Brent, who is going to continue the ride to New Jersey has started a blog - and here is the link...
http://seatoseabrentdevries.blogspot.com/
Monday, August 4, 2008
Week 5 - Shawn Finished
Wow so it's done. (for me at least) Crazy even to think about. I am back home on my home computer. Back to normal life and normal responsibilities. Kind of bitter sweet I guess. What an experience though both physically, emotionally and spiritually. Before I sum up the experence I'll fill you all in on the last few days...
The winds were definitely a little cruel to us the last few days. You see one of the main reasons the tour runs from West to East is so that we have the prevailing winds at our backs. Well I guess 2008 is the year the world switch direction as more often than not we had the winds in our face. As mentioned in the previous post all last week we battled head winds with the odd 1/2 tail wind for brief portions. In fact on Saturday the wind was very strong as we passed through a small town and the tornado warning sirens began to wail, but as there were not to many storm clouds in sight they must have been testing the system but it was definitely enough to get us looking around.
There have also been a good number of small accidents the last week. I guess due to the fact everyone is so tired they do not pay attention to pavement seams or sand and gravel. None of the incidents this week were major, just enough to loose a patch or 2 of skin on elbows, knees and random stomach locations (not sure how you did it Julia). Most people continued to ride while others required a day or 2 off.
Now for the weekend. Our weekend rest location was in Fremont Nebraska. Fremont is a decently small town. We ended up in a park next to a YMCA Arena. Yep a hockey arena in Nebraska.
We even had open ice for a few hours in the evening. Well it was a full Canadian pick-up hockey experience, bruised shins on everyone and all. It was quite a riot. At one point to many people were on the ice so we had to split into 3 teams with the winner of each 2 goal game staying on the ice to play the following game. While the game was played by 95% Canadians the Americans were quite entertained taking pictures of our craziness on the side.
The heat on Saturday night was also something else. On my return from
the "Library" at 12:30 a.m. the park sign read 84ºF. We also hit well over 100ºF that day. Many people had problems sleeping and resorted to sleeping in the fridgid arena or in the arena lobby where the lights do not turn off. Brian even found a nice spot on the air hockey table.
Sunday the riders split into 2 different groups and we were bussed to 2 different local CRC churches. Nice to ride in something quicker than a bike, and even nicer to enjoy a service inside a air conditioned building. Though I am pretty sure most of us had issues staying awake due to the comfortable conditions and the poor sleeping conditions the night before.
Following the service Jenn, Kyle and Jess brought me to the airport. Flights home were fairly
uneventful but the connection plane was delayed by about 2 hours. It was so nice
to be back home and see Natalie at the airport. I think we stood in the customs doorway blocking traffic hugging for a bit longer than some would like but I am pretty sure we did not care much at the time. You know you have been gone a little to long when it feels odd to be at home. But I am sure it will all seem normal soon enough.
So now for the experence....
Mentally / Physically
As mentioned this trip was hands down the most physically challenging thing I have ever done, so I am definitely proud to say I biked every mile of the section I was a part of. I lost a little over 10 pounds in the experience, so if your looking for a work out program this is the one. I was not even sure I had 10 pounds to loose. And mentally pushing harder than you thought possible was new to me and also a challenge.
As for biking I am not sure what I will do. Though the biking was neat I was definitely sick of pedaling at the end. I may bike the final day in New Jersey just to see fellow riders again but apart from that we will see if my bike ever moves again.
Emotionally / Spiritually
I am blessed even more than I even knew. Being away from family and friends and most importantly Natalie has shown me how much God has richly blessed me. Just to have the loving support on this journey and to find out how much I am loved was something else. And to see a small portion of Gods vast and diverse creation was something I will never forget.
As mentioned in previous blogs I entered this experience to find out what God wants for me for the future while supporting a great cause. I was initially frustrated by God's answer but through the journey I have begun to understood his wisdom. God's answer was that he will show me the way I am to go but will do so in his time. 5 year plans are great but you need to be open to God's calling in every situation, not just once every few years. I am sure God sent me on this trip not just to teach me but to use me, to talk and encourage fellow riders.. the community and most importantly to help people focus on our hurting world (as should have been the purpose for the trip). How God will use us riders in the future for this cause I am not sure. But I guess the point continues to be "Be open to anything" because God is using you always. It is very encouraging to think of all the lives God may be touching through us this summer and also will touch through all the money raised. (1.85+ Million).
Tour Stats
Every night on tour we take up a few stats so here are my own stats for the ride:
- Flat tires - 0 (Tour 500+) - could be due to good tires and a bit of luck
- Rider Falls - 2 (Tour 90+) - Due to those darn clipped pedals
- Distance - 3590km (Tour total 6246km)
- Distance with training - 4890km
Huge Thanks
I want to thank you all again for your support. The 8400 dollars was raised only through your generous support, and I most defiantly could not have made some of the tougher days without your and fellow riders encouragement. I ask that you continue to pray for the following:
1. Riders, especially Brent, as they continue to ride.
2. Local people as they encounter the riders and are open to the message.
3. Agencies that will be receiving the funds so the funds will be used stewardly.
Thanks again,
Shawn
The winds were definitely a little cruel to us the last few days. You see one of the main reasons the tour runs from West to East is so that we have the prevailing winds at our backs. Well I guess 2008 is the year the world switch direction as more often than not we had the winds in our face. As mentioned in the previous post all last week we battled head winds with the odd 1/2 tail wind for brief portions. In fact on Saturday the wind was very strong as we passed through a small town and the tornado warning sirens began to wail, but as there were not to many storm clouds in sight they must have been testing the system but it was definitely enough to get us looking around.
There have also been a good number of small accidents the last week. I guess due to the fact everyone is so tired they do not pay attention to pavement seams or sand and gravel. None of the incidents this week were major, just enough to loose a patch or 2 of skin on elbows, knees and random stomach locations (not sure how you did it Julia). Most people continued to ride while others required a day or 2 off.
Now for the weekend. Our weekend rest location was in Fremont Nebraska. Fremont is a decently small town. We ended up in a park next to a YMCA Arena. Yep a hockey arena in Nebraska.
We even had open ice for a few hours in the evening. Well it was a full Canadian pick-up hockey experience, bruised shins on everyone and all. It was quite a riot. At one point to many people were on the ice so we had to split into 3 teams with the winner of each 2 goal game staying on the ice to play the following game. While the game was played by 95% Canadians the Americans were quite entertained taking pictures of our craziness on the side.The heat on Saturday night was also something else. On my return from
the "Library" at 12:30 a.m. the park sign read 84ºF. We also hit well over 100ºF that day. Many people had problems sleeping and resorted to sleeping in the fridgid arena or in the arena lobby where the lights do not turn off. Brian even found a nice spot on the air hockey table.Sunday the riders split into 2 different groups and we were bussed to 2 different local CRC churches. Nice to ride in something quicker than a bike, and even nicer to enjoy a service inside a air conditioned building. Though I am pretty sure most of us had issues staying awake due to the comfortable conditions and the poor sleeping conditions the night before.
Following the service Jenn, Kyle and Jess brought me to the airport. Flights home were fairly
uneventful but the connection plane was delayed by about 2 hours. It was so nice
to be back home and see Natalie at the airport. I think we stood in the customs doorway blocking traffic hugging for a bit longer than some would like but I am pretty sure we did not care much at the time. You know you have been gone a little to long when it feels odd to be at home. But I am sure it will all seem normal soon enough.So now for the experence....
Mentally / Physically
As mentioned this trip was hands down the most physically challenging thing I have ever done, so I am definitely proud to say I biked every mile of the section I was a part of. I lost a little over 10 pounds in the experience, so if your looking for a work out program this is the one. I was not even sure I had 10 pounds to loose. And mentally pushing harder than you thought possible was new to me and also a challenge.
As for biking I am not sure what I will do. Though the biking was neat I was definitely sick of pedaling at the end. I may bike the final day in New Jersey just to see fellow riders again but apart from that we will see if my bike ever moves again.
Emotionally / Spiritually
I am blessed even more than I even knew. Being away from family and friends and most importantly Natalie has shown me how much God has richly blessed me. Just to have the loving support on this journey and to find out how much I am loved was something else. And to see a small portion of Gods vast and diverse creation was something I will never forget.
As mentioned in previous blogs I entered this experience to find out what God wants for me for the future while supporting a great cause. I was initially frustrated by God's answer but through the journey I have begun to understood his wisdom. God's answer was that he will show me the way I am to go but will do so in his time. 5 year plans are great but you need to be open to God's calling in every situation, not just once every few years. I am sure God sent me on this trip not just to teach me but to use me, to talk and encourage fellow riders.. the community and most importantly to help people focus on our hurting world (as should have been the purpose for the trip). How God will use us riders in the future for this cause I am not sure. But I guess the point continues to be "Be open to anything" because God is using you always. It is very encouraging to think of all the lives God may be touching through us this summer and also will touch through all the money raised. (1.85+ Million).
Tour Stats
Every night on tour we take up a few stats so here are my own stats for the ride:
- Flat tires - 0 (Tour 500+) - could be due to good tires and a bit of luck
- Rider Falls - 2 (Tour 90+) - Due to those darn clipped pedals
- Distance - 3590km (Tour total 6246km)
- Distance with training - 4890km
Huge Thanks
I want to thank you all again for your support. The 8400 dollars was raised only through your generous support, and I most defiantly could not have made some of the tougher days without your and fellow riders encouragement. I ask that you continue to pray for the following:
1. Riders, especially Brent, as they continue to ride.
2. Local people as they encounter the riders and are open to the message.
3. Agencies that will be receiving the funds so the funds will be used stewardly.
Thanks again,
Shawn
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Week 5 - Day 4
Welcome to Nebraska... Well God's creation continues to change as we cross the country. We left Denver and were back into desert like conditions (Very dry and hot) and then finally over the day today we have come back into some "green" country. Quite a welcome change I sure we would all agree.I'm not going to lie, Monday - Wednesday were some pretty rough days. It was hot and flat with some decent head winds. 150km is far enough, but when you add a head wind and just above or just below 100 deg F heat it feels much more like 250km. Not only is it draining but it really plays on your mind which I am told, and am learning, is half the battle on long rides. A number of the 15 new riders that joined us in Denver had a very rough time needing SAG rides to reach the destination. Here I'll try to fill you in on each day... (Apparently people like that)
Monday Brent was on sweep so he had to leave last so I went on without him. I rode a good portion of the way solo and in the lead about 10-20 min ahead of everyone. It was definitely a good time to just reflect on the trip and on the experience of cycling. I was fairly hot but I got in very early unlike poor Brent. Brent was not too interested in sweeping so he got in mid pack.
Tuesday Brent and I left with a man named George. George is very good cyclist and pushed us a little harder than normal so we averaged 30km on the trip. It was far from relaxing as we pacelined head down in a tuck the entire trip taking turns at the lead. But it was very nice to get the distance over with as it was once again hot and the winds were quite strong not in our favor. Pacelines are nice in the wind but as you are very stationary your butt, arms, neck and wrists get sore much quicker. Another issue was the grasshoppers that were numerous and sometimes the roads seemed alive as they jumped about often even hitting you in the face. The picture above is of one that rode with me for a while.
Wednesday Brent and I rode just the two of us. It was a very long hot ride over some very boring scenery. We did take a slight detour early in the route and toured into Kansas, just to add an extra state to the mix. We were both pretty done when we rolled into town. In fact I fell asleep in McDonalds once we had arrived. I think both Brent and I were pretty down following that journey as it was very hard on our bodies and even harder on our minds. Sometime you wonder how hard you can push yourself and how hard is even healthy.
All this is to explain how today was so much better.. so much better... We were told that the temperature is going to hit 104F today so we left at 6:15 this morning. Due to the time zone 
change we crossed yesterday that meant leaving 2 hours earlier than the previous day. Unfortunately this meant the first 30 minutes were cycling in the dark with our blinking red tail lights, but we did get to see an impressive sun rise. The scenery was also much better as the now green hills rolled on forever. The 1000+ acre corn fields were a sight to see with the grain elevators that were at least 6+ stories tall. Oh Bill (Dad) I attempted to determine the corn status for the area but it seems a little hit and miss. Some fields the corn was only 3-4 feet and looked nearly dead while in this area today the corn is well over 7-8 feet and looks amazing. I counted the rows on 1 cob from the nice field and got 16 (Seems a little low?). And well as for the plants per 17 feet, you will have to figure it out from the pictures.. hehe
Anyway at 100km God gave us the present of 15km/h tail wind. Wow what a difference. We averaged 30-40km an hour for the remainder of the trip with only a light to medium effort. So now I am very lucky to be sitting in a library escaping the heat as many other are still on the road.
Well I guess that's my update for this portion of the week. 3 riding days down for the week and 3 more to go till I retire from this cycling craziness... Before I go though I thought I would answer a request and fill you guys in on a typical day here for Brent and I. (Oh and I apologize for now allowing many comments to be posted on my blog, the issue has been resolved and now commenting is open to all)6:00a.m. - Wake up.. (today and for the rest of the week this will be 5a.m.)
- Normally Brent and I both roll up our sleeping bags and mattresses in the tent before we exit.
- Also get on the cycling clothes and apply the shammy butter (Ask a cyclist if you have questions on the "butter").
- Then head to breakfast (normally just make a brown sugar sandwich) and pack the lunch for the day.
- Take down the tent and pack everything into bags and lug the bag to the gear truck.
- Inflate tires back to 120psi (normally drop 20psi over the day), check over bike.. pack lunch on bike and stretch.
- Wait for Brent (aka. pee a lot) to do his business and normally get on the road around 7:00a.m.
- Normally we are about middle to front of the pack leaving.
10:00a.m. - By this point we are nearly halfway which means we have passed a good number of the older cyclists that left extremely early and are close to the front of the pack.
- Stop and have lunch and talk to the SAG drivers (normally Walter) and sit outside his motorhome (Walter is normally at the half way point and always finds a good place with a nice view.
12:00 - 5:00p.m. (Dependant on the day / distance) - Get into destination town
- We have often been passed by some of the super athletes that left well after we did but seem to enjoy hauling at top speed. So we are normally first 20-30 percent of riders into camp.
- Head into local cafe, McDonalds.. DQ.. to find A/C and generally end up talking to locals.
- Time at the restaurant also means we do not have to be at camp setting everything up (which Brent and I have both done our share of)
- Often stare at our food which we want to eat but will not seem to go into our stomachs.
- Occasionally fall asleep in restaurant or on the lawn outside, or many even go to the pool if available.
- Head to camp, set up tent and have a shower.
6:00p.m. - Finally dinner is served. You may need to be in line for 20+ minutes to get dinner but the food is generally well worth the wait.
- Wash our dishes (often wait in line again) and put them back in our tents.
- Then work on our bikes.. okay normally other people bikes and help some of the less technically inclined people with there computers.
7:30p.m. - Peliton meeting (Word used to describe a group of cyclists)
- At the meeting we take stats for the day like flats and falls or any other interesting information we can think of (number of farts, pees, grasshoppers killed, cattle in one field...etc..)
- Hear stores of interesting evangelical experences for the day.
- Get the route for the following day.
8:00-8:30p.m. - Have small groups which is 5+ people that you will meet with 5 days a week for the entire tour.
- On Wednesday night we have an optional prayer service where we read a book of the bible start to finish, sing praise songs acapela and pray for the upcoming week.
9:00p.m. - Either sit and chat, work on this blog, phone home (every night) go out to a pub (rarely), work on more bikes or watch a movie on the laptop.
9:30 - 11:00 - Go to bed and recover to do the whole experience again.
Well thats it for me. Thanks again for reading and posting comments. I'll be sure to pass the comments onto Brent, oh and I'll be sure to bug him about continuing (ie starting) his own blog once I leave. As for prayer requests please keep a women named Cynthia in your prayers as she had an accident on Monday and has cracked her pelvis.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Week 4 - Day 7
Welcome to Denver... It was a great welcome and an even more amazing ride into the city. I will not get ahead of myself though and I'll try to let you know about the rest of the week.It was definatly a long week and once again quite trying on most people. The hills were quite an issue as well as the elevation (causing elevation sickness and a few asema attacks)... Welcome to the rockies I guess... But after Tuesday's somewhat rough ride with the intense heat and head wind, Brent and I definatly tried to take our time the
rest of the week. Leave early and beat the heat was generally the plan. I had quite a bit of knee pain in the mornings but generally once I was 50km or so into the ride the pain actually lessened (With the help of advil) Only problem was that stopping generally caused the pain to return so we tried to make a little stop as possible.
rest of the week. Leave early and beat the heat was generally the plan. I had quite a bit of knee pain in the mornings but generally once I was 50km or so into the ride the pain actually lessened (With the help of advil) Only problem was that stopping generally caused the pain to return so we tried to make a little stop as possible.Thursday I was on sweep again so I had to follow up the rear of the pack. But as on both other sweep days I volunteered to be the last rider this time I went a head a little. Glad I did as it was a hot ride and had quite a climb. Due to the heat and lack of oxygen more than 20 people had to be driven up the hill. I felt like I was missing out on something when climbing the hill as people continued to ride by in the sag vehicles. Then the sag would go back down to pick up more for another load. But hey the best part of the ride up is enjoying the ride down knowing you earned every foot of it. Actually the neat part of the hill was that it was the continental divide meaning the water from one side rides to the Atlantic while the other the Pacific. That must mean we are halfway across the country right? eheh.
Friday's ride was a short one which meant people could try to recover from the long previous days of the week. We stayed in the mountains at a YMCA ranch which was fairly nice. It had a pool and restaurant which Brent and I and many others sat in basically all day watching TV which we have been missing so much. The night was quite cold though as it went down to 6ºC which meant I was wearing nearly everything I had inside my sleeping bag to stay warm.So now onto Saturday... It was amazing. We left the ranch at 8500 feet elevation and climbed nearly all morning to hit 11+ thousand feet elevation or just below the tree line. It was definatly a little harder to breath up there but the view was most definatly worth it. The road switched 
back and forth as it climbed the mountian like a ladder. Plus the grade of the hill was only 5% or so which made climbing a breeze in comparison to earlier in the week. But I guess that's what training will do because I am sure when I get home you will not be able to pay me enough to climb any hill that tall. We also got to ride though Winter Park which is one of Colorado's nicer resort towns. The ride down was even better. Nothing like doing 30-60km/h for an hour without peddling. In fact most of the trip into Denver was downhill. We had one uphill seemed about 9-10% for 
only 2 miles, but apart from that it was free sailing. A portion of the trip was through a gorgous canyon which switch back and forth down the mountian. It felt like I was on my motorbike as I 
got to lean on the corners going the speed of traffic.
back and forth as it climbed the mountian like a ladder. Plus the grade of the hill was only 5% or so which made climbing a breeze in comparison to earlier in the week. But I guess that's what training will do because I am sure when I get home you will not be able to pay me enough to climb any hill that tall. We also got to ride though Winter Park which is one of Colorado's nicer resort towns. The ride down was even better. Nothing like doing 30-60km/h for an hour without peddling. In fact most of the trip into Denver was downhill. We had one uphill seemed about 9-10% for 
only 2 miles, but apart from that it was free sailing. A portion of the trip was through a gorgous canyon which switch back and forth down the mountian. It felt like I was on my motorbike as I 
got to lean on the corners going the speed of traffic.Now the welcome into Denver was the topper on the cake. We rolled into the school and there were cheerleaders, a DJ playing music, free hair cuts, food and more drinks that we could have wanted. We also had full rain of the school which even allowed Brent and I to set up our tents in the air conditioned Gym.
The evening was even better as we were offered rides to the movies by a local named Paul. Paul even picked us up unexpectedly at 12:30 and gave us a tour of the bakery / factory he works at and then a 2:00 a.m. tour of downtown Denver. I can not say it was much of a night for sleeping but it was entertaining anyway. Today we had a service at a local football stadium where a mayor rep declaired the day an official "Sea to sea" day in Denver. Following that a bunch of us had the opertunity to tour downtown on the local lightrail and walk around a little. Even though not all trust John and my judgement we did get everyone back on the right train.
So quite the week / weekend for my second to last week on tour. I have definately loved this experence and would not trade it for anything, but at the same time I am beginning to feel that my purpose for being here is nearly complete. I have seen more of God's creation than my head can handle and he has also taught me a great deal about community, purpose and love... I am very very excited to go home next weekend and see Nat and family so I hope this week goes quickly. The rides are generally downhill but long so provided there is no substancial head wind (Which there should not be, but so far has always been) the rides should not be to bad.
Hope all is well with you all and thanks again for reading. On a prayer note please pray for Tyler who had an accident on the tour on Saturday and broke his collerbone which will most likely require surgery.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Week 4 - Day 2
Well it has been a little while since I wrote so I apologize in advance for the long post. I was a little side tracked as Nat came to see me WOOT. It was a perfect encouragement for me at this point in the trip. 
Natalie and Lindsey (Brent’s wife) flew in Salt Lake City on Saturday and rented a car and drove out to find us. Unfortunately for them, and fortunately for me, I discovered they were coming by seeing the charge added to my MasterCard early last week. But of course it made it even better for me knowing as I had something to look forward to.
Brent and I, knowing they were coming, left our camp site at the crack of dawn on Saturday hoping to get into camp early enough that we would still have an evening with them. Well Saturdays ride was no easy feat as we had a 150km ride with almost 6000 feet of climbing in the last 50 km. For those Ottawa skiers that’s like climbing to the peak of Tremblant 3 times on a bike. At one point we were climbing a mountain on the interstate passing multiple transports and campers that had overheated while climbing in the nearly 100 F weather. I must admit I had to stop a large number of times to cool down as well. The road signs may not prove much shade but just enough to drop your body temperature from lightheaded and dizzy to sane.
Nat and Linds met us at the perfect time. We were halfway up the last climb pulled over with not a whole lot left in the tank to make the hill. Just seeing them defiantly gave the extra punch to make the hill. They said they had passed the 100+ riders behind us and were a bit scared at what shape they would find us in.
We had an amazing weekend with the ladies. A comfortable hotel bed and a whole lot of cuddling was just what was required. Though I must admit Brent and I felt a little guilty Saturday night sitting in a restaurant seeing people still passing by 5 hours after we had made it into camp.
We toured Park City, the Olympic Village and saw some Arial ski jumping training into pools,
went zip lining and even did a mini bobsled run. I was just nice to feel “normal” again and feel loved first hand and not through a little black cell phone.
Little did we know we would need that extra push in a big way on Monday morning. After the ladies left us we headed on our Monday ride. You all may have noticed that there was no elevation chart for Monday. We were told it was due to the fact the road we traveled is not open in the winter due to the steep grades and tight corners. So Ed could not drive the route last winter and use his GPS to map the elevation. Well the route was both steep and tall. We most likely climbed 6000-7000 feet that day. The mountain pass had an 8% grade for nearly 6 miles curving back and forth. The saving grace was the clouds and light rain which gave us shade for nearly the first time this trip. We hit an
elevation of 9200 feet which caused a few asthma attacks as the air was getting quite thin.
The downhill was even more exciting. I hit a speed of 70km and even passed a truck and camper which apparently did not dare to do the speeds I was downhill. Oh and do not worry I signaled and everything. Hehe.
Well today was not much better. Though the hills were not as tall we were back into the desert with a strong headwind which nearly seemed worse. Plus the sun was back doing its best to bake us to the pavement. I would say in many ways I would rather the hills than heat and head winds.
The rides are defiantly taking its toll on me as well as others. There are a large
number of riders who did not make distance on Saturday, Mon and even today. It is quite discouraging for the 15+ people which continue to not make the rides each day. Riders from the 05 tour continue to encourage us by noting how much more difficult this tour is as the rides are longer, taller and a great deal hotter.
So now onto the positives… The every changing scenery continues to be amazing. God’s got quite the imagination. I would not even be able to think up the diversity I see each day. Plus even in the open desert, where I could not imagine staying, there are plants and animals who were specifically designed by our creator to live and thrive. The sunset shown below that I saw over the salt lakes has colors which you could not paint. And the multiple rainbows that we saw over the weekend are nothing but a constant reminder of God’s love and promise.
The daily challenge, though extremely hard, is a continual reminder of how good we have it. Though I am very sore every evening with nearly no energy left in the tank, I always have a full meal at my disposal and a warm bed. All that is a great deal more than m
any have. Showing God’s love to people (especially motorists) that are not receptive is nothing compared to how Christ showed his love. We have it so good but often do nothing to give back to the one that gave it all. (Taken from a song lyric I am listening to)
I think this tour is starting to come into focus for me. Though at times you wonder what the point is in handing out cards to locals as we bike, you really have no clue what God has in store for them and how he is using you at that moment. Though you do not have to go out and save the world, you just have to continue to be open to God calling, even if he does not give you enough information to make a 5 year plan.
Thank you all again for your encouragement and comments on this blog. I feel well loved and well prayed for. I pray that you all continue to pray for my sister and little baby “Emma” (Actually currently un-named) which has graciously decided to wait to be born until I fly home in less that 2 weeks.
Natalie and Lindsey (Brent’s wife) flew in Salt Lake City on Saturday and rented a car and drove out to find us. Unfortunately for them, and fortunately for me, I discovered they were coming by seeing the charge added to my MasterCard early last week. But of course it made it even better for me knowing as I had something to look forward to.
Brent and I, knowing they were coming, left our camp site at the crack of dawn on Saturday hoping to get into camp early enough that we would still have an evening with them. Well Saturdays ride was no easy feat as we had a 150km ride with almost 6000 feet of climbing in the last 50 km. For those Ottawa skiers that’s like climbing to the peak of Tremblant 3 times on a bike. At one point we were climbing a mountain on the interstate passing multiple transports and campers that had overheated while climbing in the nearly 100 F weather. I must admit I had to stop a large number of times to cool down as well. The road signs may not prove much shade but just enough to drop your body temperature from lightheaded and dizzy to sane.
Nat and Linds met us at the perfect time. We were halfway up the last climb pulled over with not a whole lot left in the tank to make the hill. Just seeing them defiantly gave the extra punch to make the hill. They said they had passed the 100+ riders behind us and were a bit scared at what shape they would find us in.
We had an amazing weekend with the ladies. A comfortable hotel bed and a whole lot of cuddling was just what was required. Though I must admit Brent and I felt a little guilty Saturday night sitting in a restaurant seeing people still passing by 5 hours after we had made it into camp.
We toured Park City, the Olympic Village and saw some Arial ski jumping training into pools,
went zip lining and even did a mini bobsled run. I was just nice to feel “normal” again and feel loved first hand and not through a little black cell phone.Little did we know we would need that extra push in a big way on Monday morning. After the ladies left us we headed on our Monday ride. You all may have noticed that there was no elevation chart for Monday. We were told it was due to the fact the road we traveled is not open in the winter due to the steep grades and tight corners. So Ed could not drive the route last winter and use his GPS to map the elevation. Well the route was both steep and tall. We most likely climbed 6000-7000 feet that day. The mountain pass had an 8% grade for nearly 6 miles curving back and forth. The saving grace was the clouds and light rain which gave us shade for nearly the first time this trip. We hit an
elevation of 9200 feet which caused a few asthma attacks as the air was getting quite thin.The downhill was even more exciting. I hit a speed of 70km and even passed a truck and camper which apparently did not dare to do the speeds I was downhill. Oh and do not worry I signaled and everything. Hehe.
Well today was not much better. Though the hills were not as tall we were back into the desert with a strong headwind which nearly seemed worse. Plus the sun was back doing its best to bake us to the pavement. I would say in many ways I would rather the hills than heat and head winds.
The rides are defiantly taking its toll on me as well as others. There are a large
number of riders who did not make distance on Saturday, Mon and even today. It is quite discouraging for the 15+ people which continue to not make the rides each day. Riders from the 05 tour continue to encourage us by noting how much more difficult this tour is as the rides are longer, taller and a great deal hotter.So now onto the positives… The every changing scenery continues to be amazing. God’s got quite the imagination. I would not even be able to think up the diversity I see each day. Plus even in the open desert, where I could not imagine staying, there are plants and animals who were specifically designed by our creator to live and thrive. The sunset shown below that I saw over the salt lakes has colors which you could not paint. And the multiple rainbows that we saw over the weekend are nothing but a constant reminder of God’s love and promise.
The daily challenge, though extremely hard, is a continual reminder of how good we have it. Though I am very sore every evening with nearly no energy left in the tank, I always have a full meal at my disposal and a warm bed. All that is a great deal more than m
any have. Showing God’s love to people (especially motorists) that are not receptive is nothing compared to how Christ showed his love. We have it so good but often do nothing to give back to the one that gave it all. (Taken from a song lyric I am listening to)I think this tour is starting to come into focus for me. Though at times you wonder what the point is in handing out cards to locals as we bike, you really have no clue what God has in store for them and how he is using you at that moment. Though you do not have to go out and save the world, you just have to continue to be open to God calling, even if he does not give you enough information to make a 5 year plan.
Thank you all again for your encouragement and comments on this blog. I feel well loved and well prayed for. I pray that you all continue to pray for my sister and little baby “Emma” (Actually currently un-named) which has graciously decided to wait to be born until I fly home in less that 2 weeks.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Week 3 - Day 4
Well another few more hard rides down a whole lot more to go. But I am very excited to report I am past the halfway mark. (Time only, not yet distance)
We got to see lots of interesting things apart from the vast desert this week.
Tuesday night there was a huge sage brush fire just outside of town. Brent and I went to check it out and saw the helicopters dropping water for hours attempting to get the fire out. The following day there was another fire just down the road. With the wind and insanely dry conditions it is amazing the fires are not more frequent. But I guess there is not a whole lot to burn either.
On Wednesday we were invited to a local dairy farm. And in Idaho dairy is big business. The farm we visited was milking 1700 cattle 3 times a day. They worked something like 1800 acres purely to feed there cattle. They even move feed with a payloader not a wheel barrow. Their parlor had an observation deck which showed us the 50 head milking carrousel. Pretty insane. Plus the farmer mentioned he was a mid size operation with the biggest in the state milking 10000.
Then a few more minutes down the road we came to a gorge. It was almost weird that this huge
gorge was in the middle of flat farmland (Converted desert). It was a pretty huge. Like the earth had just cracked open or something. We even had the chance to bike down it to see the "Niagara" waterfall of the west. Though they were neat, but they were no Niagara and I am not sure the 500-1000 feet extra vertical climb was quite worth it.
The rides have continued to be hot which has taken its toll on people. Yesterday I road into camp quite sick. I spend my share of
time in the washroom with some intense stomach pains and headache. I ended up falling asleep flat on the gym floor and slept right through dinner. Brent was kind enough to join me to the local Pizza shop so I could grab something to eat. I can not say I feel perfect today but hopefully my health is improving.
Today the heat was a bit worse and a little too much for some people. A good number of people had to get dragged in by the support vehicles as it was getting into the evening and they had not yet arrived. Some people were on the road for nearly 12 hours. I must admit that I did not have a whole lot left in me when I rolled in. You start feeling bloated due to the huge amount of water you are drinking but you know if you do not drink you will quickly get very sick from dehidration. 130km with a headwind the whole way is about as bad as I have ever had it. Plus the roads we were on were so
straight and desolate it starts to work with your mind. At one point we went 90km without a town... another road... When you can see so far and you’re not getting there it's a bit depressing. There was one bend in the road which was actually a huge highlight. Most of the time you just have your head down to be areodynamic and do not look up for 5-10 minutes.
Actually I got a pretty sweet video today when going down a hill. Do not worry, the road was smooth and I was not doing much over 50km so I was willing to hold the camera. (My light body so far has not allow for much over 70km/h) But at the end of the video Rick past me on his recumbent bike doing about 55 mph or nearly 100km. Those bikes may be horrendous for going up hill but they sure do go down fast.
Though I am not much for straight out evangelizing but it continues to be very interesting talking to people. It’s easy because they normally ask what’s going on as we are normally overwhelming their town. So then all we have to do is ask questions. A lot of people already know as they see us on the local news and just want to know more. Brent and I were interviewed for nearly 30
minutes by a reporter the other day.
Today a very nice man named Arnie had an accident and did some damage to his leg which will require him to leave the tour. It’s pretty amazing that people are not hurt more often, God is definitely watching out for us. I would ask that you would pray for Arnie as I am sure he is pretty disappointed.
We got to see lots of interesting things apart from the vast desert this week.
Tuesday night there was a huge sage brush fire just outside of town. Brent and I went to check it out and saw the helicopters dropping water for hours attempting to get the fire out. The following day there was another fire just down the road. With the wind and insanely dry conditions it is amazing the fires are not more frequent. But I guess there is not a whole lot to burn either.On Wednesday we were invited to a local dairy farm. And in Idaho dairy is big business. The farm we visited was milking 1700 cattle 3 times a day. They worked something like 1800 acres purely to feed there cattle. They even move feed with a payloader not a wheel barrow. Their parlor had an observation deck which showed us the 50 head milking carrousel. Pretty insane. Plus the farmer mentioned he was a mid size operation with the biggest in the state milking 10000.
Then a few more minutes down the road we came to a gorge. It was almost weird that this huge
gorge was in the middle of flat farmland (Converted desert). It was a pretty huge. Like the earth had just cracked open or something. We even had the chance to bike down it to see the "Niagara" waterfall of the west. Though they were neat, but they were no Niagara and I am not sure the 500-1000 feet extra vertical climb was quite worth it.The rides have continued to be hot which has taken its toll on people. Yesterday I road into camp quite sick. I spend my share of
time in the washroom with some intense stomach pains and headache. I ended up falling asleep flat on the gym floor and slept right through dinner. Brent was kind enough to join me to the local Pizza shop so I could grab something to eat. I can not say I feel perfect today but hopefully my health is improving.Today the heat was a bit worse and a little too much for some people. A good number of people had to get dragged in by the support vehicles as it was getting into the evening and they had not yet arrived. Some people were on the road for nearly 12 hours. I must admit that I did not have a whole lot left in me when I rolled in. You start feeling bloated due to the huge amount of water you are drinking but you know if you do not drink you will quickly get very sick from dehidration. 130km with a headwind the whole way is about as bad as I have ever had it. Plus the roads we were on were so
straight and desolate it starts to work with your mind. At one point we went 90km without a town... another road... When you can see so far and you’re not getting there it's a bit depressing. There was one bend in the road which was actually a huge highlight. Most of the time you just have your head down to be areodynamic and do not look up for 5-10 minutes.Actually I got a pretty sweet video today when going down a hill. Do not worry, the road was smooth and I was not doing much over 50km so I was willing to hold the camera. (My light body so far has not allow for much over 70km/h) But at the end of the video Rick past me on his recumbent bike doing about 55 mph or nearly 100km. Those bikes may be horrendous for going up hill but they sure do go down fast.
Today we are in a very small town again. They have 2 cafes which I think we have nearly run out of food. We are now in Utah and they have a good number of alcohol rules due to the large Mormon population. None of the cafe's sell any beer and the laws for where you can drink are very strick. There is no school to stay at so we are in the park. There are no showers so we rigged up a few tarps on a hose which worked pretty well. It was a bit cold and a little weird with 10 guys sharing the hose. You just stood in line to get wet, then soaped up and got back in line to get rinse off. We rotated between Men and Women every 30 minutes (Or until one sex complained enough).
Though I am not much for straight out evangelizing but it continues to be very interesting talking to people. It’s easy because they normally ask what’s going on as we are normally overwhelming their town. So then all we have to do is ask questions. A lot of people already know as they see us on the local news and just want to know more. Brent and I were interviewed for nearly 30
minutes by a reporter the other day. Today a very nice man named Arnie had an accident and did some damage to his leg which will require him to leave the tour. It’s pretty amazing that people are not hurt more often, God is definitely watching out for us. I would ask that you would pray for Arnie as I am sure he is pretty disappointed.
Well this trip has been amazing I definatly feel it would be nice to be at home. Physically pushing yourself so hard everyday is getting a little old. But hey its a chance of a lifetime. I ask that you all pray for all the people that are getting home sick and find it hard to push on. Thanks again for reading this.
(P.S. - You can click on the pictures if you would like to see them in full size. Sorry they are still fairly small as the internet connection here is very slow and uploading takes forever)
Monday, July 14, 2008
Week 3 - Day 1
Welcome to Idaho. So far it basically looks like Mexico. Hot dry and lots of tumble weed and cacti / sagebrush. Its odd actually, we rode into Boise on Saturday and it seemed like we were 
entering an oasis. All of a sudden there were green lawns, massive estates and beautiful farm land (all errogateted of course). Actually the city was really nice. It’s very hard to see the city for its true beauty on a bike though. We generally get to camp on Saturday tired from a long week so the last thing we want to do is bike another 20km to town and back.
The service on Sunday was in a local part about 5miles away. The church was really small but the worship was amazing. Pretty neat experience again. Apart from that it was a pretty quite weekend. But we were able to check out a few basebase games at the stadium next to the school we stayed at. Also there was lots of ice cream stands and fast food to keep up cool. (Think I will be out of money by Salt Lake.. hehe)
Brent and I actually had a pretty neat conversation with some older men in McDonalds one morning. Its just neat to hear the excitement when we tell people about what were doing, and talk to them about their churches. Many offer donations and most just want to learn more on our website. Some of the other riders even ended up praying with local clerks in a grocery store, which on a Saturday can cause quite the uproar. I think even if we did not raise money before the trip, just telling people about what we are doing here on the way is having a huge impact on humanity. We give out hundreds of cards daily to locals telling them about our cause. This area is largely Mormon which has made thing interesting. As the general public does not know the difference between Christian religions it is somewhat difficult to explain the differences in a few minute conversations.
It has been pretty neat to hang out with Brent and discuss marriage and what not. We can complain about missing our wives and how in some ways we wish the tour was a little shorter. Talk to people definitely makes the rides shorter and the long deserted highways around here definitely lend to riding 2, 3 or even 4 wide.
Well its still hot here and still getting hotter. We hit 107F for a while this afternoon. The desert is fairly flat with the odd long incline but the heat really takes it out of you. Today I was on sweep team. The sweep team unloads the gear truck on one day, serves dinner, then breakfast, load the gear truck up and then finally sweeps the bikers the next day. That means we are the last riders in as we bike along with the slower rides, help with flats and basically just account for everyone. It’s nice in some ways because we can just hang out and take our times. We found a random couch in the middle of the nowhere so we took some photos which should be below. And our sweep team leader is Clair so sweep is pretty laid back.
Well the ride today was not bad to be on sweep but the heat made it interesting. Some of the
riders are so slow that we left last, we took 3 breaks over 1 hour and still caught people in the end. But hey they are making it. It did mean we were on the bike much longer that normal and in 100+ heat that can really be hard on the body. I think I biked in to camp a bit out of it with a pounding heat-ache today and a case of dehydration. Seems my body can not intake enough water to equal what's sizzling off my skin. Hopefully my body can continue to adapt and I feel a little better. Anyway the rest of the week is longer but at least I can take it at my own pace and get in before the heat. Next Saturday is going to be a doozy. 150km with 5700feet climb, everyone in camp is getting a bit nervous for it. It will be a rough welcome to the Rocky Mountains.
Anyway camp is getting interesting. People are pretty funny and get along really well, but of course there can always be some tension due to options and riding styles. But I think cooler heads are prevailing, or at least I and some others are trying hehe.
I got mail from my loving wife on Saturday. So nice to hear from home and just feel loved and connected. Natalie and I talk everyday, due to the timing or riding / time difference / Nat's work schedule today she every got to talk to me while riding today.. A little encouragement from home never hurt eh. I hope to receive another package that was also sent later this week.
Anyway I am off again to run back to the gym to take a nap. Everyone is pretty drained and finding cool places to hibernate. Hope all is well back home.
entering an oasis. All of a sudden there were green lawns, massive estates and beautiful farm land (all errogateted of course). Actually the city was really nice. It’s very hard to see the city for its true beauty on a bike though. We generally get to camp on Saturday tired from a long week so the last thing we want to do is bike another 20km to town and back.The service on Sunday was in a local part about 5miles away. The church was really small but the worship was amazing. Pretty neat experience again. Apart from that it was a pretty quite weekend. But we were able to check out a few basebase games at the stadium next to the school we stayed at. Also there was lots of ice cream stands and fast food to keep up cool. (Think I will be out of money by Salt Lake.. hehe)
Brent and I actually had a pretty neat conversation with some older men in McDonalds one morning. Its just neat to hear the excitement when we tell people about what were doing, and talk to them about their churches. Many offer donations and most just want to learn more on our website. Some of the other riders even ended up praying with local clerks in a grocery store, which on a Saturday can cause quite the uproar. I think even if we did not raise money before the trip, just telling people about what we are doing here on the way is having a huge impact on humanity. We give out hundreds of cards daily to locals telling them about our cause. This area is largely Mormon which has made thing interesting. As the general public does not know the difference between Christian religions it is somewhat difficult to explain the differences in a few minute conversations.
It has been pretty neat to hang out with Brent and discuss marriage and what not. We can complain about missing our wives and how in some ways we wish the tour was a little shorter. Talk to people definitely makes the rides shorter and the long deserted highways around here definitely lend to riding 2, 3 or even 4 wide.
Well its still hot here and still getting hotter. We hit 107F for a while this afternoon. The desert is fairly flat with the odd long incline but the heat really takes it out of you. Today I was on sweep team. The sweep team unloads the gear truck on one day, serves dinner, then breakfast, load the gear truck up and then finally sweeps the bikers the next day. That means we are the last riders in as we bike along with the slower rides, help with flats and basically just account for everyone. It’s nice in some ways because we can just hang out and take our times. We found a random couch in the middle of the nowhere so we took some photos which should be below. And our sweep team leader is Clair so sweep is pretty laid back.
Well the ride today was not bad to be on sweep but the heat made it interesting. Some of the
riders are so slow that we left last, we took 3 breaks over 1 hour and still caught people in the end. But hey they are making it. It did mean we were on the bike much longer that normal and in 100+ heat that can really be hard on the body. I think I biked in to camp a bit out of it with a pounding heat-ache today and a case of dehydration. Seems my body can not intake enough water to equal what's sizzling off my skin. Hopefully my body can continue to adapt and I feel a little better. Anyway the rest of the week is longer but at least I can take it at my own pace and get in before the heat. Next Saturday is going to be a doozy. 150km with 5700feet climb, everyone in camp is getting a bit nervous for it. It will be a rough welcome to the Rocky Mountains.Anyway camp is getting interesting. People are pretty funny and get along really well, but of course there can always be some tension due to options and riding styles. But I think cooler heads are prevailing, or at least I and some others are trying hehe.
I got mail from my loving wife on Saturday. So nice to hear from home and just feel loved and connected. Natalie and I talk everyday, due to the timing or riding / time difference / Nat's work schedule today she every got to talk to me while riding today.. A little encouragement from home never hurt eh. I hope to receive another package that was also sent later this week.
Anyway I am off again to run back to the gym to take a nap. Everyone is pretty drained and finding cool places to hibernate. Hope all is well back home.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Week 2 - Day 5
Wow almost another week has passed it is hard to believe it. Once you get into the routine time just seems to fly by. Bike... set up tent... find a DQ or local tavern... escape the heat... eat dinner.... chat... go to bed... and then do it all over again. I it is not so bad right now but I am sure it is going to get old.
Camp life is pretty good. The food is amazing but for myself it is still taking time to get accustom to not being able to open the fridge every
so often to grab something. We often get into camp in the early afternoon and dinner is not till 6:00. So we find ourselves in some kind of local cafe to eat something and escape the heat. It has made for an interesting way to meet the locals though. The food has been very good. White bread and brown sugar is my normal morning meal (They tryed to fool me with some fake fruit loops) and a peanut butter sandwitch and whatever granola bars / cookies / apples and bannanas I can find get me through the ride. As mentioned the dinners are great if you can live to wait till 6:00 to eat. Everyone is normally famished and runs to the dinner line when the horn on the gear truck is sounded. Some nights you want another 30min in line just to get food. But the fact they are cooking such great meals for 200 out of a moving kitchen is quite impressive. 
The camping facilities have from amazing to sketchy. Some football feilds have more dirt than grass and everything just ends up dusty and dirty. Last night there was a wind storm like I have never seen before. A lot of the tents blew over and one even went across the feild, over a fence and down the road before someone caught it. Luckly Brent's and mine were fine thought many were not and had to abandon and sleep inside. Oddest party was there was no rain or even clowds. I am quite sure I have not even seen a cloud this week.
The rides have actually been fairly easy lately. We have had decent tail winds most days so as long as you can deal with the heat your generally okay. Due to the mountiain passes we have had to spend some time on the interstate. It seems some valleys have enough room for a train and interstate only, no secondary roads. Its actually kind of neat though when you can almost keep up with traffic. Coming out of hells canyon the other day I hit 70km, which is lots fast for me on a 20 lbs bike. The hills have been frequent and steep, often they include switchbacks as we crawl back and forth up the mountain.
As for phyical status I seem to have my good and bad days. Some days I just want to fly and do the 1000-4000ft climbs standing without stopping for a break, when other days I stop every km up the hill. Due to that fact I ride with a lot of different people. Some commoners but as everyone seems to have their fast and slow day it seem to mix up the bunch. Brent is with me
most days in the morning but half the time we get seperated through the ride. Overall most of the riders are making the daily rides. Some can not make all of the days but are deing trying.
Once again the scenery has been unreal. Lots of desert and sandy dunes with agrcultural land right next to it. It seems they take the water from the mountain streams and water the crops nearly 24-7. Makes for a pretty consistant crop when heat is gaurenteed and water is controlled. Its like being in a green house without the plastic. The wildlife has been pretty hard to find out here. We have seen a few deer among the cacti and a bunch of dead rattle snakes on the road. I actually have a picture of a buck that met us just off the road which I hope to attach. Along with the nice scenery thought comes some hazards. Due to the "goat heats" or small cacti that grow in the brush and cracks in the road so are averaging about 25 flats a day. Brent and I are so far okay but have definatly changed our share for others.
The people out here in Oregon have been great. It neat when we all enter a bar or ice cream parlor and take it over.. all the locals come out to see what we are doing and ask us lots of questions. The local newspaper comes out nearly every night to check out the happenings. The other day we ended up in a really really really small town... They even opened the local museam for us all to check it out. All the local dinners seem to be owned by the old couple working inside.
Actually I have a funny story. Passing through a local town we stopped at a dinner where Brent aka "pee a lot" had to once again go. He went into the washroom but could not find the light swtich. He exited and asked the owner where the swtich was. Her reply was "its a clapper hun just give it a quick clap". So Brent went back in and did his clap. The lady's face smiled from ear to ear as she flicked on the light switch outside the bathroom. Brent did not figure it out untill the "off clap" was a little too delayed.
The riders have also been pretty neat to be around. I am not much of a social person and sometimes I just like my space. But when I am up for it there is always someone story that seems pretty interesting. Thats kind of the nice part about having huge age differences. I am a rair as I am 26 as most are either 18-22 or 40-65.
Anyway I am at the local library as our internet is very slow, and they closed very soon so I shall go. Thank you all again for your support and messages. If you want to check out more photos go to flickr and search for "seatosea08".
Camp life is pretty good. The food is amazing but for myself it is still taking time to get accustom to not being able to open the fridge every
so often to grab something. We often get into camp in the early afternoon and dinner is not till 6:00. So we find ourselves in some kind of local cafe to eat something and escape the heat. It has made for an interesting way to meet the locals though. The food has been very good. White bread and brown sugar is my normal morning meal (They tryed to fool me with some fake fruit loops) and a peanut butter sandwitch and whatever granola bars / cookies / apples and bannanas I can find get me through the ride. As mentioned the dinners are great if you can live to wait till 6:00 to eat. Everyone is normally famished and runs to the dinner line when the horn on the gear truck is sounded. Some nights you want another 30min in line just to get food. But the fact they are cooking such great meals for 200 out of a moving kitchen is quite impressive. 
The camping facilities have from amazing to sketchy. Some football feilds have more dirt than grass and everything just ends up dusty and dirty. Last night there was a wind storm like I have never seen before. A lot of the tents blew over and one even went across the feild, over a fence and down the road before someone caught it. Luckly Brent's and mine were fine thought many were not and had to abandon and sleep inside. Oddest party was there was no rain or even clowds. I am quite sure I have not even seen a cloud this week.
The rides have actually been fairly easy lately. We have had decent tail winds most days so as long as you can deal with the heat your generally okay. Due to the mountiain passes we have had to spend some time on the interstate. It seems some valleys have enough room for a train and interstate only, no secondary roads. Its actually kind of neat though when you can almost keep up with traffic. Coming out of hells canyon the other day I hit 70km, which is lots fast for me on a 20 lbs bike. The hills have been frequent and steep, often they include switchbacks as we crawl back and forth up the mountain.
As for phyical status I seem to have my good and bad days. Some days I just want to fly and do the 1000-4000ft climbs standing without stopping for a break, when other days I stop every km up the hill. Due to that fact I ride with a lot of different people. Some commoners but as everyone seems to have their fast and slow day it seem to mix up the bunch. Brent is with me
most days in the morning but half the time we get seperated through the ride. Overall most of the riders are making the daily rides. Some can not make all of the days but are deing trying.Once again the scenery has been unreal. Lots of desert and sandy dunes with agrcultural land right next to it. It seems they take the water from the mountain streams and water the crops nearly 24-7. Makes for a pretty consistant crop when heat is gaurenteed and water is controlled. Its like being in a green house without the plastic. The wildlife has been pretty hard to find out here. We have seen a few deer among the cacti and a bunch of dead rattle snakes on the road. I actually have a picture of a buck that met us just off the road which I hope to attach. Along with the nice scenery thought comes some hazards. Due to the "goat heats" or small cacti that grow in the brush and cracks in the road so are averaging about 25 flats a day. Brent and I are so far okay but have definatly changed our share for others.
The people out here in Oregon have been great. It neat when we all enter a bar or ice cream parlor and take it over.. all the locals come out to see what we are doing and ask us lots of questions. The local newspaper comes out nearly every night to check out the happenings. The other day we ended up in a really really really small town... They even opened the local museam for us all to check it out. All the local dinners seem to be owned by the old couple working inside.
Actually I have a funny story. Passing through a local town we stopped at a dinner where Brent aka "pee a lot" had to once again go. He went into the washroom but could not find the light swtich. He exited and asked the owner where the swtich was. Her reply was "its a clapper hun just give it a quick clap". So Brent went back in and did his clap. The lady's face smiled from ear to ear as she flicked on the light switch outside the bathroom. Brent did not figure it out untill the "off clap" was a little too delayed.
The riders have also been pretty neat to be around. I am not much of a social person and sometimes I just like my space. But when I am up for it there is always someone story that seems pretty interesting. Thats kind of the nice part about having huge age differences. I am a rair as I am 26 as most are either 18-22 or 40-65.
Anyway I am at the local library as our internet is very slow, and they closed very soon so I shall go. Thank you all again for your support and messages. If you want to check out more photos go to flickr and search for "seatosea08".
Oh and can you tell by the photo I have not shaved yet?
Monday, July 7, 2008
Week 2 - Day 1
Okay so its only Monday but I am back on the blog. But once again things are kind of exciting here so I thought I would share. Plus the internet is actually working again so I thought I would take advantage.
Well once again talk about diverse countryside. Today we rode beside a "desert lake" surrounded by the sandy hills and entered into Oregon. Once in Oregon things changed again. We went from sandy dunes and rocks to the largest and steepest wheat fields I have ever seen. Trust me Bill you would be amazed. And I can gaurentee you, you could not pay me enough to drive on the steep fields. They went on for miles and rolled with peaks that are taller than the mountains back in Ottawa. The fields were broken by nothing and did not seem to end. We rode on a beautiful road for 30 miles and were only passed by 3 cars. Seems pretty dead out here.
1 guy from the tour forgot something 2 towns back and rode back to get it this morning. As they will be doing Saturdays ride backwards, then forwards and then todays ride they will be doing 150miles. But they are all competing cyclists or triatheletes so I am sure they will be fine. Heck I am told they may even make it for some dinner tonight.
As for the weather, Cindy... Its hot. Really hot.. People have been living in the Gym when possible and everyone is looking pretty lobsterish.
Anyway evangilism was on the decline today as there is no one out here. hehe. Its a big hill day tomorrow so I better head off. Talk to you all soon.
Well once again talk about diverse countryside. Today we rode beside a "desert lake" surrounded by the sandy hills and entered into Oregon. Once in Oregon things changed again. We went from sandy dunes and rocks to the largest and steepest wheat fields I have ever seen. Trust me Bill you would be amazed. And I can gaurentee you, you could not pay me enough to drive on the steep fields. They went on for miles and rolled with peaks that are taller than the mountains back in Ottawa. The fields were broken by nothing and did not seem to end. We rode on a beautiful road for 30 miles and were only passed by 3 cars. Seems pretty dead out here.
1 guy from the tour forgot something 2 towns back and rode back to get it this morning. As they will be doing Saturdays ride backwards, then forwards and then todays ride they will be doing 150miles. But they are all competing cyclists or triatheletes so I am sure they will be fine. Heck I am told they may even make it for some dinner tonight.
As for the weather, Cindy... Its hot. Really hot.. People have been living in the Gym when possible and everyone is looking pretty lobsterish.
Anyway evangilism was on the decline today as there is no one out here. hehe. Its a big hill day tomorrow so I better head off. Talk to you all soon.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Week 1 - Day 6
Well one week down on the trip and I have been bugged into creating this "blog". I apologize in advance for the potential boringness of the graphics and guaranteed spelling mistakes. The satellite internet here is a big flakey so we have internet every few days so I hope to add to the blog once a week or so.
Well what a week. The week started a bit bumpy as our bikes did not travel the same route as we did. The bikes got stuck in Vancouver as they were too big to fit on the little connection plane we ended up on. So we did not actually receive our bikes till 8:00p.m. on Sunday only 10 hours before the tour began. So after finishing assembling our (My & Brent’s) bikes we got to bed after 10:00.
Now for the actual riding… For starters let me say this area of the country is incredibly beautiful and very diverse. We started in Seattle which is actually in the midst of a rainforest. And now a week later we are in a desert. The lack of rain in this area is due to the mountain range in between that blocks all the rain. We were told in this area they get about 6 inches of rain a year.
And when I mention mountains I mean MOUNTAINS. On day 2 & 3 of this weeks ride we had to climb 4000 vertical feet each day. 1 of the days had 7 miles of 7 to 8% grade. Quite honestly climbing those hills was the most physically challenging thing I have done in my life. Near the end I was in my lowest gear standing, taking the hill km by km and laying in the ditch for 10 minutes breaks. But needless to say most of us made it. Some were on their bikes for up to 14 hours to do a 120km ride. Others had to quit and get picked up by the support wagons.
The weather has been quite hot. We had 2 days of over 100 deg. F. It seemed a little ironic that we were dieing of heat climbing the hills next the melting snow and freezing waterfalls that ran through the ditches.
Our accommodations have been excellent, despite the sprinklers coming up under the tents at one of the schools. The people in all the towns have been amazing. One town even fed us and gave us rootbear floats as we celebrated Independence day with them. The showers have been warm and most schools have been air conditioned which is a nice break for a minute or two before you go back to your tent for the night.
This weekend we had our first celebration rally. It was pretty neat to see all the locals come out and learn of what we are doing. Everyone was very encouraging and interested. Speaking of locals one of the most interested aspects of the trips has been talking the locals about our cause as we lay in the ditch or gas station dieing of heat.
Well thank you all again for your prayers. Please pray for those who live in the towns that we pass though. Also pray for the safety of the riders as we are already 2 concussions, a lot of skinned knees, about 50 flat tires and a bunch of stitches in. This week should be a little flatter but a little longer so it should not be so bad. Talk to you all in a week.
Well what a week. The week started a bit bumpy as our bikes did not travel the same route as we did. The bikes got stuck in Vancouver as they were too big to fit on the little connection plane we ended up on. So we did not actually receive our bikes till 8:00p.m. on Sunday only 10 hours before the tour began. So after finishing assembling our (My & Brent’s) bikes we got to bed after 10:00.
Now for the actual riding… For starters let me say this area of the country is incredibly beautiful and very diverse. We started in Seattle which is actually in the midst of a rainforest. And now a week later we are in a desert. The lack of rain in this area is due to the mountain range in between that blocks all the rain. We were told in this area they get about 6 inches of rain a year.
And when I mention mountains I mean MOUNTAINS. On day 2 & 3 of this weeks ride we had to climb 4000 vertical feet each day. 1 of the days had 7 miles of 7 to 8% grade. Quite honestly climbing those hills was the most physically challenging thing I have done in my life. Near the end I was in my lowest gear standing, taking the hill km by km and laying in the ditch for 10 minutes breaks. But needless to say most of us made it. Some were on their bikes for up to 14 hours to do a 120km ride. Others had to quit and get picked up by the support wagons.
The weather has been quite hot. We had 2 days of over 100 deg. F. It seemed a little ironic that we were dieing of heat climbing the hills next the melting snow and freezing waterfalls that ran through the ditches.
Our accommodations have been excellent, despite the sprinklers coming up under the tents at one of the schools. The people in all the towns have been amazing. One town even fed us and gave us rootbear floats as we celebrated Independence day with them. The showers have been warm and most schools have been air conditioned which is a nice break for a minute or two before you go back to your tent for the night.
This weekend we had our first celebration rally. It was pretty neat to see all the locals come out and learn of what we are doing. Everyone was very encouraging and interested. Speaking of locals one of the most interested aspects of the trips has been talking the locals about our cause as we lay in the ditch or gas station dieing of heat.
Well thank you all again for your prayers. Please pray for those who live in the towns that we pass though. Also pray for the safety of the riders as we are already 2 concussions, a lot of skinned knees, about 50 flat tires and a bunch of stitches in. This week should be a little flatter but a little longer so it should not be so bad. Talk to you all in a week.
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