Since I haven't yet learned how to put a description under each picture as I post them I will do in in the order of appearance.
1. So you think you have tan lines?
2. I have them in stranger places than you do.
3. RR bridge built in 1915, 240 feet tall over 1/2 mile long
4. Oh, that second breakfast is so sweet!
5. On our way to Liberty Park with police escort
6. Dipping our Tires
7. Clara and I celebrating together.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
BELIEVE IT OR NOT, WE ARE HOME!
It has come to pass. On June 30 as we dipped our tires in Puget Sound, I wondered what it would be like to have completed the journey before us. Now I know. It happened so fast that it is still hard to believe it is over, even though Clara and I have been home since late Sunday night. On the other hand it is hard to believe that there ever was a time when I didn't get up in the morning packed up my tent and went biking. It seems like that is what we have been doing forever and ever. And you know what, I can't do anything else. Walking stairs was painful and it took at least ten times up the stairs before it felt comfortable and I felt like my sense of balance had returned. Yesterday afternoon my feet ached, and I realized that they were sore because of the "great" amount of walking I had done that day. And Clara feels she should not let me drive because I can't seem to maintain the speed limit, and I stand patiently in line behind a line of traffic that is going nowhere, etc.
The most common question I am asked is: "What have you learned?" Well, I'm not sure I have learned it, but the most striking thing I have experienced is the joy and contentment of living one day at the time, and the truth of Jesus' words "each day has enough trouble of its own" I worried about that second day, climbing Steven's pass, and it was tough, but we made it. The next day we had Blewett pass to climb which wasn't nearly as hard and after that I seldom looked ahead. I waited for the peleton meeting each night to get instructions for the next day. What I discovered was this: when you stop worrying about tomorrow you truly live into today and you can live deeply into it, so even if it is a difficult day, you discover beauty and the joy of a fresh baked cinnamon roll. and you discover that you are capable of far more than you thought you were. But above all you discover the face of God all around you, in the strangers you meet who bless you as you pass and exchange conversation, in the glory of a perfectly reflected mountain in a calm pond, in the encouraging words, and that gentle push in the back as your friends literally sweep you home, or set up your tent when you come in extra late. I also discovered how little I actually need, and the importance of relationships. I discovered anew that happiness and joy are not found in the things we have but in the relationships we build.
I said, that I wasn't sure I learned these things, I said that because to me learning them means that I will continue to carry these things with me, and already now I discover how easy it is to just fall back into old ways of living life without that awareness and sensitivity to God's presence and the need to concentrate on today as the only day that counts and requires our concern and as a gift from God.
It has been said often among us, that this is not the end, only the beginning and that the real work starts now that the tour is over. How true. So I really seek to continue to walk in the way I have experienced, and I pray that you too will find this is a new beginning, a new awareness not just of God in our lives, but of God's call to us to care for the widow and the fatherless and to stand up for the oppressed and afflicted.
Thanks to all of you for your loving care, your prayers, your support.
PS I lied, I actually lost more weight in the last week, so that in the end I have lost nearly fifteen pounds.
The most common question I am asked is: "What have you learned?" Well, I'm not sure I have learned it, but the most striking thing I have experienced is the joy and contentment of living one day at the time, and the truth of Jesus' words "each day has enough trouble of its own" I worried about that second day, climbing Steven's pass, and it was tough, but we made it. The next day we had Blewett pass to climb which wasn't nearly as hard and after that I seldom looked ahead. I waited for the peleton meeting each night to get instructions for the next day. What I discovered was this: when you stop worrying about tomorrow you truly live into today and you can live deeply into it, so even if it is a difficult day, you discover beauty and the joy of a fresh baked cinnamon roll. and you discover that you are capable of far more than you thought you were. But above all you discover the face of God all around you, in the strangers you meet who bless you as you pass and exchange conversation, in the glory of a perfectly reflected mountain in a calm pond, in the encouraging words, and that gentle push in the back as your friends literally sweep you home, or set up your tent when you come in extra late. I also discovered how little I actually need, and the importance of relationships. I discovered anew that happiness and joy are not found in the things we have but in the relationships we build.
I said, that I wasn't sure I learned these things, I said that because to me learning them means that I will continue to carry these things with me, and already now I discover how easy it is to just fall back into old ways of living life without that awareness and sensitivity to God's presence and the need to concentrate on today as the only day that counts and requires our concern and as a gift from God.
It has been said often among us, that this is not the end, only the beginning and that the real work starts now that the tour is over. How true. So I really seek to continue to walk in the way I have experienced, and I pray that you too will find this is a new beginning, a new awareness not just of God in our lives, but of God's call to us to care for the widow and the fatherless and to stand up for the oppressed and afflicted.
Thanks to all of you for your loving care, your prayers, your support.
PS I lied, I actually lost more weight in the last week, so that in the end I have lost nearly fifteen pounds.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Help! I'm Gaining Weight
Sunday Morning August 24. 6:30 AM
It is early, although not early by the standards of other mornings. Right now most everyone is sleeping, Friday, more than half of cyclists were on the road and all but a few dozen tents were gone. But this is Sunday, the cooks have the day off and many people have accepted billets or went to the falls last night and all is quiet. Me? Well I was tired last night went to bed as late as I could make myself stay awake (10:15) and at 4:30 I was ready to get going. I forced myself to stay in bed but I finally couldn't stand it anymore, showered and decided to use the school's computers to get on line. So while I can post, I can't access my own computer so I can't put any pictures up today.
What reception we have received here in Ontario. We entered Canada Wednesday morning around 11 from Marine City, MI. We traveled the St. Clair River by ferry and arrived to a cheering crowd, and more goodies than we could cope with. One lady had baked 400 cupcakes with Canadian flags, there was Tim Horton's coffee and timbits, fruit and zoute drop, and on and on it went.
Yesterday we arrived in St. Catherines where once more we were treated to goodies, a person giving foot massages, transportation to laundromats and bicycle shops etc. etc. I'm afraid we could even take advantage of all of it. To get to St. Catherines was like running a gauntlet of goodness. Beamsville church served lunch, and two others served refreshments. I made the mistake of stopping in an ice cream shop that advertized home made Gelati, which was TERRIFIC only to discover freshly picked peaches served over ice cream at the Grimsby church two kilometers down the road. Think I could resist? Not on your life. I did resist the temptation to stop at the dutch bakery where Eritia works which had a big banner out and served free coffee and pastries. But besides the churches there were at least three family stops welcoming family members and serving up juices, water and freezies. In Grand Rapids, I stood on the third scale in a week that indicated I had lost 8 pounds, which is the average of all three, but at this rate I will gain it all back before Jersey City.
Along the way I have met up with one of Clara's cousins, Theresa Vander Sluis in Chatham, Dan and Ida Tigchelaar in London and Theresa and Arnie from Chilliwack who happened to be at Niagara falls and came to visit camp last night.
My bike had been acting most of this past week, it wasn't shifting well leaving me only about 7 or eight usuable gears, which in itself wasn't a problem but accessing the gears had to be done in a very specific order or else I was stranded, so I actually walked several hills because I got caught in a gear I couldn't use up the hill and had no way of shifting down., but all these nights being billeted out meant I couldn't get at it. So yesterday as we came into St. Catherines there was a bike shop which fixed the shifting problem for me and then I spent much of the afternoon cleaning up my bike real thoroughly. So now it runs again, smooth as silk.
I can't imagine that we have only one week left. For the past eight weeks my entire life has consisted of biking, putting up the tent, taking it down, eating sleeping and doing those tasks absolutely necessary to keept going, like doing the wash and in a week it will be all over. This has been a very regimented tour. The activities of each day are almost identical and spell out for us by the tasks assigned. You really don't have to make very many decisions except how often you stop for ice cream. It's become a way of life and next week it ends. However as one of our speakers reminded us the other night, it's not over in Jersey, it's really only just beginning. After the tour the monies raised will be designated and spent and persons we have all become will have to adjust to the new reality and seek to maintain the vision and dedication we have acquired.
It is early, although not early by the standards of other mornings. Right now most everyone is sleeping, Friday, more than half of cyclists were on the road and all but a few dozen tents were gone. But this is Sunday, the cooks have the day off and many people have accepted billets or went to the falls last night and all is quiet. Me? Well I was tired last night went to bed as late as I could make myself stay awake (10:15) and at 4:30 I was ready to get going. I forced myself to stay in bed but I finally couldn't stand it anymore, showered and decided to use the school's computers to get on line. So while I can post, I can't access my own computer so I can't put any pictures up today.
What reception we have received here in Ontario. We entered Canada Wednesday morning around 11 from Marine City, MI. We traveled the St. Clair River by ferry and arrived to a cheering crowd, and more goodies than we could cope with. One lady had baked 400 cupcakes with Canadian flags, there was Tim Horton's coffee and timbits, fruit and zoute drop, and on and on it went.
Yesterday we arrived in St. Catherines where once more we were treated to goodies, a person giving foot massages, transportation to laundromats and bicycle shops etc. etc. I'm afraid we could even take advantage of all of it. To get to St. Catherines was like running a gauntlet of goodness. Beamsville church served lunch, and two others served refreshments. I made the mistake of stopping in an ice cream shop that advertized home made Gelati, which was TERRIFIC only to discover freshly picked peaches served over ice cream at the Grimsby church two kilometers down the road. Think I could resist? Not on your life. I did resist the temptation to stop at the dutch bakery where Eritia works which had a big banner out and served free coffee and pastries. But besides the churches there were at least three family stops welcoming family members and serving up juices, water and freezies. In Grand Rapids, I stood on the third scale in a week that indicated I had lost 8 pounds, which is the average of all three, but at this rate I will gain it all back before Jersey City.
Along the way I have met up with one of Clara's cousins, Theresa Vander Sluis in Chatham, Dan and Ida Tigchelaar in London and Theresa and Arnie from Chilliwack who happened to be at Niagara falls and came to visit camp last night.
My bike had been acting most of this past week, it wasn't shifting well leaving me only about 7 or eight usuable gears, which in itself wasn't a problem but accessing the gears had to be done in a very specific order or else I was stranded, so I actually walked several hills because I got caught in a gear I couldn't use up the hill and had no way of shifting down., but all these nights being billeted out meant I couldn't get at it. So yesterday as we came into St. Catherines there was a bike shop which fixed the shifting problem for me and then I spent much of the afternoon cleaning up my bike real thoroughly. So now it runs again, smooth as silk.
I can't imagine that we have only one week left. For the past eight weeks my entire life has consisted of biking, putting up the tent, taking it down, eating sleeping and doing those tasks absolutely necessary to keept going, like doing the wash and in a week it will be all over. This has been a very regimented tour. The activities of each day are almost identical and spell out for us by the tasks assigned. You really don't have to make very many decisions except how often you stop for ice cream. It's become a way of life and next week it ends. However as one of our speakers reminded us the other night, it's not over in Jersey, it's really only just beginning. After the tour the monies raised will be designated and spent and persons we have all become will have to adjust to the new reality and seek to maintain the vision and dedication we have acquired.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Here we are two weeks from the end of the tour, in Grand Rapids, MI. It's hard to believe that we are this close to the end. It has been fun to visit with family and friends. We came into the GR via Leonard St. and a friend of ours, Char lives in a nursing home just two blocks off the route, so I surprised her and popped in. She has lived with MS since about 1970 and no longer has any use of her hands or feet, so is totally dependent on others. When I walked in the home care worker was just getting her ready so she and her husband could get to Calvin College and watch me and the other 300 bikers ride in. She was so surprised, it was fun. We had a short ride yesterday, only 75 km, and 8 stops along the way. Most were stops organized by families of bikers along the way and three were organized by local churches. It's blueberry season in Michigan and I ate more blueberries than I could count. If you do that you will pay for it, and I did.
The ride in was impressive. All of the long distance riders in official jersey, followed by another 150 riders who were just riding for the day. We blocked up traffic quite effectively. Clara, 2 of my sisters and their husbands plus Clara's sister and her husband were all there to cheer us on, but I didn't see any of them until after we had all reached the parking lot.
We are getting ready for the service at the ball park. Over 8000 people are expected. I bought a new camera so I will post some pictures later.
For those of you who haven't heard, I've been riding since last Monday and things have been going great. Far better than I could have hoped or dreamed for. I thank God for healing which is occurring at a much faster rate than the doctor predicted and look forward to a couple of great weeks of riding.
Here we are two weeks from the end of the tour, in Grand Rapids, MI. It's hard to believe that we are this close to the end. It has been fun to visit with family and friends. We came into the GR via Leonard St. and a friend of ours, Char lives in a nursing home just two blocks off the route, so I surprised her and popped in. She has lived with MS since about 1970 and no longer has any use of her hands or feet, so is totally dependent on others. When I walked in the home care worker was just getting her ready so she and her husband could get to Calvin College and watch me and the other 300 bikers ride in. She was so surprised, it was fun. We had a short ride yesterday, only 75 km, and 8 stops along the way. Most were stops organized by families of bikers along the way and three were organized by local churches. It's blueberry season in Michigan and I ate more blueberries than I could count. If you do that you will pay for it, and I did.
The ride in was impressive. All of the long distance riders in official jersey, followed by another 150 riders who were just riding for the day. We blocked up traffic quite effectively. Clara, 2 of my sisters and their husbands plus Clara's sister and her husband were all there to cheer us on, but I didn't see any of them until after we had all reached the parking lot.
We are getting ready for the service at the ball park. Over 8000 people are expected. I bought a new camera so I will post some pictures later.
For those of you who haven't heard, I've been riding since last Monday and things have been going great. Far better than I could have hoped or dreamed for. I thank God for healing which is occurring at a much faster rate than the doctor predicted and look forward to a couple of great weeks of riding.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Friday evening the forecast called for rain, so I took my camera out of my handlebar carrier and put it in my gear bag which I store in the vestibule of my tent under the fly. A perfectly safe, dry place, or so I thought. Tent material does go slack as the evening grows cooler and when the rains came about one o'clock in the morning the fly collapsed enough to form a funnel which directed the water off my tent directly into my gear bag. So when I reached into my bag to get my stuff bag for my sleeping bag I found my camera floating in an inch of water. I have spent two days drying it our and recharged the battery, but so far no luck, so until I resolve this one I will not be able to add pictures to my blog. So I suggest that for pictures you go to the Sea to Sea website, there you can find lots of pictures both those taken by Jonathan, our official photographer or if you click cyclist's pictures you will find pictures posted by various riders on the tour.
I'm glad I decided not to ride Saturday, I feel much better and ready to ride tomorrow. Assuming that this time our satelite problems have had a permanent fix I should be able to update you on a much more regular basis. The next two days are still fairly long, 130 k and then we get a number of shorter days into Grand Rapids.
I'm glad I decided not to ride Saturday, I feel much better and ready to ride tomorrow. Assuming that this time our satelite problems have had a permanent fix I should be able to update you on a much more regular basis. The next two days are still fairly long, 130 k and then we get a number of shorter days into Grand Rapids.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
my first accident
Monday August 4, 2008
Fremont – Sioux city IA 144k
Elevation gain
Elevation loss
Net loss
Time 7.03
Maximum speed: 55.4k/h
Average speed; 20.5
It was a long day and I got a fairly late start because we had to come from Iowa back to Fremont which took at least 45 minutes. I got on the road about 7.30AM or maybe even seven forty-five. The wind was against us from the beginning but then about 90 minutes into the day it switched to the south as the sky cleared and the temperature rose. Then we ran into a shower which lasted a half hour or so, didn’t rain much but it was enough to put up lots of spray as the trucks came by. After the shower the wind turned to the NE and that is the way it stayed the rest of the day for about 65 miles. It made the trip a bit of a slog fest. About 2 PM we crossed the Missouri river into Iowa. It was one of those open steel grid affairs, hard to ride on, and many people walked. A hundred yards after we passed the ‘welcome to Iowa’ sign and had our picture taken I had a painful fall. The shoulders in Nebraska had been very narrow in some areas, non-existent in most. In Iowa not only was the shoulder non-existent, the drop off was between four and six inches. I had read my map at the foto shoot and after I got back on the bike I realized that I had not noted the total distance so could not figure how much I had left to go, so I reached into my handlebar bag and pulled out the map and dropped my front wheel off the pavement. The safe thing to do in those circumstances is to follow your wheel. Well, I did not attempt to pull it back up, but neither did I follow it off the road. I kicked my left foot loose and thought I could stop that way, when without warning my front wheel turned sharply to the left, yanked the handlebars out of my hand and jumped back onto the pavement. I went over the handlebars and landed on the front wheel which gave me a sucker punch. There I lay on my hands and knees on the pavement, the right leg still attached to the pedal, totally winded, and gasping for air. Thank God there was no traffic and lots of people to help. I only had a couple of scrapes but my lower ribs on the right hand side were red and sore.
After Betsy, the nurse had checked me over and suggested that I probably had only bruised them, I got back on my bike and rode into camp which was still about 55 km to go. Thankfully, Randy and Russ helped me in. They were on sweep and felt responsible I guess. They got me to draft behind them. For an hour or so it went fine and then the pain started. For a short time we drafted behind the Stehouwer boys and that really helped and we were able to maintain a 25k/h when I couldn’t keep up, either Randy or Russ would come behind me and push me along. They called it ‘laying on of hands’ and so we limped home.
Fremont – Sioux city IA 144k
Elevation gain
Elevation loss
Net loss
Time 7.03
Maximum speed: 55.4k/h
Average speed; 20.5
It was a long day and I got a fairly late start because we had to come from Iowa back to Fremont which took at least 45 minutes. I got on the road about 7.30AM or maybe even seven forty-five. The wind was against us from the beginning but then about 90 minutes into the day it switched to the south as the sky cleared and the temperature rose. Then we ran into a shower which lasted a half hour or so, didn’t rain much but it was enough to put up lots of spray as the trucks came by. After the shower the wind turned to the NE and that is the way it stayed the rest of the day for about 65 miles. It made the trip a bit of a slog fest. About 2 PM we crossed the Missouri river into Iowa. It was one of those open steel grid affairs, hard to ride on, and many people walked. A hundred yards after we passed the ‘welcome to Iowa’ sign and had our picture taken I had a painful fall. The shoulders in Nebraska had been very narrow in some areas, non-existent in most. In Iowa not only was the shoulder non-existent, the drop off was between four and six inches. I had read my map at the foto shoot and after I got back on the bike I realized that I had not noted the total distance so could not figure how much I had left to go, so I reached into my handlebar bag and pulled out the map and dropped my front wheel off the pavement. The safe thing to do in those circumstances is to follow your wheel. Well, I did not attempt to pull it back up, but neither did I follow it off the road. I kicked my left foot loose and thought I could stop that way, when without warning my front wheel turned sharply to the left, yanked the handlebars out of my hand and jumped back onto the pavement. I went over the handlebars and landed on the front wheel which gave me a sucker punch. There I lay on my hands and knees on the pavement, the right leg still attached to the pedal, totally winded, and gasping for air. Thank God there was no traffic and lots of people to help. I only had a couple of scrapes but my lower ribs on the right hand side were red and sore.
After Betsy, the nurse had checked me over and suggested that I probably had only bruised them, I got back on my bike and rode into camp which was still about 55 km to go. Thankfully, Randy and Russ helped me in. They were on sweep and felt responsible I guess. They got me to draft behind them. For an hour or so it went fine and then the pain started. For a short time we drafted behind the Stehouwer boys and that really helped and we were able to maintain a 25k/h when I couldn’t keep up, either Randy or Russ would come behind me and push me along. They called it ‘laying on of hands’ and so we limped home.
my first accident
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Four days have passed since I journaled the last time. It has been a pretty frustrating week. We have crossed Iowa in that time and entered Wisconsin; however, I have done so without adding a pedal stroke. After Clarence Kooistra got into Sioux Center, we went looking for the local bike shop – I still need a new pair of gloves – on the way there, we were walking, the woman we had talked to earlier about an electronics store stopped and gave us a lift first to the electronics store then back to the bike shop. The computer had stopped charging and so I wanted to test out the transformer. The test were inconclusive, but it appeared that the transformer might be fried, so I bought a new one and then walked back to the college from the bike shop. By the time we got back to the college I was totally done in. the pain was intense. Barb saw me and said, ‘I think you need to see a doctor.’ And I was in no mood to disagree. So she arranged to have someone from the college bring me to the emergency. The doctor who saw me was concerned about the level and the extent of the pain and said that given the way the accident occurred I might have ruptured my spleen or damaged my kidney or liver. He ordered a CT scan and an X-ray to check the state of the ribs. To be honest I had wondered whether I had incurred internal damage and spent nearly five hours worrying about the future of my participation in the tour. The hospital here is small and there is no radiologist on duty in the evenings so the CT scan was sent to Australia to be read by a radiologist. They said that we would have results in about an hour and a half, in fact it took less than half an hour so by 10 pm we had the results. No broken ribs, no damage to the organs, just massive bruising. He prescribed me an anti-inflammatory and a strong pain killer and told me that there was no reason for me to stop the tour, and I could ride as soon as I feel comfortable enough to cope with the pain. I asked him how long I would need the pain killers he said that it would probably be necessary for a couple of weeks after I got home since healing would be slow while on the tour because of the ongoing exercise. Wednesday morning I rode with Walter on the SAG and he took me to Wal-Mart to the pharmacy and the electronic store to return the transformer for the computer since it didn’t fit my model. The pain killers made me sleepy and I slept several hours in Walter’s motor home, but by evening I was feeling a lot better, so I made plans to ride the following day. Thursday morning I got up, feeling reasonably well, had breakfast went to the bathroom and as I walked to my bike to leave, my back muscles went into spasms and that ended that. For a second day I accompanied Walter. I had people pack up my tent and carry my bag to the truck and told Walter that I would come with him. He pointed to his RV which was parked about a block away and told me that he would be leaving about nine. I told him that at the rate I was walking I should be able to get there by nine, [it was seven-thirty]. By evening I was much better again, but Ed told us that the road the next day was very rough, so I cancelled biking once again. As I stood in the shower the next morning, I debated with myself, thinking, ‘you know, if you take tomorrow off as well then you have a full week to recover.’ As I walked out of the shower I met Walter who said, ‘you know I don’t want to tell you what to do, but I think it would be wise not to ride till Monday.’ That is what I did. So today we crossed over into Wisconsin and I have only ridden 35 miles of the Iowa leg of the trip, and missed the three longest days. I really wanted to do them, just to prove to myself that I could.
To add to my woes, it rained last night. There was rain in the forecast so I had carefully stowed my duffel bag under my fly in the vestibule of the tent but the weight of the rain and the coolness of the air meant that the fly lost its taught ness and formed a funnel which directed the rain directly into my duffel bag. When I reached out to pull my duffel bag into the tent so I could pack my sleeping bag etc. into it, I discovered that there was an inch of water standing in it and my camera was floating in the water. I spent the entire day drying it out and this evening I am recharging the battery, tomorrow we will know if I still have a camera or if it has died.
Four days have passed since I journaled the last time. It has been a pretty frustrating week. We have crossed Iowa in that time and entered Wisconsin; however, I have done so without adding a pedal stroke. After Clarence Kooistra got into Sioux Center, we went looking for the local bike shop – I still need a new pair of gloves – on the way there, we were walking, the woman we had talked to earlier about an electronics store stopped and gave us a lift first to the electronics store then back to the bike shop. The computer had stopped charging and so I wanted to test out the transformer. The test were inconclusive, but it appeared that the transformer might be fried, so I bought a new one and then walked back to the college from the bike shop. By the time we got back to the college I was totally done in. the pain was intense. Barb saw me and said, ‘I think you need to see a doctor.’ And I was in no mood to disagree. So she arranged to have someone from the college bring me to the emergency. The doctor who saw me was concerned about the level and the extent of the pain and said that given the way the accident occurred I might have ruptured my spleen or damaged my kidney or liver. He ordered a CT scan and an X-ray to check the state of the ribs. To be honest I had wondered whether I had incurred internal damage and spent nearly five hours worrying about the future of my participation in the tour. The hospital here is small and there is no radiologist on duty in the evenings so the CT scan was sent to Australia to be read by a radiologist. They said that we would have results in about an hour and a half, in fact it took less than half an hour so by 10 pm we had the results. No broken ribs, no damage to the organs, just massive bruising. He prescribed me an anti-inflammatory and a strong pain killer and told me that there was no reason for me to stop the tour, and I could ride as soon as I feel comfortable enough to cope with the pain. I asked him how long I would need the pain killers he said that it would probably be necessary for a couple of weeks after I got home since healing would be slow while on the tour because of the ongoing exercise. Wednesday morning I rode with Walter on the SAG and he took me to Wal-Mart to the pharmacy and the electronic store to return the transformer for the computer since it didn’t fit my model. The pain killers made me sleepy and I slept several hours in Walter’s motor home, but by evening I was feeling a lot better, so I made plans to ride the following day. Thursday morning I got up, feeling reasonably well, had breakfast went to the bathroom and as I walked to my bike to leave, my back muscles went into spasms and that ended that. For a second day I accompanied Walter. I had people pack up my tent and carry my bag to the truck and told Walter that I would come with him. He pointed to his RV which was parked about a block away and told me that he would be leaving about nine. I told him that at the rate I was walking I should be able to get there by nine, [it was seven-thirty]. By evening I was much better again, but Ed told us that the road the next day was very rough, so I cancelled biking once again. As I stood in the shower the next morning, I debated with myself, thinking, ‘you know, if you take tomorrow off as well then you have a full week to recover.’ As I walked out of the shower I met Walter who said, ‘you know I don’t want to tell you what to do, but I think it would be wise not to ride till Monday.’ That is what I did. So today we crossed over into Wisconsin and I have only ridden 35 miles of the Iowa leg of the trip, and missed the three longest days. I really wanted to do them, just to prove to myself that I could.
To add to my woes, it rained last night. There was rain in the forecast so I had carefully stowed my duffel bag under my fly in the vestibule of the tent but the weight of the rain and the coolness of the air meant that the fly lost its taught ness and formed a funnel which directed the rain directly into my duffel bag. When I reached out to pull my duffel bag into the tent so I could pack my sleeping bag etc. into it, I discovered that there was an inch of water standing in it and my camera was floating in the water. I spent the entire day drying it out and this evening I am recharging the battery, tomorrow we will know if I still have a camera or if it has died.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Thursday, Friday, Saturday July 30 – August 1, 2008
McCook – Fremont 462k
Elevation gain 5276
Elevation loss 6831
Net loss 1559
Time 22.36
Maximum speed: 53.6k/h
Average speed; 20.4
Days become a blur; this week has been long and hot. On most days the temperature has topped 100f or 39c. The days have been long, 140 – 150 km 7-7:30 hours in the saddle, with little or no time to keep up the journal, so in fact I am combining three days in one. So here it is Sunday morning and I am trying to catch up
We reached two miles stones this week. At the end of Wednesday we had pedalled 27 days and had 27 days of pedalling left. On Thursday we passed this lovely Catholic church with a shrine to the Lady Fatima and this beautiful bronze statue
This statue was commissioned by the Catholic priest of this parish who was the chaplain to the army division that freed Dachau.
On Friday we had our second milestone of the week
At mile 1943 into the journey we were met with a SAG where we all had our picture taken, because this was the half-way mark on the tour. Here is the one of me and Clare Kooistra. I prefer the mileage reference, since that is also the year of my birth. I calculate that it has taken 610,000 revolutions of my pedals to get to this point.
The days have been long. I generally rise at 5 AM try to be on the road by six. That means I get into camp between four thirty and five. Now I have one hour to get a shower, set up my tent and maybe journal a little before supper. After supper we usually have about 45 minutes to try to get on line which has been really difficult because of the ongoing problems with the satellite connection. Others who arrive earlier often go to town to the library or an internet café and get it done before supper. At seven-thirty we have our pelaton meeting, [pelaton refers to a group of cyclist] then we meet as small groups till about nine. Next I get my bike ready for the next day, fill water bottles, check tires and pump them up check gears etc. and by nine-thirty or ten I’m back in bed and do it all over again the following day. And that schedule will pretty much continue until we get into Michigan.
McCook – Fremont 462k
Elevation gain 5276
Elevation loss 6831
Net loss 1559
Time 22.36
Maximum speed: 53.6k/h
Average speed; 20.4
Days become a blur; this week has been long and hot. On most days the temperature has topped 100f or 39c. The days have been long, 140 – 150 km 7-7:30 hours in the saddle, with little or no time to keep up the journal, so in fact I am combining three days in one. So here it is Sunday morning and I am trying to catch up
We reached two miles stones this week. At the end of Wednesday we had pedalled 27 days and had 27 days of pedalling left. On Thursday we passed this lovely Catholic church with a shrine to the Lady Fatima and this beautiful bronze statue
This statue was commissioned by the Catholic priest of this parish who was the chaplain to the army division that freed Dachau.
On Friday we had our second milestone of the week
At mile 1943 into the journey we were met with a SAG where we all had our picture taken, because this was the half-way mark on the tour. Here is the one of me and Clare Kooistra. I prefer the mileage reference, since that is also the year of my birth. I calculate that it has taken 610,000 revolutions of my pedals to get to this point.
The days have been long. I generally rise at 5 AM try to be on the road by six. That means I get into camp between four thirty and five. Now I have one hour to get a shower, set up my tent and maybe journal a little before supper. After supper we usually have about 45 minutes to try to get on line which has been really difficult because of the ongoing problems with the satellite connection. Others who arrive earlier often go to town to the library or an internet café and get it done before supper. At seven-thirty we have our pelaton meeting, [pelaton refers to a group of cyclist] then we meet as small groups till about nine. Next I get my bike ready for the next day, fill water bottles, check tires and pump them up check gears etc. and by nine-thirty or ten I’m back in bed and do it all over again the following day. And that schedule will pretty much continue until we get into Michigan.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Saturday July 26, 2008
Today was a spectacular ride. We dropped out of the YMCA campground to about 8300 feet and then slowly regained some altitude in 7 or 8 k. the climb into the pass started at 8500 feet and over the next 40km we climbed nearly 3000 feet to 11300 feet. It really wasn’t too hard except for a km or two when we were about 11km from the top. The rest of the trip was up was fairly slow and difficult with lots of switch-backs and spectacular views. You can see the road way down in the valley behind me.
This was the eighth pass we climbed, and the highest by nearly 2000 feet.
The ride down was spectacular, but we had to be really careful as the road was sometimes rough, sometimes narrow and the wind could hit you from any direction and sometimes at great strength. Some of the young guys hit speeds of 85 km. I held it to a much more conservative 65. Much lower down we went through a canyon where the speed limit was often down to 30mph and I had to slow down for traffic.
We had our first serious injury today. Tyler, an excellent rider hit the rear tire of the person ahead of him in the pace line and fell. He broke his collarbone and separated his shoulder and is done. It will be at least six weeks before he can ride again so for him the tour is over. He is a real good rider but that is the risk of a pace line. You have to concentrate very hard on the person ahead of you to make sure that you are not gaining on him/her. Because if you make contact with the bike ahead of you, you will fall.
Pace lines are a lovely option at this point of the tour. It is estimated that you increase your speed by as much as 35 percent over against riding alone. Not only that you don’t get nearly as tired. Just like Canada geese. However, once we hit the prairies and have to make those long 190 km days. If those turn out to be windy and with a head wind you need to participate in a pace line. You can’t ride nearly two hundred km into a head wind by yourself in one day. We will pray for good winds and safety and deal with each day as it comes.
Today was a spectacular ride. We dropped out of the YMCA campground to about 8300 feet and then slowly regained some altitude in 7 or 8 k. the climb into the pass started at 8500 feet and over the next 40km we climbed nearly 3000 feet to 11300 feet. It really wasn’t too hard except for a km or two when we were about 11km from the top. The rest of the trip was up was fairly slow and difficult with lots of switch-backs and spectacular views. You can see the road way down in the valley behind me.
This was the eighth pass we climbed, and the highest by nearly 2000 feet.
The ride down was spectacular, but we had to be really careful as the road was sometimes rough, sometimes narrow and the wind could hit you from any direction and sometimes at great strength. Some of the young guys hit speeds of 85 km. I held it to a much more conservative 65. Much lower down we went through a canyon where the speed limit was often down to 30mph and I had to slow down for traffic.
We had our first serious injury today. Tyler, an excellent rider hit the rear tire of the person ahead of him in the pace line and fell. He broke his collarbone and separated his shoulder and is done. It will be at least six weeks before he can ride again so for him the tour is over. He is a real good rider but that is the risk of a pace line. You have to concentrate very hard on the person ahead of you to make sure that you are not gaining on him/her. Because if you make contact with the bike ahead of you, you will fall.
Pace lines are a lovely option at this point of the tour. It is estimated that you increase your speed by as much as 35 percent over against riding alone. Not only that you don’t get nearly as tired. Just like Canada geese. However, once we hit the prairies and have to make those long 190 km days. If those turn out to be windy and with a head wind you need to participate in a pace line. You can’t ride nearly two hundred km into a head wind by yourself in one day. We will pray for good winds and safety and deal with each day as it comes.
Friday July 25, 2008
Kremmling –YMCA Snow Mountain Ranch - elevation 8820
Distance 59
Time 3.30
Uphill 2540
Downhill 1085
Elev. Net 1456
Max 67.8
Average; 21.2
Why is it that the really nice and easy days are 20k too short and the really tough, with lots of climbing days are 20k too long?
Today was a lovely day a long slow climb with some rolling hills lots of variety with two interesting towns to explore which most of did since we had lots of time. We followed the Colorado River up to its source which made for a very steady upgrade. Only when we past the source of the Colorado River did the incline increase to a moderate climb for about 6km to our destination.
About half way through the trip we came through a beautiful canyon. I got some lovely pictures. I was riding with Clare Kooistra who rides a recumbent tricycle and particularly through the canyon I rode shotgun for him. i.e. I rode about 30 meters behind him and shouted at him if oncoming traffic and traffic from behind would cause a real dangerous situation for him. I did once have to shout at him to hit the gravel other than that it would seem that all the trucks passed while we were off the road taking pictures.
Kremmling –YMCA Snow Mountain Ranch - elevation 8820
Distance 59
Time 3.30
Uphill 2540
Downhill 1085
Elev. Net 1456
Max 67.8
Average; 21.2
Why is it that the really nice and easy days are 20k too short and the really tough, with lots of climbing days are 20k too long?
Today was a lovely day a long slow climb with some rolling hills lots of variety with two interesting towns to explore which most of did since we had lots of time. We followed the Colorado River up to its source which made for a very steady upgrade. Only when we past the source of the Colorado River did the incline increase to a moderate climb for about 6km to our destination.
About half way through the trip we came through a beautiful canyon. I got some lovely pictures. I was riding with Clare Kooistra who rides a recumbent tricycle and particularly through the canyon I rode shotgun for him. i.e. I rode about 30 meters behind him and shouted at him if oncoming traffic and traffic from behind would cause a real dangerous situation for him. I did once have to shout at him to hit the gravel other than that it would seem that all the trucks passed while we were off the road taking pictures.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Saturday July 19, 2008
Brigham City to park city
Distance 164km Official 155.6
Uphill 5723ft
Downhill 3201 Ft
Net 2522 ft
Time 9:05
Max 69.3
Average 18
Well folks this was the killer ride. For the first time I had some serious doubts that I could make it, but make it I did. Mind you, I spent 12 ½ hrs on the road and just over 9 in the saddle. But I made it and I don’t think that there is anything they can through at me that I can’t do. It wasn’t the distance that made it so difficult, it wasn’t the hills it was the sequence. If the hills had been first this would have been a piece of cake., a big piece, mind you but very doable. We had done just over 100 k when we stopped at the church in Salt Lake City. Ed had warned us that the climb would begin as soon as we left the church. Boy, he wasn’t kidding. One block after we turned back onto the route and the grade increased to 12 percent. I walked. It lasted only one block and then the grade became manageable again. The climb through the canyon went up to 5800 ft. It was a lovely ride. Steep sections were broke up with nearly level ones and in many places it was shady. At one point a young couple was handing out popsicles to all sea to sea riders easily recognized by our yellow safety vests. They had seen about us on TV. He also had some contact with Calvin College. Further up the road a restaurant was offering to refill our bottles with ice water. At the top the canyon pass the church had another refreshment stop. The churches in Salt Lake City are small and they had asked the local Lutheran congregation to help them. So while the lunch wasn’t as posh as the one put on by the RCA church in Twin Falls, the commitment was probably far greater. From the top of the first pass we dropped a quick 500ft we then turned onto the interstate and the grade went up to 9percent for the first km. Thirty minutes after leaving at 5900ft. five miles from the top of the second pass at 7016ft. and it was hot. Those last five miles were littered with semi trucks and cars which had overheated. Almost immediately after we reached the top we were off the expressway. We all expected to see Walter with his RV but he wasn’t there so we all visited the local garage and convenience store and headed down. Five fast km later we saw Walter, he simply hadn’t been able to find a parking spot any earlier. In spite of the ice cream cone at the top of the hill, the watermelon was wonderful! We knew we had to climb into Park City, but after we turned away from it to go to the park no one expected that last hill. It was brutal, about 1 ½ km and 130 meter rise. That might not sound like much but that but that is about an 8 percent grade, the kind that truckers are warned to stop and test their brakes before proceeding. I heard that a lot of people muttered unmentionables at the sight of that hill and I was no exception. I was glad I had saved and orange and had it before tackling it. The last 1.6 km was completely downhill. Much of it was real steep and I reached 69.7 however, I had to break because there were two rumble strips and at times less that 18 inches between them with lots of debris. Supper was waiting, after supper it was get your tent up and by 9:15 I was sacked out. Lightning, some light rain and strong winds woke me up around midnight and I slept till seven thirty, just over ten hours.
Brigham City to park city
Distance 164km Official 155.6
Uphill 5723ft
Downhill 3201 Ft
Net 2522 ft
Time 9:05
Max 69.3
Average 18
Well folks this was the killer ride. For the first time I had some serious doubts that I could make it, but make it I did. Mind you, I spent 12 ½ hrs on the road and just over 9 in the saddle. But I made it and I don’t think that there is anything they can through at me that I can’t do. It wasn’t the distance that made it so difficult, it wasn’t the hills it was the sequence. If the hills had been first this would have been a piece of cake., a big piece, mind you but very doable. We had done just over 100 k when we stopped at the church in Salt Lake City. Ed had warned us that the climb would begin as soon as we left the church. Boy, he wasn’t kidding. One block after we turned back onto the route and the grade increased to 12 percent. I walked. It lasted only one block and then the grade became manageable again. The climb through the canyon went up to 5800 ft. It was a lovely ride. Steep sections were broke up with nearly level ones and in many places it was shady. At one point a young couple was handing out popsicles to all sea to sea riders easily recognized by our yellow safety vests. They had seen about us on TV. He also had some contact with Calvin College. Further up the road a restaurant was offering to refill our bottles with ice water. At the top the canyon pass the church had another refreshment stop. The churches in Salt Lake City are small and they had asked the local Lutheran congregation to help them. So while the lunch wasn’t as posh as the one put on by the RCA church in Twin Falls, the commitment was probably far greater. From the top of the first pass we dropped a quick 500ft we then turned onto the interstate and the grade went up to 9percent for the first km. Thirty minutes after leaving at 5900ft. five miles from the top of the second pass at 7016ft. and it was hot. Those last five miles were littered with semi trucks and cars which had overheated. Almost immediately after we reached the top we were off the expressway. We all expected to see Walter with his RV but he wasn’t there so we all visited the local garage and convenience store and headed down. Five fast km later we saw Walter, he simply hadn’t been able to find a parking spot any earlier. In spite of the ice cream cone at the top of the hill, the watermelon was wonderful! We knew we had to climb into Park City, but after we turned away from it to go to the park no one expected that last hill. It was brutal, about 1 ½ km and 130 meter rise. That might not sound like much but that but that is about an 8 percent grade, the kind that truckers are warned to stop and test their brakes before proceeding. I heard that a lot of people muttered unmentionables at the sight of that hill and I was no exception. I was glad I had saved and orange and had it before tackling it. The last 1.6 km was completely downhill. Much of it was real steep and I reached 69.7 however, I had to break because there were two rumble strips and at times less that 18 inches between them with lots of debris. Supper was waiting, after supper it was get your tent up and by 9:15 I was sacked out. Lightning, some light rain and strong winds woke me up around midnight and I slept till seven thirty, just over ten hours.
Friday July 18, 2008
Snowville to Brigham City Utah
Distance 110km Official 104
Uphill 1940ft
Downhill 2205 Ft
Net -265 ft
Time 5:17
Max 51.9
Average 20.2
Another difficult day, not as bad as yesterday, but the heat really gets to you. I drank more than yesterday and it certainly helped, but even so I had consumed 3L before I had to go to the bathroom at night
The climb came early and went well. Then we had 32k of road which had the warning sing ‘loose gravel’ they had recently tarred and coated the road with gravel and it was rough. Besides there were these long straight stretches which seemed to have progress laugh in our faces.
We had a lovely stop at a café in Corrinne, where we shared a large French fry and I had an iced tea. In Brigham City we noticed a woman with her feet in a small irrigation channel about 18 inches wide and as deep. Water was running in it and Joan made us stop and we all waded in. aahhh did that feel good. I didn’t even take my socks and shoes off. It felt sooo good. A little later on Claire and Joan stopped at the bike store and I went on. Outside of town I found a fruitstand selling freshly picked apricots at a dollar a pound. I bought a pound and a half for which I was charged one buck and I’m afraid that they were all gone by the time I got to camp 20 minute later.
The first thing I did when I got to camp was to stake out my site, next I took off my shirt and shoes and went for a swim in the lake. This is a fresh lake. It is part of the great Salt Lake, but a dam separates it from Salt Lake and keeps it fresh. It is this water the city ad orchards use for irrigation. The lake wasn’t the cleanest I have ever seen, but the swim was wonderful.
It’s amazing how positive and responsive people are. The churches of Utah had one of the members drop off a huge water trough with about 20 watermelon and ice in it. We are enjoying it right now. Even though supper which was wonderful and filling and had huge pieces of Cherry Cheese cake for dessert was less than 30 minutes ago, boy can we eat. But the response goes way beyond the CRC and the RCA. There was a sign along the road welcoming C2C cyclists at a local fruit stand. The owner had seen us on TV and every one who stopped got a bag of free Bing cherries. I didn’t see the sign and it was on the other side of a busy road which I’m sure kept the traffic down,
Snowville to Brigham City Utah
Distance 110km Official 104
Uphill 1940ft
Downhill 2205 Ft
Net -265 ft
Time 5:17
Max 51.9
Average 20.2
Another difficult day, not as bad as yesterday, but the heat really gets to you. I drank more than yesterday and it certainly helped, but even so I had consumed 3L before I had to go to the bathroom at night
The climb came early and went well. Then we had 32k of road which had the warning sing ‘loose gravel’ they had recently tarred and coated the road with gravel and it was rough. Besides there were these long straight stretches which seemed to have progress laugh in our faces.
We had a lovely stop at a café in Corrinne, where we shared a large French fry and I had an iced tea. In Brigham City we noticed a woman with her feet in a small irrigation channel about 18 inches wide and as deep. Water was running in it and Joan made us stop and we all waded in. aahhh did that feel good. I didn’t even take my socks and shoes off. It felt sooo good. A little later on Claire and Joan stopped at the bike store and I went on. Outside of town I found a fruitstand selling freshly picked apricots at a dollar a pound. I bought a pound and a half for which I was charged one buck and I’m afraid that they were all gone by the time I got to camp 20 minute later.
The first thing I did when I got to camp was to stake out my site, next I took off my shirt and shoes and went for a swim in the lake. This is a fresh lake. It is part of the great Salt Lake, but a dam separates it from Salt Lake and keeps it fresh. It is this water the city ad orchards use for irrigation. The lake wasn’t the cleanest I have ever seen, but the swim was wonderful.
It’s amazing how positive and responsive people are. The churches of Utah had one of the members drop off a huge water trough with about 20 watermelon and ice in it. We are enjoying it right now. Even though supper which was wonderful and filling and had huge pieces of Cherry Cheese cake for dessert was less than 30 minutes ago, boy can we eat. But the response goes way beyond the CRC and the RCA. There was a sign along the road welcoming C2C cyclists at a local fruit stand. The owner had seen us on TV and every one who stopped got a bag of free Bing cherries. I didn’t see the sign and it was on the other side of a busy road which I’m sure kept the traffic down,
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Sunday July 13, 2008
Boise ID
Distance 30 km
We had to drive to church sponsored by the Boise Congregation in a local park. Lovely location. The heat divided the congregation into two as we all stayed in the shade. The last week has been hot 34-38C and today was no exception. It is very dry however, It feels like the humidity is about -10%. It’s wonderful for clothes they dry almost instantly, but my lips are chapped an others have lips that look far worse then mine and I have been very faithful in the use of chap stick, but I probably began too late. Legs too are becoming chafed and dry.
The service in the park was really wonderful. The pastor whom I did not know, preached on peace and the message really encouraging.
Well there is a DQ just across the street and I think I am going to join the gang for an ice cream cone. Just been informed that DQ closes at 10 and it’s 10:20 right now. O well.
Monday July 14, 2008
Distance 92.24 total distance
Up hill 1971
Downhill 1555
Net 2416
Time in the saddle 3;56
Max: 53.8
Average: 23.4
What a day. For the first time in ten days clouds appeared in the sky after lunch. Not many, not dark and threatening, but clouds just the same even so it did provide some welcome shade for a few minutes. We have had temperatures reported today of 106 and 110 or 41-43C. hot is how you describe the weather and for once it is not to cool down much until after 11 pm.
The ride itself wasn’t too hard, other than there were no services available en-route for the entire 92k. the graph makes it look like we did lots of climbinh, but that really isn’t so because the vertical scale is 200 ft per bar. So at mile 10 we had a fairly steep hill but it only gave us an ascent of 300 feet. The rise between mile 13-25 was pretty gentle and with the tail wind I averaged about 20kph. The terrain was rather monotonous Sage brush and more sage brush and more sage brush. And when there are no shadows to compensate it really does make for a two dimensional view.
From here on in the distances begin to lengthen and the climbing intensifies. Someone said this morning that the tour starts tomorrow.
All of us keep having fascinating conversations along the way. We hand out hundreds of cards each day. Someone reported that he was in a grocery store talked to the clerk who was involved in a ministry with prisoners and he asked to be prayed with so right there in the middle of the produce department they prayed together. He then made a 20 dollar donation to sea to sea. So far more than 600 dollars has been received in donations. We have also received free laundry services, haircuts, sometimes meals and coffee and almost everyone we talk to is enthusiastic about the cause we are supporting.
Boise ID
Distance 30 km
We had to drive to church sponsored by the Boise Congregation in a local park. Lovely location. The heat divided the congregation into two as we all stayed in the shade. The last week has been hot 34-38C and today was no exception. It is very dry however, It feels like the humidity is about -10%. It’s wonderful for clothes they dry almost instantly, but my lips are chapped an others have lips that look far worse then mine and I have been very faithful in the use of chap stick, but I probably began too late. Legs too are becoming chafed and dry.
The service in the park was really wonderful. The pastor whom I did not know, preached on peace and the message really encouraging.
Well there is a DQ just across the street and I think I am going to join the gang for an ice cream cone. Just been informed that DQ closes at 10 and it’s 10:20 right now. O well.
Monday July 14, 2008
Distance 92.24 total distance
Up hill 1971
Downhill 1555
Net 2416
Time in the saddle 3;56
Max: 53.8
Average: 23.4
What a day. For the first time in ten days clouds appeared in the sky after lunch. Not many, not dark and threatening, but clouds just the same even so it did provide some welcome shade for a few minutes. We have had temperatures reported today of 106 and 110 or 41-43C. hot is how you describe the weather and for once it is not to cool down much until after 11 pm.
The ride itself wasn’t too hard, other than there were no services available en-route for the entire 92k. the graph makes it look like we did lots of climbinh, but that really isn’t so because the vertical scale is 200 ft per bar. So at mile 10 we had a fairly steep hill but it only gave us an ascent of 300 feet. The rise between mile 13-25 was pretty gentle and with the tail wind I averaged about 20kph. The terrain was rather monotonous Sage brush and more sage brush and more sage brush. And when there are no shadows to compensate it really does make for a two dimensional view.
From here on in the distances begin to lengthen and the climbing intensifies. Someone said this morning that the tour starts tomorrow.
All of us keep having fascinating conversations along the way. We hand out hundreds of cards each day. Someone reported that he was in a grocery store talked to the clerk who was involved in a ministry with prisoners and he asked to be prayed with so right there in the middle of the produce department they prayed together. He then made a 20 dollar donation to sea to sea. So far more than 600 dollars has been received in donations. We have also received free laundry services, haircuts, sometimes meals and coffee and almost everyone we talk to is enthusiastic about the cause we are supporting.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Today is Thursday July 10, 2008
We are leaving Baker City OR I thought I would let you know what my daily routine looks like. I get up at 5:30 tear down my tent and pack it into the gear bag eat a big breakfast, pack a lunch, pump up the tires and do a quick check o make sure that everything is working well. Pack stuff back into the baskets in the trailer and get on the road. It’s quite a sight out here. Almost everyone gets up between 5:30 and six AM. Day after day we have been able to sit in our lawn chairs in groups or by our tents and eat breakfast. It’s cool this morning as it has been most mornings, about 9C. It is windy now but as soon as the sun begins to warm things up the wind dies and it will pick up again this evening. Yesterday’s ride, as well as the rides of today and tomorrow are short around the 80 Km mark and even with plenty of breaks we will be at our destination between noon and one o’clock. Next week the rides get longer again and a lot more climbing and then arrival will be between three and seven at night.
We are developing a strong sense of community. At the beginning of this week a group of young guys, strong cyclists decided to help a man in his thirties who is riding a recumbent tricycle. He has some health issues which affect his ability to ride and these trikes while very fast on the flats and downhill stretches are very hard to get up the hills and when we have a day with less than 1000 ft vertical rise we think we have a real easy day. So these young fellows take turn and help push him up the hills.
When we get into camp its time to set up tents, do bike maintenance, take a shower and get cleaned up, write in your journal, blog etc. get ready for supper. On the short days like yesterday there is actually some time to relax. After supper we have a peleton meeting. Here is a time for all of us to get to get together, discuss our day, count the number of flats and falls ‘150 flats so far’ I’ve had none. Celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, prayer concerns and prayer and then we go to our small group. That brings us to 9;00 pm and its time to get ready for bed again.
On a lighter note. Protein is an important ingredient when you are cycling as hard as we do. So often beans are part of supper. The other night there were chickpeas and kidney beans as well as hummus. I had to get up that night to go to the bathroom it was two am 150 tents or more and no one was snoring, but there was lots of other bean related noises.
I calculated yesterday that I had reached 750,000 pedal strokes when I pulled into Baker city and my knees feel better than they have in months. Doesn’t the lord make an incredible body/
Thanks for your prayers and support
Tony Schweitzer
We are leaving Baker City OR I thought I would let you know what my daily routine looks like. I get up at 5:30 tear down my tent and pack it into the gear bag eat a big breakfast, pack a lunch, pump up the tires and do a quick check o make sure that everything is working well. Pack stuff back into the baskets in the trailer and get on the road. It’s quite a sight out here. Almost everyone gets up between 5:30 and six AM. Day after day we have been able to sit in our lawn chairs in groups or by our tents and eat breakfast. It’s cool this morning as it has been most mornings, about 9C. It is windy now but as soon as the sun begins to warm things up the wind dies and it will pick up again this evening. Yesterday’s ride, as well as the rides of today and tomorrow are short around the 80 Km mark and even with plenty of breaks we will be at our destination between noon and one o’clock. Next week the rides get longer again and a lot more climbing and then arrival will be between three and seven at night.
We are developing a strong sense of community. At the beginning of this week a group of young guys, strong cyclists decided to help a man in his thirties who is riding a recumbent tricycle. He has some health issues which affect his ability to ride and these trikes while very fast on the flats and downhill stretches are very hard to get up the hills and when we have a day with less than 1000 ft vertical rise we think we have a real easy day. So these young fellows take turn and help push him up the hills.
When we get into camp its time to set up tents, do bike maintenance, take a shower and get cleaned up, write in your journal, blog etc. get ready for supper. On the short days like yesterday there is actually some time to relax. After supper we have a peleton meeting. Here is a time for all of us to get to get together, discuss our day, count the number of flats and falls ‘150 flats so far’ I’ve had none. Celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, prayer concerns and prayer and then we go to our small group. That brings us to 9;00 pm and its time to get ready for bed again.
On a lighter note. Protein is an important ingredient when you are cycling as hard as we do. So often beans are part of supper. The other night there were chickpeas and kidney beans as well as hummus. I had to get up that night to go to the bathroom it was two am 150 tents or more and no one was snoring, but there was lots of other bean related noises.
I calculated yesterday that I had reached 750,000 pedal strokes when I pulled into Baker city and my knees feel better than they have in months. Doesn’t the lord make an incredible body/
Thanks for your prayers and support
Tony Schweitzer
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Getting Started
This is my first update to my blog and it comes with my apology. Technical problems have meant that there has been no internet connection since Tuesday and the first two days I was so overwhelmed with the routine and work that I didn’t have time. Hopefully the technical problems will be resolved within the next few days and then we will make daily update. Today is Saturday and our first week is complete. It is amazing the changes not just physically but as a group. We have really grown together in this week. The update is a summary of the first two days. I am using a friend’s cell phone to upload this to my blog, which is an emergency measure, but it works
Stats: Day one Seattle to Sultan
Total Distance 83.27 Km
Time in the Saddle: 3:57:46
Maximum Speed: 53.3
Average Speed: 21
We’re on our way! Finally!
After four send off services the time of waiting and preparation is finally over. We dipped our tires about 9:30 and were underway about 9:45
The first 30 K was a ride through the Park. The dedicated Bike path was wonderful, shady and because it is an abandoned RR track very gentle in slopes with very little elevation change.
We rode assigned groups a good chance to chat with some of the riders. By the time we had to take to the highway the temperature was up and heat drained our energy. Our first test came at about Km 35: a hill that rose about 350 ft in about 0ne km, then after a partial drop we went up to about 400 ft. The ride down was exhilarating. Simply coasting I reached my maximum for the day of 53.3. K/h
Day 2 July 1, 2008 Sultan to Leavenworth WA
Stats:
Total distance 129.63
Time in the saddle 6:36:02
Maximum speed 65.5
Average speed 19.6
From Sultan to the top of Steven’s Pass at 4062 ft, nearly 4000 feet elevation gain with a few humps between and even on the way down so that our total elevation gain was nearly 6000 feet.
What a day! Not just in terms of length, but in terms of difficulty. The last 12 km to the top of Stevens Pass was 6% incline. Real Tough and it was hot! I lost count of the number of bottles of water I drank.
Last night I announced that my retirement would start on the top of the pass and I would do a little dance to celebrate which I did. I composed some words to Clementine which went like this:
I’m retired, but I’m tired
And my legs they feel like mush
But I made it,
Yes I made it.
It was really quite a rush
I got on the road late this morning, nearly 8:00 AM and when we got to that point of serious climbing, about 17km worth I calculated it would take me till 1:00 Pm to get to the top, in fact it was nearly two. Lots of stops including two where I splashed cold water on my face and head. The funny part was that perhaps the most difficult part of the ride was on the way down. We knew that there were several fairly short hills to climb, but I just wasn’t ready to work that hard again. Physically, emotionally and psychologically I was done. However it did pass. I finally got to camp about 4:45. Certainly not among the first who got here before I got to the top of the pass but certainly not last either.
When I got into camp, Bert and Diane Slofstra presented me with a cap that read:
Warning!
Retiree,
knows it all
has plenty of time to tell you all about it.
I heard later that my nieces in Abbotsford had asked them to buy and present this cap to me.
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