We're here!! Marg and I pulled into the parking lot of the Crossroads Community Church - A Ministry of the Christian Reformed Church (in smaller letters below the name on the sign) at about 1:30 yesterday afternoon. The first person we saw at the gear truck was John VanderSteen, a little banged up - but he's tough. By and by, we ran into most of the riders we know, Ralph, Rita, Gayle, the Bentum sisters, Rita, Alida, Paul Hoekstra, Jake Kuipers, Pete VanNoord, Bill DenHarder, Terry Kuipers and lots more folks we were meeting for the first time. So many people - the extroverted dimension of my nature shifted into high gear. Had a very nice long talk with Walter the sag driver from Lacombe Alberta.
Pretty much immediately Marg headed off to the movies with Gayle and Barb Mellema - I begged off the chick flick experience and just stayed in camp and browsed around. I don't know, my guess is I met almost everybody whose blog I read over the last few weeks - I missed a just a few. It was fun to go to them and discuss their blog, tell them how much I appreciated reading them. I got set up with Jen and Ed to handle the official part of things, got my t-shirt and jersey. There was a choir concert in the church - more milling around, then supper, a short prayer service and then I was introduced with the other joining rider, Melissa Kloostra, at the brief peleton meeting. By then darkness was starting to close in, a few folks clustered around the gear truck cleaning their bikes. Ralph showed me the routine of lading your water bottles before you went to bed. The mosquitoes (small little nasty ones) came out in numbers and folks melted away into their tents.
I am very glad that I am here. Right now it is 5 am and I am at the local Day's Inn with Marg. Had a good sleep, but I am ready to ride. Breakfast is from 6:30 to 7:30. We're shooting to get there early and then I'll get on the bike and ride. John helped me fine tune the bike yesterday afternoon and it is ready to hum along. I'm about 1,000 K in on the new bike, so it needed the attention - much appreciated John.
Had a few issues with my sometimes gimpy back the last couple of days, but it's feeling pretty solid this morning. Thank the Lord that after 15 years of on and off trouble, I've learned a thing or two about how to handle it -- mostly learning patience to let it heal...
So, here we go. I am pumped!! I covet all your prayers - again on Friday someone pitched over the handle bars, broken collarbone and off the tour. They say it happens in an instant.
About Me
- Pieter
- I am a Pastor in London Ontario Canada and have cycled, mostly non-seriously, from my teen years. I very much wanted to cycle on the 2005 Sea to Sea tour but I wasn't free to do that. This time I want to make sure that I get in on at least part of the ride. I will be riding from Madison Wisconsin to New Jersey, a total of 2,000 kilometers. I turned 50 this spring and this is my birthday present to myself. I am delighted to raise money for the cause of breaking the cycle of poverty. It is an important goal and a great point of connection with folks outside the church. Sponsoring ON CRC Churches: London First, East Strathroy, Strathroy Westmount
6 comments:
Have a good day, have a good week, have a good ride. We'll pray!!
Heather & Ben
Great to hear you are there safely and excited about joining the tour!
Jonathan is doing well. It rained lots yesterday, so the kids played board games, did colouring pictures, baked a cake, watched a bit of Olympics, and later they played on skateboards, scooters and bikes.
The kids slept until after 8 -- I think they tried to stay up until Gerrit got home last night. (They all were asleep when he finally got home.)
Blessings on your first day with the tour!
So I was showing Jonathan your blog, and he was surprised that you were awake and posting at 3 am. Looking at that and my post's time stamp of 7 am when it actually is 10 am here, Art reasoned that Google is putting on a Pacific time stamp on our posts.
Jonathan and the boys are going to bake macaroons now. Off to go supervise.
Great to see that you are so excited. Hope the bike and the back hold up. This morning Tys left for the West Coast Trail, so we'll hold you in our hearts and minds as you travel in opposite directions!
Hey Pieter!
Anita and Barb here...we're waiting for you to show up for the staff meeting...hmmmm
We're looking forward to hearing how you're making out now that you've actually started the bike tour.
Send us a line to let us know how things are...or, ya know, blog the whole wide world and we'll keep tabs on you that way.
News:Jenny Schering's son passed away.
That's all for now.
God bless you GREAT BIG and let His strength sustain you,
A + B
So -- I got home safe and (mostly) sound in 8 hrs flat! (5 a.m. our time).
It was a great trip -- didn't need sunglasses, didn't need to cover myself in reflective white paper to fend off the sun's heat, had enough traffic to fend off loneliness and keep me on my toes, while still allowing me to scoot over to the far right lanes for those annoying toll stops in Chicagoland.
The coffee caffeine lasted me the first half of the trip as I cruised along to Chicago blues, "under the radar" alternative, Christian contemporary and whatever else I could pull in off the airwaves (even caught a bit of "As it Happens" on WIPR) and then I launched into my failsafe routine of slowly munching cheerios for the remaining time (half a box worth-- no wonder I didn't need breakfast!)
After the dead battery episode in Woodstock (WI or IL?) I had wanted to drive home without stopping, but I ended up needing gas at the border, so I had to. I was very relieved when the van started again without any hesitation. I guess 7 hours of straight driving was more than enough to revitalize it -- go figure! (The tow guy who boosted it wondered if it was the original battery -- I assured him that at 318,000 kms, it most certainly was not. But I should go look for a new one I'm thinking, eh?)
The Canadian border guard interrogated me more on my/our activities and whereabouts for the previous 4 days than we've ever had in recent memory. He was suspicious of my coming through so "early" (4 a.m.) as he put it, while I was thinking it was "late". I guess it all depends on your perspective. When I went over how the day had unfolded -- trying to find a camera for you, trying to chase you down on the bike route, postponing leaving until after Chicago rush hour, the keys and dead battery incident, and finally, my declaration that I didn't dare turn off the car (which is not at all what I had planned the day to look like either -- but which was, admittedly, much more interesting than my original plan of leaving for home after breakfast. . .) he hesitated for a moment and then bade me on my way. I think it's a case of truth being stranger than fiction!
How were you feeling this morning, waking up in tent city? I hope you had a restful and quiet night and your back was happy to greet the dawn. And I hope you had a great second day's ride.
Jonathan's back after a few exciting days at the Wotherspoons and Wind-Mulders. He's looking forward to seeing you in GR this weekend after his soccer game. He's saving one of the macaroons he made at W-Ms for you.
Dad is mowing the lawn. He was also wondering about the roof-biking photo! and glad to hear that everything had gone so well. Too bad they didn't do this 20 or even 10 years ago -- he would've loved to do it.
Ron Nauta called to see how you were doing in anticipation of your starting the tour this weekend, and was surprised to hear that you were already there. He said he will definitely be in on the festivities when you all pull into town next Thurs.
I've been thinking, if you get the chance, see if you can pick up a prepaid long distance card that can be used at a phone booth. That may be the antidote to this ilk of mega commenting. I can talk a lot faster than I can write!
Again, you and everyone are in my thoughts and prayers -- for safety, especially in these more congested areas. Bike well, eat well, sleep well and bless each other well. Say hi to everyone -- I had a great time meeting people and look forward to the weekend.
love, me.
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