Day 1, Anacortes to Marblemount, WA

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.