From Sea to Shining Sea

...And they're off

2008-07-02T00:54:00.002-05:00

On Saturday all the cyclists arrived in Seattle and we had a bunch of opportunities to meet the people that we will spend the next nine weeks with. It is an overwhelming task to learn 150 new people all at once. I find myself seeing someone and thinking of three different possibilities of what their name could be. It has gotten better now that we have all started riding and I have more ways to remember people by. For instance: the guy who rides the red bike is ... or the one who passed me going up that long mountain pass is...

I won't bore you all with the details about the training, if you are interested you can read someone else's blog by connecting to www.seatosea.org. The riding started Monday morning with an eight mile preliminary ride to Golden Gardens Park. There were some mishaps even getting to the park, but it made the tour seem real and made me are that while this tour is praising God, he isn't giving us a free pass from errors in judgment. The dipping ceremony was massive, i have no idea how they managed to get everyone in the picture. We were then released in two minute intervals by groups we used for safety training. The first day of riding was one of those I wish I could do over and over again because it was fairly easy, but had a little bit of everything. There was a bit of a climb, but only enough to give us the opportunity to fly down the hill on the other side. My group managed to go the whole day without a flat tire, missed turn, or fall of any kind and because of it we were the first to roll into camp. Only theT
gear truck beat us and that was by about five minutes.

The first night at camp was a little touch and go since few of us had ever done anything like this before, but we had our first meal, peloton meeting, and small group time successfully. The ride was fifty miles so to cool off a few cyclists went down to the river for a dip. The water proved to be quite cold considering it was fresh snow melt so no one stayed in too long. Everyone seemed to get to bed fairly early because the next day was looming large.

Today we rode a total of eighty miles. It was a tale of two halves. The first half was almost totally uphill. The first twenty five weren't too bad, but the ten after that were a consistent struggle up a very steep grade. The total uphill for the day was just under a mile. I was humbled by this ride quite a bit since there was no way to train in my neck of the woods for this. I took tons of breaks that I don't normally take and sometimes went just a mile in between breaks. this half culminated with the peak at Stevens Pass, nearly 4100 feet up. The next half was a glimpse of heaven. All that climbing we did we got to erase as we went consistently downhill for about 40 miles. There were some stretches of flat road, but it was great not to have to work too hard after working harder than I ever had. The last 10 miles into Leavenworth were all along the Wenatchee river and made us forget that the first half had ever happened so we can do the same thing tomorrow. After our camp activities were done we explored the town. The entire place looks just like a Bavarian village.

More Later

Train, Train, Go Away

2008-06-27T18:19:00.002-05:00

I'm in Washington.

Left Chicago Tuesday, had a train ticket, but ended up on a bus all the way to Minneapolis. Glad that I made it on the first express bus because the one following us broke down in the Chicagoland area and had to be repaired. They arrived 5 hours after us, which made the train 3 hours late departing Minneapolis. I have to say that my overall train experience was excellent despite everything. I couldn't tell you how much sleep I got since I woke up and had to change possitions a lot, but in each of the two 24 hour periods I probably managed 6 hours. I was ready to get off when the time came, but I got a lot of reading, crosswording, gameboying, etc. done and the view was nothing to complain about.

I got picked up by my cousin Lynae and driven back to see family in Lynden. The first shower after a couple days on the train is amazing. I had packed a lot of dry food for the trip (Ritz crackers, peanuts, Cap'n Crunch) so the warm food was great too. I'm really enjoying my time out here to relax a little before the tour starts. My uncle loaned me his bike while mine is still in the box and I put in about 30 miles today. The bike was a little small for me, but I managed. I rode almost to the corner of the US today and did an unofficial practice dipping of my tire into the Pacific. Really pretty country out here and it's nice to have a backdrop of mountains while riding; it's a little different than the absent backdrop of Indiana.

Was invited to stop by the Lynden Tribune by my aunt and got interviewed for an article that will come out next Wednesday. I seem to have a knack for finding my way into print (this is the fifth that I know of).

I already got my first game of Settlers in on this trip! Things are definately looking up.

Tomorrow Tomorrow Tomorrow...I can't wait.

A Disappointment Few Can Understand

2008-06-16T14:38:00.002-05:00

I took off work on Friday and then again today. The purpose was to go up to Michigan and ride in the National 24-hour challenge, a bike race that lasts an entire day. Your place is determined by the total number of miles you complete. Each rider starts at 8:00 AM Saturday on the 122 mile loop, when that is completed they shift to the 23 mile loop and do that as many times as he/she can until 7:15 PM. Finally each rider tries to do the 7.5 mile loop as many times as possible until 8 AM Sunday.

The weather forecast was favoralble with a high around 82 (last year was in the low 90's), and clear. I had a mechanical problem just after the first checkpoint (my whole crank arm came loose and was still clipped to my foot (hilarious afterward)), but I did my best to catch up to the group I had been riding with. This caused me to overexert myself and once I caught them I just dropped off the back of the pack once again. At mile 90 I had hit a wall and was in serious need of some protien and carbs when I noticed a couple of riders stopped at a store on the side of the road. I needed the break and it just so happened that this was the general store of one of those blink-and-you-miss-it towns and they had pizza in the warmer. Best piece of pizza in a long time. A half-hour of eating and letting the food digest was just the ticket. I let a woman training for the Ironman pull me to the end of the first loop and I was feeling pretty good. I took another snack break before starting the middle loop. This loop is pretty hilly so I started slow, but soon found a good strategy to deal with them. Finished in good time with that loop and took another snack break before doing another middle loop. Perfected the strategy from the last loop and managed to do one uphill while averaging over 25 mph. Finished that loop while the sun was setting. Time to throw the light on the bike and get ready for the quick, flat night loops. In the meantime a severe weather advisory had come up and riders were told to ride with discretion. The wind all of the sudden kicked up and the tent which I was using as my base camp (and that I had planned to use for Sea to Sea) got blown apart. I heard later that the wind was 30 mph sustained with 60 mph gusts. The poles of my tent bent and poked through the rain fly. Franticly pulled everything out of the tent and loaded it into the car then took down the fractured pieces of my tent. I then went into the Middle school where the event was being hosted to get the forecast. Scattered showers predicted all night with a rapid temperature drop. I hadn't packed the right gear for riding in these conditions, so I wasn't about to go out there any time soon. I was tired, but my heart-rate was still elevated so I couldn't fall asleep right away. I had set a goal of 300 miles for this race and I was sitting on 169.6. I made a disappointing decision to pack it up at that point. I woke up around 7:00 AM and was able to do one loop, but 177.1 is just no consolation for a goal of 300. I ended up taking 2nd in my age category because only one other person in that category had braved the weather, but I almost felt embarassed accepting it. Last year I had taken 3rd for riding 221.6. I know it's a hard story to relate to, but for how long I had been looking forward to this race it's a big disappointment.

When I got home today my mom told me that Amtrak has shut down service to some areas due to flooding. So now I might need a new tent and new transportation to Seattle.

All this with just one week before I am supposed to leave.

The Curse of the Commute

2008-06-11T14:37:00.002-05:00

Last Monday was the first time I made the commute from Highland to Chicago on my bike. I had been saying I was going to do it since before I broke my hand, but I'd just been putting it off for many different reasons. However, my friends, John and Lindsey, from Chicago rode down that Sunday and stayed overnight with us and intended to ride back into the city in the morning so there was no weaseling out this time.
In order to be on the road in time to make it to work and get cleaned up in time we had to get up at 5 AM and it was still dark out. As many of you will find out I am typically a morning person, but to me morning implies that the sun has cracked the horizon. My dad joined us until he needed to turn back to make it to his work on time so it was a comfortable pack. There were three really rough stretches of pavement and/or traffic and during the last of these three my rear tire sprung a leak. I hate getting flats because they seem to occur when I am the most enthusiastic about riding and they kill that mood, but with three people taking care of it we were rolling again before all good cheer was lost. Even with the delay we made it to the museum with half and hour to spare.
So now that the monkey was off my back I decided to save a little money in my last couple of weeks at work by riding the bike instead of the train. It also happens to be the museum campus' commuter challenge week to see which institution (The Field Museum, The Adler Planetarium, or the Shedd Aquarium) can have the most employees ride to work at least once. I made it to work no problem, I even found a smoother route, but on the way home I got another flat and was still 15 miles from home. I switched out the tube and went to pump it up, but I couldn't get the pump to work. Any time I got air going in, it would leak back out before i could get past 20 psi. I called my home to get a ride and my dad came to pick me up. I was not in a good mood. Here I thought I had all my gear ready, but now I will need to go get something else. When I got home I set about changing the tire only to discover that my new tube already had a hole in it and it wasn't the pump after all. Whew.
I decided to get back on the horse the next day to try for a successful commute. John wanted to get a few training miles in before this weekend's race (details in my next post) so he rode South and we met half way. We then proceeded to ride up toward the lakefront trail. Wouldn't you know it, half a mile from the trail John picked up a piece of glass and my commute stayed perfect in the blown tire category. It was 7:42 when we were rolling again and we were 6.5 miles away from the museum and i deciced that I wanted to be there by 8:00. So I pulled John and we hammered down the trail making it with one minute to spare. Thre ride home was uneventful. THANKFULLY.
This morning I made it to work very fast, 18.25 mph fast, and that included slowing down for traffic signals and stopping if necessary. I am out of spare tubes so I am taking a bit of a risk given the recent statistics. If I make it home tonight without incident it will be a huge sigh of relief.

My weekend with the Big Dogs

2008-06-03T11:33:00.003-05:00

So the long gaps between blogging continue as I put more and more training in.

I've done a few rides over the normal tour day average and I'm confident that I am in good enough shape right now to do any single day the tour throws at me. Yet, I'm not sure if I will be able to line those days up back-to-back-to-back... Aaron and I rode our bikes one Sunday morning thirty miles south to DeMotte to give a presentation to one of the CRC churches and were pleasantly surprised when Jill showed up a few minutes into the service. Apparently she was going to head us off at a point along the way since she was coming from a different direction, but when she took a break to get a coffee we rode on by since we didn't know to look for her. Sorry Jill, I'm glad you toughed it out and made it there and even spoke despite the laryngitis. The ride back was much faster since we didn't have to deal with the nasty headwind.

Being an Indiana resident, though, has made me wary of the portion of the tour that will be spent in the Rockies, so this past weekend I went to Iowa just west of the Illinois border to take part in a race that claimed to be for those looking for a tough ride. The race is hosted by the Ultra Midwest Big Dogs, a loose knit endurance cycling club from all over the midwest. The name of the race is the Balltown Classic which is the name of the town which has the longest continuously operated restraunt in Iowa. The race is 200 miles long. You leave from DeWitt and ride 100 miles to Balltown then come back. There is an option, however, for those riders who are not quite ready for such an extreme race or are just getting back in shape for the season. Coming off of my hand injury and knowing that the longest day on tour is 113 miles I decided this would be the better choice. I sure was thankful at the end of the day. The race started at 5 AM before it was even light out and the hills were real and often. I reached the 60 mile checkpoint in 3 hours and 45 minutes (initially I thought it was a 50 mile checkpoint, imagine my surprise when someone at the 45 mile mark told me that there were only 15 more miles to the checkpoint.) After the checkpoint my performance trailed off and I couldn't seem to get back up to speed after cresting each hill. My total time ended up being 7 hours and 55 minutes, but that includes the 25 minute break and an equipment issue that forced me to finish the last 15 miles wearing only one shoe (the cleat separated from my other shoe and I wasn't carrying the proper allen wrench to reattach it.) On top of that the 100 mile option ended up being 108 miles (for the 200 mile riders the distance back was shorter.) I felt so great when I was finally off the bike because I knew no day on the tour could defeat me (terrainwise). I hadn't heard how many feet of climbing there were in this race until I was done: 6000! I checked my Shifting Gears book when I got home and only the second to last day has that much, not even any of the days in the mountains. On top of all this there was a constant head and cross wind of 10-20 mph. The only way I could have even considered doing the 200 would be to have the wind at my back the whole way home. I did have one noteworthy new accomplishment in all this: I went over 45 mph on one of the downhills.

Three weeks from today I am hopping on the train to take me to Washington, it's amazing how close it has gotten to the start of this adventure.

A Walk to Remember & A Trial By Fire

2008-05-05T19:54:00.002-05:00

I'm frustrated with cycling right now. These two stories should illustrate why:

1)I've been waiting all winter for the weather to get good. The weather starts getting alright and I break my hand, thus rendering unable to ride. My hand heals and the weather proceeds to get nasty again. Finally, a day comes and everything lines up perfectly; the weather is nice, I get home from work early, and my hand is feeling good. I ask my mom if she can delay supper for fifteen minutes while I do a quick 15 miles to the end of the bike path and back. There was a little bit of a head wind on the way out, just the way I like it, I get to the end of the trail and will then have the wind at the back on my way in. I do the turn around and am quickly into the mid 20's for speed, then PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF. The back tire goes flat. At this point I am 6 miles from home. It was just going to be a quick ride so I didn't have a spare tube or repair kit. I had left in such a hurry that I didn't even pick up my cell phone. So what else can I start doing, but walking. I walk and walk and walk becoming increasingly aware that I will not be just fifteen minutes late for dinner. I made it half-way by the time I ran into someone who had a phone I could borrow. The woman who lent me her phone was very kind and my dad came to pick me and my bike up. During that time spent walking I thought about the necessity to be prepared and having people in place to help me when I get myself into a situation. Apparently I am a slow learner.

2)After the flat I changed out my tires to the ones I will be using for the tour. I am going with the Continental Gatorskin tires, which are said to be virtually indestructable and capable of going thousands upon thousands of miles without much wear. I did one ride up towards Chicago testing the roads I would take if I decided to do the commute from Northwest Indiana. About 5 of the miles on that ride were very gnarly and made me uneasy about riding them consistently since I would have to swerve out into traffic to avoid tire-eating pot holes. This past Saturday was a little windy, but warm and good enough for another long ride. I decided to head east this time and take the trails out to Chesterton (the only town we will be staying in in Indiana). Twenty-five miles out at a pretty consistent pace and then a short break and I headed back into the wind. I made it ten miles back when I wasn't paying attention and didn't see a rock in the middle of the trail. I never saw the rock, even after I hit it, but it must have been about two inches in height because I bounced pretty high off of it. I maintained control and kept going to the next street crossing. I waited for a couple cars to pass then made my way across, but realized that my back tire had gone flat. My indestructable tires had failed me before I even had one hundred miles on them. I found out later from a friend that I had a pinch puncture caused by hitting the rock and forcing the tube, tire and rim to pinch together making the weakest of the three give. I didn't have a tube because I had used my last one the week before, but I had brought a repair kit which I had never used, but had been told how to use. So my only hope was to fix the tube or face a fifteen mile walk. I succeeded in getting the patch on, but when I pumped up the tire it didn't hold the air to a satisfactory psi. I had wised up and brought my phone this time, but when I looked in my phonebook there was only one person who would have the means to pick me up (my parents were out of town). Luckily, he was available or it would have been a four hour walk.

I really need to work on having a support structure in place and not just relying on myself and the idea that nothing could possibly go wrong. The idea of the rugged individual is appealing, but completely unattainable. My rosy ideas about this tour are peeling away and the weight of what needs to be done before the tour and that of actually riding the tour are starting to pile on. I'm just hoping I get out of this funk soon.

Where Have I Been?

2008-04-14T18:47:00.002-05:00

It's been three weeks since my last post and I have no idea why, so let me catch you up a bit.

Major League Baseball started here in Chicago on the 31st of March and I made it to the Cubs opening day for the 5th year in a row. Thankfully I was waterproof from head to toe because there were two rain delays. I'm glad it was rain and not snow, though, because that has happened before. I went to one other Cubs game since my last post, also.

Unpacking from my move seems to be moving at a turtle's pace. The fact that I moved back to my parents' house has made it slightly more difficult because not only do I have to find a place for everything that was at my apartment, but I also have to sort through everything else I left there when I moved out. Further complicating things is that my younger sister is graduating soon and some of her stuff is filtering in. Did I mention I only have on hand?

On April 8 I went to the doctor to have my staples removed from my surgical incision and to get another set of x-rays. The x-rays showed that the bone still hasn't fused back together so I still need to keep weight off of it. However, the staples are out so I can start to exercise again. Friday I ran for 20 minutes just to measure to what extent my lungs were effected by not exercising for a month, and it went better than expected, which is very encouraging. I'm hoping to ride the trainer sometime this week to judge if I will be able to ride to a presentation I'm giving this Sunday or if I will need to drive.

Since my last blog update I have also secured the final donation I needed to reach my $10,000 goal. WOO HOO! I have been very blessed by my friends, family, and community through their generosity and encouragement. I'd like to thank each of them for making it possible. But, I am not giving up raising awareness and money because while I have raised my amount to help break the cycle for some living in poverty there are still others who can be blessed through my efforts. The problem is bigger than any one person can accomplish alone so when one person completes his or her task, he/she becomes responsible for helping those who are struggling with theirs.

I received an email from a local church looking to support me and in the email they asked how my fundraising was going. After responding that I had recently fulfilled my portion their response almost sounded discouraged because it didn't seem to them that they would be making as much of a difference. But, upon their request, I contacted another Sea to Sea participant, Aaron Carpenter, whose fundraising is moving slower because of school, and he agreed to make the presentation with me. I like this because at the end of the day I will not know exactly how much money I personally had a hand in raising, so I won't make this into a competition (something I love to do) and cannot boast about it. Since there are so many people in my area and so few riders I feel responsible to help everyone out where the riders are many but the people are few. I would love it if I could work it out to do a presentation every Sunday until the tour starts.

Jill Feikema and I are trying to organize a fundraising ride in mid May. We've been going back and forth on the details for some time, but I think we are about ready to nail some things down. I'm designing a T-shirt that we hope to give to everyone who participates and then sell them to individuals who want to support us, but don't feel like riding.

I pray that all your keystrokes be just as effective at raising awareness and support for the tour as your peddlestrokes.

The things we carry with us

2008-03-24T22:30:00.005-05:00

At work there are 7 things I always carry with me: gloves, keys, tape measure, ID badge, walkie talkie, safety glasses and utility tool. These things allow me to take care of a lot of tasks without having to spend an excessive amount of time running back and forth from one corner of the museum to the other. Each thing I carry makes my job easier in one way or another without putting much extra burden on myself in the form of weight. But, ther comes a point when adding one more thing becomes counterproductive. I often need a cordless drill, but there are periods where I can go a week without using one. If I carried that with me all the time it would prevent me from carrying a box of material from one place to another because I would only have one hand free. I would have to make an extra trip to come back for my drill or balance it precariously on top.

I was thinking about this mostly because I am in the process of moving. This process would be incredibly efficient if everything I own would fit into a single car load and I could just drive off after it all got packed up. This is not the case, however. So far I've taken about four full loads and there are still another two remaining. It has made me think about shaving down the number of things I carry with me. The reason I think we accumulate so much is because when we get something new we don't get rid of something else to compensate because we might need it sometime later. The truth is the old thing becomes outdated and underused over time and when we find it in the closet a year later it just gets thrown out. I think when we get something dnew it should be a requirement to get rid of something else. This will make us thing twice about the new shirt that will make us choose one of our old favorites to turn into a rag. Or it will allow us to give away the old lawn mower while we still can remember all the quirks of how to get it started so we can explain them to the new owner. Do we really need back ups for everything? Isn't that what we have neighbors for?

The truth is I don't know my neighbors. If I asked to borrow a shovel to clean off my sidewalk I don't know what kind of response I would get. Creating a community mentality is one of the themes of Christ's parables and the early church. He requires the rich young man to sell all his possessions in order to follow him so there aren't any distractions and so he relies on others (God's provision) and not himself for all his needs.

This coming summer there will be a community of nearly 200 cyclists at any given time. Each day it's likely that a few people will blow a tire or require some form of first aid. Knowing this I think we need to resist the urge to individually go out and buy everything we might need on the road. Doing this would add a lot of weight to each cyclist's load and over the course of a few thousand miles and some steep inclines would put a lot of extra stress on our joints. What we should try to do is not go it alone, but instead give each member of the body one thing to carry, one specific purpose and rely on each other to carry out our purposes. There will be many different groups riding different speeds, some may have to ride a little slower than they might like and others a little faster to stay in their group, but among each group we can work together to make things easier.

Injury Report

2008-03-20T09:53:00.002-05:00

I had my first doctor's appointment since my surgury this morning. What a relief. I got to see the incision for the first time today and found out how many staples it takes to hold a hand together (15). I also saw the X-ray of what is going to make traveling through airport security take longer. I've got a two and a half inch plate with eight screws in it keeping the bone in place so it can heal. I look at the back of my hand and wonder how th doctor fit all of it in there. More excitingly, part of my splint was removed so I can start to exercise and use my ring finger and pinkie and he wants me to take off the wrapping and exercise my whole hand 2-3 times per day.

This past week has been tough just because I had so much padding over the incision that I couldn't wear anything long-sleeved without cutting 6 inches up the right sleeves. On top of this there was only one coat that I could slip over my hand, but it was a snug fit and took a couple minutes to get on and off. The things I took for granted have become some of my prayed for items recently: being able to find someone to tie my shoes, cook and do the dishes, being able to wash my hair and the back of my hand, but I like being challenged. There is some humor in some of the things I attempt if aggrivation can be avoided. The coming weeks are looking up: NCAA March madness and the opening day of baseball which do not require any use of my second metal-carpal.

In like a lion...

2008-03-13T10:31:00.002-05:00

Some of you may know the saying about March: It comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb.

This usually refers to just the weather, but not this year. I can't speak for the second half of this saying yet, but beween finding out that I'm going to have to move and obliquely fracturing the second metacarpal on my right hand playing basketball Monday, I'd call this month pretty turbulent.

That's right, I'm injured.

I've gotten hurt many times playing basketball, so I did't think anything of it until the next morning when the swelling prevented me from putting on my jacket and tying my shoes. I went to the doctor and had an X-ray done and didn't need him to tell me it was going to take a while to heal. But, I wouln't have known surgury would be required. The bone was broken from top to bottom at an angle, so yesterday I had an hour long outpatient surgury where they inserted a titanium plate over the break and fastened it with wires. I haven't gotten a good look at it yet since they wrapped it before I woke up and the wrapping stays on till my appointment next week, but it feels good.

It figures that this is the first week that the high temperatures will all be above freezing. The doctor estimates 8 weeks for a full recovery so cycling will have to be hands free for the next six at least, since shifting gears is all about the second metacarpal on the right hand. However, I will be able to set up my trainer outdoors to stay in shape and get used to the weather a bit.

I am also capable of doing light duty jobs at work. It may become tedious, but I would become very poor and bored if I had to stay at home all the time

I hope everyone else who is injured can keep a positive attitude and keep their eyes on the goals this tour strives for.

Ryan

PS I think typing with one hand is going to shorten my posts.

Anticipation

2008-03-06T23:52:00.002-06:00

It's been quite a week.

Last Saturday my roommate found out that he got the job he wanted in Massachusettes, so by the end of the month I'm going to be living in Northwest Indiana once again. I can feel the temperature warming up slightly on my commute home from work and it's very encouraging since that commute will multiply by thirteen. Jill (Feikema) picked up a stack of local bike maps and gave one to me, it has helped me find a relatively safe, cyclist-friendly route to work. I might drive the route in my car to see where the hairy spots are and so I don't get lost at 6:30 in the morning some place I don't recognize. These next couple months should give me a good opportunity to get aquainted with my new gear and be prepared for 68 miles per day.

Sunday Jill and I gave a presentation in front of Second CRC of Highland and spoke to people for an hour after the service. It was a very encouraging day. I spoke first and Jill was able to remember all the details that I missed, thank God for that. It's amazing how many things you leave out when you get in front of an audience even if you have a good outline to go off.

Tuesday Jill and I were scheduled to give a speech/presentation in front of our local Classis meeting. Our time got a little pinched and I'm not sure that we were able to convey everything that we wanted. It's hard to read an audience composed solely of ministers and elders, but it seemed that some hoped to have us come and introduce the tour to their churches. Hopefully, Sea to Sea comes up in their next council meetings, but a little prompting by way of follow up emails never hurt anything. This experience reminded me of a verse that has often run through my head since the beginning of my awareness/fund raising effort: "how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" (Romans 10:14 (read the whole chapter if you have time))

Wednesday I signed up for the National 24-hour Challenge, a race that I did last year, which basically asks the question: 'How far can you ride in one day?' It looks like there will be between 3 and 5 people from the Field Museum doing it this year along with Sea to Sea rider David Geerlings who has done this race for the past 25 years. After signing up for that I headed for church to set up for our Cadet derby car race and the concession stand which proceeds went to benefit Jill's and my fund raising effort. We made a decent amount, but I was especially thankful for all the ladies in our church that volunteered to prepare and serve the food. I don't know how we could have pulled it off without them.

Things are starting to happen, as of tomorrow there are only 16 weeks until we have to report to Seattle. Each day I'm amazed to find out how wide spread the information about the tour is getting, when people I barely know come up to me and start talking to me about the tour. There is still a lot to accomplish, though, but right now I need to focus on packing.

PS This blog is on the new promotional video, I'm confounded.

Down Time

2008-02-24T15:21:00.003-06:00

A few weeks ago I went to a Cabela's for the first time in my life. Sheesh. It's ridiculous in that store, I felt as though I had stepped from the suburbs of Chicago into the foothills of Appalatia mixed with the county fair. In the end I walked out of the store with the tent that I was looking for for this upcoming summer; durable, water resistant, and simple to put up. The rain fly on my old tent disappeared at some point and I couldn't find a way to get a replacement, so I was anxious to get this one out of the box to make sure it had all it's parts before the statute of limitations on returning it ran out. In the process I just decided to pitch it...indoors. My apartment really didn't have any available space so I consolidated everything from two rooms into one and just barely had enough space. Since the tent was up I decided it was a good opportunity to test my sleeping bag and pad again too. If there was a video of this whole process it would have inspired a good deal of laughter, but this picture will just have to do:

I bring this up because I've been wondering what us cyclists are going to be doing at camp after we ride each day. With my calculations I estimate that I will be averaging somewhere around 15 miles per hour. On the average day we will be riding 70 miles. This means it will be roughly 5 hours of riding per day. If you add an hour of misc. time for breaks and lunch that is 6 hours. I've heard that the riders on the 2005 ride left camp around 8:00ish every morning so that would put the arrival time at the next camp at 2:00 in the afternoon. Figure an hour and a half to take care of the bike, pitch the tent, and shower and that takes us to about 3:30. Supper will probably be at 6:00 and take an hour or so to eat and do devotions. But what will we be doing with those gaps in the afternoon and the evening? Not much has been posted on the rider forum yet about this aspect of the tour, but I think this may be the best part. This will be where we get to know people and enjoy their company. I'm sure many people will use this time to call their loved ones at home or email, but I don't have a laptop and would rather talk to people in person than through a phone.

When I went to Mississippi shortly after Hurricane Katrina, I didn't really know anyone I was working with except my dad. I was in school at the time so I had some homework to catch up on, but I had lots of down time at night and was glad to find out some of those people loved to play cards. We played hearts mostly and it was a good way to connect with them and find common ground to start from. I'm hoping that a similar thing happens with this tour. I personally am going to pack a couple decks of cards, Rook cards, Settlers of Catan, Scrabble and whatever else I can manage to fit in case I find some fellow gamers somewhere between the Pacific and Atlantic.

Procrastinating or Waiting

2008-02-17T22:46:00.002-06:00

As the countdown draws nearer to four months, I am beginning to feel a weight settling on my shoulders. I think this weight is one part procrastination and another part waiting for information on which direction God is leading me. I'm going to just run through several of these situations now.

First, I have been very blessed by the generosity of my family and friends. As of right now I am estimating that I have raised 80% of the $10,000 goal that was set for me by the tour. People have donated in greater amounts than I imagined they would, but I still need to go out and get that last portion. The amount that I can still raise may even be larger than what I have gotten already, however, it requires me to become far more uncomfortable. The group of people I'm refering to are people that I do not know.

How do you go about asking someone who you haven't met, don't know their occupation, don't know their financial situation, don't know their ideas about poverty or cycling to support you? How do you break the ice? I've been able to sit back and try to create a strategy because I am so far along in my goal, but because I am just thinking about it and not acting it feels like I am procrastinating. The last month I have been trying to get lined up with my classis to give a presentation at their meeting on March 4, so I can get the word out to all the area churches that don't have a rider. At the same time I am trying to plan a large fundraiser for sometime in May, but I don't know how large. By that time I may not need to raise a huge amount, so smaller would be okay, but I don't want to short change this fundraising effort, so I might want to plan for several hundred people. I don't want to limit my asking for support to people in the church community because poverty is not just an issue for people on a mission. I want to get an article in the local paper that informs people of the tour and its' goal, but if I invite the whole community to participate in the fundraiser I have no way of knowing how many people will show up because the local paper has a circulation over 100,000. I need to get in contact with the newspaper first, which may give me some time to figure out my scope.

Another thing that has come up recently that I am waiting to hear about is my roommates' job situation. Currently, we are both working at the Field museum in Chicago, but he has applied for a job in Massechusetts that he is very qualified for and I would love to see him get. It just creates a logistical problem for me if he does get it. He will likely hear if he has the job in early March and the job starts April 1st. This would mean that I would have a month to figure out a new living situation because I can't afford our apartment alone. I could move back to my parents' a couple months earlier than expected and commute to work from Indiana. This is a decent option because I could still ride my bike to and from work and use it as my training, but that would be 50 miles per day in two sections. I could sublet my apartment and have all the utilities transfered to my name. I would need to find someone on pretty short notice that would be willing to move out by mid June and that may prove a more difficult than I'm willing to deal with. I could always hope some of my friends might be willing to let me crash at their place too for a short time. This is just one of those things I have to wait on because I have no control over it.

The last thing I am not sure whether I am waiting for or procrastinating about is buying my tickets to and from the tour. Because I have to resign from my job in order to take part in the tour I have the freedom to make my last day whenever I choose. I'd like to make it as late as possible to put a little extra money in the bank, but I would also like to visit my friend in California and possibly road trip the west coast to the start of the tour. I'm waiting to find out what my friends' plans are for this summer before I can make that decision. The longer I wait for that information, though, the more expensive and full flights become. Likewise, because I will not be employed right after the tour ends, I might think about continuing on after all of us riders reach Jersey City. I've never been to New England and I see no better time to do it. If I choose to do this I will need to ship a lot of my equipment home and figure out a way to carry the essentials the rest of the way. On top of this I need to buy temporary health insurance and have no idea how long to buy it for. The museum said that there is a good possibility of being rehired when I get back, but now would be a good time to explore other options as well, maybe find a job in a field that I would want to go to graduate school for so I can get some experience to put on my resume.

My life right now is like a novel or movie show. I've read the first few chapters or seen the preview and I know what it is building toward, but no one knows how I will get to that point. And I am as curious as anyone.

Winter

2008-02-06T18:23:00.000-06:00

It's that time of year where I usually get depressed. The novelty of the cold weather has worn off, the Christmas season is more than a month passed, and the groundhog has indicated that we will have roughly two more months to spend indoors. But, I haven't been as happy as I am right now for a long time, I catch myself smiling for seemingly no reason everyday, and it's usually when I notice others smiling back at me. It makes me feel even better that my mood is positively impacting others.

I've always thought The Power of Possitive Thinking would make someone a little phony; I'm starting to reconsider, even though I'm not intentionally doing it. Here's an example: Friday. It started snowing Thursday after work and has continued throughout the entire night. There are eight inches of snow on the ground and the news is telling everyone in Chicago how bad the driving conditions are everywhere. It's time to leave for work and I am not about to walk so I haul my bike down the stairs and proceed. My bike is how I get to work and I didn't even think twice about it. Thankfully the weather has made fewer people take to the road and the ones who are on it are being very cautious, as am I. I stay on the main roads that are plowed and occasionally have to merge into a single lane with the cars to avoid foot tall piles of plowed snow. When I get to the non-traffic part of the ride I have to dismount and trudge for a bit, but I find most of it recently plowed (recently, as in, I wave to the people as they turn around to make another pass). I arrive at the museum only four minutes later than usual and as I pass the security guards in the shipping dock on my way to the bike cage their heads swivel and their mouths are agape. All I can do is smile from ear to ear.

It might be that rewarding feeling when something difficult is over or the knowledge that every time I do a difficult ride it is preparing me for this coming summer. During the ride it looked like something out of the training sequence from Rocky IV which gives me hope because in the end it was worth it for the Italian Stallion.

I've got to give credit to my mountain bike. I neglect taking care of it often and sometimes complain about how clunky it is, but it has gotten me to work everyday since November and I have only taken one minor spill on it. I've owned it since September 1993 and have never had to have any major repairs made on it. The chain has never broken, I haven't had to replace any spokes and other than the gearshifters becoming obsolete and getting a couple new sets of tires it has been the most reliable (physical) gift I have ever been given.

I think patience is what is causing this good mood. At times the tour seems despairingly far away and at other times I think there is no way that I could get enough training in in so little time and raise the rest of my funds. The US economy is moving downward and the political candidates are in a deadlock, but patience has a very calming effect. There are a lot of changes happening in my life because of this tour and the point of my life at which I am at, but I am relying on God to provide the solutions to my problems in time and not trying to take care of them hastily on my own.

I hope a similar feeling is finding its way to the other 210 people I will be riding with this coming summer.

Novelty Races

2008-01-29T18:02:00.000-06:00

Training is monotonous.

In high school and college I ran on the track and field team. I enjoyed it, but the problem was that in order to train yourself to run, you run...and run...and run. I was glad when I would have time off to practice high jump. My last year of track I suggested to my coach that I would like to do the decathlon; half because I had a bunch of talents that weren't being utilized and the other half because practice would be different every day.

After graduation I needed to find a way to stay in shape, but running seemed to be the only easy way to do it. Just what I wanted to do, run more.

It was at that time that I read an article in the paper about an upcoming race. It was called a 24-hour relay. Teams of up to 10 would take turns running a mile at a time and then pass the baton. You had to stay in the same order and if anyone dropped out the team would have to continue on without him/her. This race was just what I was looking for, it was running but there was a twist. You weren't just constantly plodding along like a marathon (I don't think I'll ever buckle down and do one of those), you were running for a team. We finished in second place by running 209.6 miles, just about 21 miles per person.

The idea of seeing how how far you could go in a given time period was interesting to me, it wasn't just about speed, it was more about endurance and out thinking your competition. Last summer I did two 24-hour races on my bike (individually). I did 221 and 191 miles respectively. In the first one I only spent 13 of the 24 hours on the bike but I learned so much from that race about cycling that I fell in love with it.

With the Sea to Sea looming this coming summer I am starting to get a little bored riding all the time and there aren't too many other types of races to get my mind off of cycling in the winter, but just when I was about to take some time off a new race crossed my path.

Growing up in Chicago, I had always heard about stair climbing events on the news, and thought that I would love to do that. Last year I looked up Hustle up the Hancock and signed up. I had no idea how to run a race like this or train for it. The Hancock is 94 floors tall. I did some training, but was wary going into it. I surprised myself by finishing 104th out of 2700 participants, definitely encouraging. So this year I decided to do another one called Tackle the Tower. The format is slightly different because the Oakbrook Terrace is only 31 floors tall, but I decided to do the option of going up it 3 times and taking the elevator down in between. That is coming up February 10 so it will get my mind off cycling for just enough time.

I've never liked specializing in one thing, I like to have my abilities be perfectly fluid from one aspect of life to another. I'm hoping this will someday land me a spot on the TV show Survivor.

Love God with your Heart, Soul, Mind, and Bike

2008-01-19T11:49:00.000-06:00

There has been something on my mind lately that I just can't seem to get past. Some of you who may be reading this may not be aware that there is a forum which all of the riders on the Sea to Sea tour have access to in order to trade training tips, encouragement, and just generally get to know each other a little better before we meet at the end of June. The thing on my mind has to do with what was seemingly a throw away comment made by one rider, I don't even know who it was and I think figuring it out would create unnecessary tension. The comment touched on the irony that the tour is raising money to reduce poverty by having nearly two hundred cyclists ride expensive bikes across the country.

I see the irony in this, but at the same time I felt it was trying to implicate us for owning a high quality product. I confess that my bike is the second most expensive thing that I own behind my car. However, my bike is not a trophy, it is a tool.

Since my junior year of college I have been trying to shape my life to match my ideology. It was at this time that I discovered conflicts of interest in my world view. Gas prices had just started getting to a level where we realized that they would never be going back down to the level they had been my entire life and everyone was complaining about it. China had entered the oil purchasing market in a big way and production couldn't keep up. We blame it on China, but who are we to say that we need or deserve oil more than anyone else? It's like when a new neighbor moves in and they neglect their lawn more than anyone else, we complain that they are ruining our neighborhood as if the whole thing belongs to us because we lived there longer. I love taking road trips. They cost more now and you can't blame anyone for it, you just need to adapt.

This is, naturally, the same time at which global warming/climate change became a major issue. As gas consumption increases, so does pollution from carbon emmisions which leads to more heat being trapped in the atmosphere. With the very convincing case that was presented by Al Gore in 'An Inconvenient Truth' and with evidence from many other scientists spread across a variety of branches of science, I began to see how human activity was effecting earth, and I was a part of it. I have tracked my gas milage for the last few years because I like messing around with numbers, but I never thought to look for how much gas I was actually using. In the last two years I have used 1000 gallons!

I have always thought of the cultural mandate (Gen 1:28) as God reinforcing man as his chosen among creation, but recently I have questioned what the meaning of the statement "Fill the earth, and subdue it" means and if man might have either forgetten this commandment or misinterpretted the word subdue.

Because of these factors I decided that I needed to reduce the amount of time I spend driving from one place to another without cutting myself off from the communities I am a member of. It was at this point I decided I needed to ride my bike more. It allows me to travel at a good rate of speed while not costing the environment or my wallet anything. It even benefits my health.

This still doesn't explain why I needed an expensive bike, however.

I have always been an athlete. I love to compete. In college I ran track and cross country, so when I graduated I needed to find a way to keep exercising. Cycling was one of those things I never had time to get really into because I was training for other things, now I finally did have time. So when I went to get a bike to ride instead of my car I wanted one that I could use for races as well. I could have bought one for each activity, but I see that as wasteful. That route would mean I would be be consuming twice as many resources and one half would always be sitting around since I couldn't use both at once. So I went for the one that I would get the most use out of.

I believe the person who was making the comment that set me off a bit was referencing how much our society wastes money on frivolous extras while other societies are trying to make something out of nothing to survive. I am aware that I belong to this society geographically, I just don't like being lumped into it undiscerningly.

Mele Kalikimaka and Happy New Year

2008-01-02T22:28:00.000-06:00

It hasn't been my typical December, so I haven't been able to blog as much as I would like, but January should put me back into a good routine.

For as long as I can remember, my family has done the same thing every Chrismas season. We exchange gifts at the same time, eat the same food on Christmas eve, Christmas morning, and for Christmas dinner and often go to see a movie at night. I've never felt like I was going through the motions, there always seemed to be the same anticipation. So you can imagine the bittersweet feeling when while last year's procedings were winding down my parents told the kids that for next Chirstmas they weren't going to be buying any gifts, but instead we were going to be going on a family vacation...to Hawaii.

There are few ways I can imagine to more completely break with tradition than this. No douglass fir, no lake effect snow, no wadded up wrapping paper fights. Instead there were palm trees, occasional clouds, and snorkeling. It was odd to say the least, but refreshing.

Now to the point before someone decides to make a trip to Chicago to break my legs. Hawaii is one of the poorest states in our country. There is a striking duality that many people overlook. A gallon of milk at the supermarket there is $4.50 after the discount for being a rewards member. The eyes of all the people from the mainland bug out when they see the prices and feel like they are being ripped off. But, they are only thinking of themselves, imagine the islanders who have to pay that much everytime because there are no other options. Nearly everything you get at a store must be literally shipped over, adding huge costs. The islands are great for growing fruit, but growing grain there would be difficult, so they even have to import bread. The tourists come and see how simple most people are living and can't understand why. The cost of renting an apartment with a kitchen, bathroom and small bedroom (not on the ocean) will cost $600 or more. Most island jobs don't pay exceptionally well either. A job with the same salary on the island has way less buying power than one on the mainland. Tourists come to the island to enjoy the weather and have a good time. They use up a good portion of the resources that are shipped over, thus making them more scarce, and thus raising the price. Think about taking a shower at your own house versus taking one at a hotel. At your own house you most likely will take a shorter shower because you are paying for it, if you take one at a hotel you might take a longer one because you either think you aren't paying for it or you think that the cost of it is included in the price so you want to get more for your money. It all comes down to caring for the place you are from more than you care about anywhere else in the world. But isn't this what Jesus' second commandment was all about?

The difficult issue in dealing with Hawaii's poverty is that tourism is vitally important for them to succeed. The islanders might not like some of the things that tourists do, but they accept it because they need these tourists to spend their money there so they can pay the shipping costs to get things they can't produce on island. In order to follow the commandment it means that we need to be good stewards both at home and on vacation. We can't just try to be stingy and get the most for ourselves. Whenever I went shopping on the island I looked for shops that were not chain stores and actually made their products locally in Hawaii. The reason for this is that every dollar I was spending was going to their economy (not taking a portion out for the corporate office) and so they weren't paying extra to ship something to the island so I could immediately take it off the island. I was trying to 'Do the Most Good' just like the Salvation Army. And just like every Christmas at home there were people ringing bells next to red kettles. It just goes to show that no matter how differant a Christmas it was the theme was still the same.

Opportunity Costs

2007-12-10T19:22:00.000-06:00

I took several Economics classes in college and there is a lot of jargon to learn. Most of the terms used by economists are things that we all understand, but are given names so they can more easily be talked about. For instance: Opportunity costs- what you have to give up in order to do something else. The basic concept is that you cannot be in two places at once, therefore, you must make a choice between the options you have. By weighing all of these options you ideally choose the one or combinations of options that will make you the most happy.

The Sea to Sea bike tour has huge opportunity costs for me just by the mere fact that it encompasses a continuous block of two month's time. In August of 2007 when I signed up for the tour, the tour was a very concrete option and very few other options were even floating around in my head. Since then more and more things have become established and they begin to get tossed in the mix. Here is a list of some of them:

1. The Olympics- I was never going to be going to China to see them, but the summer games have been one of my favorite sporting events to watch since I was a wee lad and they only come every four years.

2. The Chicago Outdoor Film Festival- Sure, at least one gets rained out each year and I typically only see 2 out of 7 each year, but each one I see brings me a good deal of joy. The festival starts when the tour starts and ends the week before the tour ends; I won't be doing that next summer.

3. Baseball- The Cubs are looking good and I miss the heart of the season. I will still make it to my 5th consecutive opening day, but my usual ten games per season will dwindle considerably.

4. Jeff's wedding- The first of five high school friends is getting married and the odds are I'll miss it. The date isn't set yet, but unless I can convince him that Saturday, August 16th would be a great day to have a wedding sometime in late afternoon in Grand Rapids the only way I'll be there is in the form of a card.

5. Erica's wedding???- I missed my sister's graduation and profession of faith because I went on trips, I might be chopped off the family tree if I were to miss this. Let's hope an autumn wedding appeals to her.

There are a host of smaller costs that are negligable, but so far the cumulative opportunity cost is nowhere near the benefit of taking part in the tour. If you look at the small list I made, most of the costs are personal costs. That list does not reflect the cumulative benefit of everyone else around me, including those I am raising money to help. I think it is always important to weigh the total gain or loss to a community and not to the individual. So, even though I will be homeless and jobless at the beginning of the tour next year I look at it as an opportunity to trust God and not a personal financial cost.

Snow

2007-12-05T21:50:00.000-06:00

The character building season is upon us again.

Here in Chicago we got 6 inches of snow in the last two days. I now have a visible excuse for not going out and doing an easy 20 miles of training. It hasn't, however, stopped me from honoring my commitment of riding to work everyday. So far the score is: Ice and Snow 0, Me and my Bike 1. I almost prefer the areas that haven't been plowed. I nearly wiped out going around Soldier Field today because the plows left a fraction of an inch of snow on the ground that melted at midday and froze into ice once the sun went down. I am very thankful for my mountain bike on days like these.

My training for the tour starts January 1. Initially I was going to start at the beginning of November but extra hours at work made that impossible to keep. I have also realized that my diet needs an overhaul if I am going to successfully train and participate in crossing the continent. This is no ordinary change in diet either, I need to gain some weight. My coworkers who have done a coast to coast ride told me about how thin they got over the course of their trip despite never refusing an opportunity to eat. My metabolism has always been really high. I am 6'6" and weigh somewhere around 200 lbs. Any weight I lose would start to make my mother question if I am capable of feeding myself. I am going to try to incorporate as many additional carbs as I can into my current eating habits.

This Christmas I hope that I get a spare tire, because I know it will come in handy on the trip.

Money

2007-11-29T18:12:00.000-06:00

I got the verdict back about the parking ticket I protested a couple months ago. I lost. I now owe the city of Chicago $120 for not having a city parking sticker in my car. I was just starting to feel like I could begin putting money aside for the equipment I am going to need for next summer and for during the ride. I keep thinking about the $7500 that I still need to raise for the cause also.

I am used to taking care of big projects on my own, putting all my effort toward one thing until it is accomplished and catching up on the other things afterwards. I don't like bothering other people when there is even the possibility that I could do it myself.

I make somewhere in the range of $25,000 per year, or about two and a half times what I need to raise for the cause my cross continental bike ride is supporting. In my brain I tell myself that if I sacrifice a couple big things and work as much overtime as is offered I'll be able to handle this amount myself. But, reality sets in early on along this path. Big things like rent don't go away, car insurance doesn't go away, utility bills don't go away, the cost of eating still exists and those little mishaps like parking tickets don't disappear. I realize that I can't do it on my own and it makes me nervous.

Asking for money is scary. You think you have to pry it out of people's pockets, or you have to explain to the smallest detail exactly why you need it. You think that no matter what you say, the people are going to furl their brow and say, "Now let me get this straight, you want me to give you money so you can ride your bike across the country, what's in it for me?" This is the first time I've had to raise a significant amount of money. Because I have always taken things on by myself, I feel I don't know the people around me as well as I should. I now feel guilty asking them for money, like I am only asking them to be my friend when I am in need.

I like helping people out. I feel like every attribute (my height, my athleticism, my ability to work numbers in my head) was given to me to be used as often as possible to keep them sharp and to help others out. I don't often need to use my ability to haul a couch up three flights of stairs for myself, so in order to keep that skill sharp I need to find someone who is wanting of it.

I have come to realize that by taking care of everything on my own I am being selfish. Some people might want to help me wash the car (strange as it may sound). Asking for people to help even when you know you can take care of it yourself helps build community. While two people are washing a car they can find out things about each other and the job they are doing through conversation and observation. If you wash the car alone it takes longer and you feel more busy. Also it's hard to teach yourself a better way to do something.

I don't know the financial situation of everyone in my church, or my community. I don't want to push people to give me money they can't afford to give, but the amount I have to raise is not relative. Somehow I have to raise $10,000. Broken down evenly that is $100 from 100 people, but I know that my friends who are just out of college would find it far more difficult to support me with that amount than a business man who is 30 years into his career. I need a few people who can give more to help those who just don't have that much to give. Can you help me out, I'm trying to be unselfish. Be part of my journey across North America with me.

Introduction

2007-11-27T14:37:00.000-06:00

In the summer of 2005 one hundred plus cyclists were riding across Canada to raise money for the future of the Christian Reformed Church. Meanwhile, I was stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on I-80/94 wishing there was something better I could be doing with my time, oblivious to the amazing journey going on a few hundred miles north of me.

Fast forward one year. I am now a college graduate just starting my first full-time job at the Field Museum in Chicago. I am beginning to discover the difference between attending a Christian college devoted to observing how God works in every aspect of my life and working for an institution devoted to observing the scientific processes at work all around us. Global Warming is now the main focus of everyone around me, instead of Global Poverty. Many of my co-workers are avid bike riders because it is both environmentally and economically savvy to do so. Being amongst so many bikers I, naturally, decided that it was about time to upgrade from the mountain bike that I had been riding since I was in fourth grade. About this same time I moved into the city and reduced my hour and a half commute via train to a ten minute bike ride. No matter what the weather, I became committed to saving the planet.

Fast forward one more year. I am taking part in the first bicycle race of my life on my new road bike. The national 24-hour challenge, where the object is to ride as many miles as you can muster in one day's time, confirms for me that I was born a cyclist, it just took me 23 years to realize. The next time I stopped at my parents' house after the race I noticed a promotional postcard for a sea to sea bike tour. With the memory of my 221 miles still fresh my interest was immediately piqued. Upon researching further I discovered that this tour would synthesise both my religious and scientific views; I wouldn't be burning gas in my car at all for two months, but at the same time I would be helping to end the cycle of poverty. I decided that I was in.

Fast forward again...

Only time will tell. All I know is this time I will be one of the one hundred plus, and I can't think of a thing in this world that I could better spend my time doing. There are still 7 months before the tour starts. There is no way to know what God has in store. I have $10,000 dollars to raise and probably a couple thousand miles of training to do. There are people that I barely know or don't know at all that will become very important to me in this stretch of time. As long as I can keep my focus on the task at hand I won't go crazy trying to comprehend the vastness of this undertaking. There is only one certainty: God will provide.