Well, let me get this blog off the ground, finally. I am so seriously ITCHING to get on the tour, but I need to wait a few weeks till Madison (August 11). I am training hard spurred along by the accounts of difficult rides blogged by the tour riders in the mountains. So now I ride hills very hard, not wanting to drop into the granny gear because there will be plenty of time for that on the tour. I have also now done, in addition to 9 metric centuries, a 200 K (125 mile) training ride from my home north of London to my parents place in Jordan Ontario. It was a great day with some nice light favourable wind and a torrential downpour at the finish, which I didn't even mind too much because it cooled me down and allowed me to have a conversation with Rachel, the young woman who runs the fruit stand for the Hipple farms between Grimsby and Beamsville. I told her all about the tour and the cause as I waited for the lighting to move off and explained that I would be back through with close to 200 riders on August 23. It turns out I left my sunglasses (procured for us as a freebie by Gayle Harrison and therefore of sentimental value) at the stand (no need for those in pouring rain - reminder to self find a way to remember sunglasses when you don't need them), so I had to go back with my Dad driving to recover them and we had a chance to talk some more (and buy some fruit). So I'm interested to see how God will work with this one.

In a similar vein I am interested in the tour blog of Audrey the bike tour rider from Quebec who has come alongside the tour - see especially Louis Bosma's blog of Sunday July 27. This to me is a huge part of my tour - how God might use us as the church sent into the world, raising awareness of his heart for the poor and calling people to him.

I am also very interested to see how God will work with my me and my spirit on this tour. I have found in cycling, in my training a strong connection with God. Somehow the physicality of it, the exertion of riding works to clear my mind and open me up to God. Maybe its the slowing, what else are you going to do for 4 or 5 hours pumping on those pedals then let your mind wander and empty out and be filled with prayer and song and the spirit. Things come to me on those rides, I find insights for my sermons but also for my life and my relationships. This is what makes me think I will not easily give up my re-newed discipline of cycling.

Another notE: On that 200 K day I mostly rode the Sea to Sea tour route just to get familiar with it. At various times in the last few months I have also done the route in and out of Grand Rapids, London, St. Catharines, and Ithaca New York. Obsessed, eh?


Well I'm here at Salisbury Maryland at my brother's place and need to head out for a ride. I'll post sporadically for now till I get on the tour myself and for the time being follow the riders' blogs with the rest of you.