Rick's Adventure

more thoughts on Sea to Sea

2008-09-14T16:00:00.000-07:00

House in Marine City Mi

crossing the bridge to the US at Niagra

T-33 at Sampson st Park NY

September 14, 2008

Well it’s been a couple weeks since we finished the tour, and I still think about it every day. This morning (Sunday) I called Doug and Joy and got pretty much the same response from them. It was kind of funny because Doug and I were both going through Sea to Sea blogs before I called and noted that not many have been update since our return to “civilization”. Most of us have gone back to work or school or ?.
I don’t know how many are still riding regularly or at all. I have been riding somewhat regularly and even got in a time trial last Thursday. Yesterday I got in a 60 mile ride with Friend Ron Z. It was really nice to get out on the open road for some decent distance. It was also a reminder that time marches on. The route we took was through the small town of Attica, which as some of you may remember was hit by a tornado early, this summer. You may remember from one of my early blog entries the pictures I took of the piles of debris there. I’m glad to report that most has been cleaned up, but there is still some rebuilding to do.
Anyway I feel that I didn’t really end my blog properly or get updated pictures in place. I also think a lot of my fellow Sea to Sea participants are in the same boat. So my solution is to try and keep updating the blog and not try and end it in one fell swoop. One thing that people keep saying is “I can’t believe you pedaled a bike all the way across North America, I could never do that”. I think every one of the cyclists would say, Yes you could, one pedal stroke at a time. You might need a little help along the way, such as a sag ride, or a push, or maybe even walk that really big hill, but you could do it. I think that mentality of a “Job to big” is in us all, but if we can just say a prayer and do that first pedal stroke, then the first day gets done, the first state or province is covered, and all of a sudden you’ve covered a whole continent. I think I knew that before, but now I understand it much better. I also understand much better that the prayers of the people do make a difference. The whole tour was bathed in prayer and yes we had some injured folks but nothing life threatening. And I personally didn’t have so much as a sniffle the whole time. I really felt protected. I feel that the tour was a big success and will continue to be, as those that were involved and those we touched will look and react in positive ways for those who are stuck in the cycle of poverty.
That’s enough for know I’ve been trying to write these last few paragraphs on and off about all day. I’ll continue more later.

Photos

2008-09-11T18:29:00.001-07:00

Tire dipping at Jersey city
Pensylvania
Rairoad Bridges
celebration Celebration in St Catherines
Don S rode with me for a day on his Nocom

End of the Tour

2008-09-01T14:16:00.000-07:00

Aug 28, 2008

Surprise!
Today we left Binghamton and headed south east toward Pennsylvania and Lackawanna state park. It was very scenic with lots of tree covered hills and beautiful valleys the road was light rolling hills. We stopped at a small café for a light breakfast. There were a few other customers in the café and they were interested in the ride. We told them about the tour and they were very interested. When they left one of them informed us that he had paid for all our meals. There were 6 of us so that made it an especially nice gesture. As we continued on we came across not one but 2 old arched railroad bridges that were both impressive structures that were still in use. The last one was in Nicholson which was only about 7 miles from camp. That “only” turned out to be a hard but fun 7 miles of steep up and down and around hills to Lachawanna State Park. Even the final leg in the camp was up a very steep hill and it was a little difficult to find a level place to pitch the tent, but it is a nice quiet park with a good sized lake. Tonight we had a long peloton meeting and communion. It was nice but long. I found out that Andi is leaving for England from Chicago early on Monday so Bren and I have decided to leave directly from Liberty Island on Sat and meet Andi on Monday morning in Chicago. We will miss the final Celebration service and some of the goodbye’s and such, but that’s ok.

Total miles 3943 today 58

Aug 29, 2008

From a bikers prospective Friday was one of the toughest but most rewarding days of the tour. It had the most feet of climbing of the entire tour and was 82 miles long. Actually it ended up being 90 miles because I missed a painted arrow and added several miles. I was still going in the right general direction but I ended up staying on highway 6 most of the way. The part I wasn’t supposed to be on was pretty busy, but it went ok. Because the terrain was mostly short steep hills, I rode most of the trip by myself. In this kind of terrain it is hard for me to ride with the road bikes. I climb a little slower because of the heavier bike, but go down hills faster because of that weight and better aerodynamics. The aero really plays into the speed on the flats as well. Another reason I went on my own was today was that the racer in me wanted to run hard one last time on the tour. I wasn’t alone in that respect as several other of the “hardcore” cyclist on the tour did exactly the same thing. I did stop for short breaks at a couple of the sag and lunch at Wendy’s and still ended up at Sussex Christian School by 1:30. As I said before most of the climbs were short and steep, but one was reminiscent of the mountains out west, as it was fairly long at about 4 miles. It topped out at the highest point in New Jersey In the aptly named High Point State Park. Also the last ½ mile to the school was up a steep grade, which wasn’t really a surprise as that has happened to us on several occasions. I’m not sure why they always put the school at the top of the hill in those hilly communities. The Church community here served us a really great supper. Brenda had left Pella Thursday morning and arrived at the School about 7:00 pm. It was sure good to see her. We loaded all my gear and bike in the van so we wouldn’t have to mess with it on Sat. We spent the night at a nearby motel, which was great as it rained during the night and I didn’t have to pack a wet tent. It wasn’t so good as there was no water pressure in the morning or any internet connection either.

Total miles 4033 today 90

Aug 30, 2008

Let’s finish this thing. The Last Day almost seems like one of the first as we are again climbing into the fog through a huge forest of trees. But it’s also kind of like the prologue in the Tour De France where the race is over except for the ride into Paris. Everyone rides pretty easily as we have only about 50 miles to the rendezvous point. About 20 or more of us stop at a donut shop for coffee then move on down the streets. For many of us those streets had been an item of worry as we had heard the reputation of Jersey drivers and I had driven some of those streets in a car and didn’t like them at all then. In actuality they were not as bad as I thought they might be. There were some not so nice drivers, but not many. Ed had picked a pretty good route for us and it went through a variety of neighborhoods. It had rained the night before and the wet streets with plenty of debris did cause quite a bit of tire problems as there were quite a lot more flats than normal. We all met at a big parking lot and waited for our police escort. While we were waiting a group photo was taken. It was kind of hilarious as it was getting time to leave and more riders kept rolling in and we would all tell them to hurry and get in the picture. They had to run around a small pond as Jonathan our photographer would try and wait. One of the last ones to get in was Lawrence. He received a great big cheer from the group as he flew up on his bike and did a great bunny hop over the large curb and rode right up to us and jumped of the bike. After the picture we all assembled to do the last few miles with a police escort. Doug and I had decided to ride at the rear of the group just in case we could offer any mechanical assistance. Just as we were about to leave I ended up helping 2 people with flat tires and almost didn’t get in before the last police escort. I did end up helping a couple of people stay with the pack. The ride in was quite something as the riders fanned out in front of me. One of the police cars would hold crossing traffic back till we were passed then roar up the street beside us to the next intersection. We got to the park and kind of wound through it to the boat Ramp. It was quite a sight to see all the bikers lined up it looked like a lot more than 200. After a few words by Len and reciting the Lords Prayer together, we dipped our tires more or less simultaneously with quite a crowd cheering us on. It was quite an emotional event and we all kind of meandered around saying we couldn’t believe the ride part was over. Since I was not going to the rally I tried to find many friends and say goodbye, but even that was difficult to do. Most of the bikes were loaded onto semi trailers and then headed for the school. Brenda and I walked to the Parking Lot with Doug and Joy and their friends from Michigan. We said our goodbyes and turned the dodge toward home. As I write this from a motel room in Chicago a day after it still hasn’t sunk in that I won’t be getting up at 5 tomorrow morning and riding another 80 miles. I think it will take some time to digest it all. Already now I can say that it was a fantastic experience. I’ve seen a lot of cooperation and unity within the Reformed and Christian Reformed Denominations from many angles, be it country of origin or age or race. I hope we accomplished in some large or small way, our goal to raise the awareness of poverty issues. I know I as a cyclist on the tour, and I would guess all the other participants as well, will think of those things that hold people in poverty and continue to speak out on behalf of those less fortunate than ourselves.

A few stats for me on the tour
1. No falls or accidents
2. 2 flats that were a day apart in the middle of the tour. I replaced the front tire at that time. A short time later it went on the front of Claire’s trike and he wore it down into the cords. I replaced the rear tire before the last day as I discovered a bump on it. It had over 4,000 miles on it. The tires are stelvio’s and I really like them
3. Just about 4100 miles total, the official point to point total was 3881.
4. The only mechanical problem I had were some broken spokes on the front wheel. I am very happy with how well the bike performed.

Nearing the end

2008-08-27T16:40:00.000-07:00

Aug 27, 2008

Today we rolled out of bed to a nice dry tent as opposed to yesterday when the dew was really wet. My legs seemed pretty tired at first but they came around in time to do quite a bit of climbing on the day. The scenery was very pleasant and it has changed to more trees and hills. We made a pretty big climb off route to see the Tougannock Falls. At 215 feet tall they are the tallest falls in the eastern US. The Falls were pretty but a bit disappointing as there was very little water coming over them. We then traveled through the city if Ithica NY. Even before leaving Ithica we started the major climb of the day. It reminded many of the climb out of Salt lake City. Not quite as steep or long or hot, It was very steep for a block or so (steep enough that I had trouble with slipping my front wheel drive ) then tapered of a bit into a steady climb. We had more climbs, but that was the biggest. There were a couple church stops along the way and lots of little signs and people along the route. Right across from the School we are staying at is Valley CRC and they had a stop for us. They also fed us supper tonight. They served us a local specialty called Spiedies , They consisted of marinated grilled chicken or ham on Italian bread. We also had salt potatoes, beans and pasta salad along with desert. With a lot of things going on and unknown Internet access , today will probably be the last post I make before the end of the trip. We have 3 days to go. It has certainly been quite a trip, hard to believe we’ve come clear across the country a day at a time. Since the job of riding is not yet done, and the job of doing what we can to alleviate poverty will be ongoing I will be posting more later.

Total miles 3985 today 78

Up state New York

2008-08-27T12:54:00.000-07:00

Aug 26, 2008

Byron to Romulus NY. Southwoods RV Park where we stayed last night turned out to be a really nice place to stay. It also had a couple sections that had what appeared to be almost permanent residents in landscaped lots. The owners were also very friendly and supportive of Sea to sea. There was also some other campers near us that came over with their Base, Fiddle, and guitar and serenaded us after the Peloton meeting. We also had a big bond fire complete with smores. The trip today went well, for the first time in several days we didn’t have much wind fighting us. The landscape is still mostly farm country but it is more rolling hills. The roads have been very good with wide mostly clean shoulders. We stopped at about the 50 mile mark at a stop put on by East Palmyra CRC. It was a lunch stop and was delicious. This is the Childhood home of Friend Lee Talma and I found several people who knew him. It is also not far from where another friend Verlan Van Ee was a Pastor before moving to Wisconsin a couple years ago. We passed through the town of Geneva which has a number of historical buildings and old well kept houses. Then it was around Seneca Lake to Sampson State Park. This Park is on Seneca Lake and was at one time a navy training base and then an Air Force base, before becoming a Park in about 1960. There is a museum in the Park with displays outside, however the inside was locked up.

Total trip 3907 today 81

Back to the USA

2008-08-25T17:43:00.000-07:00

Aug 25, 2008

Back in the USA! We had about 1 hour ride to where we were to meet to cross back into the USA. It was a pretty ride. We stopped by the Whelan Canal and watched a ship in the locks. Then we traveled up along the Niagara River. There are Huge Hydro Electric power plants on both sides of the river. Water is actually diverted from above the falls to reservoirs then the water rejoins the river after travelling though the power turbines. Most of the water is diverted to the reservoirs at night and the river is allowed to flow at near full strength during the day so the falls look good for the tourists. It is really quite an ingenious system. After we had all gathered in a parking lot, we proceeded en mass to the border crossing. It turned out to be the easiest border crossing I think any of us ever had. Ed V the tour director had previously been in contact with customs and had gotten us all preapproved to cross. As we approached the customs stations they had several agents there and they waved the whole group through. We didn’t even have to stop. The Vehicles did get a little bit of inspection but it went well for them as well. The ride on the US side was surprisingly flat and the roads pretty good. It was different not having stops to make every few miles, but that was ok. We did stop about 1:00 and had some pizza. The scenery is mostly farm land and trees with a few wetlands mixed in. It reminds me of central Minnesota. We are staying at an RV Park tonight in Byron New York. Not a fancy Park but nice.

Tour De Food

2008-08-23T13:48:00.000-07:00

Aug. 23, 2008
We only have about 45 miles today and no less than 6 stops at local churches and one bakery. I nickname the day Tour de Food, as all the stops have lots of food. It seems kind of wrong to be eating so much on a tour for poverty awareness, but the churches here have lots of family and friends on the tour and are major sponsors of the tour. Many of the people here immigrated to Canada themselves or only a generation back. Most came over with almost nothing and now are doing well because they were willing to work hard and they had people to help them get started. The ride took us along the escarpment that overlooks Hamilton and through several vineyards. We are staying tonight at St Catharines, ON. The camp for the weekend is located at the Beacon Christian School.

I am ready for a rest weekend as I seem to be wearing down as are several of the other riders that have gone the full distance. The last week has been quite different from the previous weeks somehow. There are a lot more riders, both the riders that are doing the last leg and lots of 1 or 2 day riders from the local area. A lot of these riders are not as disciplined as we’ve become -- not bad riders, just not as seasoned on the road. Many like to ride and talk and end up concentrating more on talk than ride, which makes for few scary moments. I think next week will be a little more back to normal as we move away from so many supporters.

Speaking of next week, it will be our last week of the tour. Sometimes it seems we’ve been riding forever and sometimes it seems that we started only yesterday. I think I am ready to be done, but I’m not sure how returning to normal life will go either.
Trip total 3737 today 49

London and Hamilton

2008-08-22T17:39:00.000-07:00

Aug 21, 2008
Early up today as I am on sweep. Breakfast went well as did the clean up. This could be our last official sweep. We are scheduled to sweep starting in the evening of the last day, but it sounds like that maybe that will volunteer. The day went well, although it was long. We arrived in camp around 6 pm. The scenery is mostly rural with lots of nicely kept farm places and some really beautiful houses. Some of them remind you of the big southern mansions in the US, and in fact other things remind you of that as well -- tobacco is a common crop here along with the tobacco barns and equipment. There were a couple stops along the way, put on by the local churches. The Canadians have gone all out at the stops in providing food, drink and conversation. All along the way since we’ve come into Canada there have been signs and people along the road to cheer us on. At our destination, London Christian School, they really threw us a feast.

We haven’t seen a lot of wildlife in Canada, but in the evening, I was able to enjoy watching several bats as they took out a large part of the mosquito population. The bats appear to be quite a bit larger than the little brown bats at home. Another thing that happened during the day was a 40 kilometer time trial. I would have liked to do it but I was on sweep and am also nursing a slightly pulled muscle or tendon behind my left knee. It’s not bad but I decided not to push it with a little over a week to go in the tour. The TT was right on the route to London and was flat, much like the Iowa State TT course. They did have a little headwind, but still turned in some very good times, Rueben Vyn was the fastest at 1:03.
Trip total 3610 today 80

Aug 22, 2008
I slept in a while this morning, as it is getting light later and later. We took it pretty easy -- there were 4 church stops on the way. It was ride a little, eat a lot, and ride a little. The scenery did change to rolling hills, some of them quite steep but short. Out on one of the nice quiet country roads we were suddenly surprised by 2 big dogs, a german shepherd and a black lab mix. We almost made it past them when the black lab ran right into Doug’s front wheel and Doug went down on the pavement. Fortunately he wasn’t seriously injured, but he is bruised and scraped up a bit. After making all the stops we pulled into camp at Redeemer College in Hamilton, ON.
Trip total 3688 today 78

Canada

2008-08-22T13:35:00.001-07:00

Aug. 20, 2008
Today we leave the US and enter Canada. After rolling up our very wet tents (heavy dew) in quite frigid temps (40’s) we made the short trip to the border town of Marine City where we all waited in mass to get on the ferry. Once we were all assembled we got on the ferry -- it actually took several ferry rides to get everyone across the St Clair River. Once on the other side we all had to stand in line to get through customs, but it all went quite smoothly. The Canadians lived up to their billing as they had a large crowd on hand, and of course lots of food. After enjoying the greeting party we rode on to Chatham, Ontario. The route was very flat, first along the St Clair river and then through farm country. On the way we passed several beautifully restored old houses. There was apparently one bike accident when a rider who was riding with us for the day had a carbon fork failure and went down hard on the pavement. At this point I haven’t heard how serious his injuries are.

GR and beyond

2008-08-19T14:16:00.000-07:00

Aug 17, 2008
Sunday, a day for rest and renewal. I slept in a little at Clarence and Irene’s. After breakfast I went with them to Plymouth Heights CRC. Bob and Lisa Brouwer, who attend there when not on the bike tour, and Ad De Blaeij were also there. Bob gave a short presentation on the Sea to Sea tour during the service. After lunch we were bused to Fifth Third Stadium for the celebration rally. For the opening procession the bikers lined up along the first and third baselines -- the lines went pretty well to each outfield wall. Shane Clairborn was the speaker; he is the author of "Jesus Christ for President."

While waiting for the service to get started, Dan N found me and we were able to do a little catch up. Dan and Carol were our across-the-street-neighbors, before Dan took over as school principal out here in Michigan. We were bused back to Calvin for supper and Peloton meeting. Before the meeting Lynn V told me that she was going to pack up her very sore knee and catch a ride back home. The pastor from her home church was here to drop his daughter off at college and had come to the celebration rally with his van. So it was providential that he was here, but we lose another good rider to injury. Sorry, Lynn!

Aug 18, 2008
Uncle Clarence dropped me off at Calvin about 6:30, along with all my stuff. When I went to put my gear on the truck I found this great big box of goodies from Ken and Beth and company -- Thanks! I had breakfast and got the bike ready to go. Then we sat around for an hour waiting for the send off, which was thankfully brief. Maybe you can tell, I’m not much into pomp and circumstance. Today was the start for about 60 new cyclists, so some ceremony was probably appropriate. The newbies had a very easy first day compared to the ones who started in Denver; it was as flat (as leaving Denver) but it was much cooler with a really nice tailwind and plenty of shade. We stopped for coffee at McDonalds with some of Doug’s fellow employees. It is very nice farm land with lots of pretty red barns & nice farmsteads.

The crops out here in Michigan, however, are looking a little ragged and in need of some rain. We understand that it has been pretty dry here. Even with a few stops we arrived at camp by 2:00pm. We are staying at Sleepy Hollow State Park. Ryan B was just telling me that the park gets its name because the park land was donated by a fellow named I.B. Crane. It is a camp ground with lots of shade and grassy level spots to pitch a tent.

One of my recumbent bike friends, John F, showed up to visit camp. He lives not far away and rode his Baron over. It was nice to see another lowracer in camp. At peloton Lois Craven announced that she, too, was leaving the tour; she has had 3 incidents on the tour, the last being last week when she was hit by the mirror of an aggressive driver. She wasn’t seriously injured, but enough is enough. Another good rider gone.
Trip total 3375 today 70

Aug 19, 2008
Well the newbies got a proper break-in today. It was a fairly long ride at 95 miles and we had a stiff headwind. The temps were nice though, in the low 70’s. My friend Don S met me at about the 20 mile mark and rode the rest of the way with me. He had his beautiful NoCom Lowracer and it drew lots of attention. It is an all carbon fiber bike, custom made in Poland. It was really fun riding that distance with another lowracer. For those of you who think my bike is low, I sit almost a full head height taller than Don. Despite the headwind and a few stops we were at camp by 2 or so. Camp tonight is at Richmond HS in Michigan; tomorrow we cross into Canada.
Trip total 3473, today 98

Photos, August 18

2008-08-18T19:20:00.000-07:00

Organizing for a group entrance ride.

LOVE riding a bike path!

The Grand's

2008-08-17T06:04:00.000-07:00

Aug 15, 2008
Today is a short trip up to South Haven. It is a scenic trip along the coast of Lake Michigan, with several views of the lake. Initially the streets are pretty rough but then we run on the red arrow highway and for the most part it’s smooth. About halfway we stopped at Graaftschop CRC Church. It is historically the first Christian Reformed Church. The Church has set out plenty of food for us and gives us a tour of their historical archives in the church basement. It is set up so that you walk through different time lines, starting with the reasons the Dutch immigrants left Holland in the 1840’s and why they settled in the Holland, MI area. They have built a partial replica of a ship that made the voyage over, and then a partial cabin that early settlers might have lived in. They have lots of period artifacts and stories of the pioneers in the Michigan area. From there we continued north through Holland, MI. This is a bittersweet area for me as Holland was a common place for me to visit when I was flying for Heritage Lace and was the last place I flew passengers to as a Corporate Pilot. It also happens to be where my dad was born. He only lived there about 6 months, as Grandpa was a pastor in Holland and they moved shortly after Dad was born. If I remember correctly they moved to Oak Lawn, IL which was very close to the area in Chicago we just passed through. The Holland area is a very pretty area as is the Grand Haven area, which is where we set up camp. After arriving in camp, 6 of us went on a work project to a local church that repairs donated bikes and gives them to people, mostly kids that need them. It was a good experience. Later when we returned to camp I found out I had missed Zack and Lindsey DV, who were out visiting friends and knew I was in the neighborhood. I was able to talk to them via phone later in the evening. As Grand Rapids is the last stop for many of the riders, they were given the opportunity to say a few words at the peloton meeting. It is always hard to see new friends leave.
Trip total 3256 today 46

Aug 16, 2008
Today we finished the last leg of the central section of the tour at Grand Rapids, MI. It was a relatively short trip, less than 50 miles. It was an interesting trip as there were signs and people waving us on, all along the route. There were also several church stops and a stop at Tyler Buitenwerf’s house along the way. At one of the churches they had homemade yogurt with fresh blueberries -- really delicious. We all gathered at a school about a mile from Calvin College and then rode in together as one big group. As we unloaded the gear truck and I prepared to set up my tent, Brenda’s aunt and uncle, Clarence & Irene M, showed up and told me I was to stay at their house. So I didn’t even have to set up my tent. Also about the same time Ruth, her Mom, and Dora S, all formerly from Pella, showed up with greetings. It is always nice to see familiar faces when you’re away from home.
Trip total 3305 today 49

Illinois, Indiana, Michigam

2008-08-14T13:54:00.000-07:00

Aug 11 2008
On to IL. The ride out from Madison was very picturesque with lots of rolling hills and pretty scenery. We didn’t get on the road till after 9:00 as we had sweep duties to take care of first. These included helping with breakfast, tearing down camp, checking the ground, and loading the gear truck. It was a long day on the road, but it went pretty well. We stopped at the church in Delevan, as they were serving lunch. It was a very late lunch as it was now 3:00PM. We did end up fixing 2 flats less than 5 miles from our next camp at Woodstock, IL and arrived in camp about 6 PM. Delevan and Woodstock are both very pretty towns with nicely restored homes and buildings. We also have now crossed into Illinois, our 8th state. The scenery is still pretty but the drivers easily rate as the worst of the trip. They must not have any driver education here.
Trip total 2983

Aug 12, 2008
Today we rode the Fox River bike trail for almost ½ the day. It was nice to be away from the IL drivers for a while, and the scenery was a welcome change from city streets. At the end of the path we even got a short police escort by a policeman on a bike. He was also helpful in giving us tips on how to deal with Chicago traffic. The second half of the trip was rather unnerving as it was almost all stop and go in heavy traffic. It was not at all enjoyable. We finally made it in one piece to Trinity College in Palos Heights. They made us feel very welcome. They even served us Chicago style pizza for supper. Before supper my daughter, Andi, showed up for a surprise visit. She was in Chicago to submit her work visa materials for her upcoming move to London, England. She was only able to stay for a little bit, but it was sure nice to see her. During supper I was able to visit with Ryan Z, one of Andi’s classmates . I was also able to visit with Brenda’s uncle, Arlan, who came out to see how I was making out on the trip.
Trip total 3068, daily log 85

Aug 13, 2008
We had a slightly different start to our day today as Trinity gave us an official sendoff. This delayed our start by almost 2 hours but it was a nice affirmation of our tour. About 40 or 50 of us took an alternate route for the first half of the day. We went to visit Roseland Christian center in Roseland. They work with homeless and displaced persons. We spent about 45 minutes there and they told us about their work and the great amount of need in the greater Chicagoland area. I might add that some of the group felt a little uneasy about riding through that part of Chicago, but the ride went much better and the people were more friendly and courteous than any we had yet seen in the Chicago area. We proceeded into the next state, Indiana, and stopped at Highland 2nd CRC. They fed us a great sub sandwich meal and all the fixings. It was a great welcome to Indiana. After leaving there we finished the day at camp in Dunes State Park -- a beautiful park on the shores of Lake Michigan.
Trip total 3126, daily log 59 miles

Aug 14, 2008
Well, we’re on to Michigan. The road today was very scenic and also very rough in places. I hope the bike can stand the strain for another couple weeks. I looked it over well when I got into camp and everything still looks good. I met up with Mike E, the roving recumbent reporter from Michigan. We’re going to supper later tonight. It was nice to travel under trees that almost covered the roadway and then come to a section that looked out over Lake Michigan. A big portion of the trip was on roads and streets that border the lake. The number of really big fancy homes was kind of staggering. Michigan is supposedly on hard economic times, but you sure don’t see it on the lake front. We are staying at Baseline Middle school in South Haven MI tonight. And we have some nice shade trees also.
Trip total 3210, daily Log 84 miles

Photos, August 9

2008-08-13T17:40:00.001-07:00

Yep, this face has seen some sun!

In case you were wondering about the view from a lowracer...

The following photos are discussed in the "Pella days in Algona" post...
Dobsonfly (the adult stage; the larva stage=hellgramite -- creepy!)

Thanks for the boost, friends!!

Madison WI

2008-08-10T06:14:00.000-07:00

Aug 9, 2008
On to Madison. It was a relatively short day to Madison, but we weren’t supposed to arrive till 2:30, so that we could make a mass arrival at camp for the media. We travelled highway 18 from Fennimore and it was a nice ride. We went past more windmills; not only are they pretty but they were telling us that we had a nice tailwind. At Dodgeville, we took a slight detour to see if the Don Q Inn was still standing along with the KC-97 tanker (big old 4 engine plane) that stands outside. This is a special place for me since Brenda and I went here on our honeymoon 27 years ago and have been back a few times since. From Dodgeville we took the Military Ridge bike path for several miles. The bike path was a welcome change from the highway even if it was a little rough and slick in spots. A whole bunch of us stopped at Culvers on the outskirts of Madison to have lunch and kill a little time. We arrived at the designated park for the mass entrance to camp. I’m not much for pomp and circumstance, but it was kind of fun riding en mass to Crossroads CRC, our camp spot for the weekend. After setting up the tent I was able to unwind a bit, it’s been a long but wonderful week.

Miles actually travelled 2900

Wisconsin

2008-08-10T05:28:00.000-07:00

Aug 8, 2008
Today was the third century in a row -- New Hampton to Fennimore, WI. The scenery changed quite a lot as we went from flatlands to hills and curvy roads. For the first 20 miles we rode on probably the worst road yet, very rough. A little later we had a decent road with a narrow shoulder that was rideable except the DOT was putting down gravel along that stretch of highway. Don Brunsting hit one of the patches of gravel and went down, breaking his collar bone. Another rider out. Why is it that the DOT was putting down gravel on that stretch of road when they had been informed that 150 cyclist would be using it that day? I rode pretty hard so that I could have some time to visit with my brother, Scott. He met me at Marquette and we had lunch and then went up to Pikes Peak (the one in Iowa) and took some pictures.

Pikes Peak overlooks the Mississippi and the state of Wisconsin, which I would soon be riding through. Scott dropped me back off at Marquette and I headed for Wisconsin. After crossing the Mississippi twice (there’s two channels here) I spent a little time at the visitor’s center and then rode on toward Fennimore. It is beautiful countryside and one big climb out of the river valley. After reaching camp, I set up the tent and about that time my folks showed up to check out the camp and take me out for supper. We had a great visit and then the folks drove down to Dubuque to stay at a bed and breakfast.

Miles traveled 2725

New hampton

2008-08-09T17:34:00.000-07:00

Aug 7, 2008
It was to be another long day at 112 miles. I think for most of the riders it was a little more difficult than the day before, as we had almost no tailwinds. The temp did cooperate though and so it was a nice day to travel through Iowa. I’m calling today windmill day as we saw lots and lots of power generating windmills in several different locations along the route.

I knew we would see several but I didn’t realize how many. At times we were close enough to hear the swoosh of the blades. I think they are very pretty as they stately spin and it certainly has to be much more environmentally friendly than burning coal or oil. This leg of the trip puts me the closest to home on the tour. As I crossed I-35 I had to take a picture to the south; the sign said 106 miles. About 30 miles later we were on highway 14 briefly -- 14 goes very near to home, and for a bit I thought about turning for home. I guess I’ll be there soon enough as we have only a little more than 3 weeks to go, hard to believe sometimes. Tonight we are at New Hartford, IA. Tomorrow is another 100 mile day -- this time with hills thrown in to keep us honest. The scenery for the last several days has been corn and beans with, for the most part, picturesque farmsteads and small towns.

Pella days in Algona

2008-08-09T17:31:00.001-07:00

Aug 6, 2008
Today is the longest scheduled ride of the tour, 114 miles. We started out in rain and ran in and out of it for much of the day. The rain was a little bit of a nuisance, but the temp was warm enough that you didn’t get cold, yet it helped you stay cool enough to keep right on truckin. We also had a bit of a tailwind, which always lifts the spirits. About 30 miles out from Algona (our stop for the night) I received a call from my cousin Dan W. He was in the area and wanted to meet up -- he and his wife Kris and kids showed up just before I did, it was a treat to see them. I was able to give them the camp tour and they helped set up the tent before they headed back to Pella. The showers were a few blocks away at the YMCA. As I was checking in there some one behind me called me by name; it was another friend from Pella. It’s always fun to meet old friends in places you don’t expect. Since we ran in rain most of the day the bike was a mess, so I worked on cleaning it up a bit and fixing the 2 broken spokes I discovered. 1 of them had started flopping around about 10 miles out of camp. I think that makes 5 broken spokes, really the only problem of any sort I’ve had with the bike. As I was working on the bike a couple more friends from Pella showed up: Brent P and Wes V. I knew they were coming but it was sure nice to see them! They took me out for supper and then stuck around camp for the peloton meeting, so they could get a feel for life in camp. (For those who don’t know what the Peloton meeting is, it is just a meeting we have every night for the whole camp. The day's ride is discussed a little bit, and it includes taking some stats like how many flat tires for the day. Ed, the tour director, then hands out maps and goes over the route and any changes to it.) Brent had also brought a big basket of Lifesavers candies and a poster made by his wife Susan -- that has been a big hit. They headed back to Pella about 9:00 pm and I crawled in my tent and slept very well. We found a very large insect that no one knew what it was. Well it was a Dobson fly -- a very large, science fiction looking insect. In the larve stage it is called a Hellgrimite and is even more scary looking.

Sioux Center

2008-08-06T04:22:00.000-07:00

August 5, 2008
It was a nice ride from Sergeant Bluff to Sioux Center. It was hillier than many thought it would be; not nasty hills -- more like fun rollers. We stopped at Ireton. The church there turned out to welcome us with strawberry smoothies and root beer floats. It was a nice treat. We reached Sioux Center just before noon and were welcomed at Dordt College, where we get to stay in some nice --not next to the railroad tracks-- dorm rooms. With great e-mail access, I might add. One of the first people to greet me on campus was Dale Z, an old friend. He is going to be working at Dordt and was going through orientation. I called my cousin, Jan Buyert on the spur of the moment and true to form he ran right over and picked me up to have lunch with the family. We had pizza for supper, supplied by Pizza Ranch, a real treat. Dordt hosted a celebration rally after supper and it was well attended by the locals. All in all it was a very nice stay in Sioux Center. Sleeping on a bed in a quiet dorm was especially nice.

Fremont

2008-08-03T17:39:00.000-07:00

Sat August 2, 2008
York to Fremont NE. Another long hot day with a strong SE wind. The wind helped when we turned north and hindered when we went east. Still it was an enjoyable day. We were off at the crack of dawn as usual. At about 30 miles we stopped for a cup of coffee at a bakery in Seward, NE. The first 50 miles went pretty well, but then we ran into strong headwinds and a bumpy road, not a good combination. My bike does a little better than the uprights in the wind so I went on up the road a bit. It was really hot so I stopped at an ice cream place for a grape slushy; it tasted really good. While I was enjoying it, a lady walked up to me -- she looked familiar, like a student Brenda and I had years ago in our home church young peoples group. It turned out it was her; Alicia (Nugteren) Admiral now lives in Lincoln, NE with her husband, Dave and their 3 children. We had a very nice chat. Dave was going to ride the rest of the way to camp with relatives he had on the tour. The rest of the ride was uneventful although a section of it was on a kind of ground asphalt, it vibrated the bike and me so badly I thought my teeth might fall out. When we got to camp I walked over for some water and was greeted by Stan & Revena Bruxvoort, Ryan Bruxvoort’s grandparents, (Revena is Mom’s first cousin) and Wilbur Vos and his wife. It’s always fun to play Dutch bingo! I worked on a couple people’s bikes, then set up my tent and put all my gear in it, as it is trailer cleaning time. Just as I was finishing a shower, Ken and Gloria Van Zee and Brenda arrived. Ken & Gloria treated us to dinner and a great room. It was a very nice day.

Odometer reads 10311

Sunday August 3 2008
After breakfast with Ken and Gloria we went to Prairie Lane Christian Reformed Church in Omaha. It was again a great service. We had a speaker from the homeless mission in Omaha and from Mission India. Both talked of how young most of the homeless are. Did you know that the average age of a homeless person in the US is 9 years old and that in India over 700 million people live on less than a dollar a day. Mind boggling statistics. A nice treat for me at the service was seeing Morry and Rose Blankespoor, who are from my home church.

After lunch at the church Ken and Gloria drove me to Fremont about 1:00 pm and then they and Brenda headed back to Pella. Camp was really hot as the temps climbed over 100 degrees. I then found out that the Lutheran church across the street had found out about Sea to Sea and quickly and graciously opened the church and their brand new event center for us to use and to sleep in tonight. They then proceeded to bring out home cooked goodies, drinks, and snacks all afternoon and evening. It was just a splendid display of hospitality.

August

2008-08-01T19:56:00.000-07:00

August 1, 2008
Brenda’s Birthday. It is also the day we pass the mileage halfway point. It’s also sweep team day. So after getting up at 5, setting up and serving breakfast, cleaning up camp and loading the overweight bags in the gear truck, we head out. There are just 4 of us acting as the final sweep: Jody Van Dorp, Jake Pasma, his son Kevin, and myself. It was a long hot day, but we had a good time despite the heat. The scenery is starting to look a lot like home, with some very good looking corn and soybeans. It looks like they should have some bumper crops this year. It still amazes me how much is irrigated -- so far almost all the crops from here back to the Pacific have been irrigated. The irrigation here is a little different than farther west; we see more of the big pivot type units and a lot of gas engines driving pumps in little sheds along the road. Camp tonight is at York College in York, NE, a nicely shaded campus with hot showers. York apparently is a main railroad hub -- I’ve heard a train now almost every 15 minutes. At least they are somewhat in the distance.

Pioneer Village

2008-08-01T19:54:00.000-07:00

McCook to Minden NE. I got on the road fairly early as I wanted to get to Minden in good time, because we started sweep in the afternoon and I wanted to visit Pioneer Village in Minden. I had been there before with the family and friends about 15 years ago. It’s a very interesting place. So I hit it pretty hard. With a good road and a tailwind I was really moving. I hit Minden shortly after 11:00 AM. Since it was almost a 100 mile trip anyway I went on thru town a couple miles and returned to complete a century. 100 miles in 4:30. Then it was on to the museum for a few enjoyable hours, then on to sweep team duties. One thing I am getting tired of is trains. I always have liked trains, but it seems like almost every night lately has trains blowing their horns at all hours. We are usually close enough to the tracks that the train sounds like it is coming right in the tent.

Photos, July 29

2008-08-01T17:00:00.001-07:00

Mid Point

2008-07-31T15:00:00.000-07:00

July 30, 2008
We were up early enough to leave camp by about 6:20 am. The scenery doesn’t change much, but we soon leave Colorado and head into Nebraska. A while later we cross the time line, and are now on central daylight time. Towards the end of the day the scenery does change some as we are now in the sand hills area of Nebraska and we had a few hills to climb. It was a very hot day, although the temps were only in the mid 90’s. Today marks the midpoint (time wise) of the tour; it’s hard to believe we are at the halfway point. Sometimes it seems we just started and sometimes it seems we’ve been at it forever. I think tomorrow we pass the mileage halfway point. I should have mentioned this before, but thanks to all you people who have sent cards and letters and care packages. It means a lot to get them at the mail drop. We are staying tonight at the high school in McCook, Nebraska. The grass is lush and level, but again no shade.

Our last night in Colorado

2008-07-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

July 29, 2008
Up early again cause it was going to be hot -- and it was. The scenery is pretty much just flat plains with occasional corn fields and some of the biggest cow lots I’ve ever seen. We rode pretty hard, mostly to try and beat the heat. We arrived at camp in Wray, CO about 1:30. Camp is in a city park with nice big shade trees. The showers are about 8 blocks away at the swimming pool and cold water only, but nobody seems to care. The folks in Wray have been very friendly and there is a pool party for us at the pool tonight. I am going to stay in camp and try to turn in early as I didn’t get much sleep last night. Between the train traffic on 2 sides and a helicopter landing at the hospital right next door, a lot of us didn’t get much sleep. Also we want to get out early tomorrow as the high temp is supposed to be 104.

Fort Morgan

2008-07-29T19:01:00.000-07:00

July 28, 2008
Early in the morning I said goodbye to the kids, and Brenda drove me back to camp. After breakfast and saying goodbye to Brenda, we headed out for Fort Morgan, CO. The first 20 miles was mostly on the Platte River Bike Trail through Denver. The trail was a little narrow, but was a nice relief from busy city streets. Once out of the city we were back on highways and even on I-76 for several miles. It wasn’t bad traveling as we had a wide and pretty clean shoulder almost the whole way. As for scenery, mostly just dry flat eastern Colorado landscape. It was a long ride, as we covered about 90 miles. We also suffered another accident on the tour -- Cynthia Aukema crashed her bike and ended up with a cracked pelvis; another good biker out with injuries. Our hearts and prayers go out to Cynthia.

sunday

2008-07-29T19:00:00.000-07:00

July 27,2008
Sunday was a nice quiet day for the most part. Brenda, the kids and I stayed at a motel that was about 20 minutes away from camp. We went to the celebration service, which was held in another high school stadium, about 2 miles from camp. There were quite a few different agencies set up in tents or booths in the infield -- these were all agencies that have programs which, in some way, help out those in need. The celebration service was quite large and well attended. It was also a wonderful worship service. The only negative was that it was very hot sitting out on aluminum bleachers. Sunday evening Brenda and I went to visit old friends, Milt and Mary Lanser. They are currently living at Joshua Station as live-in volunteers. Joshua Station is an old renovated hotel that is used to help families that are really struggling have a place of their own to live. Most of those living there would be living on the street or moving from shelter to shelter if it wasn’t for Joshua Station. Milt and Mary had to fix up the room themselves at their own expense, and they pay rent just like all the rest of the tenants. I may be riding to raise awareness for poverty issues, but Milt and Mary are working right there with those in need -- please include them specifically in your prayers. It was a wonderful visit.

2008-07-27T12:02:00.000-07:00

July 26, 2008
Today was the last day of the first section. It was also the last day of the BIG MOUNTAINS. We had a few miles of downhill and level road till we left the city of Winter Park, then it was time to climb and climb and climb. We went all the way up to 11,300 ft at Bertha’s Pass, where we had a sag stop and a bit of celebrating as we had finished all the heavy climbs, or so we thought. The downhill was ok but got pretty hard on the brakes. At a small town most of the troupe decided to stop for coffee, but I decided to keep going as Brenda and the kids were meeting me in Denver. The route got pretty tricky as I had to find my way back and forth across I-70 on frontage roads and bike trails. I was even on a gravel road for a short time. Eventually I came to Floyds Hill which was only about 2 miles long, but had to be one of the nastiest climbs of the trip. I think it was mostly psychological, as I had thought I had the really hard climbs conquered. It was steep enough that I would occasionally spin the front tire (my bike is front wheel drive). Finally I reached the top and a welcome stop at Julie’s sag, then on to Denver. I had a long descent through a beautiful canyon in the Evergeen, CO area. Finally on to Englewood and Denver Christian High School, where they were waiting with a big welcome party. It was wonderful to see such a show of support. As I was again running ahead of schedule and the first one in, Brenda, the kids, and sister in law Barb hadn’t showed up yet. They did, eventually, and it was sure great to see them. We went out for pizza; I hadn’t had pizza in over a month (a staple meal at our house), and then a real bed to sleep in.

So the first section of the journey is complete and looking back it has gone amazingly well. We have only had a little rain for the entire trip and almost none of that on the road. We have been spared any serious injury, although in last couple days, Megan, one of the journalists support staff, fell in camp and broke her arm. Also today Tyler Buitenwerf, an avid cyclist whose folks live in Pella, got tangled up in a pace line and ended up with a broken collar bone. So for now anyway the tour is done for him, and as you can imagine he is very disappointed.

The YMCA

2008-07-25T14:19:00.000-07:00

July 25, 2008
Everyone slept in awhile this morning as it is a short route (35 miles). The ride down was thru Byer canyon and was a very scenic ride. We stopped for coffee at a small café along the way. The rest of the way was fairly easy going, although the last 5 miles was a significant climb. We are staying at the YMCA of the Rockies -- Snow Mountain Ranch. It is rather rough camping but I found a flat spot so we’ll see how sleeping goes. I think the altitude is wearing on me as I’m tired and just a little grouchy. The little climb up to camp was real work and tomorrow is supposed to be a long hard day with a big climb to over 11,000 ft. I’m doing my laundry as I write this, hopefully I can get a short nap in later.

Kremmling CO

2008-07-25T14:13:00.000-07:00

July 24, 2008
Craig to Kremmling via Steamboat springs. We traveled all 95 miles today on highway 40. It is a pretty busy road and you don’t get a lot of sightseeing as you are always concentrating on the road and traffic; it wasn’t terrible though. Several of us stopped in Steamboat Springs to have a coffee and bagel. It was a really good bagel, but you can sure tell when you’re in a tourist trap -- the price for a bagel and small coffee, over 5 bucks. Steamboat was about halfway thru the trip. Almost immediately upon leaving there we started to climb to Rabbit Ears pass. It was about an 8 mile climb, and steep enough to be in granny gear almost the whole way. I went through 3 large water bottles on the way up. It is a pretty area and I had plenty of time to enjoy it as it was slow going. I did make it the whole way without stopping. Rabbit Ears is on or near the continental divide, so that is sort of a milestone. The rest of the trip went pretty fast as I just wanted to get to camp and it was mostly downhill or level the whole way. Without trying I somehow managed to be the first to camp. As I write this we are having a small thunderstorm, nothing very threatening and it’s nice to hear some thunder and a little rain.

Colorado

2008-07-23T17:54:00.001-07:00

July 20, 2008
Today is Sunday and we get to rest our weary bones. When we came in last night, we were a little disappointed because we had so much distance between our tents and showers and gear truck. But it all worked out fine and it is a beautiful place. I spent a little time down at the marina just watching the boats and people. There was a small boy there catching quite a few fish right off the dock -- nothing very big, but he was having a good time. In the evening the local church put on a potluck for us, and boy what a meal it was. I really don’t think there is any better eating than a church potluck. Actually just before supper a small storm came up and we weren’t sure if we would be able to have supper and the celebration rally, as everything was basically outside. The storm dissipated as quickly as it had come up and we were treated to a wonderful double rainbow. As for the celebration rally, it was wonderful as well. The main speaker was a man who had grown up in a very poor family and had got involved in a street gang as a teen, but a Christian man came to his neighborhood and just started cleaning up empty lots and buildings. The kids all made fun of him but eventually they saw that he had something they didn’t. Today John is a corrections officer in Salt Lake City, and also runs a fairly large program to help kids like he was get their life straightened out.
Odometer reads 9240 miles

July 21, 2008
Monday, we head for Duchesne, UT. Our map doesn’t have the elevation plots because when Ed drove the route last Feb the road was closed as the pass was snowed in. I wanted to be in camp fairly early as Sweep Team B (which I’m in charge of) is up for duty. I was hitting it pretty hard, but it was a slow uphill grind. The scenery, however, was again spectacular. Climbing in the mountains is always deceiving, as you think you are level but you are actually climbing or descending. A few of us have even got off the bike to see what is dragging. At about the 30 mile mark is a sag stop and Walter informs us that it is only 7 more miles to the top. However that 7 miles turns out to be at an 8% grade, which is quite steep. So it is grind grind grind to the top, which is over 9,000 ft elevation. On the way up I was treated to the sight of a moose crossing the road. I got a couple pictures but they are not real good. The descent down was great as was the rest of the trip to camp -- most of it was downhill slightly or only small climbs. It was the kind of terrain where my little bike really shines. I was in camp by 1:00 pm, ½ hr before another rider showed up. Duchesne is just a very small town and we stayed at the city park. Sweep team is always a hard day -- you start when you get into camp and are on again / off again through about 10:00 pm and then on duty again at 5:30 in the morning. Then a few of the sweep are the last to leave camp and the last to arrive at the next camp.
Odometer reads 9334

July 22, 2008
Duchesne to Dinosaur CO. A long day, as I was up by 5 to start setting up breakfast and we didn’t get to camp till 6:00 pm and then we still had to set up our tents. We did make it before supper was served, which doesn’t always happen when you are on sweep. It went very well though; the scenery here is best described as desert -- there's just not much but scrub and heat waves. Dinosaur is a little town about the size of Leighton, for those who know that town. It is very near Dinosaur National Park. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to check it out. The city park we stayed in had prairie dog in it.
4 states down and into the 5th.
Odometer reads 9424

July 23, 2008
Today we headed for Craig, CO. It was another long, hot day with very little change in desert scenery. We did get to see several antelope, though. It was a lot of climbs and descents. Our camp tonight is at Moffat County High School -- a modern facility with great showers.

Jordanelle State Park

2008-07-20T06:30:00.000-07:00

July 19, 2008
Today was a very long day, with 2 big climbs and a couple of smaller ones -- well over 5000 feet of climbing. Most of the first 60 miles was fairly flat, but it was all urban streets and roads with lots of traffic and no scenery, at least not the kind I enjoy. Ist CRC in Salt Lake City had refreshments at the church and that was a very welcome relief. At the church we talked to a reporter from the local newspaper and he took pictures of us as we started back out. (Video footage on the sea to sea site.) Not far from the church we had to climb a very steep portion for about 1 block. It was so steep that I almost couldn't make it because I was slipping the front wheel every time I pedaled. The reporter told us that the rest wasn’t as steep, and it wasn’t. The rest of the first climb really wasn’t too bad, just long, hot and slow. At the summit of the first climb was a refreshment area set up by Covenant CRC. It was VERY well received and I think it made the last long climb do-able. I was also able to meet John Bendixen, who had contacted me earlier. It was nice to chat with him about recumbent bikes for awhile. The downhill from the first climb was a disappointment as it was quite rough and hard on the brakes. It also meant having to start a major climb again. The second was about the same steepness as the first but was on I-80 so it was very hot, dirty and noisy with no shade. A few of us actually outclimbed a semi truck. And we passed 2 stopped semis, a camper and a couple cars that had all broken down in the heat making the climb. Once we got to the top, we thought we were home free -- little did we realize that we still had 20 some miles to go with some pretty difficult climbs. The second climb was over an hour in length and I emptied both my water bottles. We had to buy water at the gas station at the top, however just a little ways down the road Walter was waiting for us at the sag stop with more water. We somehow made our way to camp; I helped Fred Myerink with a flat. We arrived at camp and to our dismay we found out that where the kitchen is and where our tents are is about ½ mile apart and accessible by a walk path only. The showers are about ¾ mile away back past the kitchen and meeting area. The camp is in Jordanelle State Park, which really is a beautiful place with a lake below us and mountains all around. I set my tent up on a cement pad as the grass is very rough and uneven. Although it was a very tough day, it was still a good day. Right at this moment the sun has set behind the mountains to the west, but is still shining on some huge thunderstorm clouds beyond the mountains to the east, giving a magnificent view -- hopefully the pictures turn out.

We also just finished a very good supper. After grumbling a bit about the camp conditions we quickly decided that we still have it really good -- a whole lot better than most people in the world have it every day.

willard UT

2008-07-18T16:16:00.000-07:00

July 18
Up at 5 to beat the heat today. It’s a shorter day today, 65 miles or so; a fair climb that’s on I-84 right out of town to start with. The temps this early are only in the 50’s, but it soon warms up. After about 20 miles we got off the interstate and took to a more rural high way. We soon come upon a huge complex of buildings with very little markings. We thought it had to be a government installation of some kind; suddenly there are a whole bunch of rockets on display. Turns out it is connected with NASA. And a place they build rocket motors Called ATK.

Almost immediately after the display the road became 20 miles of very loose chip seal pavement. It was a fairly flat stretch as it seems to be skirting the edge of the Great Salt Lake. We had about 8 riders in a pace line for the entire 20 miles so we got through it fairly quickly. My position in such a pace line is usually at the back as I can see in my mirror well to call out “CAR BACK” and I give almost no draft to hook onto at the front. I am able to catch a good draft myself at the back. I try to stay out of the middle because the person behind gets no draft benefit and is really just leading the next pack.

We came through Brigham City and saw some interesting buildings, and then it was on to camp. We are camping at Pelican Beech near Willard UT. The campground is for group camping, but appears like it’s not very tent friendly, lots of big thorns. It is right on a freshwater reservoir, so a swim takes care of the shower for tonight as there are 4 showers for the whole camp. And it’s 95 degrees. I shouldn’t complain, one of the things we noticed as we travelled thru the dessert was that poverty is not just a city issue. We passed lots and lots of old broken down homes and trailers. We’ve also been told by the teachers that we talk to, that a lot of the kids are getting their only meals at school. One teacher told us that at one of the schools they send a backpack of food home with the kids on weekends, cause that’s the only food they would get. On the tour and in our other life we sometimes complain about waiting in line for a shower or a bumpy road we have to ride our nice bikes or etc. Maybe we need to step back and re-evaluate priorities.

Utah

2008-07-17T16:22:00.000-07:00

July 17, 2008
We were up early because it was a long day (85 miles) and supposed to be hot, and it was both. We started a mild climb almost right away then it got pretty steep then a nice downhill to Albion, ID, where we stopped for coffee. Then an even bigger climb followed by another nice downhill. Then we were in the high plains -- quite flat with mountains in the distance all around. That’s when it got hot and we had a head wind besides. A long pace line helped but for a lot of the riders it was a very long day. One of the riders, Arnie Issette, popped his achilles tendon when he started back out again after stopping at the sag near the top of the second climb. That’s really our first serious injury. The road in the high planes was decent but seemed to go on forever with absolutely no shade. We did cross into Utah on the way. The last couple hours the temp on the pavement was just plain hot. We did see a few mule deer and some live jack rabbits but mostly just endless desert. The town we are in is Snowville, UT, population 177. We are staying in a park that thankfully has lots of shade but only one shower, so it’s a bucket bath tonight. There is a little café right next to us that had great apple pie, not as good as mom’s but close.

Joy kisses the downhill sign -- a break from climbing!

on to Burley

2008-07-16T19:04:00.000-07:00

July 16, 2008
Today was a long ride but parts of it were the most scenic yet. We were first in farm country that resembled Iowa except for the fact that it is all irrigated and there are a series of canals all through the country. Another difference is that right through this area is the Snake River Canyon, a straight drop, with sheer cliffs and a beautiful river scene below.

A big industry in Idaho is dairy and we were able to tour a midsize dairy operation, Miller Farms. They had about 1700 cows. A very interesting part of the operation was the milking parlor. It was a big circle that held about 20 cows. The interesting part was that it continually rotated. The cows were all in a pen to one side, they stepped into one of the pens of the circle as it was moving -- they did this all by themselves, no one had to push or lead them in. As the table turned a man attached the milkers to the cow. As the table continued to rotate this was repeated over and over. The milker unit could detect when the cow was out of milk and would drop down automatically. When the cow had come almost full circle she went out into the next pen, again without any prodding or leading. As the empty pen crossed into the first pen another cow would step in. Wow.

The next stop was a very much appreciated lunch stop in Twin Falls, ID, put on by the RCA church there. Sub sandwiches were on the menu and it was good. They gave us directions to take a slight detour to see the Shoshone Falls, sometimes called the Niagara Falls of the west. They were wonderful and I think even more scenic than the Niagara Falls. Twin falls is also where Evil Kenevil did his attempted jump over the canyon on his motorcycle. One of the penalties we paid for taking the side trip was a big climb back up and out of the canyon, but it was worth it.

The rest of the 83 miles was rather uneventful, although very hot. After the trailer was unloaded we suddenly had another round of sprinkler attacks, right where the bags were all sitting. We are spending the night at Burley, ID. Everywhere we see people they are curious about what we are doing and we are able to talk to them about why the ride started in the first place.

Photos, July 15

2008-07-16T17:21:00.000-07:00

HUGE school (campsight) in ID.

Gooding

2008-07-15T18:06:00.000-07:00

July 15, 2008
Last night at the peloton meeting the flat tire count was up to 230-some flats for the trip. About 35 people (including myself) haven’t had one yet. Also at the peloton meeting Ad De bluiji, our Haitian rider (he’s originally from Holland and now works for CRWRC as an agronomist), gave a short talk on his work in Haiti. Solving poverty issues in Haiti is a complex issue.

I 'overslept' till 6, so after breakfast I told Doug and Joy to go on ahead. The first part of the ride was flat or down hill so I was able to make really good time and caught back up within about 8 miles. It sure is nice to have a comfortable bike that moves really well. The scenery is changing again . . . it’s still desert, but there are now buttes instead of hills or mountains. Not much wildlife today except a badger and a lizard. We were riding along the Snake River for part of the trip. In one of those sections Claire Elgersma yelled that she saw a fish come way up out of the water. She said it was at least 5 ft long. We were giving her a hard time about fish stories, but then we stopped in the next town at a little café for coffee. They told us there that in that part of the Snake River there are very large sturgeon and they are protected in that area. One of the gentlemen there told us a story of him and his brother catching one. They had a 14 foot boat and after fighting the fish for 4 ½ hrs they pulled it up with its head at the front of the boat to release it and its tail was visible behind the boat, about a 16 foot fish!

We are staying tonight at Gooding, ID; we actually have some nice shade trees. The road is pretty nasty along part of the route -- it was chip seal that was a whole lot more chip than seal, with a lot of loose gravel, but it went well. Gooding has a population of about 3300. We checked out the library/police station/city hall/information center. The area that we are travelling though is along the old Oregon Trail and there is a lot of history in this area.

More desert

2008-07-15T16:30:00.000-07:00

July 14, 2008
I was up by 5:30 and on the road by 7. It was cool when we left but quickly got hot. Today the scenery didn’t change much, lots of sage brush and brown hills. There was a little climbing in the trip, most of it pretty early on. We did see more wildlife today: a burrowing owl, a coyote and 1 live jackrabbit and a lot of dead ones. It didn’t seem that their ears were very lucky. Tonight we are in Mountain Home, ID in a new middle school that is a first class place -- I’m able to sit here in the gym in air-conditioned comfort. We stopped at the local bike shop on the way in. There was a fellow there by the name of Raymond who had a Penny Farthing type bike that several of us had to try out -- it was a hoot.

Last night I talked to Dennis Grelk and Chris Cortez . . . sounded like the races at Northbrook and Kenosha went pretty well with the exception that Gary Toy lost control of his bike and Chris t-boned him. Gary suffered a separated shoulder and road rash. Chris was able to continue but didn’t finish the race. Sounds like Gary will be down a while, but otherwise ok.
We had some troubles with sprinkler systems dousing people in the middle of the night, but today as we were standing along the school in the shade waiting for the gear truck to reposition the sprinklers suddenly went off, dousing several riders! It still amazes me how much is irrigated out here. If it’s green it’s irrigated, otherwise it's brown desert. At the peloton last night we heard from our Haitian rider Ad De Blioji, who works for CRWRC in Haiti. He talked of his work there and some of the complexities in trying to break the cycle of poverty there.

Photos, July 12

2008-07-12T19:55:00.000-07:00

Doug & Rick cool off the only way they can find -- sitting on an irrigation pipe (very chilly water inside!).

Idaho

2008-07-12T18:57:00.000-07:00

Well, Oregon has been as beautiful and diverse as Washington. with lots of quiet paved roads, and the scenery varies from lush irrigated farm ground to desert. Thursday night we stayed in Huntington, OR. It was an interesting night as the wind came up very strong about 10pm -- a lot of the tents went down and a lot of people spent the night in the gym. The folks there where extremely friendly and helpful. The laundromat in town offered free laundry! Yesterday we stayed at Ontario, OR. It was a short trip and fast -- my total time on the bike was 1:50 for 38 miles. I rode hard so I could spend a couple hours with an old college friend, Steve Lutz. We had a great visit. Then it was our turn for sweep team duties. Those duties include helping unload the gear truck then setting up, serving supper and then cleaning up. Then we do the same thing at 5:30 in the morning for breakfast, load up and clean up camp. About 6 of the sweep team are last to leave camp and make sure that everyone makes it to the next camp. It was a fairly long day today and we finally rolled into camp about 4:30 in 95 degree temps. It's a good thing we only have to sweep once every 10 days. Camp tonight is in Boise, ID, where we'll be through Sunday. I did see a couple of mule deer and some prairie dogs, also a lot of birds I haven't seen before. I also did a little fishing in the Snake River, but had my usual result (0).

Photos, July 9

2008-07-09T18:09:00.001-07:00

Sunridge Middle School, Pendleton, OR

oregon

2008-07-09T12:50:00.000-07:00

I'm sending this from the library in Baker, OR. We had a great ride this morning through old west cattle country with the blue mountains on one side and the Eagle mountains on the other. We had a pretty quick trip, as we started before 7am and arrived at noon. We had a few stops along the way and had a very nice conversation with a local rancher who explain the countryside and local commerce. The day before we had a big climb from Pendleton OR to La Grande OR. It was our first experience with climbing via a switch back road. The view was spectactular. It was also our travel on the side of the interstate. We rode along I84 for about 8 miles, not nearly as nice as the open country roads we've been traveling. I can't attach pictures here at the libary, so I'll try and get them attached later.
Rick

Photo Collection, July 6 2008

2008-07-06T18:22:00.000-07:00

when downhill is good

2008-07-06T13:42:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry it has taken so long to post, but the tour's satellite dish hasn't really worked until now and it is a little difficult to get to other sites. So far it has been a really great trip. The scenery has been spectacular and it seems to really change a lot from day to day. We are now in Kennewick WA., where we'll be till we roll out again Monday morning.

The start of the tour was quite an experience with all the bikes rolling out in short order. And as Brenda explained earlier, it was difficult to leave my daughter as I won't be seeing her in quite a while. The first part of the ride was on Seattle bike paths, I thought they should have been called the Seattle bike freeway -- I've never seen so many bikes. As we moved more toward the open country the look was more and more forested. The second day was a really tough one as we climbed up and over Stevens pass. The first part of the climb wasn't too bad, but the last 15 miles up to the pass was a real grind. (For the Pella locals, it's like Amsterdam hill for 15 miles after doing 30 miles of a lesser grade.) I made it ok but I had a hip that was really hurting. The downhill was really nice -- my bike likes to go fast and it did.

My sweep team was on duty when we got to camp that night so we still had a lot of work to do. There are 10 sweep teams, and when your team is up you go on duty when you get in and are on duty through the next afternoon. Duties include loading and unloading the gear truck and helping the kitchen staff serve supper and then breakfast the next morning. Then after every one is packed up, you load the gear truck, and then it's your responsibility to make sure all the riders make it to the next stop.

The third day was also another good climb over Blewett pass. It was not nearly as dificult as the day before and as the sweep team we took our time. It was really a fun day even though we didn't get in till after supper was started. The last 2 days have been quite easy days with short miles and generally downhill. The scenery changed dramaticaly in a very short time. It is now high desert with everything being irrigated, even the cattle pastures. We have been following the Yakima river and now the Columbia river. As I said before, we are camped at Kennewick along the Columbia, which in this spot any way is nearly as wide as the Mississippi.

We had a wonderfull church service here in the park this morning with the local churches.
for my biking buddies: the bike has worked very well and has been very comfortable and I've had no problems keeping up. For my wife and mother, I've put one of the reflective vests that we all wear over the back of the bike to make me more visible. The biking here in Washington state has been spectacular.

That's all my fingers will type for now. I'll try and attach some pictures.

Rick

Tour begins!

2008-07-01T08:22:00.000-07:00

(Brenda posting again): Monday morning the riders were fed (well!) by local congregations at the Golden Garden Beach in Seattle. At 9 am they lined up at the water's edge and we all said the Lord's Prayer together, then dipped the tires. Departure was staged in groups; Rick left in group 2, Lynn in group 3.
Rick's goodbye was bittersweet -- Andrea likely moves overseas while he is gone, and both realized this is their last face to face for awhile. I'm glad they had this time together.

Celebration Rally

2008-07-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

(Brenda posting): Rick joined the Sea to Sea riders on Saturday, June 29 at the University of Seattle. Organization of the tour is good -- guess it has to be with so many riders and support staff. Sunday the riders and family and local supporters joined together in a time of worship and celebration, including a prayer for the riders. Each speaker emphasized pedaling for God's glory, and set expectations for change in the lives of the riders and those they touch on the tour.

Training almost complete

2008-06-15T05:04:00.000-07:00

Well we're getting down to the last of the training days. They have been pretty interesting, particularly in regards to the weather. It was a long winter followed by a very wet spring. The picture pretty well describes the boundaries of almost all the rides lately. Almost any direction I leave from Pella ends at the waters edge. Kind of a mini Sea to Sea. My total mileage to date is a Little over 2200 miles, with the longest of only 75 miles. I had planned on doing at least one century ride before I left, but time constraints and poor planning didn't allow it. The 75 mile ride was yesterday and felt fine.I took the bike apart last night and started stuffing it in a box to ship to Seattle. I'll have to ride one of my older bikes for the next week. Fund raising has gone very well. Lynn Verros and I have worked together and between the 2 of us have raised close to $25,000. Thank You to all who have participated, not only with funds, but also in your thoughts and prayers. Hopefully I see some of you along the route.

June training

2008-06-07T16:42:00.000-07:00

Today as I cranked out more training miles, the weather and its aftermath was on my mind. First it was Hot, humid and very windy. The real nasty side of the weather though was very apparent as I passed through Attica IA a small town about 20 miles from home.. They are cleaning up after a small tornado(F1) ripped through town a week ago. towards the end of my ride I stopped to take a picture on my local bike path, which in this section is under several feet of water. North of Pella the skunk river is way out of its banks and all over the farm fields and even high enough to be in a few homes. As I was riding I was thankful that there was not any human life lost in our area, but feeling badly for all those with damaged property. I was also thinking about the work that the organizations like CRWRC (one of benefactors of the Sea to Sea ride) do through out the world and here locally for people in similar times of distress. I was also thinking of how foolish it is to pour all our lives into possesions, they can be gone in a flash. Our hope should lie on the one who made the world in the first place. In God and his son Jesus is our only real hope.

may update

2008-05-11T05:46:00.000-07:00

The picture is from a training ride in Missouri along the Kady trail in mid April. The weather has finally started to be a little more bike friendly and I've been able to rack up some miles.

Today I go to see the fine folks at 2nd CRC here in Pella, to talk about Sea to Sea. Many have been asking how the fund raising has been going. The answer is: God is good and people have been tremendously generous, as I have exceeded my initial goal of $10,000 and the total is at almost $11,000 and still climbing.

Winter training continues

2008-03-08T16:35:00.000-08:00

It has been a long winter, but it looks like spring might be just around the corner. I've been a member of the Pella Bike Racing Team for a few years. This winter the race team has met every Thursday night out in my shop to train together and help get each other motivated through this long winter. The picture is last Thursdays practice. Only about half the team was present; a few of the others actually rode beforehand, OUTSIDE. Perhaps with daylight savings time coming in a couple days the rest of us will be able to join them. Pictured from left to right are: Rick Gritters, Steve Reynolds, Lee Current, and Jacob Oyen.

I had previously been told that it was nearly impossible to ride a recumbent bike on rollers, so most of the time I have been on a trainer while the other guys were on their rollers. About a month ago I decided to build a cheap set of rollers and try it. Well it turns out that once I figured out the right settup of the rollers, it works quite well.

In other news. I have reached the half way goal in my fundraising efforts for The Sea to Sea ride.It is a great mile stone, but still a long way to go. I gave a short presentation at 1st CRC here in Pella last Sunday and will be doing it again at Calvary CRC this coming Sunday. Lynn Verros and I also did an interview about Sea to Sea with Deb Jansen from the Pella Bike Club this last week.

On the http://www.seatosea.org/ site there is a new promotional video that gives a good snapshot of what Sea to Sea is all about, check it out.

2008-02-06T10:36:00.000-08:00

Riding the trainer in the shop is getting really old, but that seems like our only choice here in Iowa lately. 3" to 6" a couple days ago and 12" overnight. luckily some of it melted before this last blast. I am anxious for some ridable weather.

2008-01-06T06:36:00.000-08:00

The bike is back together and the weather has even been good enough for some outdoor training. The roads are a little wet, but that has been a good test of the new fenders. So I guess it's time to RIDE!

winter projects

2007-12-23T14:03:00.000-08:00

Well since we've had really nasty winter for the 4th weekend in a row, and I've finished most of the modifications to the bike. I decided to take it apart down to the last bolt and give it a real paint job. It has only had a spray bomb paint job since it was built. it is also a good time to closely inspect all the components. So let the mess begin.

2007-12-16T17:09:00.000-08:00

Sunday Dec 9 I was part of the childrens message and was able to use the bike, a bowl of rice and some slides to teach the kids about poverty and the Sea to Sea tour.

First Post

2007-11-22T09:14:00.000-08:00

This blog is being started as I make preparations to go Sea to Sea in 2008 on my bicycle. The tour is a fundraising event for CRWRC (Christian Reformed World Relief Committee), CRWM (Christian Reformed World Missions) and Partners World Wide, all organizations who provide assistance, in varying ways, to people in need. I will attempt to keep this updated with my progress and new developments.

The photo shows my favorite summer activity, racing my homebuilt bikes. The bike is not my usual racing bike, but is likely the one I'll take on the tour (in modified form). Training for the tour may take a bit of a mind shift -- preparing to ride hard for a relatively short period of time is quite different from preparing to ride 70 miles per day, 6 days a week, for 9 weeks!