Tom's Ride Across America

Facts and Figures

2008-08-17T11:08:00.000-07:00

I thought you might be interested in hearing about my totals and averages for the trip. I used a spreadsheet to compile the following list:
· Number of riding days: 51
· Number of non-riding days: 9
· Total distance: 4,121 miles
· Average distance per riding day: 80.8 miles
· Total riding time: 10 days, 0 hours, 22 minutes (240 hours, 22 minutes)
· Average riding time per day: 4 hours, 42 minutes
· Average speed: 17.1 mph
· Number of calories burned while riding: 267,277
· Average calories burned per riding day: 4,941 (or 1,051 per hour; doesn’t include non-riding activities)
· Total ascent: 133,231 feet
· Average ascent per riding day: 2,612 feet
· Total descent: 133,232 feet (The Atlantic Ocean is approximately 8 inches lower than the Pacific Ocean)
· Average descent per riding day: 2,612 feet)

Day 60, Camden to Bar Harbor, Maine

2008-08-17T07:17:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 85 miles; ride time: 5:19; cumulative distance: 4,105 miles; average speed: 15.9 mph; calories: 5255; ascent: 4371 feet; descent: 4507 feet. We made it! Our trip is over, at least physically. Mentally, emotionally and spiritually we will never forget the adventure that we accomplished together. There are so many people that made this trip possible. We are indebted to those that gave so much time and energy to help us achieve our goal. I am also thankful to God for allowing me to make this trip and make friends that I will always remember and hopefully see again. We got an early start this morning heading for Bar Harbor. We had lunch in Surrey which left us less than 40 miles to go after lunch. We met up outside Bar Harbor and had a police escort into town. It was a very emotional moment for us to be greeted by a crowd of people cheering us on. We went down to the ocean to dip our front wheels in the Atlantic, just as we had dipped our rear wheels in the Pacific at the start of our journey. Our host church today was the Baptist Church in Bar Harbor. Arek and I stayed with the youth pastor and his wife, Adrian and Amanda. I would have liked to have spent more time getting to know them but our schedule didn’t allow this. We had some celebrating to do. We went to a seafood restaurant about 12 miles from Bar Harbor for our celebration. There were over 30 in attendance at our celebration dinner. Many of us had fresh Maine lobster. What a treat! After dinner, the festivities continued with a sing along with Jill Blomker, Bryan’s wife. She wrote a funny song for the occasion which she taught us to sing. We had a sharing time about the trip. Emma gave out awards to the various team members. I was given the “A-tom-ic bomb” award for the many puns that I sprung on hapless souls throughout the trip. Bryan presented us with beautiful framed pictures of our start in Anacortes, Washington. We laid the pictures out on tables and took turns signing each other’s mats. Thanks again for your part in making this the trip of a lifetime. We may never know this side of Heaven what the money we raised for Youth for Christ was able to accomplish but will be glad to find out that many young people have been reached for Christ through the projects we’re supporting. God bless and good bye. I may revisit this site shortly to give you some parting thoughts and reflections.

Day 59, Oxford to Camden, Maine

2008-08-14T19:11:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 97 miles; ride time: 6:16; cumulative distance: 4,020 miles; average speed: 15.5 mph; calories: 6007; ascent: 4967 feet; descent: 5364 feet. We made it from Sea to Sea. When we got to Rockport, we were on the Atlantic Ocean. Our final destination will be about 90 miles to the north at Bar Harbor. It’s exciting to have our final destination so close at hand. These last nine weeks have been an adventure that I will always remember. I’ve been blessed to meet so many fine people – the riders, support staff, and hosts. I also would like to thank the people that have made this trip possible – my supporters and especially my wife for parting with me for 60 days. Thank you Nancy! I’ve missed you a lot and will be glad to see you again. Today’s ride featured hills, hills, and more hills. Maine is not flat by any stretch of the imagination. As you can see, we climbed close to 5,000 feet today. We made it to Camden around 5 o’clock and were treated to a wonderful potluck by the Baptist church that is hosting us.

Day 58, Lincoln, New Hampshire to Oxford, Maine

2008-08-14T03:50:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 89 miles; ride time: 4:45; cumulative distance: 3,923 miles; average speed: 16.6 mph; calories: 5105; ascent: 4267 feet; descent: 4768 feet. We made it to Maine! We’re not at the coast yet but should be tomorrow. John, Dan and I had breakfast with our hosts, Robert and Monica. We then met up with the rest of the group and started our ascent of Kancamagus Pass. It has an elevation of 2,855 feet. It didn’t turn out to be as hard as we thought. Mike, Paul Bayfield and I were the first ones to the top. We covered the 12.6 mile distance to the pass in just over an hour. The real steep hills turned out to be the ones after lunch. They were much shorter but also much steeper. One hill was as steep as 21%. I reached our host church first at about 3:30 and the others came in later. The youth group at the Advent Christian Church in Oxford served us a lasagna dinner and we did a Youth for Christ presentation for them When we have a meeting for youth, we make it fun by having a scavenger hunt pitting the boys against the girls. The items in the scavenger hunt all help to tell the story of our bike ride. Tonight the boys were victorious. John and I are staying with Pastor Frank and his wife Judy.. We watched the Olympics and munched on Judy’s delicious cookies.

Day 57, Rochester, Vermont to Lincoln, New Hampshire

2008-08-12T20:45:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 93 miles; ride time: 6:05; cumulative distance: 3,844 miles; average speed: 15.3 mph; calories: 6359; ascent: 5446 feet; descent: 5559 feet. Every day is bringing us closer to our finish in Bar Harbor, Maine on Friday. This has been a spectacular trip, one I will never forget. On today’s ride, we traveled from Vermont to New Hampshire and tomorrow, we should reach Maine. We started from Rochester just before 8 a.m. The morning ride was dry but after lunch the rains returned. We found out that there has been rain in 17 of the last 18 days in Lincoln. We had quite a bit of climbing today but nothing as steep as the climb over Brandon Gap yesterday. We arrived at Lincoln starting at 4:20. There was one very tough railroad track crossing in Lincoln. The tracks were diagonal to the roadway and wet. Three of our riders fell going over the tracks and bruised their knees. Fortunately there were no serious injuries. We are being hosted tonight by St. John’s Catholic Church. Our hosts picked us up and took us to their homes to shower and change our clothes. At 6:30, the church put on a very nice barbeque for us. The youth were there and we had a good presentation for them following the dinner.

Day 56, Newcomb, New York to Rochester, Vermont

2008-08-11T19:12:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 89 miles; ride time: 5:56; cumulative distance: 3,751 miles; average speed: 15.0 mph; calories: 5763; ascent: 5943 feet; descent: 6785 feet. Today, we’re back to rain. It was raining or drizzling pretty much the entire day. We left Newcomb shortly before 8 a.m. dressed in our wet weather gear. We had a bit of a mix-up at lunch time. We planned to have lunch before we took the ferry across Lake Champlain. Four of us followed the route on our map and stopped at a picnic shelter at a city park in Ticonderoga, New York about 2 miles from the ferry crossing. The rest of the group followed signs to the ferry following a different route and went directly to the ferry crossing. The group at the ferry ended up riding back to the park since there was no covered shelter at the ferry crossing and it was raining. We had our lunch and arrived in Vermont shortly after 2 p.m. We were soon to find out that our hardest climb of the trip was ahead of us. We took an alternate route to Rochester since the heavy rains this summer washed out roads and bridges on our mapped route. We ended up taking Highway 73 which went over Brandon Pass. The climb to the pass was about the steepest hill I’ve been on for that distance of climb. The hill seemed to go on forever at slopes reaching 16%. Much of the climb was at 12% which is steep for cyclists, particularly when the slope continues for a long distance. Paul Bayfield, Zack and I managed to make it to Rochester shortly after 5 p.m. I was proud of the rest of the group because they all made it over that steep hill. The last riders arrived around 6:40 p.m. and we were taken to our host homes. Stuart and I are staying with Dan and Peggy tonight. Dan is a fisheries biologist with the U.S. Forest Service and Peggy is a counselor. Since I used to work for the Forest Service, Dan and I had lots to talk about. We finished the evening by watching the Olympics on TV.

Day 55, In Newcomb, New York

2008-08-10T19:12:00.000-07:00

Bryan and I are staying this weekend with Ed and Janice and their sons Aidan and Jonas. Ed is a high school math teacher in Newcomb. I am a high school math teacher in Ukiah. Ed’s school is small so his class sizes are very small. My school is large so my class sizes are much larger. We had the chance to see Ed’s school today. There are only 70 students in grades K through 12. They have a very nice facility in Newcomb. The State of New York has a lot of property in Newcomb so they pay a good sum of the money for the school. As a result, local taxes are low and the quality of education is high. That sounds like a good combination. We went with Ed and Jackie to their church, the United Methodist Church in Newcomb. Pastor Carol was there along with her dog Ike. The service was very low-key but also very heartfelt and worshipful. John Duncan had a chance to share about our ride. After church, Ed and Jackie took Bryan and I on a drive to the trailhead for the High Peaks area. We hiked to a lake that is near the headwaters of the Hudson River. What a beautiful area. It’s no wonder the Adirondacks are a popular vacation spot. This afternoon, I took a much needed and refreshing nap. For supper, we went to the Long Lake Town Hall for another potluck provided by our host church, the United Methodist Church of Newcomb. The food and fellowship was great.

Day 54, Redfield to Newcomb, New York

2008-08-10T19:08:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 119 miles; ride time: 6:59; cumulative distance: 3,662 miles; average speed: 17.0 mph; calories: 7890; ascent: 6033 feet; descent: 5415 feet. What a contrast in weather between yesterday and today. Yesterday was rainy. Today was sunny and fair – a good day for a long ride in the Adirondack Mountains. We had breakfast at the Reservoir Inn Restaurant in Redfield. We were on the road before 8 a.m. to begin the long ride. There were many hills today, many of them steep. I counted eleven hills that were 10% grade or steeper. On a church marquis today, I read: "Problems that aren’t worth praying about are not worth worrying about". After 95 miles, we climbed a particularly long and steep hill near Blue Mountain Lake. We were at the 70 mile point at 2 p.m. In order to arrive at our host church by 5 p.m., Paul Bayfield, Zack and I left lunch saying we would be unsupported for the last 50 miles. We made good time and were able to arrive before 5 in Newcomb. The three of us were taken to a nearby lake where a potluck dinner was being readied for us. We started the potluck about 6 p.m. and the other riders began arriving. The setting was beautiful. This is the start of a great weekend.

Day 53, East Williamson to Redfield, New York

2008-08-09T03:45:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 86 miles; ride time: 5:29; cumulative distance: 3,543 miles; average speed: 15.8 mph; calories: 5506; ascent: 3722 feet; descent: 3209 feet. We started the day with breakfast at our host homes. Stuart and I stayed with Jim and Laurie and their dog Chloe. All were perfect hosts. Today was an interesting day to say the least. We’ve had great weather for this entire trip – until today that is. Today was another story. We had torrential downpours of Biblical proportions, what are known as “gulley washers”. Some of us would seek shelter from the deluge. Others with the “press on regardless” mentality would throw caution to the wind and ride through it. I was in the former group so I was able to find porches, garages, and gas stations when I needed to come out of the rain. We finally made it to our destination between 4 and 5 p.m. We are out in “the sticks” and none of us have reliable cell phone reception. We are staying at a motel tonight since no host church was available. We had dinner at the motel restaurant and celebrated Johnny’s 24th birthday with a cake. We’re hoping the weather tomorrow will be a little drier than today’s.

Day 52, Medina to E. Williamson, New York

2008-08-07T19:29:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 85 miles; ride time: 4:35; cumulative distance: 3,457 miles; average speed: 18.5 mph; calories: 5887; ascent: 2223 feet; descent: 2318 feet. We started the day with breakfast at our host homes. Dan and I stayed with Jim and Barb. They were very nice hosts and treated us well. The ride today took us through Rochester, New York and beside the Erie Canal. In fact, when we went through Rochester, we rode on the bike path that runs for miles along the Erie Canal. It used to be the tow path where the mules would pull the barges through the canal. We arrived at the Free Methodist Church in E. Williamson between 4 and 5 p.m. There were church members there to welcome us and provide us with snacks and cold drinks. We then went with our hosts to their homes for dinner and a good night’s rest. Tonight, Stuart and I are staying with Jim and Laurie Brown. They live out in the country in a very nice setting with their dog Chloe. They have two grown daughters, one married and one a senior at Houghton College. We had great conversation over a delicious chili dinner. Speaking of chili, there is a town nearby called Chili. It is the second town with that name that we’ve encountered on the trip. The funny thing is that the townspeople in both towns insist on pronouncing their town name with both i’s in Chili have a “long i” sound. I was wondering how they would say it if they had a chili cook-off in Chili. East Williamson is in Wayne County, New York. Jim and Laurie tell me that the county is well known for two things: apples and snow. Apparently both come in plenteous supply.

Day 51, Angola to Medina, New York

2008-08-06T19:35:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 103 miles; ride time: 5:50; cumulative distance: 3,372 miles; average speed: 17.6 mph; calories: 7033; ascent: 3191 feet; descent: 3234 feet. Today was a special day in that it was to be our visit to Niagara Falls. The day didn’t disappoint. We had a great visit to the falls. We started the day by going to the Mustard Seed Restaurant for breakfast buffet. We then went back to the Pioneer Christian Camp we stayed at last night to get our bikes and start the ride. It took us awhile to get ten riders over the Peace Bridge and into Canada. Arek and Mike stayed on the American side since Arek did not have a visa to visit Canada. Johnny, Fiona and I got to the falls first. After a nice look at the falls from different vantage points, I went back to meet the support van and get my backpack with bike locks and walking shoes. By that time, Zach and Paul Bayfield had met up with me. The three of us went back to the falls, took lots of pictures, then boarded one of the “Maid of the Mist” sightseeing boats that went near the falls. The boat trip was well worth the money that we paid (less than fifteen dollars). We got off the boat just after 2 p.m. and were to rendezvous with the rest of the group at the bridge to the U.S. at 2:30. What we didn’t realize was that the bridge we were to cross over was about 7 miles away. We made tracks and got there a little late, but since everyone else was a little late too, it worked out just fine. We crossed the bridge, made it through customs, and finished the rest of the ride. Today’s ride was a little longer than expected with quite a bit of climb. We didn’t arrive at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Medina until close to 6 p.m. When we arrived, the church members had delicious fruit, crackers and cheese waiting for us followed up by an equally delightful potluck dinner. We made a Youth for Christ presentation at the potluck which was well received than went with our hosts. Dan and I are staying tonight with Barb and Jim. They drove us to a couple spots in or near town that were written up in Ripley’s Believe it or Not. One was a church that is in the middle of a street. The street splits and goes around the church. The other spot was the only road in New York that goes under the Erie Canal. All in all, it was a good day.

Day 50, E. Springfield, Pennsylvania to Angola, New York

2008-08-06T19:32:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 93 miles; ride time: 4:36; cumulative distance: 3,269 miles; average speed: 20.2 mph; calories: 6507; ascent: 1875 feet; descent: 2051 feet. This morning, we had breakfast with our host families. Zack and I stayed with Janice. She was dog sitting a very energetic chocolate lab called Luba who gave us lots of attention. After a slurppy send-off from Luba, we were on our way again. At one of our rest stops, we had pieces of a birthday cake that was brought over from Ireland for Johnny Young’s birthday. It had started out round but had changed shape considerably in transit. (It still tasted fine though). We had some tailwinds today so we made good time. Tonight, were staying in a Pioneer Camp which is a Christian Camp. It has an excellent location on the shore of Lake Erie and excellent facilities. We went out to eat at a family restaurant run by Christians that opened up just for us. They normally close at 4 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays but the staff came back to work to serve us at 6 p.m. We’ll be having breakfast with them tomorrow morning.

Day 49, Cleveland, Ohio to E. Springfield, Pennsylvania

2008-08-06T19:25:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 94 miles; ride time: 5:15; cumulative distance: 3,176 miles; average speed: 17.8 mph; calories: 6240; ascent: 1508 feet; descent: 1424 feet. We had very nice accommodations at the Nehemiah Project in Cleveland. The food was good in both quantity and quality. We slept in dorm style rooms which worked out nicely. A host family with 3 little children saw us off in the morning. The kids especially liked collecting the cards of each of the riders. It was interesting riding through the streets of Cleveland. I had a quick flat after hitting a small piece of concrete on a bridge. My friends helped out and we were soon back on the road. We arrived about 4 to 5 p.m. at the Federated Church in E. Springfield. We asked what made it federated and were told that two congregations joined together about 70 years ago after the church building of one of the congregations burned down. The church put on a nice dinner for us and then we were taken to our host homes.

Day 48, in Cleveland (and Lapeer, Michigan)

2008-08-03T20:38:00.000-07:00

I give greetings to my new blog readers in Lapeer, Michigan. I had a wonderful visit in Lapeer and want to thank you for the kind welcome I received. My mom and I went to my old church, Trinity United Methodist Church, where I went as a child and youth and during my summers as a young adult. It was good to see some familiar faces. I was able to speak about our trip and about Youth for Christ at two services and met with individuals in the social hour between services. People were glad to hear what we’re doing. I was thankful for the sermon the pastor preached today. An equation the pastor gave us today was: “God’s power + our willingness to be used = needs fulfilled”. That’s a good reminder that God can use us in mighty ways if we trust in His strength to help us accomplish what He’s set before us. I had a nice meal with my mom after church, said my goodbyes and drove back to Cleveland. I turned in my rental car and biked back to the church where we’re staying which was ten miles away. I arrived at the church just in time to be shuttled to a picnic dinner at the beach on Lake Erie hosted by a small group at our host church. The food and fellowship was great. It was a great place to relax, have a swim, or just stand and watch the sunset.

Day 47, Gibsonburg to Cleveland, Ohio (to Lapeer, Michigan)

2008-08-03T20:34:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 100 miles; ride time: 5:53; cumulative distance: 3082 miles; average speed: 17.1 mph; calories: 6136; ascent: 1538 feet; descent: 1438 feet. Today was a day I’d been looking forward to for quite some time. The plan was for me to ride ahead of the group, arrive at the Cleveland Airport, rent a car, and drive to Michigan to visit my mother. All went according to plan. The ride went well despite a couple of detours and a headwind for a good part of the day. I left shortly after 7 a.m. and arrived at the car rental center about 2:45 p.m. I had the opportunity to share with several families about our ride. I loaded up my bike in the back of the rental car and headed for Lapeer, Michigan where I was born and raised. It was good to be home. I arrived shortly before 7 p.m. My mom treated me to my all-time favorite meal of spaghetti and meatballs. She too had been looking forward to my visit. I showed her the trip pictures on my camera (which now number over 800). She is doing very well although it would be nice if we were closer together and could see each other more often. I try to call her frequently and have written her some letters but seeing her in person is by far better. The pictures in today’s blog are my mom Eileen Phillips and her house in Lapeer where I lived until I went off to college. I learned later that the rest of the group arrived in Cleveland between the hours of 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Our host church for this weekend is the Presbyterian Church in Lakewood although we are actually spending the weekend in a United Methodist Church in Cleveland where they have a dorm style facility called the Nehemiah Project.

Day 46, Grover Hill to Gibsonburg, Ohio

2008-08-01T19:19:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 86 miles; ride time: 4:28; cumulative distance: 2,982 miles; average speed: 19.2 mph; calories: 61246; ascent:866 feet; descent: 916 feet. Dick, who runs the YFC wilderness camp showed us around the camp. It’s amazing to see how God has worked to get the facilities together. Dick said that he started with nothing and God provided everything at the camp – an excellent place for young people to have a wilderness experience and find out about Jesus. At one of the host homes, Arek was fast asleep as breakfast was ready to be served. When they went to rouse him, he asked as only Arek could ask: “why do you seek the living among the dead?” (He’s not what you call a morning person). We had another good ride today. We had lunch at a state park about 30 miles from our destination. .We arrived in Gibsonburg around 4 p.m. at the Trinity United Methodist Church. They put on a delicious lasagna dinner for us. Afterwards, we put on a presentation about Youth for Christ and the ride we’re taking. Five of us are staying at the home of Rick and Casey Smith.

Day 45, Wabash, Indiana to Grover Hill, Ohio

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

Ride distance: 100 miles; ride time: 5:14; cumulative distance: 2,896 miles; average speed: 19.1 mph; calories: 7124; ascent:1336 feet; descent: 1331 feet. We had breakfast with our host families then met at the Presbyterian Church in Wabash. Today’s ride went well. There was a slight tailwind so we made good time. We didn’t push quite as hard as yesterday so the ride took about 15 minutes longer. When we crossed into Ohio, we took signs of both the Ohio sign and the Indiana sign (since there was no Indiana sign when we entered Indiana on a country road). After about 85 miles of riding, Paul Bayfield, Zack, and I decided that we would see how fast we could go on level ground. The young guys won out. Paul went 37 mph, Zack went 36 mph, and I went 34.5 mph. I gave it the old college try. In my defense, if you add Zack and Paul’s ages together and throw in an extra 10 years or so, that will about equal my age. Also, Zack and Paul both had bikes with triple chain rings and mine only had a compact double. (I know – I’m making excuses – they won fair and square!). We arrived at Grover Hill around 4 at the YFC Wilderness Camp. This is an excellent place for young people to come and find out about living for Christ. About 700 to 800 young people came to the camp last year. Tonight, Paul Bayfield and I were hosted by Tom and Brenda who lived just a couple of miles from the camp. They treated us to an excellent pasta dinner and ice cream later on.

Day 44, Brook to Wabash, Indiana

2008-07-30T19:30:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 100 miles; ride time: 4:58; cumulative distance: 2796 miles; average speed: 20.1 mph; calories: 7492; ascent: 1414 feet; descent: 1286 feet. Last night and this morning, we were at the home of Tony and Sharon. Tony is a biology teacher at South Newton High School. He pointed out some memorabilia in the room I slept in last night -- a baseball jersey signed by Pete Rose. Tony then took Les and I back to our host church, the United Methodist in Brook. Pastor Sue led devotions and then we were treated to breakfast. Once we got on the road, the pace was fast. There was a bit of a tailwind so we made good time to Wabash. The distance was actually about 97 miles but Zack, Paul Bayfield and I rode up and down the street until we had our 100 miles in. We were trying to ride 100 miles (a century) in under 5 hours and we were successful. Wabash is noted as being the first city to be lit using electricity. There were four 3,000 candlepower bulbs that lit the courthouse starting in 1880. In front of the courthouse is a statue of Abraham Lincoln. We had a good reception at the Presbyterian Church in Wabash by local Youth for Christ supporters. Stuart and I are staying at the home of Shirley and her daughter, Carmen. Shirley prepared a delicious dinner for us and then spoiled us with vanilla and death by chocholate ice cream and fudge cake. I guess after burning 7,492 calories today, we can live a bit dangerously!

2008-07-29T18:19:00.001-07:00

Day 43, Cornell, Illinois to Brook, Indiana

Ride distance: 91 miles; ride time: 5:10; cumulative distance: 2,696 miles; average speed: 17.6 mph; calories; 5813; ascent: 1032 feet; descent: 985 feet. We met at the United Methodist Church in Cornell at 6:30 a.m. for another great meal served by the church. Today, we were a lot more fortunate with the roads – no tar. It was a hot day reaching into the 90’s. There’s one thing that bikes lack – air conditioning –although if we go fast enough, we create our own. We passed the town of Odell which was on the original Route 66. The first riders made it to Brook by 4 p.m. and others arrived over the nest hour or so. Our host church tonight is the United Methodist Church in Brook. When we arrived, we were taken to the high school for showers. We then came back to the church for dinner. We are definitely spoiled with all the good food we’ve been served. We had more locally grown and fresh sweet corn, hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, cherry cheese cake and raspberry or strawberry shortcake. (Is your mouth watering yet?) Mine was.

Day 42, Kewanee to Cornell, Illinois

2008-07-29T18:15:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 86 miles; ride time: 4:46; cumulative distance: 2,605 miles; average speed: 18.0 mph; calories; 5633; ascent: 1692 feet; descent: 1742 feet. We had breakfast with our host families this morning. I had the privilege of staying with the Gomez Family. Shelley and Trino have two lovely daughters, Sarah and Rachel who got up early to see the riders off. We had a good ride in the morning and had a late lunch about 20 miles from our destination. After lunch, we started up on the designated route. Unfortunately for us, the designated route was freshly tarred and graveled. Zack, Paul Bayfiel, Arek and I started down the road and soon discovered our mistake. As we rode along, the gravel was pinging under our tires like popcorn in a corn popper. We started accumulating a thick, gooey layer of tar and gravel on our tires that can be compared to carmel apples covered in nuts. We were able to warn 5 of our riders from coming this way. The four of us with tar covered tires went back to our lunch spot and spent the next two hours trying to de-tar our bikes. We used a bag of rags, tar remover, Gojo cleaner, screwdrivers, and plenty of elbow grease to get the bikes back into some semblance of riding shape. We were finally able to get back on the road after 4 p.m. and made it to our host church in Cornell shortly after 5. We showered and had a wonderful dinner provided by the United Methodist Church in Cornell. We especially appreciated the freshly picked sweet corn. Stuart and I stayed that night with Dave, a riverboat captain on the Mississippi River. He had a lot of stories to tell us when we went back to his house.

Day 41, in Kewanee, Illinois

2008-07-29T18:12:00.001-07:00

We had a good day of rest in Kewanee. Our group attended the Zion Lutheran Church at 9 a.m. and gave a Youth for Christ presentation at the social hour following the worship service. Bryan gave an overview of Youth for Christ and the projects we’re supporting. Emma told a few of the funny things that happened on our trip and Stewart gave a talk about Serbia and the need for a drop-in center for youth there. After that, we rejoined our host families for the rest of the stay in Kewanee. Kewanee is known as the “hog capital of the world”. (I know that must be true since I made a pig of myself at the Pizza Hut buffet at lunchtime – only kidding!). My host family has been great. I’ve been staying with Trino and Shelley Gomez and their two girls Sarah and Rachel, ages 11 and 7. We rested in the afternoon. In the evening, we had a delicious supper meal of pork burritos, fresh corn on the cob, and Spanish rice. I chatted with my daughter Kristin in Peru and then was shown how to play “Guitar Hero” on their Wii. The Gomez family was patient while I finally managed to make it through the first song. We then watched a family movie, the Spiderwick Chronicles, and now here I am writing this blog.

Day 40, Muscatine, Iowa to Kewanee, Illinois

2008-07-26T21:27:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 78 miles; ride time: 4:25; cumulative distance: 2519 miles; average speed: 17.7 mph; calories: 5047; ascent: 1603 feet; descent: 1326 feet. Stuart, Paul Luedtke and I started our day at the home of Harry and Janet, our hosts in Muscatine. Last night, they took us out to dinner at a restaurant in Muscatine. They also showed us around town. There was a lot of damage from a wind storm that hit on Monday with 90 mph winds. Many trees and limbs were blown down and the town is still cleaning up. This morning, they served us a nice breakfast and took us to our host church, the Mulford Evangelical Free Church. Paul Luedtke had two guests, Dan and Debbie, who rode with us for the day. They were in Paul’s Youth for Christ group over 20 years ago when they were in high school. Paul enjoyed seeing them again. Dan has been racing road bikes for the past 3 years so he was able to set a nice pace for us today. We crossed the Mississippi River and entered Illinois. One of the towns we passed through was also damaged by the wind storm. The winds were called “shear winds” and were clocked at 93 mph. The truck in the photo was smashed by falling limbs. I talked to the unfortunate owner and he said that he had parked the truck in the wrong spot. We arrived in Kewanee at about 2:30 p.m., took showers and put on clean clothes. Our host church today is Zion Lutheran. They fixed a nice supper for us and than we went to our host homes. This weekend, I’m staying with the Gomez family. They have two young girls, Sarah and Rachel, who were eager to have a guest.

Day 39, Central City to Muscatine, Iowa

2008-07-25T20:54:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 78 miles; ride time: 4:24; cumulative distance: 2441 miles; average speed: 17.8 mph; calories: 4942; ascent: 2047 feet; descent: 2261 feet. If I had to give today a title, it would be “Sea to See meets RAGBRAI”. RAGBRAI is an acronym that stands for Register’s Annual Great Bike Race Across Iowa. It is a huge one week bike ride across the state of Iowa sponsored by the Des Moines Register (newspaper). There are about 10,000 registered riders but with tag a longs, there could be twice that many. The cyclists come in all shapes and sizes and have all different kinds of bikes. Every night, they stay in a different town in Iowa. The town folk prepare for this mass invasion by setting up all kinds of food stands and other stopping points for the riders. It seems to be a very festive atmosphere. Anyways, getting back to our story, about 25 miles into our ride today, we met up with the RAGBRAI riders. They were as thick as locusts on the road in front of us. Our course intersected theirs for approximately 15 miles. We had a lot of fun riding with them. I was in our fast group consisting of Zack, Paul Bayfield and myself so we must have passed dozens and dozens of RAGBRAI riders. It was great sport. In town, we slowed down to a stop and spoke with some of the riders. We explained what we were doing and one of them gave me a donation on the spot for Youth for Christ. Now I feel a little guilty for passing so many of them. .One of the cyclists had her dog in a carrier. She has carried that dog across the entire state. She claims that the dog loves it. I can’t speak for the dog but it did seem like he was having a pretty good time and getting lots of attention. When we got to a spot about 10 miles from Muscatine, we came to a road closed sign. The road had been closed because of flood damage. One of the transportation department men drove up and I asked him if there was any way we could cycle into town. He thought about it a minute and told me that we could cycle on the closed section of road if we stayed out of the way of trucks and equipment. Since this would save us a ten mile detour, we readily agreed. The damage to the road was extensive for about two miles. The flood waters had undercut the footing of the road and whole sections of the roadway had slumped to the side. We were fortunate to be able to get through. When we arrived in Muscatine, we found out that they have had two floods this year and a bad wind storm with 90 mph winds. There were trees and limbs down all over the city. Cedar Rapids was hit even worse. The Cedar River caused devastating damage in that city. Hundreds of homes and buildings were destroyed by the flood. They estimate that a flood like this only happens once every 500 years. Our host church in Muscatine is an Evangelical Free Church which happens to be the same denomination of the church that I belong to. They served us pizza then we were taken by our host families.

Day 38, Edgewood to Central City, Iowa

2008-07-24T19:54:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 45 miles; ride time: 2:43; cumulative distance: 2369; average speed: 16.6 mph; ascent: 1570 feet; descent: 1935 feet. Today’s ride was a short one. We started the day with breakfast at the homes of our hosts. We didn’t meet until 9 a.m. since we knew we didn’t have far to go. One of the hosts is the president of the Community Savings Bank in Edgewood. He gave our group a tour of his bank. We seemed to be a big hit with the employees. It was a bit awkward being the center of attention but we adjusted. Even though the ride was short, it was difficult because we had a headwind to ride into for all but about 7 miles. We had lunch along the way and arrived in Central City around 2:30 to 3 p.m. We had supper at the homes of our hosts. After supper, we returned to the United Methodist Church, our host church, for a meeting to present our ride and the ministry of Youth for Christ. These meetings are very encouraging. The local people are very receptive and our group enjoys sharing with them. The first picture in today’s blog is a picture of Arek as he was discussing the ministry of Youth for Christ in Lebanon.

Day 37, Brownsville, MN to Edgewood, Iowa

2008-07-23T20:04:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 93 miles; ride time: 5:31; cumulative distance: 2324 miles; average speed: 16.8 mph; calories: 6125; ascent: 4567 feet; descent: 4056 feet. We left Brownsville after a great breakfast from our host families and a good send off from the Zion Evangelical Church. Today's ride was one of the hardest of the trip. We had many very steep hills to climb and they all seemed to be about 3 to 4 hundred feet of climb. Some were as steep as 12% grade which any cyclist will tell you is a pretty steep hill. Inspite of the hills, the ride went very well. We saw lots of nice scenery including more views of the Mississippi River. The church pictured in today's blog was one we saw along the way. Notice the cemetary that surrounds the church. That seems to be fairly common with country churches. I also saw a fox run across the road. I tried to get a picture of it but I wasn't quite quick enough to get the right settings on my camera. Most of our trip today has been in Iowa. We left Minnesota after 14 miles. We arrived in Edgewood aroung 5 p.m. Our original stopping point was Ekander but that town was heavily damaged by floods so we had to change locations. It worked out very well. We have great host families that put on a wonderful potluck at the United Methodist Church in town. After dinner, we walked two blocks to the Bible Church and put on a Youth for Christ presentation. It went very well. There were many in attendance and we were able to do a lot of good sharing about our mission.

Day 36, Lake City to Brownsville, Minnesota

2008-07-22T20:26:00.001-07:00

Ride distance: 101 miles; ride time: 5:36; cumulative distance: 2231 miles; average speed: 18.1 mph; calories: 6757; ascent: 3410 feet; descent: 3387 feet. Today’s ride was considerable longer than yesterday’s. We met at 7 a.m. at the teen center and soon were on the road. Three riders wanted to do a portion of the ride in Wisconsin so we split the group and both groups met for lunch at Winona, Minnesota. The group of 8 riders that remained in Minnesota had a fair amount of hill climbing to do. We ended up climbing from the river level to the level of the bluffs along the river 3 times. Each ascent was 500 to 600 feet of vertical climb. The Wisconsin riders followed a shorter, more direct and more level route so they traveled about 10 fewer miles than the Minnesota riders. We had a long lunch stop in Winona then pedaled another 40 miles to our destination of Brownsville. Our host church today is the Zion Evangelical Church. We arrived at the church between 5 and 6 p.m. and our hosts were there to greet us. Zack, Dan, Fiona, Johnny, Les and I are in two hosts’ homes that are right next to each other overlooking the Mississippi River. We all had a wonderful dinner together with tasty marinated meat and other delectable items.

Day 35, Northfield to Lake City, Minnesota

2008-07-22T20:20:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 52 miles; ride time: 2:54; cumulative distance: 2130 miles; average speed: 17.8 mph; calories: 3290; ascent: 1879 feet; descent: 2124 feet. Today’s ride was relatively short so we met at St. John’s Lutheran Church at 8 a.m. instead of our usual 7 a.m. meeting time. The ride went well except for 9 miles of road construction that resulted in a dirt road devoid of any asphalt. Zack had a blowout of a tube in addition to a tire that went bad at the same time. We’re getting used to fixing flats by now. They seem to take about 10 minutes to fix. Our host today was a Catholic Teen Center in Lake City. Amy was the coordinator for our stay and she did an excellent job of lining up host homes, coordinating a wonderful potluck dinner for us, and making lunches for the next day. As an extra special bonus, she even lined up the use of a 24-foot Sea-Ray speed boat for us to ride in on the Mississippi River. We had a great time of cruising on the river. There were 12 of us in the boat. Several of us even tried our hand at waterskiing. Lake City is famous for being the birthplace of waterskiing. The first waterskiing was done in the 1920’s. The skiers were pulled behind bi-planes with pontoons. It took awhile for speed boats to have powerful enough motors to be able to pull skiers. Johnny Young was the most successful looking like an old pro. Paul Bayfield was next to go and he made a very respectable showing too. Arek and I tried it and were unsuccessful. We had fun but we couldn’t quite get up on the skis. Mike tried it and was able to get up on his third attempt.

Day 34, at Northfield, Minnesota

2008-07-20T20:13:00.000-07:00

I enjoy taking a day off each week. It gives us a chance to relax and get to know our host families better. This weekend, Les Chermak our new support person and I had the privilege of staying with Sharon, Derek, and Kristi Rasmussen. They have been excellent and gracious hosts while we’ve been here. We got spoiled eating Sharon’s brownies and Kristi’s chocolate pie. We went with them this morning to their church, Bethel Lutheran, in Northfield. We then came home for lunch. This afternoon, I’ll have to confess that we joined millions of others on this opening weekend in viewing the latest Batman movie, the Dark Knight. We noticed a few others from our group were in the theatre too. Northfield is famous for having the last bank that Jesse James and his band of outlaws robbed. They tried to make off with about $5 in money but members of the group were either apprehended or killed. Jesse apparently escaped but that ended his bank robbing days. Every September, they have a reenactment of the robbery. Thousands come into town on this weekend.

Day 33, Glencoe to Northfield, Minnesota

2008-07-19T20:49:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 73 miles; ride time: 4:12; cumulative distance: 2078 miles; average speed: 17.5 mph; calories: 4670 miles; ascent: 1678 feet; descent: 1722 feet. Today’s ride started in Glencoe. I had a delicious breakfast at the home of my hosts, Pastor Brad and his wife Ruth. I took a picture of them but unfortunately, it didn’t come out well – my apologies, Brad and Ruth, if you’re reading this. I did take a picture of the beautiful Asiatic lilies that they have in their back yard so I’ll include that picture instead. The ride today took a little over 4 hours. The wind was a cross between a headwind and a crosswind which means it slowed us up somewhat. I rode with Zach and Paul Bayfield again today. We seem to make a pretty good team. We ride together in a pace line which really helps when we’re fighting the wind. We take turns being the lead rider. The lead rider breaks the wind and the others are shielded by the rider in front of them. We try to find the “sweet spot” where we’re best protected from the wind. Sometimes we ride in a diagonal line for best protection. The picture on today’s blog was one I took with my left hand and the camera pointing behind me as I rode along. It was a blind shot but luckily, I was able to get some of the riders behind me in the shot. We had lunch out in the country and arrived in Northfield about 2 p.m. We had some time to kill before our hosts arrived so Paul, Zack and I rode into town and soon found the local Wendy’s for a little mid-afternoon ice cream snack. We’re being hosted this weekend by two Lutheran churches, St. John’s and Bethel. My hosts for the weekend are Sharon Rasmussen and her son Derek. We had one of my all time favorite dinners of spaghetti and meatballs. It was delicious. Thanks, Sharon. Les, our new support person is staying with us too.

Day 32, New London to Glencoe, Minnesota

2008-07-19T19:40:00.000-07:00

Trip distance: 78 miles; trip time: 4:09; cumulative distance: 2005 miles; average speed: 18.7 mph; calories: 3345; ascent: 1150 feet; descent: 1332 feet. Sometimes we get an early start and sometimes we get a late start. Today was a late start day. Since some of our riders stayed to the end of the concert at the Sonshine Festival last night (around midnight), we decided that it would not be good to meet at 7 a.m. Instead, we met at 9 a.m. That gave me time to have a nice breakfast with my hosts, Mark and Julie Thompson and their 3 boys, Tristan, Gabriel, and Micah. I really enjoyed the time I spent with them and was glad to have an extra day at New London. Mark made up the route maps for us in Minnesota. Today’s trip marked a milestone: We just passed the 2,000 mile mark on our trip. We arrived in Glencoe around 4 p.m. and the first place we visited was the local Dairy Queen. We seem to be giving Dairy Queens and Tasty Freezes quite a bit of business these days – especially when it’s hot. We’re being hosted tonight by Christ Lutheran Church in Glencoe. Bryan, Les (our new support person) and I are staying with Pastor Brad and his wife Ruth. For dinner, we went to the home of Lowell and Colleen, members of the church, for a barbeque featuring good old Minnesota bratwurst. The family lives on a farm with lots of ducks, goats, and cats.

Day 31, at Sonshine Festival in Willmar, Minnesota

2008-07-17T20:51:00.000-07:00

Today, we had an extra lay-over day so that we could be at the Sonshine Festival in Willmar. This is a big Christian music festival that attracts about 25,000 people. This year, it started on Wednesday night with a free concert by the group Jars of Clay. Some of the groups playing tonight were Superchick, Jeremy Camp, and Third Day. Youth for Christ had a booth in the main pavilion. The riders took turns at the YFC booth meeting with people and passing out cards with information about the ride we’re taking. The picture in today’s blog is the stained glass window in the sanctuary of Peace Lutheran Church in New London, our host church for our stay in the area.

Day 30, Alexandria to New London, Minnesota

2008-07-17T07:59:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 55 miles; ride time: 3:08; cumulative distance: 1927 miles; average speed: 17.3 mph; calories: 3362; ascent: 1357 feet; descent: 1371. Well, here we are at the half way point of our trip – time wise that is. I think we have more miles to go to be at half way point in distance. Our morning started in the breakfast room of the Hampton Inn. One of the local Youth for Christ supporters generously put us up in the hotel for the night. We had a very filling and hearty breakfast while we waited out a rain shower. By the time we left, the rain had stopped and we were able to make the trip with no further rain. I had my third flat before I started the ride today. I was filling one of my tires with air and tore the valve stem as I was removing the tire pump valve. Oh well, those things happen in the life of a cyclist. We arrived in New London at Peace Lutheran Church around lunch time. After lunch, we went to our hosts’ homes. I’m staying with Mark and Julie Thompson. Mark rode with us for 3 days and planned all the routes in Minnesota. We had to revise our route so that we could attend the Sonshine Festival this week. Youth for Christ has a booth at the festival featuring our Ride Across America. The riders will be at the booth on Thursday meeting with people at the festival. On Wednesday night, we went to the Jars of Clay concert. It was a good concert and thousands attended.

Day 29, Pelican Rapids to Alexandria, Minnesota

2008-07-15T21:23:00.000-07:00

Trip distance: 78 miles; trip time: 4:24; cumulative distance: 1872 miles; average speed: 17.6 mph; calories: 4967; ascent: 2048 feet; descent: 1943 feet. We got an earlier start this morning and made good time today. The first 40 miles of the trip were very hilly and we passed by many lakes. We had lunch at the town of Dalton then got on the Cental Lakes Bike Trail for the final 35 miles of the trip. The trail was built on an old railroad grade so the grade never exceeded 2 percent. It was a great way to finish the ride. In Alexandria, we gathered near the giant statue of a viking. A runestone purportedly left by Vikings hundreds of years ago was found at a local farm. Some think that the vikings visited this area well before Columbus discovered America. Our group then went to a local bike shop. The owner is a Christian and associated with the local Youth for Christ organization. He also owns the local Subway restaurant so he provided lunch for our group with party sized sandwiches. The local group is putting us up tonight in the Hampton Inn so we're sleeping in style tonight.

Day 28, Fargo, ND to Pelican Rapids, Minnesota

2008-07-14T19:08:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 50 miles; ride time: 3:06; cumulative distance: 1794 miles; average speed: 16.1 mph; calories: 3051; ascent: 1326 feet; descent: 919 feet. Today was a fun day. We had a short ride of just 50 miles. The wind wasn't too bad although we did have some headwinds today. We left Fargo around 8:30 this morning after some good devotions by Dennis, the Youth for Christ Director in Fargo. He reminded us that it's not about making the 4,300 miles that's most important but what Christ has for us each day and the impact we're able to make on the people we come in contact with. We arrived in Pelican Rapids around lunch time and had our favorite lunch of wraps (made with large flour tortillas, roast beef, cheese, chopped tomatoes, ranch dressing and salsa). The lunch today was provided by an anonymous donor. We were grateful for it. After lunch, some of went swimming at the community pool located immediately adjacent to our host church in Pelican Rapids. The park we ate lunch at was right next to the church as well. Some of us also took short walks around Pelican Rapids. They have a beautiful walking bridge over the river and a 20 foot pelican statue in honor of the white pelican for which the town gets its name. At 6:30, we had dinner with the host church which is a Lutheran church. I'm staying tonight with the pastor of the church. Right now, everyone in the house is gone except a cute Sheltie dog named Oscar and a very gentle cat named Max. I made sure I petted them while their masters were away.

Day 27, at Fargo, North Dakota

2008-07-13T20:59:00.000-07:00

Today is Sunday which is our day off. Zack, Arek and I have been staying with Scott Kruse, a Youth for Christ leader in Fargo. Scott had to leave for his own church at 7:30. The rest of us got picked up by Emma in the van at 9:15 and taken to Atonement Lutheran Church in Fargo where most of our group was. We shared with people at the 9:30 social hour then attended the 11 o’clock service. Paul and Becky Luedtke did a nice job of sharing about our trip during the service. For lunch, Dennis, the Youth for Christ Director in Fargo, treated us to a meal at a Thai restaurant in Moorhead, Minnesota which is just across the river from Fargo. The food was delicious. After lunch, we did some shopping. One of the places we went to was a huge sporting goods store with about everything imaginable. We came back to Scott’s place and watched Minnie, Scott’s 140 pound Newfoundland dog pull him up and down the street on his bicycle. (Now that’s almost as good as a tailwind). At dinner time, Arek, Emma, and Zack went back into Fargo for dinner and I stayed in West Fargo with Scott. Scott’s wife is visiting family in Norway for two weeks so Scott is batching it. I took Scott out to dinner at HuHot’s Mongolian Barbeque and was it ever good! I highly recommend it if you’re ever in Fargo.

Day 26, Page to Fargo, North Dakota

2008-07-13T20:54:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 53 miles; ride time: 2:19; cumulative distance: 1744 miles; average speed: 23 mph; calories: 3597; ascent: 348 feet; descent: 636 feet. We started the day with a delicious and hearty breakfast provided by our host church, the United Methodist Church, in Page. A mentally handicapped young man on his 3-wheeled bike led the riders out of town. Once we got to the highway, we headed east with the wind at our backs. Zack, Arek, Paul Bayfield and I took full advantage of the tailwind and averaged 28.5 mph for the first 13 miles. We got quite a bit ahead of the rest of the group so after about 28 miles of riding, we waited for the others to catch up. Two of the men passed us by and didn’t stop. We found out later that the reason they passed us was for “character building”. We couldn’t follow them immediately because we had chairs and a mattress pad from the van which had gone back to check on the rest of the riders. About ten minutes later, the van came back, collected the chairs and we began our pursuit. We finally caught up with the two men after about 40 miles into the trip and passed them by with pizzazz and our own bit of “character building”. It was all good fun and we elicited howls of laughter by some antics which I won’t mention. I had shot my wad in the pursuit, so for the first time in the trip, I dropped behind the young guys. Oh well, there’s always this week when I can attempt to reestablish my somewhat tarnished reputation. We arrived in Fargo before lunch and went to the beautiful city park on the Red River. We had lunch and spent the afternoon there. Some of us rode back into town for ice cream and another group went to the mall. At about 6 o’clock, we had a chicken barbecue in the park hosted by the Red River Youth for Christ. Dennis, the YFC director, provided all the food including the chickens which he had raised on his farm. It rained during dinner and grew cold but luckily for us, we were under a picnic shelter. Some of us warmed our hands over the coals after dinner. At 7 p.m., we made a presentation about our ride to the host families and YFC supporters that had come. After the presentation, we rode our bikes back to the YFC office in downtown Fargo to store our bikes for the weekend.

Day 25, Cooperstown to Page, North Dakota

2008-07-11T21:46:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 40 miles; ride time: 2:18; cumulative distance: 1691 miles; average speed: 17.3 mph; calories: 2490; ascent: 459 feet; descent: 723 feet. On Tuesday, we had the longest ride on the trip at 119 miles. Today we had the shortest at 40 miles. The wind was not such a negative factor today. We had some headwind but most of the wind today was crosswind. We didn’t leave today until 10 a.m. This was our latest starting time. We didn’t have lunch until we arrived at Page, our destination for the day. Along the way, our group was greeted by a sheriff’s deputy who was curious about our ride. He was a good sport and let us take pictures of several of our riders spread eagled against his squad car or sitting in the backseat. He even played along on a little prank on our ride director Bryan. He made it seem like our van driver, Emma, was in big trouble and we would need to post bail. Bryan got reeled in, hook, line and sinker until Emma couldn’t keep a straight face any longer. It was all in good fun (although Bryan might not agree). In the afternoon, several of us traveled back to Hope and went swimming in the community pool. The rest of the team stayed in Page and relaxed. We’re being hosted tonight by the United Methodist Church in Page. They put on a very nice spaghetti dinner for us. We had a nice time of sharing with those that attended. After dinner, Mike and I went to the home of our hosts, Toby and Sue. They own a crop dusting business in Page known as Tall Towers Aviation. Mike and I were impressed by all the planes they have including a completely restored P-41 Mustang. They even made a movie which will be coming out soon entitled “Thunder over Reno”. They have at least three crop dusting planes that are controlled by GPS. They have been using GPS since it was introduced in 1992 and are very impressed with the control it allows them to have in their spraying of crops. Toby was not able to crop dust today since the winds were gusting to over 35 mph. The winds need to be 15 mph or less for crop dusting. In the winter, Toby and his son rebuild planes. Some they keep and others they sell.

Day 24, Tokio to Cooperstown, North Dakota

2008-07-10T20:49:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 67 miles; ride time: 4:22; cumulative distance: 1651 miles; average speed: 15.4 mph; calories: 3883; ascent: 1283 feet; descent: 1420 feet. After a hearty breakfast of biscuits and gravy and oatmeal, we said our farewells to Mike and Libby at the Spirit Lake Christian Center. It had rained during the night so the dirt road back to the camp was muddy. Mike and Libby shuttled our bikes out to the paved road in three trips using the "Sidewalk Sunday School" trailer. Today was a particularly hard day of riding. The distance was only 67 miles but we were fighting the wind all day long. I'm not used to east winds. Our group much prefers tailwinds but I'll bet that after today, they'd even settle for crosswinds. We arrived at our destination between 3:30 and 4 p.m. and were greeted warmly by the pastor of our host church and his wife. John and Kirstie opened up their home to us and we were able to take hot showers after the tough day of riding. Every year, the local bank puts on a free dinner for the community the day before the county fair starts. That happened to be today so we were treated to dinner by the Community Bank. After dinner, we went to the homes of our hosts. Dave, Darlene, Bryan and I are staying at the home of Charles and Diane. Charles is a retired farmer and Diane is a retired teacher. They're finding that retired life keeps them plenty busy.

Day 23, Rugby to Tokio, North Dakota

2008-07-10T14:28:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 97 miles; ride time: 5:21; cumulative distance: 1584 miles; average speed: 18.1 mph; calories: 6676; Ascent: 2065 feet; descent: 2016 feet. Our ride started in Rugby, the geographical center of North America. We had a continental breakfast at our Econolodge then hit the road. Our ride today was a little shorter than yesterday’s ride – only 97 miles instead of 119 miles. I had my second flat tire of the trip and it came at a very opportune time. We called for the support van to come back with the floor pump. Just as I started to work on the tire, it started to rain. The four of us who were riding together were able to get in the van just as a downpour started complete with thunder and lightning. The rest of the group was able to get to shelter in a recreation center a short way behind us. After waiting out the shower and fixing my flat, we were about to leave when Paul Bayfield discovered that he had a flat tire too. The rest of the group passed us by but we were finally able to get back on the road again. We passed a huge lake called Devil’s Lake. It has been flooding for the past 10 years and has continued to expand in size. Over 100 dwellings have had to be relocated due to the flooding. There are many dead trees around the lake due to the increase of the lake’s size. The lake is a natural lake and this expanding and contracting is part of its normal cycle, although the flooding cycle only occurs every 100 years or so. We are being hosted tonight by the Spirit Lake Christian Center, a camp run by the United Methodist Church for the purpose of hosting church groups that come to work on projects on the local Sioux Indian reservation. Mike and Libby are missionaries and run the camp. They have a “sidewalk Sunday School” trailer that they take to the various Indian communities in the area and have vacation Bible School for the kids. Mike and Libby shared with us how God brought them to this place, It was a great story. They served us a delicious barbequed dinner. Afterwards, they took several of us on a hike and showed us an Indian burial mount that is thought to be the burial mound of an Indian chief. There is a smaller mound nearby that may be the burial mound of his wife. You can also see stones nearby that are called “teepee stones”. They held down the flaps of the teepees that were pitched in the area,

Day 22, Stanley to Rugby, North Dakota

2008-07-08T18:46:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 119 miles; cumulative distance: 1487 miles; ride time: 6:09; Average speed: 19.3 mph; calories: 8421; ascent: 1649 feet; descent: 2328 feet. Our host church in Stanley, Our Savior's Lutheran, put on a pancake breakfast for us. Pastor Olson led us in a singing table grace and devotional. We got sarted on the ride between 7 and 7:30 a.m. We don't all leave at the same time -- the slower riders start first and the faster ones wait awhile to start. It keeps us together better this way. This was the longest ride of the trip at 119 miles. The wind didn't help us much today but it didn't hinder us either. We started arriving at Rugby shortly after 3 p.m. Rugby is known as the "geographical center of North America". There is a monument in town which proclaims this fact. We don't have a host church tonight so we're staying at the Econolodge. We ate at a local cafe.

2008-07-07T17:55:00.001-07:00

Day 21, Williston to Stanley, North Dakota

2008-07-07T15:30:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 72 miles; ride time: 3:27; average speed: 20.8 mph; calories: 4765; ascent: 2410 feet; descent; 2098 feet. Here are the cumulative totals of our trip so far: Total distance: 1368 miles; total time: 83:46; average trip speed: 16.4 mph; total calories burned: 88,938. average calories burned per day: 4941; total ascent: 53,368 feet; total descent: 51,118 feet. We had breakfast with our host families today then met at the church at 7 a.m. We made good time again today due to a tailwind. We like tailwinds! :) We had lunch at a rest stop about 16 miles from our destination, then arrived at Stanley at the Lutheran Church around 1:30 p.m. The church had arranged for us to use the indoor pool across the street and we put that to good use. We relaxed in the jucuzzi jets then played pool basketball and pool volleyball. As I'm writing this, we're in the fellowship hall of the church awaiting dinner which should be served shortly. We are sleeping at the church tonight and have been provided with mattresses and bedding. Tomorrow will be our longest ride of the trip. We'll be travelling to Rugby which is about 115 miles from here.

Day 20, in Williston, North Dakota

2008-07-07T14:46:00.000-07:00

It's great to have a day to relax, catch up on sleep, and unwind from six straight days of cycling. All of us went to the 9:30 a.m. service at First Lutheran Church in Williston. It was held in the chapel of this very large and beautiful church. The pastor acknowledged our group and said a few words about our trip and mission. After the service, we were on our own until evening. Zack and I went with our hostess, Francis, to a breakfast buffet at the airport. My friend, Jerry Irwin, will appreciate knowing that we had (in no particular order): egg souffle, cinnamon rolls, fruit, french toast, sausage, bacon, biscuits and gravy, and a few other things that I may have forgotten.I took a long nap in the afternoon. At six o'clock, we gathered at the home of Bob and Eleanor, members of our host church, for dinner. We appreciated their screened in porch, particularly because of the horde of hungry mosquitos hovering outside the screens.

Day 19, Poplar, MT to Williston, North Dakota

2008-07-07T14:38:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 78 miles; ride time: 3:38; average speed: 21.6 mph; calories: 5407; ascent: 1941 feet. This was a day that all of us appreciated. We had the wind at our backs all day and were able to make good time. It was a welcome change from the headwinds we’ve had earlier in the week. Zack, Paul Bayfield, Arek and I were the first to arrive in Williston. We found the church which was being used for a wedding reception of a couple that got married in Jamaica earlier in the year. They invited the four of us to their reception so in we went, riding jerseys and all. We felt like wedding crashers. We even got our pictures taken with the bride and groom. It was fun. For dinner, we had pizzas that our host church, First Lutheran, provided. Zack and I are staying at the home of Francis and her son, Dean, We’ll be here until Monday morning when we leave for Stanley, North Dakota.

Day 18, Glasgow to Poplar, Montana

2008-07-04T21:59:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 71 miles; ride time: 4:24; average speed: 16.1; calories: 4176; total ascent: 808 feet. Our host church in Glasgow, the Evangelical Church gave us a wonderful send-off breakfast. They even had two of the latest Belgium waffle makers to make waffles for us. On our ride, we had some headwinds in the morning but were able to go a bit faster after lunch with crosswinds. We arrived at Poplar at about 3;30 p.m. and went to the home of the Associate Pastor of our host Church. Stuart and I went with our support couple, Dave and Darlene, to the home of our hosts, George and Roberta Budak. George and Roberta are retired farmers and have several thousand acres of property. I noted the unusual number of trees near their house and the water nearby. They explained that the Missouri River used to flow there. In fact, Lewis and Clark came through in the 1800's just a short distance from George and Roberta's house. A major flood in 1916 rerouted the Missouri River so that it now flows further south of the property. We were served a delicious dinner and then drove about 30 miles to a genuine Indian Pow Wow. It was the 50th annual Pow Wow at Fort Kipp and featured many Native American dancers and singers.

Day 17, Malta to Glasgow, Montana

2008-07-03T21:26:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 73 miles; ride time: 4:46; average speed: 15.2 mph; calories: 4280; Ascent: 1626 feet. After a 7:00 a.m. pancake breakfast served by our host church in Malta, Elam Lutheran, we started our daily ride. Several of us visited the Phillips County Museum in Malta. They had opened it up 2 hours earlier than usual just so that we could see it before we left town. The proprietor was impressed that a Phillips had come to see the Phillips County Museum. It had many interesting artifacts and dinosaur skeletons that had been found in the area. Today’s ride featured head winds again. It definitely slows us down. I was riding with a new rear tire that I mounted on the rear wheel to replace a worn one. I hope I can get about 2000 miles of wear from this new tire. The rear tire wears faster than the front tire so I may rotate them after 1000 miles. Along the way, we passed two snakes in the road that we though were rattlesnakes. We later found out that they were bull snakes since they didn’t have rattles on their tails. We started arriving in town about 2:30 p.m. and stopped at a couple local establishments for shakes or ice cream cones after the long ride. Our host church tonight is the Evangelical Church. They served us a great dinner featuring huge hamburgers made with Montana beef... They must have been ½ pound apiece and most of us had two of them at the invitation of our hosts. Zack, Stewart and I are staying with Joe and Allie tonight. They live just down the street from the church and have lived here for the past 37 years.

Day 16, Havre to Malta, Montana

2008-07-03T21:22:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 93 miles; ride time: 6:02; average speed: 15.4 mph; calories burned: 5410; total ascent: 990 feet. We had a wonderful breakfast served by our host church in Havre, the 5th Avenue Christian Church. Today’s ride actually took longer than yesterday’s ride even though it was 13 miles shorter. We were fighting the wind a good part of the day. Where I come from, the wind comes primarily from the west and occasional from the north or south. I never recall having an east wind. Today, it came from the east. And guess which direction we’re traveling – yep, you guessed it – due east. I boasted to my friend Paul Luedtke that in our more than 1000 miles of this journey, I had yet to have a flat tire. I should have kept my mouth shut. Within a very short time, I had my first flat! After changing the tube and remounting the wheel, I rode about 5 miles to where the support van had parked. I wanted to add more air pressure to the tire with the floor pump in the van. As I did, the tube blew out. I tried adding air to the spare wheel that was on the van and it too blew out. I ended up patching two tubes with my repair kit and that finally did the trick. It seems that I was getting the tube pinched between the tire and the rim and that was what was causing the blow outs. Paul had not had any flats on the trip either but just as we entered town, one of his tires went flat. Of eleven riders, ten have now had flats. Only Mike has yet to have a flat tire. We finally arrived in Malta shortly before dinner. We received a warm welcome from our host church, Elam Lutheran, and then were treated to a delicious spaghetti dinner. Following the dinner, we had a meeting with the church youth group, youth leaders, and pastor. Many members of our team shared their personal testimonies of how they met the Lord. It was a good time of sharing. Zack and I went to our host house which was unoccupied. The house belongs to the sister of a church member who lives about 50 miles away during the summer.

Day 15, Shelby to Havre, Montana

2008-07-01T21:11:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 106 miles; ride time: 5:52. average speed: 18.1 mph; calories burned: 7295; ascent: 1928 feet. We stayed with our hosts in Cut Bank but we actually started our bike ride 24 miles east of Cut Bank in Shelby. There was a very good reason for this. From Cut Bank to Havre where we’re staying tonight is 129 miles. Even starting from Shelby, the ride actually turned out to be 106 miles to where the church is in Havre. The area doesn’t exactly have a surplus of traffic lights. There is one in Cut Bank. The nearest one to the west is 115 miles away. The nearest to the south is 105 miles away and the nearest one to the east is 129 miles away (I didn’t hear about stop lights to the north but I suspect they’re a considerable distance away also). We went the same direction all day yet at various times, we had tail winds, cross winds, and head winds. We arrived in Havre after 3 p.m. It was a long and hard ride for everyone but all finished. There were a fair number of rolling hills and our total climb was close to 2000 feet. We had Domino’s pizzas for dinner supplied by the couple that has been pulling our trailer for the past two weeks, Lee and Elaine. That was very kind of them. They are leaving in the morning and a new couple, Dave and Darlene, will be taking their place pulling the trailer with our bags. They also act as our advance team going ahead of the riders and making contact with the church we’ll be staying with that day.

Day 14, East Glacier to Shelby, Montana

2008-06-30T16:37:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 74 miles; ride time: 3:39; Average speed: 20.1 mph; calories: 4961; ascent: 1252 feet. We left the Rocky Mountains today and began our crossing of the Great Plains. We are staying tonight in Cut Bank, Montana but rode our bikes 24 miles further to Shelby. That will still leave us 105 miles to ride tomorrow. We're being hosted tonight by the Community Church of Cut Bank.

Day 13, East Glacier, Montana

2008-06-30T16:13:00.000-07:00

What an awesome day. After a hearty breakfast of apple pancakes, oatmeal, and sausages, we had our own church service at Bison Creek Ranch. Emma and Arek led worship songs and Stewart gave a message. We then had a time of prayer in small groups followed by a time of sharing about our experiences with the trip and people we’ve met along the way. After church, Paul and Becky Luedtke, Stewart, Arek and I rented an SUV and headed for Glacier National Park. What a beautiful place, We had our lunch overlooking a beautiful lake at a place called Two Medicine. We hiked up to a waterfall then drove as far as we could go up the Going-to-the-Sun Road. It was closed about 3 miles from Logan Pass due to the heavy snow that has blocked the road. Paul, Becky, Arek and I started walking up the closed section of road. We ended up walking all the way to Logan Pass. Along the way, we spotted many Mountain Sheep, waterfalls, snow and beautiful mountain scenery. We drove the SUV back to East Glacier, turned it in, then had a nice relaxing dinner at a Mexican restaurant in town.

Day 12, Columbia Falls to East Glacier, MT

2008-06-30T16:07:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 78 miles; ride time: 5:14; average speed: 14.2 mph; calories burned: 5057; ascent in feet: 4317. Our host church, Our Savior’s Lutheran in Columbia Falls got us started with a delicious breakfast. We left town around 8:20 a.m. and headed toward Glacier National Park on back roads. There was one stretch of gravel road that was 2.6 miles long. I think the rest of the ride has been on paved roads. When we got to West Glacier, 6 of the riders went on highway 2 along the southern boundary of the park and 5 of us went on a 3 mile bike path to the west end of Lake McDonald in the park. We took pictures and eventually rejoined the other group on highway 2. At one spot called the salt lick, we saw mountain goats that come down to lick the salt deposits on the side of the hill. Today, we reached the Continental Divide which separates waters flowing toward the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. We’re now on the Atlantic side. For the weekend, we’re staying at Bison Creek Lodge near East Glacier. We had a nice chicken dinner at the lodge then went into town to see the sights. It’s a small town that’s the eastern gateway to Glacier National Park.

Day 11, Eureka to Columbia Falls, Montana

2008-06-27T21:17:00.000-07:00

Ride distance; 67 miles; ride time: 4:16; average speed: 15.7 mph; calories burned: 4541; ascent in feet: 2849. Today, we had breakfast at the First Baptist Church in Eureka. We had pancakes and sausage. Someone had donated 200 pounds of homemade sausage to the church. It was very good but I’m sure they didn’t cook up all 200 pounds of it for us. We saw deer along the ride today as well as elk (at an elk ranch). We passed by many unusual white plants that only grow at a certain elevation and micro-climate. I later found out that they are called bear grass. We had lunch near Whitefish, Montana. After lunch, we went into town. The two most popular destinations were they bike shop and the ice cream shop. I must confess that I visited both. I bought a new pair of gloves to replace my old ones at the bike shop and a cookie dough ice cream cone at the ice cream shop. We arrived in Columbia Falls in mid-afternoon. Our host church today is Our Savior’s Lutheran Church. They have been great finding us host families to stay with and providing meals for us. Stewart, Dan, and I are staying tonight with Allen and Carey Chery and two of their grandchildren. Tomorrow, we’ll be traveling along the southern boundary of Glacier National Park. Several of us wanted to ride on the Going-to-the-Sun Road through the park but it’s still closed over Logan Pass due to extremely high snowfall this winter. The road crew is presently working on a snowdrift over the road that is 75 feet deep.

Day 10, Libby to Eureka, MT

2008-06-26T18:52:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 89 miles; ride time: 5:34; average speed: 15.9 mph; calories burned: 5603; ascent in feet: 4072. Joyce Lelm, our host in Libby got Mike and I started with a pancake and cereal breakfast. She also packed us lunches to eat later in the day. Our group moved a little slower today. We had very rolling terrain along the shore of Lake Koocanusa, a large reservoir formed by Libby Dam. The name comes from a combination of the names Kootenai, Canada, and USA. The reservoir is on the Kootenai River and is in both Canada and the United States. One of our riders, Zack, had bad luck with his tire. It went flat 4 times today. Each time, Paul Bayfield and I stopped to help him. We used both of our spare tubes and even fixed one tube with a tire patch. We're hoping he'll have better luck tomorrow. When we got to Eureka, Paul Bayfield from England said that he wanted to ride to the Canadian border which was about 8 miles away. I decided to go with him so off we went. It was worth it just to see the smile on Paul's face when he entered British Columbia, Canada. We took some pictures, went to a duty-free shop, then rode back to Eureka where we were able to take showers before a delicious potluck served by our host church, the First Baptist Church of Eureka.

Day 9, Clark Fork, ID to Libby, MT

2008-06-26T17:06:00.000-07:00

Ride Distance: 71 miles; ride time: 3:54; avg. speed: 18.2 mph; calories burned: 4547; ascent in feet: 2547. This was another good day. Following a wonderful breakfast by our friends at the “Filling Station” youth center in Clark Fork, we set out for Libby, Montana. We took a back road so we didn’t know when we passed from Idaho into Montana. The scenery was spectacular. We had lunch with the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness Area as a backdrop. I rode with some of the younger riders. I think they’re impressed that an “old” guy can keep up with them. As we rode next to the kootenai River, a bald eagle flew about 30 feet above our heads. Today, we averaged a speed of 18.2 mph even though we had over 2500 feet of climb. Along the way, we stopped at the Kootenai Falls and swinging bridge. There is still a lot of snow melt so the water was going over the falls in a torrent. We lost an hour today switching from Pacific Time to Mountain Time. We reached Libby at about 4 p.m. and went to our host church, Christ Lutheran. They put on a nice potluck meal for us and we gave a presentation on Youth for Christ. Mike and I are staying at the home of Joyce Lelm, a lady in the church. I haven’t been able to befriend Joyce’s cat yet but I haven’t given up hope.

Day 8, Newport, WA to Clark Fork, ID

2008-06-24T20:43:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 62 miles; Ride time: 3:42; Calories: 4036; ascent in feet: 1476. The day started with a wonderful breakfast served by the First Baptist Church of Newport. It was great. They had eggs, bacon, coffee cake, waffles, biscuits and gravy, cereal, bagels, donuts (just to name a few things). We definitely didn't go away hungry. After a great sendoff, we headed toward our destination of Clark Fork, Idaho. Since we had favorable winds, we were able to make good time. We spent about 2 hours at the city park in Sandpoint. It is situated on the shore of Lake Pend Oreille, a beautiful lake in Northern Idaho. Some of the guys went swimming. I was tempted but didn't wanted to ride with wet cycling shorts. After our long break, we pedaled the rest of the way to Clark Fork. We are being hosted by a beautiful new youth center called "The Filling Station". The couples that have overseen its construction have operated on faith. The building is debt free. It's been 10 years in the construction and is almost completed. We were served a great dinner and then presented our program on Youth for Christ.

Day 7, Colville to Newport, WA

2008-06-23T22:32:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 93 miles; ride time: 5:59; calories burned: 5829; ascent in feet: 3864. Our host, Leif Jakobsen, treated us to a delicious breakfast. We met at the church and started our ride at about 8 am. The group I started with made a slight detour in getting to the proper course out of town. A German Short Haired Pointer decided to follow us and the dog followed our group for at least 5 miles before we turned up the speed on a descent and left the dog in our dust. After lunch, I rode with 3 of the young guys: Zack, Paul Bayfield, and Arek. We had a strong headwind but were able to make good forward progress by forming a paceline. We took turns being in front while the others followed closely behind the next rider. Using this method, we averaged around 18 mph for about 45 miles. We got into town around 4 p.m. and were greeted warmly by members of the First Baptist Church. They had signs put up in town for us to follow to the church. Arek and I met our host family, Brian and Jeri Cass with children Thomas, Seth, Branden and Tori. We went to their house to shower before dinner. They pointed to a tree on the other side of the street from their house and explained that it was in Idaho.They live right next to the Washington-Idaho state line. I stood in the middle of the street with one foot in Washington and the other in Idaho. At 6 p.m., we went back to the church for a wonderful potluck dinner. It was great. My daughter's not going to like this but two of the dishes I sampled included bear and deer meat. They were quite tasty. After dinner, we went outside for photos then came back inside for a presentation on the ministry of Youth for Christ. I was asked to lead 3 worship songs. I'm glad I brought my guitar. I've been able to put it to good use the past two days. Well, we've completed 1 state and have 13 to go. This has been a great ride so far. Everyday is a new adventure. We've found that people have been incredibly kind and hospitable to us.

Day 6, Colville, WA

2008-06-23T22:18:00.000-07:00

Today was a rest day. We take Sunday off from riding for a much needed rest -- or at least that's the plan. I cheated a bit and did a 9-mile bike ride with Paul Luedtke and his host to keep loose. Before the ride, we attended our host church, the First Congregational United Church of Christ. Our group made a presentation on Youth for Christ. I was asked to lead a worship song on my guitar. We did "In my life Lord, be glorified. For the last verse, I asked them to choose a mode of transpotation, such as "on my bike", or "in my car". I did manage to get a 2 hour nap so I did get some extra rest. At night, our host Leif Jakobsen treated Bill Smith and I to a pizza dinner. After dinner, Bill and I showed him how to play one of our favorite games. Hand and Foot.

Day 5, Republic to Colville, WA

2008-06-22T09:38:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 59 miles; ride time: 3:56; calories burned: 3805; ascent in feet: 4105. Today started out with a pancake breakfast cooked by a former Sargent Major and his wife from the Nazarene Church. It turns out that they were acquainted with our ride director, Bryan Blomker. Their children were both in Bryan's Young Life group in Germany. The ride went well. We made it to the top of the pass before noon and had lunch at a campground on the Columbia River which is called Lake Roosevelt due to the Grand Cooley Dam which has created a reservoir with a 5000 mile shoreline. We arrived in Colville in mid-afternoon and went to our host church, the First Congregational United Church of Christ. We were greeted warmly by the pastor, treated to a table laden with snacks, and then sent off to our hosts' homes. Bill Smith and I are staying with a retired merchant marine captain from Norway. He has been a wonderful host with fascinating stories to tell. We went out to eat at a local restaurant, The food was great.

Day 4, Riverside to Republic

2008-06-21T21:01:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 57 miles; ride time: 4:15; Calories burned: 3720; ascent in feet: 4588. The pastor of our host church, John Smith, made us a very nice pancake breakfast before we set off. The ride today included one mountain pass, Wauconda Pass. The group is getting more accustomed to hill climbing but it still provides a challenge. We don't try to stay together as a group but most of the riders ride with at least one or two other riders who cycle at a similar pace. I found that I tend to be faster than most of the riders going up the hills and slower than most going down the hills. I guess I lost a bit too much weight to get the full effects of gravity. By mid afternoon, we had arrived in the town of Republic, Washington. We found out that there was another Christian cycling group in town at the same time. This group was the World Vidion team and they too are riding across the country. There was some confusion with one pastor in town about which group had requested his church to host our group so as a result, the Church of the Nazarene came to our rescue with 12 hours notice and hosted or 13 riders and 5 support people. Members of the church dropped off sleeping bags, pillows, and some mattresses and we slept at the church. The church put on a delicious dinner for us. Several of us played music in the church. We have several excellent musians in our group including Arek from Lebanon and Emma from Northern Ireland. They both play piano. The pastor also let us use two sweet sounding Taylor guitars for our jam session. After dinner, many from our group went over to the the Youth Dynamics Center where the other cycling group was staying. They were having youth night and had invited the Christian Crusaders motorcycle club to speak. Several of the men gave excellent testimonies. All had been radically changed by the Lord.

Day 3, Twisp to Riverside, WA

2008-06-19T22:34:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 48 miles; ride time: 3:18; calories: 3075; ascent in feet: 4670. As you can see, we been doing lots of climbing and burning lots of calories. We try to meet our nutritional need s by eating lots of good food. This morning, the Baptist Church fed us pancakes and sausage to get us started. Pastor John Smith made the pancakes were were cooked to perfection. The ride today included another difficult climg over Loup Loup Pass. I got a late start due to a broken spoke nipple on my rear wheel about 2 minutes into the ride. Fortunately, I was able to use the spare wheel that I had brought along. Later in the day, I was able to get the original wheel fixed. I replaced the spoke nipple and my friend Paul Luedtke from Switzerland trued the wheel for me. It took me about 1 hour to catch up with the group shortly before reaching the top of the pass. This was a short day of riding. We arrived in the middle of the afternoon in Riverside and received a warm welcome from Pastor Rick and his wife Marilyn. After showers at the pastor's house, we went to Oman for a youth rally and dinner. After the rally, we were driven to the home of Bob and Hattie, our hosts. We were served some homemade apple pie which was delicious. We are blessed.

Day 2, Marblemount to Twisp, WA

2008-06-19T22:22:00.000-07:00

Ride distance: 97 miles; ride time: 6:19; calories burned: 7338; ascent in feet: 7282. We started the day with a delicious breakfast at the home of John and Mary. Today was a day that all of us on the ride with long remember. We climbed through the Cascades passing dozens of waterfalls from the snow melt and some fantastic scenery. The ride itself was gruelling. We had to cycle over two mountain passes: Rainy Pass and Washington Pass. All the riders found this to be quite a challenge but all were up to the task. John Duncan, the Youth for Christ director of the Europe, North Africa, and Middle East Area called this the hardest thing he's ever done but all thought it was one of the best things he's done. Our original stopping point was supposed to be Mazama but the host church our director found was in Twisp, about 20 miles beyond Mazama. We were hosted by the Baptist Church in Twisp. They made us a nice spaghetti dinner served by some of the ladies in the church. There were not enough host families for us to stay with so some of stayed in local motels.

Day 1, Anacortes to Marblemount, WA

2008-06-19T22:08:00.001-07:00

Ride Distance: 82 miles; Ride time: 5:32; Calories burned: 5093; Ascent in feet: 2643. What a great day. Our entire group met at Anacortes Christian Church at 7 a.m. and then rode to Washington Park, our Pacific Ocean starting point. After a word of prayer led by John Duncan, we dipped our bike wheels in the water and began our trip. This was a good starting day. There were some hills but nothing of any consequence. When we reached Marblemount, we were greeted by Pastor Nichols of the North Cascade Community Church. We were treated like royalty by the members of the church. Four of us including myself stayed with Lewis and Carol Besio. They are relatively new Christians and were very hospitable. After we got settled and had showers, we went to the home of John, Mary, Angela and Caleb for a delicious barbeque. John and his family made the beautiful house they live in out of lumber they cut and milled on their property. It has been 12 years in the making and it is quite a sight to see.

Orientation Day

2008-06-16T21:45:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone. Today, Nancy and I traveled from the Seattle area to Anacortes. We met all the riders as well as the support people for the ride. The riders were given Sea to See jerseys as well as other items for the trip. The orientation went well. I thiink the group will work well together. For dinner, we went to a local restaurant overlooking the water. John Duncan, the Europe, Middle East, and North Africa Area Director of Youth for Christ gave a talk that was very encouraging. Our adventure is afoot!

Sleepless in Seattle

2008-06-15T22:57:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am in Seattle the night before our orientation. My wife and I had a great visit over the weekend with our son, Stephen. We've all been staying with Nancy's cousin's daughter and son-in-law, April and Aaron. They've been very kind hosts. Thanks to my son and a nice phone call from my daughter, I had a great Father's Day. We went to an awesome Sunday brunch at Ivars Salmon House in Seattle. What a place! The food was great although I ate far too much. We also were able to visit Stephen's Church, Seattle Community Church. Nancy and I were warmly received and even got to be helpers at our son's third grade classes that he teaches. Tomorrow, we leave for Anacortes. We're going to take the scenic route which will include a 20 minute ferry ride. I'm looking forward to meeting the other riders and support people. Our good friend, Bill Smith, will be a support person for the first two weeks of the ride so I will have one familiar face to see. I'll keep you posted as often as I'm able to get an internet connection. Stay tuned...

Sierra Century

2008-06-09T22:59:00.000-07:00

The Ride Across America starts in just one week and am I excited! It will be great to meet lots of new people, visit great places, see beautiful scenery, and share my faith in the Lord. I think this will be a time that I can reflect on my Christian faith and grow in the Lord. I did my last big tune-up ride on Saturday called the Sierra Century. It had lots of ups and downs. The total climb was 11,220 feet in 95 miles. According to my Garmin Edge 305, I burned a whopping 7,746 calories! The only bad part about the ride was the condition of the roads --they were pretty rough in places. My rear tire that I was planning to start the Trip Across America with has to be replaced due to excessive wear :( I imagine I'll be going through a few tires over the course of 4,295 miles.

Burning Lots of Calories

2008-06-03T21:38:00.000-07:00

I think I'm going to either lose a lot of weight this summer or eat a lot of food-- at least based on the calories I burn on some of these rides. When I'm riding in the hills, I seem to be burning around 1,000 calories per hour. On Saturday, I did the ride from Redwood Valley to Orr Springs and back. The ride was 37 miles long and had 5,040 feet of climb. According to my bike computer, I burned 2,966 calories in 2 hours and 59 minutes. This summer, we plan to average 83 miles a day. If we average 15 mph, that should take about 5 1/2 hours per day (or about 5,500 calories worth!).

My New Toy

2008-05-26T21:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I did the 30-mile hill climb again (See my April 19 blog), but this time I used my new toy -- a new (actually refurbished, but new to me) Garmin Edge 305 GPS cycling computer. It does just about everything but scratch my back (and I'm not so sure it won't do that too). I did the 29.4 mile ride in 1 hour and 53 minutes, the same time as I did it on April 19. I burned 1949 calories on the ride (which put a pretty good dent in the chicken fried steak smothered in gravy, hashbrowned potatoes, scrambled eggs, and biscuits I had for Sunday brunch a couple of hours before the ride). I spent 4 minutes in heart rate zone 2, 83 minutes in zone 3, and 27 minutes in zone 4, so I got a pretty good aerobic workout. My highest heart rate on the ride was 162 bpm. My average speed was 15.5 mph and the total climb was 2,371 feet.

Tour of the Unknown Coast

2008-05-13T00:04:00.000-07:00

One week ago, I helped a friend put in laminate flooring. I learned that cycling muscles and floor-laying muscles are not quite the same. The day after my thirteen hours of floor laying, my legs were more sore than from any bike ride I've ever taken. I was concerned since I had a big century ride coming up the next weekend. Luckily, by Saturday, my legs were back to normal and I was able to do the century. It's called the Tour of the Unknown Coast and it is billed as "California's Toughest Century". I'll have to admit, it did have a few challenging sections like "the Wall", a one-mile stretch of road that averages 18% grade or "the Endless Hill", that goes up for eleven miles. I felt good on and after the ride and didn't feel like I over exerted at all. I even felt fine the next day (which is more than I can say for floor laying!) My wife, Nancy, came with me for the weekend as well as our dog, Kimmie. We camped for two nights. It was Kimmie's first camping experience and she passed with flying colors.

2008-04-28T23:34:00.000-07:00

I had jury duty today and managed to get 50 miles of riding in. I had to report to jury duty at 8:30 this morning in Willits, which is about 15 miles from where I live in Redwood Valley. To get there, I rode over the Ridgewood Summit (elevation: 1953 feet). The highway passes Ridgewood Ranch which is where the famous racehorse Seabiscuit was raised. It took me just over an hour to climb the grade and ride to the courthouse. I didn't get selected for the jury so I rode back over the summit, dropped off some clothes in Redwood Valley, then continued on to Ukiah to the school where I teach (Ukiah High School). I dismissed my substitute teacher who was covering my classes, taught for the rest of the day, worked out in the gym, then rode back to Redwood Valley. I think that may be the furthest I've ridden on a work day.

2008-04-19T21:06:00.000-07:00

Today, I rode a 30-mile route that I call the "Eastside Hill Climb". I go up every hill I can find on the east side of Redwood Valley, Calpella, and Ukiah, then loop back to Redwood Valley. I don't know the vertical climb but I suspect it's around 2,000 feet. It took me 1 hour and 53 minutes today. On the ride, I go right past Lake Mendocino, a beautiful lake about 4 miles from my house. With any luck, I'll upload a picture of it so you can see it.

Carole Hester, a lady I know who writes a weekly column for the local paper, interviewed me today and will write an article about my participation in the Ride Across America in this Friday's Ukiah Daily Journal. I'll let you know how it comes out.

2008-04-18T19:47:00.000-07:00

Well, some time has passed since my last posting, so now I need to get serious about filling you in on what's been going on. In less than two months, we'll be starting our Ride Across America. It's pretty exciting! I've been doing lots of riding to prepare. In the past twelve months, I've ridden over 5,600 miles. That includes: 6 century rides (including the Death Ride which was 129 miles, and over 15,000 vertical feet in one day), a ride along the entire Oregon coast, rides between home and work (approx. 8.5 miles each way), and lots of local rides. I'm blessed to be in a place where I can ride year 'round, although there are many mornings when it's pretty cold (except by Midwest standards--midwesterners wouldn't consider 30 degrees to be all that cold). Where we live, I can ride on the level if I want or do some serious hill climbing. One of the rides I regularly take includes 8 miles of 10 percent slope. The elevation gain is 4,500 feet in about 37 miles. Over spring break my wife and in-laws accompanied me on a trip to Oregon. They rode in an RV (my SAG wagon) while I rode ahead on my bike. It was pretty wet and cool but still a lot of fun. I completely wore through a chain on the trip due to wet weather and road grime and had quite a few flat tires. I learned my lesson about using cheaper tires. The more expensive tires I had before rarely had flats. I've gone back to them and will use them on the big ride. The pictures you see are ones from the Oregon trip I took the last week in March. There is also a picture from the top of the hill on Orr Springs which is the 10% grade road. It starts about 7 miles from my house and climbs for about 7 miles. I go to the back side of the hill then turn around and come back. It takes me a little less than 3 hours to ride the 37 miles. If you'd like to see more pictures from my Oregon bike trip, click on the following link: http://s303.photobucket.com/albums/nn159/wordwarrior1/?albumview=slideshow

Friday, February 1, 2008

2008-02-01T19:21:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone! Welcome to my blog. This is my first posting on what I hope will be a chronicle of a bike trip I plan to take in the summer of 2008 with Youth for Christ International. On June 17, a group of cyclists from all over the world will depart Anacortes, Washington for a 60-day, 4300 mile journey across America. If all goes according to plan, we will eventually wind up in Bar Harbor, Maine. Stay tuned for pictures and commentary as the trip goes from the planning stage to the actual event.