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