well, its the end of March and I’ve raised $2,500 towards my $4,000 fund raising goal. I really wanted to be done by now so I could just focus on training as I head outdoors. Oh well, maybe I’ll tie a bucket to the back of my bike and take collections on the road.

Click Here To Donate!!

 

the cycle continues

I first published this in the Calvin newsletter:

“Sea to Sea” cycling shorts:

• The number of cyclists is now 211 making this the largest cross country ride in US history. 106 Canadians, 104 Americans, 1 international.
• ONE – The Campaign To End Poverty, begun by Bono lead singer of U2 has endorsed the Sea to Sea program and members of ONE are working with CRC leadership to discuss how to bring attention to the “Sea to Sea” and also how to integrate with the Micah Program.
• Rev. Gerard Dykstra, executive director of the Christian Reformed Church, is showing his support for “Sea to Sea”. Together with his wife, Linda, he’ll spend two weeks-and about 800 miles-in the saddle, cycling from Grand Rapids, Mich., to Jersey City, NJ.

Sometimes I stop and shake my head. Its really amazing that God has placed this desire to ride in the “Sea to Sea” (C2C) in my heart and all that He did to get me to ride. Just 18 months ago I was a devout couch potato. If you had told me in October, 2006 that in less than two years I would be riding over 1400 miles on a bicycle to raise money to fight poverty I would have sat up, adjusted my belly, caught my breath and then stated that you must have mistaken me for someone who was crazy. But in that month Luanne and I decided to get in shape and that began a process where last year I began riding my bicycle and remembering just how much I loved riding a bike. Exactly one year later, after riding all summer with Luanne, I was searching for a bigger challenge and God placed C2C in front of me!

Something else to praise God about, the sun came out today! Then a little snow melted! A trickle of water started to flow down the street! And a small patch of ground peeked out from under the snow! Hallelujah! Once the snow melts off the bike trails I’ll be riding outside every weekend. One of my favorite trails is the White Pine Trail. A trip from Riverfront Park to Sand Lake and back is about 45 miles which is a nice starter distance. I like to start my first distance ride on the White Pine Trail and hope to get on perhaps by the end of March. BRRRR, it feels weird riding a bike in a snowmobile suit. After the snow is off the streets and sidewalks, I’ll be riding everyday.

I’ve even decided to ride my bike to work which is about 10 miles from my house. I just have to figure out how to handle the funky, sweaty, need a shower and change my clothes part once I get to work. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I’ve started making changes on my bike and my equipment to prepare for C2C. You need to address all kinds of issues to ride for 80 to 110 miles a day for 3 weeks. You have to get almost obsessive about pressure and friction. Your body takes a pounding with every bump, your skin is rubbed in one direction and then another by your shirt, helmet, shorts, shoes and even the wind. If you don’t have everything right, everything hurts. Ankles and knees hurt with every stroke. Feet get blisters and feel like someone has been pounding the bottoms with a hammer. You swear the seat has shrunk down to just the post. Your back hurts, your neck aches and your shoulders are jammed up to your ears. You can see your hands but you can’t feel them and are praying you don’t have to do any sudden braking. Not only is it painful but you can suffer permanent injuries from damaged nerves, tendons and joints.

So how do you fix those aches and pains? A professional bike fitting can make sure you are properly positioned on your bike to take care of the joint and feet issues. Its expensive ($200 to $300) but is some of the best money you can spend to make long bike rides enjoyable and prevent injury. After the fit there is just gravity and friction to worry about. During a long ride gravity feels like your being pulled through the saddle onto the ground. Pressure is relieved by conditioning the body (miles on the bike), good quality biking shorts and biking gloves. Despite all the training and equipment, sometimes the best feeling on a ride is when you stand on your pedals and just ride off the seat, aaahhh. No matter how many miles you ride, this always seems to be a sore subject.

When I first started riding I wore just a regular pair of shorts and a t-shirt. I only did that once on a ride over 20 miles. I learned that most of the clothing is tight to fight friction. Not just material flapping in the breeze and your shirt ballooning as its crawling up towards your head, but the friction of your clothes rubbing back and forth on your skin in the most sensitive places. Tight clothes are not as prone to rub and they provide compression to improve circulation to your muscles. When I put on my first set of shorts and shirt they were so tight and shiny smooth that there weren’t even any wrinkles when they went over my wrinkles. Then I learned the glorious comfort of a pair of padded bike shorts and forgot all about how I looked on the bike.

This year in order to get rid of another friction point I’m switching to bib shorts which look totally geeky. Think of overalls made of spandex. I didn’t say think of ME in overalls made of spandex, PUH – LEEEZZ! The idea here is to get rid of every possible seam and waist band that rubs. Next, I’m adding aero bars to my bike which allow me to ride while resting on my elbows. This gives one more variation in ride position which helps to prevent injury from chronic repetitive motions.

Now you know why road cyclists insist on wearing clothing that is obscenely tight but why are they colored like a primary set of Crayolas? Road cyclists have to protect themselves from one major predator – drivers not paying attention. When a 20 pound bike meets a 4000 pound car the bike rider always loses. So the loud colors are there with the small hope that maybe it will catch your eye and keep them safe. So pay extra attention when your on the road this spring and give those cyclists a wide berth, it just might be me!

One of the joys of riding a bike is that you get a chance to see, to hear and sometimes even smell the world as you ride. Spring is especially nice as you escape from the captivity of winter. Everything feels fresh and renewed with cool air flowing by and the warmth of the sun on your skin. You can feel Gods creation filling. I often wonder during the spring that if its this beautiful now, what must it have been like before the fall of man? Just think of how beautiful Eden must be. I look forward to watching the trees and plants change from bare to bud to bloom and foliage, hearing the birds and smelling the flowers as I pedal onward. Well, on that happy note I have to go train on my indoor trainer which always reminds me of a hamster wheel. Luckily I can listen to music while I ride around the living room, my favorite song is of course “Willie go round in circles”.

 

Money

Thanks to everyone who has stepped up to the plate and donated towards my ride from Denver to Grand Rapids. A special thank you to Calvin CRC for taking a special collection for me.

It’s really hard asking for money, its harder to ask for money than it is to give. I am far more comfortable giving money to a cause than I have been asking people to give. So far I’ve raised about $1,400 towards the $4,000 I need to meet my fundraising goal.

I keep thinking about why I ride – to help those in poverty. And it makes it a little easier to ask people to give.

As for my riding? It’s all been indoors so far on a trainer and at the fitness center in spin class. I want to be finished raising funds by March so when it’s nice enough to ride outside (no snow or ice on the roads) I can just focus on training. I’ll try to get some pics of my bike up soon.

 

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Poverty covers the globe.  Go anywhere and those suffering from poverty are already there.

Poverty is more than just being poor. It means you don’t have enough to eat, it means you and your children go to bed without having food that day and possibly watching them starve to death.

Poverty means you don’t have clean water. The water you drink causes typhoid, dysentery, diarrhea, cholera and parasites that sap your already tired body. There is no running water, you have to walk more than mile, sometimes through dangerous armed conflicts. Every day to wash, to cook, to drink you spend a large amount of time and energy just getting water and firewood.

Poverty means you could die from a mosquito bite because you could become infected with malaria. There is no indoor plumbing, if your lucky you have an out-house. It means a real chance of dying during childbirth. It means someone in your family has HIV/AIDS and not getting treatment.

Poverty means the loss of hope.

SEA to SEA is a project to raise awareness and funds. To encourage local churches and people to get involved in serving the poor in some way either here in the US or on the other side of the world. It consists of over 100 amateur bicyclists who will dedicate themselves raise from $4,000 to $10,000 and then ride one or all of 3 legs stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic. We cyclists hope to motivate others to join in and help individuals, families and communities who suffer from chronic poverty.

If you want to learn more about the ride go to the CRC’s website: www.seatosea.org

I’ll be riding from Denver to Grand Rapids and this page is going to focus on what I have to do to raise money, what training I undertake to be able to ride 70-100 miles a day for 3 weeks and then notes and pictures from the ride itself. Stay tuned.

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