Cycle To The Sea

Some Unfinished Business...

2009-06-02T06:05:00.000-07:00

As you should know, Tyler Buitenwerf was unable to complete the tour last year, due to a fall.

Well, it's summertime again, and Tyler is determined to finish. He put out the call on the seatosea forum quite a while back looking for lodging and maybe cycling buddies, and I had to respond.

Yesterday it was my pleasure to meet Tyler and ride with him into London.

We actually made up a small Peloton. John Vandersteen, Pieter Pereboom, and myself from seatosea08 were in the group. And joining us was Fred Nydam, who rode the day into Grand Rapids, and will be one of the first to sign up when (Not IF) the next sea to sea starts organizing. We are all from London, and we met at downtown just after 9am and headed SW, retracing the seatosea route backwards, heading towards Chatham.

The forecast was 30km/h winds from the SW, and rain starting near noon, with possible thunderstorms. Oh well, couldn't be helped. In reality, the wind was much lighter and from the South, so it was not really much of an impediment until near noon. The rain did not hold off, though, and we started getting sprinkled on soon after we left London. It was never that hard, but the moderate sprinkle kept starting and stopping all the way to Glencoe.

I had told Tyler that Glencoe was as far as I was going, and we arrived there around 11:45 and settled into a cafe to wait and have a bite. Tyler road in about 15 minutes later and we had a nice lunch together.

It was fortunate for Tyler that we had ridden out, because the one road that we followed for 20+km was in the process of being covered with tar+gravel, which was taking it from a nice biking road and turning it into a horrendously awful biking road. So we figured out a much nicer, though marginally busier, route to follow back and headed off to London. The rain had given up on us, and so we had nice dry weather all the way back to London. The wind was a big help now, as it was mostly at our backs. We rejoined the official seatosea route in Mt Brydges, and rolled into downtown London about 3pm.

(We told Tyler that he would have to use his imagination to see all the cheering and encouraging crowds that met us on tour...)

Tyler and I cleaned up our bikes last night, chasing those "chipmunks" out of our chains and had a nice restful evening. I had put in 110 km, which was just about double what I've managed so far this spring in other rides.

This morning John Vandersteen showed up at breakfast as he is escorting Tyler as far as Woodstock. Eritia Smit is doing the same thing today that I did yesterday, and cycling out to meet Tyler and then bringing him home to Hamilton with her. Safe travelling, Tyler, thanks for coming along, and we'll see you again sometime!

Art Mulder,
London, ON

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Stats: 114.8km, Avg 23.3 km/h, Max 48.4km/h, Time: 4:55

Now What? (Wrapping Up)

2008-09-05T07:31:00.000-07:00

It seems, from reading other blogs, that several folks are dealing a bit with the "now what", that naturally comes after such a large event in one's life. I was "only" on the tour for 2 weeks, and even so I have felt a bit of "disconnectedness" over the past few days post-tour. I can only imagine how that might feel for some of my fellow adventurers who were on the tour for the full 9 weeks.

Have you ever had a vacation where afterwards you can't believe how fast it went? That did not happen for me this time. Those two weeks were so packed, so full, so strenuous, so exciting... that to me it seems to have been far longer than just two weeks.

My own "now what" will probably take some time to answer, as I see what God has in store. However, in the short term I know that it involves:

Starting a new job on Monday (Sep 8).
Putting together a scrapbook of my adventure. I'm currently looking into using blurb.com to create a photobook/scrapbook from this blog, plus some extra bits. They offer a service of having personal books professionally printed and bound.
Getting going on a few woodworking projects that have a short deadline. I write woodworking project articles for Canadian Home Workshop magazine a few times per year, which I quite enjoy.

I think that keeping busy should help with the transition back to "normal" life.

And like others, I think that brings me to the end of this blog. It has been fun sharing my journey, but the time has come now to wrap it up.

If any fellow riders ever need to look me up, I suggest either Googling "Art Mulder" -- which currently returns my woodworking web page as the top hit, or leave a comment here, as those will get emailed to me.

blessings
Art Mulder,
London, Ontario

ps: YES, I'd do it again.
(But the kids need to grow up more before I could consider doing an entire 9 week tour.)

Saturday, Aug 30: Sussex, NJ to Liberty State Park

2008-09-03T15:54:00.000-07:00

The day started, as most any other tour day, with lots of mayhem around the gear truck. People are sorting things, moving things, getting gear in and out of their shelves, and so on. Last night it rained, so the tent was extra wet as I rolled it up this morning. I wasn't the only one to comment to someone about this being the last time we were going to be rolling up a wet tent. I had a bit of extra time, so I unloaded my two laundry baskets and stuffed all my "shelf stuff" back into my large duffle, and put that on the shelf. I knew it was going to be a packed day later on, so it seemed a good idea to just get this pre-organized for later.

I headed out around 7am. I had considered riding with a group, but I knew that we faced a few big-ish hills during the first third (or so) of the ride. On my hybrid, I tend to fall behind a lot of these folks on their light road bikes when climbing hills. This makes "hill days" tough ones for group riding. So I started out on my own. Every now and then I fell in with some other riders, but we didn't stay together for long. After the hills, I hooked up with John DeVries, Ralph DeBoer, Jim DeGraaf and Rick Dejong for the remainder of the morning. Hmm, I didn't think to ask them how they felt about riding with someone who did not have a "De" surname...

We had a grand mood, and had some great riding. Once again there were some impromptu refreshment stations set up by some local folks along the route and it was fun to stop and chat a bit. We also found ourselves a deli/coffee-shop at one point to take a break, since we were well ahead of schedule. And in reference to my previous post, I will say that I noticed quite a few people along the route dealing with flats. I saw at least 4 different folks, including Eritia (she had 3 that day!), repairing a flat.

Eventually we rolled into the parking lot that was our designated staging grounds and we proceeded to mill about, hang about, talk, eat, and discover the distinct lack of restrooms...

Jen was there soon enough and started checking people in. They needed to verify that all riders were present and accounted for, before our scheduled 1:30 group departure time. At 12:30 they were going to start SAG'ing in anyone more than 10-12 miles away. We needed everyone present for this ride!

While we were waiting, Hans gathered together all the riders with Brooks saddles. Another rider (Sorry, I forget whom) had the idea of getting a photo of all the brooks saddle riders and seeing if they could sell it to the Brooks company. Worth a shot, and fun nonetheless.

And then they started gathering us all on the grassy slope to take a group photo. Jonathan Stoner, one of the media folks who accompanied the tour, did the honors

Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure more than a few folks are missing from the shot, as some folks arrived just before the 1:30 deadline. That is really too bad, but this had seemed to be the best time to try to take such a photo.

And then we were off, 200 or so riders, taking over a full lane of traffic, stretching out for hundreds of meters, being lead by a police escort. There were 10 miles of ride still ahead, to the coast.

It was an absolute blast.

It was quite the logistical feat, as we started with the Kearns city police, and then were handed off to the Jersey City police, and finally the Liberty State Park police finished the escort.

There were lots of sirens and speeding cars as the Jersey City police played "leapfrog" with us. They would block off and intersection with two cars, and then we'd ride through, and then a few minutes later you'd hear the siren and a police car would scream past, half in the opposing lane of traffic, and jump into the next intersection and block it off for us. A number of were quite nervous about how close they seemed to come to the other cars. But it all went off smoothly.

Well, almost. Poor Kyle blew a flat when we were in the park, and true to what a number of riders had said, he just rode it in. I saw him later and he said it was an expensive flat, but he thinks the wheel is fixable.

And finally, the Atlantic.

Several folks got rather emotional at this conclusion to the tour. And a few got silly also, as you can see here as Brent DeVries waded right out up to his neck with his bike. I saw him swimming to the pier (in the top/left of the photo) later. I hope he took a good shower later, that water wasn't the cleanest!

And that is about the end of my photos. Heather has a few more I might add later. She met me there with our friends the Streelmans. My bike was loaded onto Pieter's van, and then we made the drive to Eastern Christian School where I retrieved my duffle from the truck. Then it was off to find a shower + change of clothes, and then Heather and the kids and I went to Midland Pk CRC for the celebration dinner and later the service. The meal was great, and we got to say farewell to many new friends. And unfortunately we missed many others as well.

The service was great, but far too long. This was recognized by one of the final speakers, but it bears observing: Many of us got up at 5am, and then we rode a challenging course of 100km, followed by a huge emotional event. Most of us were also pretty much used to going to bed around 9pm over the past weeks. Put all that together, and a 2hr service running from 7:30-9:30pm was, IMHO, not the best idea. I'll freely admit that I remember nothing of the main speaker/preacher, as my head was nodding and my kids were getting tired and fidgety. Unfortunately, my youngest, aged 4-1/2 and over tired, had a meltdown at the end and we had to leave immediately after the service and did not get a chance for more formal goodbyes to many of my fellow riders. That was too bad, but it is part of life.

We then had wonderful restfull weekend at our friend's place, lazed by the pool, ate and slept, and eventually made the drive back home to London, where we now sit.

As we drove in the garage it occurred to me that it was almost a full year ago that we made the decision that started me on this journey, and now it is complete.

We look forward to seeing what new adventure the Lord will lead us to in the days, months, and years ahead.

Blessings,
...art

Final Stats...

2008-08-31T07:01:00.000-07:00

I'll blog about yesterday later, and post a few photos, but I thought I'd take a moment here and post the stats for the final day.

Stats: 99.7km, Avg 20.8km/h, Max 54.2km, Time 4:47

And from the final celebration service, some overall trip stats:

Total Flats Today - the last day of the tour (Aug 30): 36 -- that is a trip record. The funniest of those was poor Kyle, who had his rear tire blow on the boardwalk as we were riding through Liberty State Park. He wasn't stopping, and rode the last 2km on the flat. The saddest was Eritia, who had three!

Total Flats for the whole tour: 819

Number of Seattle-to-Jersey City riders who never, ever, had a flat: 11
(there were many more from the final GR-Jersey leg, but this number covers the entire 9 weeks, which is statistically a lot more interesting, especially in light of the previous number.)

Rider with the most flats overall: Eritia Smit with 28. Poor girl.

Total number of falls over the whole tour: 195

Photos from Friday Aug29 - Dalton, PA to Sussex, NJ

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

Just a few shots today, I don't know why.

1- early morning shot, sorry a bit blurry. One of the rules of camp is NEVER lean your bike on the gear truck or support vehicles...

2- Evening shot. The famous "sign-in" checklist, taped to the gear truck doors. Always sign in when you get to camp, so they know who is still MIA. 3- I've said it before, where do they get these names??

4- And look, I got a windmill shot also!

ttfn,
...art

Photos: Tuesday Aug 26

2008-08-29T18:50:00.000-07:00

Photos from Tuesday, Byron NY to Romulus - Sampson St Park.

1- Coffee shop where we stopped in Avon, in the process of being rapidly overrun by cyclists.

2,3 - first west, and then east on the same road going through NY. I just liked the view. Oh, it's forsale!
4- The delightful luncheon put on for us.

5- looking west/north over Seneca(?) lake in the Finger lakes. Almost at the park.

6- Apparently the Addams family lives here.

Thursday Aug 28 -- Binghamton, NY to Dalton, PA (Lackawanna State Pk)

2008-08-29T18:22:00.000-07:00

Stats: 90.3km, Avg 23.4km/h, Max 61.2, Time: 3:50

Rode w/Pieter the actual entire day today. He wanted to take a slower and easier day. Of course, an "easy" pace for Pieter means that my daily average was 2km/h more than yesterday. Hmmm.....

Left around 7am and arrived around noon. Not a terribly long day, and we had a few stops and sights.

Met up with the "London Express" at the PA border. Actually, it's a good thing we stopped there to chat with them for a moment, as Julie the SAG driver pulled up about 2-3 minutes after we arrived. Had we not paused, we would have missed the first SAG stop.
Rode with some of them into the next small town and ended up having a coffee/hot-choc stop with them for a half hour. It was just a sports bar, really, but it opened in the morning for coffee. The owner went out to a store and actually picked up timbits (not really, but equivalent) for us, and then told us it was all on the house!!!

Pieter and I rode on alone - Cynthia Aukema is not comfortable in large groups of riders since her accident. Passed/Visited Peter Beerda's sag at the half-way point.

Saw a very cool railway bridge in the last 1/4. which is where we ate our sandwiches.

Then Walter's sag for a visit in the town of "Hop Bottom". Were do they pick these names?
Hooked up with Nathan, Josh N, and Eritia at Walter's stop and rode with them for about 10+ km. Got another view of the same style rail bridge, but bigger/taller. It's been abandoned, and is in disrepair. It'd be fun to climb/walk on top of it, but not today...

... or not. Later in the evening (after I wrote the above in my notes for posting) I spoked with another rider who saw a train on the bridge. I was shocked. Over at the first photo stop, the concrete was clearly crumbling and I even saw a small shrub/tree growing out of the top of the bridge! Maybe it really isn't the same line, or maybe a bit of surface crumbling is okay from a structural point of view? I dunno.

Then we hit a crazy monster killer hill. It was like the "old river rd" hill back in London, but 5 times longer. or more. Pieter and I both had to stop twice on the first hill, to let our middle-aged heart rates ease off, and our middle-aged lungs catch up. :-) It was a very good thing were were almost done for the day, as that hill sequence turned my thighs to rubber climbing it. Then a nice fast dip, and then another one, though smaller, on the other side.

We cruised into the Sate park, and sat around. Lots of people were there by now. It was possibly the most relaxing afternoon of the entire trip. This is the sort of day that I think should happen before a stop like we had at Chatham, as we would then have more time to enjoy the hospitality of the city and hosts, as well as still have some unwind time. As it was, some people got rather bored since we had hours to ourselves in the afternoon, and yet were "stuck" way out in nowhere with no beach or pool or nearby town. Lots of folks got out the playing cards later on and I ended up playing some Dutch Blitz with Janelle ("nanny" for the Witvoet kids on tour), Eritia, and Corinne.

I did manage to score on the shower front, though. I noticed that once again there was inadequate shower facilities - only two stalls in the men's washroom!! When the gear truck finally showed up (we beat it by an hour at least) I grabbed my bag as soon as it came off, and half-set up the tent, spread out the fly to dry, and grabbed my shower things and headed off to the facilities. I still was beat by other wise riders, and there soon was 2-3 people behind me. We were quick as can be - 3 minute showers, and get out. Ours were hot. Within an hour, the hot-water-heater had been overwhelmed and it was cold showers for the rest. They even started shuttling people over to some of the other restroom facilities in other areas of the park to accommodate all of us.

One bonus many of us realized was that we now could stop washing our cycling gear in the shower or sink, as most of us have 3 sets and there was only 2 more days to ride... Ahh, small blessings!!

Here is a small chunk of the camp, with the restrooms behind, and the kitchen truck far off - actually invisible beyond the trees. This was a very spread out and sprawling camp area.

Oh, and here is Art, Art, and Hans. All three of us with the same MEC jacket.

ttfn,
...art

Falling Behind... (Friday Aug29)

2008-08-29T16:00:00.000-07:00

Stats: (From Memory) about 132km, Avg about 19.6km/h, Max 67.2km/h, Time: 6:44

Hey Blog Fans...

I'm going to have to catch up on these notes later... There was no internet last night -- Lackawanna State Park in PA is fairly remote. It's actually rather funny when people see you with your laptop open that they ask if you've "Got Online?". Do they really expect to have that in a State Park? But the Internet has become so pervasive that they just ask anyway. But regardless, I just have not been able to get on, so I'll have to see about uploading photos and notes about those days at a later time.

I'm now in the Christian HS in Sussex, NJ, where they have served the most amazing dinner I've had in a long time. Imagine a potluck dinner where you get only half-way down the table and your plate is full and you just can't sample all the dishes that you would like to sample.

It was a hard, hard day of cycling. There were so many hills - up and down. Look it up in the "Shifting Gears" devotional and you'll see that it had about 6-7000 feet of climbing. But it was almost all in "small" chunks. Up a steep hill, down a steep hill. Climb at 8km an hour, fly down at 60km/h. I hit a new max of 67.2km/h today but I started using my brakes. Contrary to what Pieter writes in his blog for today, I just felt safer at slower speeds. And really, the momentum did not carry that far up the other side of the hill... or at least never as far as you thought it should.

The highlight was at around 80km into the day when I heard a yell from a car as my wife+kids drove past us on the route. They pulled up at the top of the next hill (wise move) and we had a brief reunion on the side of the road, along with our friend Heather Fieten and her son Ben. We then moved on to the next SAG stop, which coincidentally was just about 1km further along. We munched on some food, talked for a while, and even met Ralph who happened to be there.

They then drove on for Sussex, and I started the final 50km of pedalling. Back at the SAG, we had considered stopping in the local diner, but didn't because it was smoke-filled. I was digging through my bike bag, gave the kids some fig newtons from my lunch, and handed my wallet to Heather, since I never leave valuables on the bike when I go into a cafe/store. About 10km down the road I realized that my wife still had my wallet... Good thing I wasn't really planning on doing any stops anyway -- I just wanted to get in to Sussex and see them some more.

The low point of the ride was the first 5km... we got into killer hills right out of camp. There was no time to warm up the muscles, it was just right in to grinding away in 1st gear. I was seriously worried that I would even be able to finish the ride if it kept up like that! But the muscles warmed up, and the hills eased off a bit for a while. Not in frequency, of course, but a bit in steepness.

The next low point was right across the border into NJ when we had to start the climb to "High Point" -- the highest point in NJ, I'm told, covered by High Point state park. I found out later that it was Seven continuous Km of climbing. It sucked, there is no other word. That is a LOT of time in 1st/2nd gear. I kept thinking - "next corner it'll level off", but it didn't, for a long time. I almost can't believe it then when the younger riders came by at dinner and gushed about how they loved the day...

But, all "good" things must come to an end. And the crest of High Point was eventually attained, along with some much welcome lemonade, water, and greeters. It wasn't downhill all the way from there, but it was only 10km or so to the school.

Heather and I had an all-to-brief visit, and then they had to go off to our friends in Midland Pk, NJ, where we're spending the weekend, and I had to go off for a shower and to get ready for dinner.

And that short note turned into a bit more!

til later,
...art

Wednesday Aug 27 - Romulus to Binghamton

2008-08-27T17:51:00.001-07:00

Stats: 124.7km, Avg 21.4km/h, Max 58.9km/h, Time 5:49

(keeping it brief as I NEED to go to bed earlier tonight!)

The finger lakes are an area of stunning beauty. Rolling hills moving into foothills of the Adirondacks. Lovely lake vistas. Pastoral farms. Quiet rolling hills. The good thing about touring through them on a bike is that you are slow enough to get lots of time to look around and drink in creation all around you. The bad thing is the hills...

This was old hat to the other riders who went through the rockies, but for us newbies these hills were something very challenging to experience. The real challenge was that these hills just went on for kilometers. I'm not exagerating to say that the hill that exited Ithaca to the south climbed non-stop for over 5km, and I'm estimating conservatively. Pieter was "complaining" about how people who drive cars cannot estimate hills for bike riders. His brother lives in Ithica, and came to see him last night, and told him that it was "all flat" from a certain scenic falls to Ithaca. The actual reality was that stretch was the first really big long hill of the day.

The day continued with ups and downs. Being on sweep meant that I had to serve breakfast, starting at 5:30am with setup, and then moving into cleanup and helping get the gear truck ready. We were excused a bit before the end and I got on the road at 8:30am. Final sweep (the guys who stay behind everyone) finished loading the truck and trailed along even later. I got in to camp around 4pm, which is too late, IMHO, for enough resting. Makes for a long day.

The local CRC, across the street, feasted us for dinner.

And that's all I can do for now, time to get to bed.

Tuesday Aug 26 - Byron to Romulus, NY

2008-08-27T14:29:00.000-07:00

Stats: 127.15km, Avg 23.7 Max 56.8, Time 5:20

I find that Average very puzzling. I started the day with Pieter, so for about 40km I was going at a good clip. However, we split up after that and I rode alone most of the day just enjoying the solitary ride, going at my own pace. So how did I end up with a pretty high average?

A Day In the Tour...

As I rode today I thought about how a few people have told how they enjoy reading my blog as they like to learn about the tour. So I thought I would try to write a bit about the minutia of my day, to try and convey some more of just what it is like to be on tour. So I'm just going to try and put together a list of things that I do. But of course I do not carry a book or dictation machine with me, so this is just all from memory.

It's probably a good thing that there is no internet here today, since it'll give me time to re-read and review this once or twice.

It's now about 4:30pm, so I'll go back to dinner yesterday. Dinner is at 6pm. They sound the truck's air horn to call everyone to dinner, and the people come rushing. You grab your eating utensils and rush into line. Actually there are two lines, to accommodate all the people. Last night there was spaghetti. My kids would have hated it, as they like the sauce kept separate, but at camp the sauce, meat and mushrooms were already mixed in with the noodles. I had about 50% more than I would normally eat at home. Then a dollop of garden salad, some chick peas, one wedge of tomato (it was rationed out) and two wedges of green/red pepper (ditto the rationing). A nice big piece of garlic toast, and a bowl of fruit salad for dessert. Oh, and a half-liter (best guess) carton of milk. There is also coffee/tea if you want it.

Actually they had a few cartons of chocolate milk as well. I wonder if this was left over from London? It looked like the same size, but I don't know why they would have waited until NY to hand it out. Anyway, we saw the chocolate milk while we were still in line, so some people started dodging out of line to skip to the end of the food line to make sure that they got a carton of chocolate. I got the last one. Some people drank it right then, but I was saving it (so I thought) to drink with my meal. However, 2 minutes later I saw Justin Helder, and instantly knew what I had to do -- I called him over and held up my carton of chocolate. His eyes lit up and dashed over and I gave it to him. My line-mates were shocked -- chocolate milk at the end of the ride is highly prized. But I explained to them that I owed Justin for working on my bike. Twice now he has helped me make some tweaks to my bike. The first night he adjusted my front brakes, and yesterday my front derailleur. He told me back on the first night that he'd be delighted to receive some chocolate milk as payment.

Supper was extremely satisfying. It took me a while to get through the mound of spaghetti but I persisted. Afterwards you head over to the washing station to clean your dishes. First you get a squirt of Purell (hand sanitizer) to clean your hands. Then you put your dishes in the rinse bucket and scrub them. Then move them to the soapy water bucket and scrub them again. Then move them to the final rinse bucket and rinse them again. Then we all look silly shaking our dishes to get the water off of them because essentially NO ONE brought dishtowels to camp. Then there was some free time before Peloton. I managed to get on their overburdened WiFi and publish Monday's blog which I'd written earlier.

Purell is everywhere here. They are very cautious about make sure we keep things sanitary to avoid illness. You purell before every food line, before the make-your-lunch line, and before you wash dishes. There is purell at every SAG stop so that you can clean your hands there also. It seems to be working, as no one has really got sick as happened on the 2005 tour.

Peloton is the nightly meeting at 7:30. Tonight it was chilly and they had a nice big campfire. I had put on my one pair of jeans, and my one sweatshirt earlier. But now I put on my one jacket as well. It's camping, you pack light. Besides, you need almost double clothes otherwise, as you have daily biking clothes, and then after biking you shower and change into camp clothes.

Art Smit is a younger guy (ie: early 20s) from Grimsby/Hamilton area. Before I joined the tour he was the only Art on tour. Now there are two. There are two Mulders also, as there is a Chris Mulder from Holland. Art was also wearing his jacket to Peloton. He and I have the exact same bright orange biking jacket from MEC. We both agreed that the other was possessed of astute fashion taste, not to mention being rather handsome. I found it funny to hear that some of the younger riders referred to me as "old" Art in conversation, to differentiate between us. Some of the Johns (I think there are 8 or more of them) have adopted knicknames as well. Art says a big "Hi Art!" every time he sees me. He told me that where he lives he knows NO ONE named Art, so he gets a kick out of having another one around.

Len opens the Peloton with the nightly gathering of stats - how many flat tires, and how many falls. I think there were about 13 flat tires today. Len made a joke that 12 of them were from before we crossed the border... All of us had previously agreed that the Michigan roads were absolutely terrible, compared to the roads in Ontario. However, the NY roads have been pretty good as well. One of the riders told a funny story about getting a flat and having one of his cycling parters pull into a driveway and then suddenly come racing out yelling about a dog, a huge lion-sized dog... which they later realized was pretty darn old and really no threat. A couple other general announcements were made. We heard an update on Sarah T who had had to leave the tour due to an illness. She's now in a hospital and her folks are going to see her. Her brother Bob now asked if anyone else on tour can now give him a ride to Toronto at the end of the tour, as his folks will not be able to go get him. We talked a bit more about the later part of the week. Ed Witvoet came up, as he always does, and then spoke about details concerning the next day, as well as details about the route. He typically warns us about construction, road conditions, and any particularly nasty train track crossings. On Tuesday we'll have a "lunch" stop provided by the Palmira(?) crc church, which is about 25 miles north of the route. They'll set up on someone's farmyard right on the route.

Finally, someone comes up and reads the "Prayer for the road" from the "Shifting Gears" Devotion book (the one for tomorrow's route) and someone else closes in prayer. Normally we then split into small groups, but tonight we were invited to just stick by the fire and roast S'mores. One per camper. Some other Christian folks in the campground had offered to come over and share musical talents with us. So they played some country gospel sort of stuff. I had one S'more and then sat down beside Jen Vanbeek, who was the "S'more Police" to chat with her and get to know her a bit. Jen is Ed's assistant. It was funny how just by virtue of the fact that I was sitting beside Jen, a lot of folks assumed that I was also somehow in charge of the chocolate/marshmallow/cracker distribution and came to me asking if they could have more or such like. It was fun.

Things wound up soon after nine, and I headed towards the tent around 9:20. However, I did take my laptop with me. The camp had free wireless so I pulled it into my tent and wrote Heather some email as there was no handy payphone so I could not call her. Finally towards 10 I turned off the computer, put on my shorts and popped out of the tent to put the laptop on my shelf in the gear truck -- I wanted to be sure I could plug it in to the truck power so it'd be charged over night. While it is in camp, the truck is plugged in, and there are power bars all along the inside of the truck for people to plug in their laptops, phones, cameras, chargers, etc. Very nice. If they can get building power, that's good. Otherwise they plug in to the generator on the back of the kitchen truck. The generator is always on.

However, it was foolish of me to stay up that late. I don't seem to sleep that well on tour. I wake up 2-3 times per night, and always around 5am. I dunno if it is just my nerves, or the hubbub, or the whole sleeping-on-the-ground issue, or what. I do wear earplugs, but they only nicely mute things, not totally block noises.

Finally around 5:20am I got up. I was not the first one. I hear folks already at 5 quietly stirring. I first do just a handful of core stretching exercises to work in my lower back a touch. I should do more, probably! I first get dressed in my cycling clothes for the day, which I'd brought in the night before. I pop the plugs on my pad, and then roll up the sleeping bag and stuff it away. The foot of the bag is usually damp. My tent is 7'8" long, which I thought was enough for my 6'3" frame. But I sleep stretched out on my stomach and I touch at top and bottom of the tent, which means that the foot of my bag touches the wall and gets damp from the tent condensation. Oh well, it'll air later. I next roll up the pad -- took me 3 days before I mastered the sitting-on-it technique so that I could roll it up and put it away in one go. Otherwise I would need to roll it twice to get it skinny enough. Then it is off to the bathroom. There is already a line up in the mens room to use one of the three stalls. I take care of business and then shave and brush teeth. I can handle not showering in the morning, but I hate not shaving.

Then I pack up the tent, which is soaked with dew. No matter, it'll be dried out later when we get to camp. I stuff the pillow and sleeping bag into a heavy duty garbage bag so that they do not get wet from the wet gear in my gear bag. I take the gear bag and put it by the truck. It'll be loaded in there later by the sweep team.

Breakfast next - purell, oatmeal, cereal, fruit, and so on. Purell, wash dishes, put 'em away, brush teeth, put more stuff away in the gear truck in my two baskets. Get together my lunch/snacks. Since we're getting fed a lunch, I don't bother making sandwiches, but I grab two apples, a banana, and 3-4 granola/protein bars and some string cheese packages. Stuff them into my bike bag along with my wallet and camera.

For some reason, I forget why, I took a photo and the camera told me the batteries were dead. Something is wrong there, I just charged them a couple days ago. I quick plug them in, in the gear truck, to hopefully give them enough of a charge for the day. Fortunately my camera can also be used with a viewfinder and the LCD display off, which saves a LOT of juice and can help squeeze some more shots from the camera. (It worked, by the way, got several shots today with the camera.) I'm guessing that either my batteries are old or my charger is flaky. Darn it.

One more pee break at the bathroom, and then the final trip to the gear truck to swap my sandals for bike shoes. It's still chilly, but I make the decision to take off the jacket and pants and just go with my shorts and two layers up top (short sleeve and long sleeve jersey). I'm counting on it warming up soon, and then I'd have to either cart this stuff along all day or drop it off at a SAG wagon and hope I can find it later. Brr it's chilly.

There's one last delay as I try to swap my dark lenses for the lighter lenses in my sunglasses (I have replaceable lenses for different conditions). However, I find them snapped in my bike bag. I guess I crammed in too much stuff at some point.

That's it for the morning routine. Pieter and I hit the road a bit before 7am. The sun is peeking through some trees and above the hills in other areas. The ride starts off pretty uneventful. The sun gradually gets higher and we get a bit warmer. It can be a struggle at times to keep up to Pieter. He has a quick/light road bike and is a strong athlete. I think I'm pretty strong by now, but I have an upright heavier hybrid bike and on uphills I especially drop back. A few times I drop behind him to draft, with his permission of course. He gets a bit more of a workout, and I get about 4-5 more km/h with the same effort.

We're cruising along, and while we like to go fast we're really in no rush (is that an Oxymoron?), and so decide to hit a coffee shop in the first little town, but there isn't one. The next town is Avon, around the 40km mark. I went through Avon once way back when I was in my early teens, so I know it is a bigger town. It should have a coffee shop, and it does. Right at the top of a pretty steep hill we find a traffic circle and pull over to stop. Both of us pick up a large hot chocolate, and I have an english muffin, while Pieter decides on the 2nd breakfast option, and orders a cheese omelette. As we're getting finished Mike Talsma shows up, and then Claire and Al, and then 2-4 more and as Pieter and I pay the poor overworked waitress (only one on duty) the place is filling with cyclists and as we step out the door there are four more looking to park their bikes. Glad we got in there first!

More hills and valleys are on the menu for today. Avon seems to be the edge of this change in terrain. I'm not that surprised when Pieter starts to pull away. it only takes two hills in a row and before you know it he's 2 km ahead. I decide to not bother fighting to keep up. (we both find out later that the other had come to the same conclusion, and that was fine.)

Normally I prefer to ride in a group, but today I actually enjoyed the long solitary ride. It's one hill and valley after another, and on my own I can just pedal as I choose. It doesn't matter if I drop down to 14km/h on the uphill and only 35km/h on the downs. There were many, many beautiful vistas of rolling hills. I stopped a few times for photos, and to snack on a granola bar, and to shed my long-sleeve Jersey. On Sunday I had heard a story from another rider about trying to think about who they should pray for that day. And then this morning in my own prayer cards I received the same challenge to find the one person that God wants me to pray for. So as I rode along I thought about the various people I knew on tour. I never did end up settling on one person, but rather prayed for many people at different times.

Walter's SAG was around the halfway mark today, and I had a nice break and sit down for a few minutes, as well as a walk into the bushes to take care of business. I've heard several gentlemen on tour giving thanks for being a guy as they did the same thing. All those girl riders who have to find their way into a cornfield...

Around the 80km mark was the promised lunch stop. There were 15+ riders already there enjoying a delicious spread. Like the Woodstock stop, these people have very wisely provided a "johnny" for the riders. Pieter was already there, but basically done and getting ready to head out. He hooked up with Eritia for the rest of the day. I enjoyed a drink, a sloppy joe, some cheesecake, chips, and fruit salad. Very nice. One of the riders was very surprised to find that she was related distantly to one of the hostesses. We all agreed that the 2/3 mark is a great place for this sort of a stop, since there was just about 40-45km left which is not a huge amount.

I continued on enjoying the views of the rolling hills and going slow up, and fast down. Eventually I came into the town of Geneva and 4 other riders caught up to me as we made our way down to the lake. (We're into the Finger Lakes region of NY) Around the lake we came across Joe's SAG, last SAG of the day - just 25km left around the lake.

Back home, Pieter lives almost exactly 15 km from my place. We cycled together many times during training, and I had made that bike ride more than a few times. When I started training, it was a long way to Pieter's house. But towards the end of my training when I was regularly doing 60km solo rides and longer group rides, I started to view 15km as "almost home". The same thing has carried over into this trip. I'm always glad for the "just 15km more" part. That's "almost home" and I can do that no problem. It's a fun psychological boost.

After rounding the lake two riders dropped off to visit a winery, and the other two (including Rick on his speedy racing recumbent bike) left me behind as well. I stopped for a couple more photos over the lake, and one of a house that bore a striking resemblance to the "Addams Family" TV house.

A couple more km -- and boy was my butt glad that it was only a couple -- and I was rolling in the main gate of Sampson State Park on Seneca(?) lake around 2pm. Some people have more pain than others. Today my butt started already at the 15km mark. Pieter told how he'd asked Reuben, who rides for the University of Portland, who told him that it never really stops hurting. That sucks.

The gear truck was late today, though that may be just our opinion. We lazed around on the grass for the next 90 minutes. Munched on the goodies remaining in our bike bags. I walked over to the Concession stand and bought a chocolate milk and lazed some more. A couple guys went down to the lake and jumped in the water, which the rest of us disdained, as we didn't like the idea of our biking shorts (with their thick pad) turning essentially into a wet diaper after jumping in. More cyclists arrived, and finally so did the trucks.

I start sweep duties tonight, and my first duty was to help unload the truck. Fortunately, most people just pitch in and help at this point and it only takes about 10 minutes to get all the gear bags out of the truck. Pieter has already picked out a nice spot for our two tents. Both of us pull out our tents and spread them out to dry in the sun, and open up our sleeping bags to air as well. Some people grab the bike stands and immediately start working on their bikes. I grab a bag and head off to the bathroom for a shower. Unfortunately the close bathroom has no showers, and I decided that washing at the sink is enough for today. In about 15-20 minutes the tent is dry enough to finish putting it up.

That's about all there is to bring us back to the beginning. At 5:30 I have to report for duty to help set out and serve supper, then clean up. Tomorrow again at 5:30am I need to do the same at breakfast. And then we need to clean up the camp and load the gear truck before heading out last to ride sweep.

Thats all, folks.

Byron, NY to Romulus, NY

2008-08-26T15:23:00.000-07:00

Heather here. Art left a message that he made it safely to the state park, but he didn't think that there would be any internet.

He said the ride was good today. Lots of hills! Lots of ups and down. It reminded him of how our cousins, Al and Michele Flim, said their dream house would be at the top of a large hill, looking down over a valley. Art biked over lots of hill tops and through lots of valleys. The countryside was beautiful and the towns were historic and picturesque.

He ended up biking on his own for a section, and he said it was a good time to think, reflect and pray. Also he didn't have to worry about keeping pace with anyone. He could just go at his own pace.

A good lunch was at the 80 km mark, provided by a local church, and situated on someone's farm. He said it was nice to have lunch there, as you then only had 40 km left to bike to get to camp. (To think, only 40 km!)

Art is on sweep, which means he helps with serving supper, then breakfast tomorrow. The sweep team then leaves last in the morning, staying behind the rest of the bikers, helping to make sure no gets left behind, and everyone gets into camp safely.

Aug 25: St. Catharines to Byron, NY

2008-08-25T15:58:00.000-07:00

Stats: 131.3km (about 8.5 extra), Avg 24.1km/h, Max 43.6km/h, Time 5:26, In camp around 2:15pm

It almost seems wrong to be at an RV camp way out in nowhere USA and have it offer free WiFi to campers... We are WAY TOO connected in this day and age. But I do feel obligated to update, since so many folks are following this tour from home.

(Actually, I take it back, it's been pretty flaky. I think we're overwhelming it, and I've heard that you can't upload photos. I'll have to edit in the photos later.)

Kind of a Long-Short day today. There was 30km to the border, then a lot of waiting around at the border for everyone to arrive, and for our scheduled time, and then another 90-odd km on the US side.

Randy DeWolde is blogging right beside me and he called it an uneventful day and I think that's pretty accurate. The only photos I took were at the Falls, as we were fiddling around waiting for time to pass.

Left the school around 7 with Pieter and John DV and cruised to the Canal, and then up to the Queenston St Bridge (the one under the Skyway). The bridge was up. As a long time Niagara resident (from birth to age 21-23) I regard these bridges a basically annoyances. When they're up they make you late for church, or the movie, or meeting friends, and you always need to allow time for them...

But I quickly realized that for all the tour members with me (and there was very quickly about 20-30 of us stopped there by the bridge) this was all new, and probably a fun thing to experience. We pressed on and reached the designated meeting place near the rainbow bridge wayy, wayyyyy early. So four of us (Val Smid had joined our group) found a coffee shop for some hot chocolate and a donut. Pieter handed out 3-4 cards. After this we made our way back and found a growing crowd at our meeting place (a parking lot). Pieter and I took off and cycled up to the edge of the Horseshoe falls, and found some other sea-to-sea-ers like us wasting some time.

Art + Pieter, Horseshoe falls behind

Errr, Pieter, Eritia, Josh, Jonathan, Ryan, and I forget who else, and outdoors in the glare of the sun, it is REAL hard to see these photos. I'm kind of posting on faith right now... :-)

The old standard "self-portrait by holding up the digital camera" shot.

(ASIDE: Niagara Falls at 9am on weekday is almost dead quiet. I highly recommend picking that time to visit the falls. And yes, the Maid of the Mist was even running.)

The actual crossing of the Rainbow bridge was both exciting and uneventful. We sure make a HUGE DISPLAY when 200+ cyclists, all in matching Jersey's, take to the street and occupy an entire lane on the approach to the bridge, and on the bridge also (which was also dead quiet). Unfortunately I'd packed away my camera in my rear bag, so I did NOT take any photos on the bridge itself.)

(NOTE TO SELF: go searching flickr for other photos from other folks. Dave Raakman was on the bridge taking shots as well.)

At the US customs we were waved right through. THAT IS NOT A TYPO. They didn't even ask to see any passports. We were all stunned. I later heard from Billy D, the camp manager who was in front (on his Harley!) that the boss there told him that he was very impressed with how well organized we were.

And that is about it. We biked. and biked. The group split up pretty quickly, thanks to stop lights and differing riding speeds and styles. I rode most of the day with Ryan Bruxvoort, Rod Boerman, and Pieter. Towards the last quarter of the ride, we lost Pieter and Ryan, and later found that they'd stopped for pizza, so we even passed them for a while. But they later leapfrogged us as well.

We rolled into camp very early. I was one of the first 15-20 riders. Helped unload the truck a bit, and was #2 to sign in on the sheet. (Katrina beat me.) Later we heard that a number of folks made some wrong turns, and another number stopped and took it easy, hit some golf balls and so on.

And I have to go soon, as my wash, (which I shared with Pieter, Nathan Beach, and Randy DeWolde -- they needed a US quarter, which I had, which bought me some washer space... ;-) is finished.

See? I'm blogging about wash, how pitiful is that. Told you the day was uneventful,

(Title corrected - Byron, NY, not MI !!! Thanks HeatherF)

Aug 24: St.Catharines

2008-08-24T18:25:00.003-07:00

Mostly Photos, not feeling that inspired for words...

Sunday Celebration service at Queenston Heights park. The "meet and greet" and "ministry fair" and "peach social" was supposed to happen from 2pm-4pm. It rained from 2-4, pretty much steadily, though it increased and decreased in intensity.

Some took advantage of the downtimes. No names will be released...

People headed over to the outdoor, uncovered, totally wet grass, ampitheatre at 4pm anyways.

The rain, stopped...

The service, went well...

Afterwards there was a humongous bbq/picnic. I was expecting them to just feed the riders and crew, but the food just kept coming, and it seemed to feed everyone who stood in line. What an immense undertaking. It seems that ALL the local CRC congregations have had a hand in at least some aspect of hosting us here in St.Catharines (various meals, and so on.)

On the bus back to the school for the night.

Tomorrow, the border once more, and on to Byron, NY, to an RV Park. 123km in total. I would be surprised if there was internet available tomorrow night. We'll see.

Saturday August 23, Hamilton to St. Catharines.

2008-08-23T14:52:00.000-07:00

Stats: I forgot to check the bike computer before I left to go to my parents, so I'll have to add those in later. I do know I hit a max of 60.5km/h going down Woolverton Rd, descending the Niagara Escarpment -- I could have gone faster but decided that was enough and applied brakes. a 12% grade is nothing to mess with! The Distance for the day was about 74km. Arrived around 2pm.

Happiness is opening up your laptop on your parents patio -- your older retired parents, who don't have a computer, let alone an internet connection -- and discovering that their neighbours have an open wireless connection. ;-) ;-)

Frustration is finding that it is a bit finicky and you need to sit just so and in just that place for it to work. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers!

Today was scheduled to be a short day, just under 75km, which is really not a terribly long ride for people who have been training for 100-to-150km-per-day rides. So Pieter and I elected to laze around a bit this morning and leave late.

After breakfast I helped him sort out some technical issues with his camera and blog, visited with some other folks, and finally we got packed up and on the road by the incredibly late hour (in Sea To Sea terms, that is) of 8:30am. My tent was one of the ten last tents standing, probably less. But even though the sun was up, it was still drenched with dew, so I might as well have torn it down at 5:45am.

The non-stop buffet continued. Most riders took almost no food with them today, as there was no point to doing so. I lost count of the number of stops. We crossed along the south side of Hamilton, and then continued along Ridge Rd which has some stunning vistas overlooking Hamilton from the top of the escarpment.

There were two refreshment stops along there. Then there came the death-defying race down Woolverton Rd, descending the escarpment, which I mentioned above.

After that we entered Grimsby, where we had to stop at the local Dutch store, which was handing out free cake to riders in honor of Eritia Smit, who is an employee there. Then came a stop at Shalom manor where many eldery residents were delighted to see us and wish us well. That was just a "visiting" stop, as the next refreshment stop was just a km up the road at the Grimsby CRC who treated us to fresh peaches with vanilla ice cream, as well as donuts. Good thing I did not have seconds, as our "lunch" stop at the Beamsville church was really not that far along the road. Salmon sandwiches, ham buns, egg salad buns, chips, and about 6-feet of table laden with cookies and goodies... Such a nice lunch. I skipped all the cookies/squares though, as I'm afraid of stuffing myself!

Then came some more crazy up and down hills, and a "Freezie" stop at Pieter Pereboom's Parents' house, and still another refreshment stop on the lawn at Jubilee Fellowship in St.Catharines. I left Pieter at his folks', as his son Jonathan was going to ride the rest of the day with him. At Jubilee I hooked up with Eritia, Katrina, and Justin and cruised in the rest of the short distance with them.

Well, almost. In Port Dalhousie we had to stop at the "famous" carousel where rides still cost a mere nickel. And Katrina, a rower from Michigan, had to stop for some photos of the Henley rowing club just up the road.

The remaining ride was not long, and we soon were rolling into the driveway of the Beacon Christian School in St.Catharines and greeting my brother and my folks, who were waving at the side of the road. As in London, the first order of business was to dry out the tent, and then repack it for the night, before checking schedules, putting my bike in the school for safekeeping, sorting out some clothes to take along, and then heading off for a night away.

Tomorrow, the celebration service at Queenston heights park.
Monday, off to cross the border once more, back into the US.

In The News...

2008-08-23T04:07:00.001-07:00

A Quick Note from Saturday morning.

If you visit this link at the London Free Press website: http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2008/08/22/6534256-sun.html
you will see a link to the video.

If you play the video, you will see snippets of my kids (holding signs) and Heather and the kids over Gayle's shoulder while she is talking.

Act quickly, as I have no idea how long the free press keeps these videos up on their websites.

Have a great day, it's only 74km for us today to St.Catharines, and Five (yes, FIVE) stopes hosted by churches and Shalom Manor on the way. So we're not going to be rushing, but it'll still take some time to get there.

...art

Friday Aug 22 -- London to Hamilton (Redeemer College)

2008-08-22T14:40:00.000-07:00

Stats: 125km, Avg 22.7 km/h, Max 54.8 km/h, Time 5:30
Arrived about 3pm. (would have been 2:15 if not for the driving range calling Len's name...)

What a great day.

Hot, to be sure. Especially after we hit Brantford and the wind was either blocked mostly by trees and buildings, or maybe it dropped a bit.

I'd like to apologize for referring to Pieter as a "Goof" in yesterday's blog. He's a great friend, and a great pastor, and a great biker, but those actions of yesterday do not deserve the adjective "Goof". Now, if he does any future goofy things, I'll reserve judgement. ;-)

It was nice to spend the evening at home, but the tour was not over yet, and my subconscious knew it, as I woke up before 5am... Scott+Linda gave me a ride back to camp, and we joined everyone at 6:30am getting some snacks/lunch together, getting our bags stashed, lubing up... (yes, HeatherF, I do take your advice!)

Ralph, Scott, Pieter, and I got on the road at 7am. Just 4km down the road we passed the house of a fellow from our church that they knew, so they stopped to roust him out of bed for a quick hello. I kept going. I wasn't going particularly fast, and they're all strong riders, so I figured they'd catch up soon enough. And besides, I didn't know the gentleman they visited.

Some time later I was cycling with some others when Pieter blows past with Eritia hot on his tail.

I called encouragement to Eritia.

Note that this is the same Pieter who told me that I didn't need a map of today's route because he had one, and besides, he'd ridden the route before... So how does this do me any good now? I may have to revisit that paragraph above, Pieter. :-)

But I'm just kidding. Everyone needs to find someone to ride with who matches their pace, and it is not always necessarily the same folks that you hang out with in Camp, as illustrated by my ride today. Today I rode a bit behind the Hoekstras from Chatham, then a bit with Randy DeWolde and Fred Meyerink (but only a bit -- they're too strong), and some also with Bert Slofstra into Woodstock. Finally I hooked up with Len Riemersma, Bob + Lisa Brouwer, and Melinda and Karen for the rest of the day. They welcomed me into their group, and their pace as well as their outlook on the day seemed to suit me quite a bit.

We're now entering the non-stop-buffet portion of the SeaToSea tour. There was an early SAG stop outside of London. Then we hit a church in Ingersoll who fed and watered us. Then again on the other side of Woodstock we were also treated well (complete with clean porta-potties with running water for handwashing!) And again in Brantford -- but by a Cambridge church I was told? And finally another stop for lunch on the other side of Brantford.

Hmm, yesterday I was pleased to step on the scale and note that I was another 5lbs down. I'd best be careful!!!!

There were some downright mean and annoying hills on the approach to Woodstock. I say that because the up side of each valley was significantly higher than the down side. But we did finally earn some nice downhill coasts as we got into Woodstock. But I agreed with Bert Slofstra that the placement of those stoplights at the bottom of a great hill takes all the fun out of cycling them!

I was pleased to bump into my wife's Aunt/Uncle Jenny+Cameron Linnell at the Woodstock picnic
She reads all the blogs, so probably knows the other cyclists better than I do. But I did manage to introduce her to two riders that she'd read of, which was very nice.

Oh, and "Hello!" to Annette at the first Brantford (Cambridge?) stop. Sorry I had to run but the other riders were almost on the road and I didn't want to miss my group.

I used to read all of the blogs, so I knew that Len is a golf fan. And it just so happened that there was a driving range that came into view just ONE km before our final stop at Redeemer. Well Len didn't even ask, he just turned his bike into the driveway. I wasn't going to join in at first, but I "weakened". It's also our vacation, so lets do some goofy things every now and then. I don't think I've held a golf club in 20+ years, and you could tell. Len could make the ball fly, as could Bob. (check out the top picture, what is Karen doing there in the background?)

And here we are, our "golfer" pose. Mini-Putt, here we come...

And now I've had a fudgsicle, set up my tent, showered, washed my clothes from today, went to the refreshment area and had some chips and an ice cream bar and chocolate milk and soda and an orange and some other snacks, and now am sitting in the cool air conditioned calm of the Redeemer College library. Supper is in a half hour, hosted by the college. Why am I hungry again?

Tomorrow, St .Catharines and seeing my folks. Short ride too, only 74km, but do you think I'll be able to sleep in?

ps: No Ibuprofen today, No knee pain. Whee!

Minor Quickie - Vitamin I

2008-08-21T17:37:00.001-07:00

Just a quick addition... I know, and greatly appreciate, that people have been praying about my knees. Today's ride was 125 km and went from 7am to 3pm. I took some Ibuprofen at 7am -- a fellow rider had forgotten his at the gear truck and so I gave him some and popped some myself at the same time.

But I completely forgot to take it again at 11 -- 4hrs later when the next dose would normally be required. And the only ache I feel tonight is in my thighs which is just muscle soreness from all the work they're doing!

Tomorrow I shall try and skip the Ibuprofen and see what happens. I'm a bit wary of this, as Ibuprofen also can be a preventative measure, having it kick in before the pain starts.

I'll let you know...

Thursday Aug 21 -- Chatham to London.

2008-08-21T17:08:00.000-07:00

Stats: 125.3km, Average Speed 23.6km/h, Max 52.3km/h, Time 5:18
In camp around 3pm. (I don't always remember to note that time.)

Another day of ups and downs. The wind was another headwind, though it was sometimes a bit of a crosswind as it was sort of from the SE and we were sort of going a bit NE.

Left Chatham just a bit before 7am with Ralph and Albert. Our friend Albert DeVries came out the night before with his track bike and rode with us today.

As if 120+ kilometers wasn't enough to do, some riders organized an informal "time trial race" on the flat(ish) roads between Chatham and London. They marked out a course of about 40km. Each rider had to ride solo -- no drafting allowed -- and they were started at intervals. (I forget, every 3 minutes?) I knew that some of the group would be up for it, but I didn't realize how many! 28 riders signed up!! And no, they were not all just young guys. Several girls signed up, and Pieter got Ralph to sign up.

Pieter was signed up also, but he'd left so early that he zipped past the location of the start of the race before anyone was there (or something like that) and missed it. What a goof. The race didn't start right in Chatham, but rather about 40km along the road. It ended shortly before Mt Brydges, which was our Lunch stop.

Albert reported later, with some embarrassment, that three girls passed him. Yeah, age catches up with all of us. (Sorry, Albert, but you knew that I'd blog this!) The winner, so I've heard (not officially) was one Reuben Vyn, which was no surprise to anyone, as he rides for the University in Portland, Oregon.

I had some more mechanical issues (remember I said ups and downs?). In Thamesville, which was not that far from Chatham, my left foot started feeling quite wiggly after crossing some tracks. I stopped my bike and discovered, to my shock, that I couldn't get my foot out of the pedal! Good thing I normally unclip with my right foot first, since I now had at least one foot solid on the ground. I had to take off my left shoe to get out of the bike.

Ralph and Albert heard me say something about my clip, but didn't realize the seriousness of this and were soon out of yelling distance. They thought I'd quickly catch up... needles to say I didn't. I was trying not to feel down, as I thought that my riding for the day was done. Several riders soon stopped --- you ALWAYS ask another rider if they're okay when you pass them stopped on the side of the road. I soon got one rider who had both a cell phone, and the emergency numbers, and a SAG wagon was called.

Art Smit and Melissa soon showed up, and Melissa, who was battling a migraine, surprised us by being able to loosen enough bits to get my shoe loose. It turned out that one of the cleat screws had just come loose. None of the threads seemed broken or stripped, and the pedal still seemed okay as well. We got it all put back together, and I was soon on.

Well, for 100 meters. Then I stopped again to adjust it... you spend months fiddling with your cleat position on your shoe, and I had clearly not got it back quite the same way!

And so I rode solo for a while, passed some people who weren't at the right pace, was passed by some others, and eventually came to a SAG stop and again found myself joining a peloton -- this time with Chris (no relation) Mulder, Ralph DeBoer, Julia, Jonathan, Jeff, Kaitlyn, and Neil Jaspers. 8 people riding together, mostly two abreast on these quiet roads, again makes riding into a wind a LOT easier. It was still a struggle at times, because they're pushing me at the top of my ability. But the community was great as they willingly slowed it down a notch a couple times when I was struggling.

Around km 87 we turned off course into Mt Brydges where we were again feasted by the local community (I think the Strathroy churches helped also, but I'm not sure) to a beef-on-a-bun lunch with salad and all kinds of melon and so on. I was careful not to stuff myself, but I'm surprised at the number of calories I can now pack away. (aside: stepped on the scale tonight and I think I'm 5lbs down...)

(Sorry, Indoor shaky Shot! But you get the idea)

Actually on rides I also need to regularly stop to eat. I now really see the bonus to cycling jerseys that come with pockets on the back, as other riders will reach back into their pocket and snag a banana or granola bar and eat it while riding. In this way you don't stop the other riders who are on a roll, and you don't get left behind to stop on your own. It's NOT a good thing, so I'm told, to let yourself get to the point that your stomach starts growling. Bonking, (running out of energy rapidly) soon follows.

But the flat demons struck again. I came out of lunch and found my front tire flat. That's #4 for me. Ralph and I tackled it and I soon got it done. Let me tell you, that a shady bit of grass by a church parking lot, is a MUCH more pleasant place to change a tire than crouching in the gravel on the shoulder of a road while trucks roar by at 80 km/h.

Ralph and I were now paired off and both of us were eager to make it home to London to see our families. Let me tell you it was really a bit weird to find myself cycling into London. The hill down Byron Baseline road was a joy to zoom down (that was my max speed, noted above). All the houses and trees also block the headwind, which makes it very hot, but does make pedaling a bit easier. Ralph met his wife Cora in Springbank park, and I pressed on to the Fork of the Thames. Ralph soon caught up, Cora was going to meet him at camp later. And the last few km sped by until we turned onto the bridge over the Thames into the park where I found my wife. I didn't expect to get choked up, but I did.

It struck me that I had just done something (biking home from Grand Rapids) that I could never have imagined doing just 12 months ago. We greeted a few folks there, grabbed some ice, but did not stay long. We both had the itch to get to camp!!! Ralph did not relish the idea of cycling through downtown, so we left the official ride route, and instead headed off down the east section of the bike path. It was a nice quick ride, and no traffic or stoplights to deal with. Soon enough we were rolling into the parking lot at the London District Christian School.

Here we had another great, amazing reception. We were handed some ice cold chocolate milk -- wahoo! and then some ice cream as well. What could be better? Well, dinner might be, but I'll have to find that out tomorrow, as I went home to spend the night in a real bed...

Tomorrow it's on to Hamilton.

Aug 20 -- Richmond to Chatham.

2008-08-21T16:23:00.000-07:00

Hey blog fans...

Sorry about yesterday. There was some internet available, but as I was being hosted by the Grootenboers for pool, shower, and laundry use, I thought it would be rude to ignore them and stick my nose in a laptop.

Tonight I'm home, at my own house, at my own desk, and my beloved has graciously allowed me some time here to write. (she herself is busy reading other blogs...)

So again, I'll combine two days reporting into one (BIG!) post.

Wednesday, Aug 20.
I forgot to copy the stats from my bike computer!!
I remember that I averaged about 22.2km/h which was not the best, but not too bad, all things considered. The scheduled distance was 90km.

It was an odd day, with 30km on the US side, then congregating at a park in Marine city, and then over on the Ferry, and then a party, and then riding on to Chatham. Heather already blogged some of this, so I can try and be brief.

Here is the nasty nail (Albert tells me that it is a concrete nail) that lodged in my rear tire while going down an unpleasantly busy road in Michigan, about 10-12km out of Richmond.

It was definitely NOT the nicest place to struggle with a wheel. Ralph Fledderus and Ed unknown-last-name helped me change the tire, which resulted in one snapped tire iron, and one successfully replaced tube. Pumped up again, and we were on our way to Marine city, which is a lovely picturesque little town on the water there.

I'll let the photos tell most of the story of this time at the park.

Hans Doef's helmet hair. Very cool

We made the local paper.

Pieter + Ralph relaxing along the water, as we had over an hour to wait.

Queueing up to get on the ferry. Y'know, 220 riders is a LOT of people in one place. ANd this is only a small fragment of them. We were all instructed to wear our SeaToSea jerseys (biking shirts) today.

The Customs agent told us not to take photos (I know we live in a post 9/11 world, but all of us thought this was silly.) but I'd already taken a few.

Alida van Dijk was beside me on the ferry and we traded cameras to take pictures of each other.

Yes, Margaret, Pieter was there.

lots of people with bikes on the ferry!

There was a MASSIVE party on the other side greeting us and feeding us!

Pieter and I stayed for a while, but as we had no family of our own there, we pressed on to Chatham. It was "just" a short 60km ride, into the wind. I lost Pieter about half-way. He kept jumping on faster and faster peletons of cyclists and ended up being #2 to arrive in Chatham. (Why no, Pieter isn't at all competitive, why do you ask?)

I ended up hooking up with Julia Wissink (even though she won't admit it in her blog. I'll have to razz her about that later...), Jonathan, Jeff, ... and a few others who helped pull me into Chatham to arrive still pretty early. There were maybe 50 bikes there when we got there.

It's really amazing what a difference riding in a group can do. By myself in that headwind I was doing maybe 23km/h and dropping to 21 at times with gusts. When they zoomed by, I popped onto the tail of the line and was crusing at 25/26km/h with the same effort, and with the benefit of great community. (I made sure to thank them afterwards, and they were delighted to have shared part of the ride.)

We ended up clumped a bit in Chatham with other riders due to being stopped by a train. While I understand the safety issues, it still can be a blast riding the roads with about 15-20 riders all fairly closely grouped. I promise, it was only for a short while, on very quiet streets, and we obeyed all the rules of the road -- plus all the smart rules of peloton riding.

The Chatham community rolled out the red carpet. There were people cheering us into the parking lot, showing us where to park our bikes, shuttling us to the bike store, offering us the use of their pools, showers, and laundry. And to top it all off they served us a scrumptious supper.

(Whoever made the brownies with a layer of caramel inside... oooh, YUM!)

I first caught a ride to the bike store for some more tubes (grumble grumble) and then went off for a swim, shower + laundry at Roger + Deb's place

I knew both of them 18+ years ago when we were all at Redeemer. (I was a young employee) And it was a big surprise to see Roger there looking for cyclists to offer hospitality to.

And this is getting real long, so I think I actually will break it in two.

On Wednesday evening I was asked to read the "Prayer for the road" after Peloton.

At night, in our small groups, we always go over the section in the sea-to-sea "Shifting Gears" devotional concerning the next day. And at Peloton they always pick someone to read the prayer for the road part. As I was from London, an as we were going there the next day, Alida van Dijk asked me (in the middle of the ferry crossing!) if I would read the devotion that night.

She told me that we were allowed to editorialize a bit, if it isn't too long. When I looked over the prayer, I discovered that it had nothing at all to do with London, so I came up with the following -- with 15 minutes prep time before Peloton! Since I wrote it down in my notebook, I thought I'd post it here. And I tried to be honest and not polish it up any more... I do tend to write better than I speak, I think.

"The Prayer for the road says absolutely _nothing_ about London. So I thought I would share this little factoid. YES, London was named after London, England. It was so named by Govern Simcoe back in the late 1700s (as Pieter Pereboom, trivia history buff extraordinaire confirmed for me earlier.)

"He had the grand idea that London would become the capitol of Upper Canada, which seems rather silly in hindsight, as London is not on any of the Great Lakes, which was of course the main "highway" for travel and commerce overseas back then.

"Lond is a town of about 308,000 people ... if I remember correctly from all the training rides when I passed a city limit sign.

"Like much of this area, London is heavily dependent on the auto sector. As well, it is the home of many of our fellow cyclists here tonight.

"... and NO, London was never the capitol of Upper Canada, or Ontario, or anything."

more later...

Into Canada!

2008-08-20T14:39:00.000-07:00

This is Heather here.

Art called. He had a good day. It was a breeze crossing the border. The ferry was about 10 minutes long. (Art thought the kids would like the ferry crossing.) They formed single line. Guards looked at their passport, checked a list, then onto the next person. Very quick. Art thought the prearrangements that were made really made the process very smooth and quick.

There was a party on the Canadian side, at a park right by the crossing. Goodies, Tim's coffee, red and white cupcakes, and lots of hoopla.

He had a good ride. Got another flat though, and his tire rims make it quite a struggle to change his tires. He had help, and has already been to a bike store to buys some more tubes -- he had an odd tire size as well.

He called from Roger and Deb Groetenboer's house -- other Redeemer College grads -- who had opened up their house for showers, laundry and a swim in their pool.

Now my kids are getting quite hungry, and a little cranky, so I'm off.

Bingo!, Community, and other such things...

2008-08-19T17:47:00.000-07:00

5:20 at the end of a 7-hour-in-the-saddle day is probably not the best time to try and write a blog. My butt is sore, My knee did it's share of giving grief today, and just all-around worn out. On the other hand, the showers were hot, roomy, and no waiting in line. I'm clean, the tent is up, and oh joy, a library right next door to the camp with WiFi. Cool.

Even better, Peter VanNord is across from me blogging, And I'm sitting next to Barb Mellema, trading barbs... (groan) and the fellowship helps dispel the tiredness. Let us press on!

Best do yesterday first.

Monday, Aug 17: Grand Rapids to Laingsburg.
Stats: Distance approx 110km, max 54.4km/h, avg 27.3km/h !!!
(my typical average for a 50km+ ride is 23-24km/h)

It was the best possible start to this for all those newbies like me. There was a strong tail wind, and we just flew. I had intended to take it easy, being the first day and all that, but I also decided to ride with Pieter... Hmm, those two might be mutually exclusive goals. We started with Ralph also...

... but we left him behind at the first stop, which was at a church in Lowell that did it's best to stuff us to the gills. Fresh Fruit! Quiche! Chocolate Milk! If only I'd known I would have eaten less breakfast.

Our speed was going fine and then later on we hooked on with a group of four -- Julia Wissink, Ryan Bruxvoort, Jeff Schoon, and Jonathan "unknown-surname" -- and started riding with them. Mysteriously the pace just gradually kept increasing. It was fun to talk with them, but before I knew it, we were in the mid/high thirties, and then hit 40km/h. What a blast, thanks to the tailwind and draft. But 40 was getting tough to maintain and at one point I lost the draft and it was game over for me. I dropped back like 75 meters in what felt like seconds. Still, we rolled into camp between 12:30-1. The gear truck only beat us by about 30 minutes. I wouldn't count on that happening again.

The state park was fine, but the line up for showers was long, and there was no wireless in sight. Hence, no one blogged. Did you notice?

Yesterday was also the start of Bingo in camp as well, at least for us newbies.

Oh yeah, all us 60 who joined in GR are the "newbies". It's not that surprising when you consider that they've spent 7 weeks forming a community, and here we are crashing it for the last two weeks.

But I think the fear was unfounded. There's been lots of outgoing connections being made. Sarah, Stephanie, Julia, and Josh all approached me to say "hi". Many others have been just as welcoming. And there has been lots of bingo going on... "Oh, you went to Calvin also? You live where? Do you know so-and-so? Hey, I think I used to know you..."

Bingo!

Today, on the other hand was a hard hard introduction to what it can be like on SeaToSea.

Tuesday, Aug 19: Laingsburg to Richmond, MI.
Stats: Distance 155km, Max 52.3km/h, Avg 22.2km/h, Total time in saddle **6:56** Ouch.

Going 150+km would be hard enough, but there was a strong, continuous headwind ALL day. Even at 5:45am (Not a Typo) when I was taking down my tent the wind was blowing it around. Hey, what happened to calm mornings? I left at 6:30, as I knew it would be a long hard day.

And this is taking too long, so I'm going to sum up.

Lots of community building today. I rather like stopping at all the SAG wagons, as it gives us more time to talk with different riders.

Gayle introduced me to "Vitamin I" this morning - which is what her doctor calls Ibuprofen. I had some, but hadn't used it yet. My knee started to ache already around 20km out, so I popped two at the first SAG stop, which helped stabilize that, and even minimize it a bit. Come lunch time I took two more -- without them I rather doubt I would have finished the day. When people hear about this they express concernand advice ranging from other medication to changing my type of clipless pedals. But the best, I think, was Terry Kuipers from Aylmer, who simply made it a point to stick with me for about half the ride and made sure I was still going along.

Community!

Also on day two I experienced two, count'em, two flat tires. Sigh. First one was along a rather busy stretch of road, with a large shoulder, thankfully, and in my brand new hardcase front tire. (fume!) Thanks go to the five younger riders who simply pulled over and stopped to help, without asking. Unfortunately, we still struggled to get it back on (note to self: never, ever buy a bike with Sunrims again!!!) and we pinched it. We should have listened to our gut feelings and redid the job, but it seemed to be okay and holding air. But 4km later I stopped at the final SAG, and pulled out their floor pump to properly get the tire up to 100psi... BOOM! Yup, pinched it. Now I had an audience -er- community to help me deal with it. Pastor Len offered to take a collection to help buy me a new tube. He's very gracious that way, we cherish him. Got the old tube patched, and put it in more carefully this time -- snapped one of my tire irons. (Hey, MEC, sell better tire irons!)

Community again.

And peleton is in about 10 more minutes so I need to go experience a bit more community.

Later, folks!
...art (tomorrow, the border!)

7:37am Monday...

2008-08-18T04:37:00.000-07:00

...Am I realing doing this?

Yes! I! Am!

ttfn
...art

Aug 17: Pictures Tell The Story?

2008-08-17T18:54:00.000-07:00

Scenes from Today

My Tent, set up by the Prince. They call it a two person tent. Ha!

My spot in the truck, one shelf from the bottom, which is a bit of a bend, but it could be worse. It is nice and close to the side door.

And the rest is from the big celebration service at the "Fifth Third" Ballpark in Grand Rapids. (Does anyone seriously think that "Fifth Third" is a good name for a bank? duhhh.)

Pieter, Gayle and Myself, the old "hold up the camera for a self-portrait" shot. Needs more practise...

Here is earlier on, still many people filing in. I have NO idea how many people were there. How about "lots", or "many"?

The downside of a ballpark is that the stage was way off on the third base, which is VERY far from everyone. It must feel very remote to the people up there trying to lead the service.

All the cyclists filing in,

And I'm tired so I'm not going to write much more. I'm now officially a "newbie", along with 60 other soon-to-be-close-friends of mine. :-) Did the registration + orientation thing this morning, and I've got myself a loverly C2C Jersey. Wish these things came in a "Tall", as I have a long torso. Sigh. Have met a few of the veteran riders and a few other newbies like myself. There are a lot of us, to be sure! I anticipate a zoo tomorrow morning at Breakfast and trying to get in/out of the gear truck.

ttfn!
...art

Grand Rapids...

2008-08-16T19:10:00.000-07:00

I should be in bed but...

I rolled into GR today at 1pm, which was just a little bit after all the riders came in. At least, I think so. The truck was already in place at the Prince Conference Center at Calvin, and it was busy "exploding".

People were already setting up their tents. Gear was everywhere, and large crowds of people. I found a giddy Gayle, and then Pieter. And after that bumped into Fred and Tim Nydam from our church, who had come out to ride this day with the cyclists. Later I saw the Wassink family, also from our church.

The "weird" thing was to start recognizing people based on photos from various blogs.

Bikes are being stored in one of the big meeting rooms at the Prince.

I bumped into Ralph, who was also camping (Pieter and Gayle were getting real beds tonight...) and I quickly grabbed my own gear from my brother's car and set up my tent near his. After that it as "so long" to my brother + Dad, and then I had to quickly bike way across camping to take the mandatory safety training.

I see the importance of training, and I gather there are some insurance requirements, but to be painfully honest I didn't really get much out of the classroom time. The outdoor exercises though, where we tested quick turns, rapid stopping, and so on, was rather fun.

My evening ended with being taken out to dinner by my friends the Osterbaans and Haarsmas, who are locals. Great food, great times, great waitress ... who was a lousy photographer.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day again, with our official registration and orientation. I've already snuck onto the truck and found my shelf -- prime location by the middle door!

Blessings, all
...art

SeaToSea vs Camporee

2008-08-13T11:15:00.000-07:00

I'd like to take a little digression from talking about the SeaToSea and biking and bike training and all of that to talk about the International Cadet Camporee 2008 -- but don't worry, I'll bring it back on topic soon.

Many of you already know this, but just a quick background: The Calvinist Cadet Corps is the boys' club organization that many CRC churches uses for their club for boys aged around 8-14. Every 3 years they hold a major get together - a camping week out in the bush somewhere for 1000 boys known as the International Camporee. This year it was in Ontario -- near Sundridge Ontario, if you want to look it up, west of Algonquin park. (google maps link)

Unfortunately, during the camporee week, the rain did not let up - they had 7 inches of rain over the course of the week, which resulted in an enourmous amount of mud making the camp almost impassible. In the end they made the difficult decision to evacuate the camp after only 4 days.

My son Gerrit, who is 11, had looked forward to this for months. He came home on this past Sunday night from camp, very filthy, very tired, but still in good spirits. In fact, one of his first words were of wanting to go again. All his stuff went straight into the washing machine. The next day, we turned around and threw it right back in for a second wash, and I think it might be clean now.

Gerrit's local head counselor, Len, who had driven him home, had to go back on Monday. His tent trailer was "stranded" in the staff area, due to mud, and he needed to go back on Monday to retrieve it, as well as help a bit in some of the clean up that was still taking place. I decided to accompany him, to help make the long drive (5+hrs!) a bit easier on him. As well, I admit, I was a bit curious about what it was like up there, as we had seen the photos and videos on the Camporee website.

We arrived late Monday night and put on our boots (mandatory) and hiked in to the staff area where we found still more than 50 camp leaders who were involved in the remaining cleanup.

I was already impressed by the leaders. Here were a bunch of dirty and tired folks with every right to be cranky and disappointed. Many did not have the gear for this type of conditions -- I saw several wading in mud barefoot, and more than one with plastic bags around their feet inside mud-soaked footwear. Yet they greeted me with a smile, offered me a chair at the campfire, and we all sat and fellowshipped. Was there griping about the mess and evacuation? No! Sure they talked about the job ahead, but they also talked about the Northern lights (one guy saw them at 3am when he was up), about the stars, about the fun the kids had when canoeing, and so on.

Tuesday morning I set out to hike around the camp grounds. I was confronted with a path like this...

Which didn't see too bad. However a counselor I bumped into told me that a lot of the water had drained away over the last two days in those areas. But imagine that path looking like this, with hundreds of kids trying to walk through it to get to the next activity area...

(See the website for many photos of kids dealing with the mud.) There was still a LOT of mud on Tuesday, even after two days of no rain. A few counselors still went in the mud up to their knees on Tuesday while hiking around. I walked very carefully, and in certain areas detoured into the underbrush to avoid the treacherous mud areas.

This is the redzone, where Gerrit was camping. He was in cadre Red-15 (8 boys + 2 counselors per cadre)

Their tents had already been cleared away. But some other areas still had not been torn down...

The boys build their tents as part of the camp experience, live in them, and then are supposed to tear them down at the end as part of the cleanup. Now the remaining staff will need to organize some work parties to finish the cleanup that the cadets could not accomplish.

Imagine trying to get to the bathroom and facing this mud blockage...

Yes, there are bears in the area, which is why it was very important to pack out all trash, as well as make noise when hiking. (not that 1000 boys would have had any trouble at all making a bit of noise...)

Gerrit's group missed out on riflery, archery, mountain-biking, and rappelling. He did get to play survivor games, went canoeing, swimming, campcraft, and of course helped build his campsite and met folks from all over the place. (the kids are purposely mixed up so no one knows anyone in their cadre.)

They had a great 30-40ft high natural rock face right in the middle of the camp for rapelling. (The ropes are still visible in the photo, as they were doing some rapelling for the staff on the day I was there.)

Tuesday, when I was there, was a gorgeous sunny day, and the staff camping area, which is open and receives sunlight, was gradually drying up. But there was still tons (literally) of mud all over the place. There was a guy on a tractor all morning pushing and scraping to pile up the mud out of the way, so that the ground could dry up, firm up, so that they could get their stuff out.

Still, it was a struggle. After spending an hour working on the entrance with heavy equipment, they still had to use an excavator to help pull in a semi-tractor to hook up to it's trailer. It got stuck, and they hooked a chain from the bucket to the axle and pulled the tractor back to latch it to the trailer

And then they still needed to tow it out

Once the three trailers were out they started towing out staff vehicles and trailers -- here goes Len's -- and we left around 2pm Tuesday afternoon, for the long drive home.

If you want to see more of this, I would encourage you to go to the camporee website, where they have many photos and several videos of the mud, the rain, and the whole evacuation nightmare -er- procedure.

When my son Gerrit came home, he was short one duffel bag. And so he lost his pillow, bike helmet, Aqua socks, swim gear, three towels, one sandal, plate+utensils, and I think some clothes. Heather and I were a bit upset at this, and when I went up to the camp myself, I was hoping to find his stuff ... somewhere.

I came home empty handed.

Yet, I was also much more at peace about the whole loss. From talking to several of the counselors, from viewing and walking the campground, it was driven home to me just how much a logistical nightmare this had been. There were 1000 boys with all their gear spread over 200 acres of mud-choked forest. They faced a lengthy walk over near impassible paths to get to the road. The leadership was hampered by the weather, by communications delays and mix-ups, by the sheer magnitude of all this. Frankly, I came away just amazed that it worked at all.

I was a little disappointed to hear, later, that some parents had already made inquiries about getting a refund. I suspect that they would reconsider if they learned all that I had learned through visiting the camp.

Over the course of all of my experience with this event, I really started to see a lot of similarities between a Camporee and the SeaToSea.

Both are large, and infrequent. Both require a lot of planning by a core of dedicated leaders for years. Neither would function at all without the generous help of many, many, volunteers giving of their time. Both required massive logistics to pull off. (eg: at camp they had to feed 1000 boys for a week, on tour they're feeding 200 cyclists for 9 weeks.) Both are at the mercy of the weather. Both face unplanned happenings.

Finally, both are fully dependent on the providence of God. Both groups need to trust God, need to seek him, and do not always know why things are happening as they did. While at the camp, I was told the story how during the midst of the evacuation the Camporee people heard from one Speaker/Chaplain who told them how God has a reason for this. We may not know what it is for the next ten years, but there _is_ a reason. This reminded me so strongly of the thoughts of SeaToSea rider Tyler Buitenwerf. He was a rider who fell and broke his Collarbone shortly after leaving Denver, and had to leave the tour. In his blog while writing about his accident, Tyler wrestled with his disappointment, but he also gave a great testimony when he wrote: "but I know that God has something for me to do the next 5 weeks that I would not have been able to do on the tour."

Just like the SeaToSea riders... what an adventure these campers and leaders had, what a memory the kids are taking home with them. And also, there is something they have to look forward to, as the Camporee comes every 3 years.

SeaToSea, does not come every 3 years.

At least, so far...

One More Week....

2008-08-10T11:14:00.001-07:00

(Please God, let the rain have stopped by then, I'm not ready for underwater cycling, really... :-)

Gain with No Pain!?

2008-08-08T07:56:00.000-07:00

So, why don't more people buy recumbent bikes? (Link to Wikipedia definition and detailed explanation about recumbent bikes..)

Years ago, back in 1995, I lived in Edmonton and one of my co-workers was a bike building nut, who introduced me to recumbent bikes. With his help -- and lots of it, I admit -- I even built one back then and rode it for several years. Short distances, to be sure, I did not bike long distance then, just 7-10km back and forth to work.

(My homebuilt, an old photo)

It was a heavy beast -- 45-50lbs if I recall -- but fun to ride. There's nothing quite like cruising along in an "easy chair" as you bike. You can't be shy though, as the attention it drew was incredible. On level ground I was definitely faster than on my regular bike, and going down hill... well I would coast and my wife on her regular bike would have to pedal to keep up. Aerodynamics are a huge win there. The downside was climbing hills. There the weight of this thing, as well as just the general characteristics of a recumbent bike, held me back. General comfort though, was a big win - no bum pain. Ever.

Anyway, I sold it after about 6 years, as the frame was cracking and I didn't have the tools or ability to weld it up. Not to mention that all the hills here in London required far to much effort to climb, so I wasn't using it that much.

But now with all the bike training I've been doing, as well as reading about all the other folks' experiences on tour, I find myself thinking again about recumbent bikes.

Just look at all the complaints in the seatosea blogs from people about sore behinds! Actually, I don't need to look, I feel it myself when I train. Already at 15-20km into a ride I start to feel sore in my backside. Then there is the numb/tingling hands, and the occasional stiff back and stiff neck.

Why do we put up with this?

I'm starting to think that maybe my next bike will be a recumbent. There are more of them on the market now, and while some of the nicer ones are up around the $3,000 price point, so are plenty of high end road bikes. In the used market, and the lower-end market, there are plenty of choices out here around the $1,000-$1,400 price point.

(A High End Example:
The HP Velotechnik Grasshopper FX, it retails for
about $3400 in Toronto at the Urbane Cyclist.
It is fully suspended, and it folds in about 60 seconds.)

(Or on the modest end this is a Taiwanese import from tw-bents
imported in the US by Actionbent, and in Canada by
Rebel Cycles who sell it around the $1000-$1200 price.)

(and of course, you folks in Western Michigan might
want to check out Terra Trike in Grand Rapids who
make and sell several models of recumbent tricycles starting at $1000)

Recumbent bikes used to be a lot more money than conventional bikes. They still tend to cost a bit more, since they're just not built in the same amount of volume. But the prices have come down a lot in the past 5+ years. And when I think of the fact that I spent over $200 on padded bikes shorts and gloves which I wouldn't need on a recumbent...

Oh well, time will tell.

We'll see if 2 weeks on tour pushes me more one way or another.

Public Service Announcement

2008-08-07T07:53:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to take a moment to remind everyone (who bikes) that wet train tracks are slippery.

Really slippery.

Really, really, slippery.

As in, life threateningly slippery.

Even if you've crossed those tracks dozens of times before without incident.

Especially if those tracks cross the road at a sharp angle of around 45-60 degrees.

And yes, even if you ride a hybrid bike that has fatter tires.

Really.

Slippery.

...art

ps: and no, HeatherF, I did not fall. Not quite. But the bike was all over the (thankfully empty) road for about 2-3 seconds with my legs flailing about, and then I did need to pull over afterward for a few minutes and wait for my heart rate to return to normal, and for my adrenal gland to please stop producing adrenaline...

pps: Everyone, please remember to cross train tracks at a right angle, and if it's raining, maybe you should think about walking your bike across them.

The Power Of The Draft

2008-08-04T06:31:00.000-07:00

Hullo!

Time to get back in the saddle again. We were off on vacation last week at Camp Iawah where we were all very busy doing

this,

this,

this,

this too,

and this

but no biking.

Now, my bike was left in the shop when we left, where my mechanic was going to rebuild the back wheel with all new spokes - stronger ones - so that should hopefully put an end to my broke-spoke problems. I hope to pick it up tomorrow, since today is a holiday. However, Pieter had very nicely loaned me his MTB so I still had some wheels this morning. Actually his MTB is pretty light, so it's pretty comparable to my own hybrid, though a bit more bent over. It's not a perfect fit, but still does let me get out to do a ride.

Fellow-rider Scott as well as our friend Albert set out this morning to do a "short" ride of 50-60km.

(aside: Isn't it amazing how all this training has affected us? I call a 50km ride "short" now...)

Albert is a very powerful rider. He's been training in the Forest City Velodrome over the winter. (some of you riders might want to visit it when we come through London on Aug 21.) He's a bit nuts though, as he likes to take his velodrome bike out on rides like this with us --- one speed only. Only has a front brake also.

Our ride took us out the SW side of London, down Gideon Rd past Komoka Provincial park. This is the route that the C2C tour is taking into London. As we got up by the park, Albert "warned" me that he wanted to hit 60km/h on the hill. It's a big hill. I said fine, I know I'd be way in his dust on this upright bike I was riding. So I set off ahead of him. He hung back for a bit, and I pulled out quite a ways ahead. To my surprise I hit 50, which is pretty good on this hill, and even up to 55. Then Albert came and blew by me and I yelled encouragement and then yelled in surprise as my speed instantly jumped by a full 1 km/h. This was a pretty clear example of how drafting can benefit you when riding. I then pushed a bit and hit 58.2km/h which is a personal best, as far as I recall. (Albert hit 61) I don't think I can expect much better than that riding in this mostly-upright sitting position.

On the other hand, after 50km my butt hurts, and my legs aren't entirely happy either. Gotta get out these last two weeks and put in lots more km!

blessings
...art

ps: Hey riders, don't get your hopes up for that hill. On the tour, we'll be riding up it, not down. But take heart, a bit later there is another nice hill going down into London where you'll have no trouble breaking the posted speed limit of 50 km/h. (heck, if I can do it on my hybrid...)

Broken Bike, again.

2008-07-23T06:27:00.000-07:00

I was 17km into the ride this morning when I lost another spoke on the rear wheel.

I was NOT going over bumps. I was NOT going over train tracks. I was NOT going down a hill, or even going that fast, or swerving, or etc. It was a level, smooth, country road (Vanneck Rd just north of 9 Mile Rd, for the local folks) when I heard a "ping!". I stopped and found that a spoke had snapped off just below the head (where it attaches to the rim.)

I was not impressed. This is the 3rd spoke that I've lost on that wheel in the past month (since the wheel was rebuilt after the rim blowout.) I just had one fixed last week.

I'm probably going to be inquiring about replacing the entire wheel.

Anyone from Kona, Trek, or Rocky Mountain Bikes out there want to offer me a deal on a new bike?

Please?

Sigh.

On the upside I want to take a moment to recommend The Bicycle Tutor website to anyone out there who wants to work on their bike. This guy has produced dozens of brief, well done, clear, simple videos on his website that cover everything from how to lube your chain, to adjusting gears, adjusting seat height, removing wheels, and so on. Excellent resource.

I Just Don't Get Some Folks...

2008-07-19T07:12:00.000-07:00

This morning I took a pretty short ride - a 35km loop. On the way back, over the course of 15km I met three people riding along with their bike helmet dangling from their handlebars.

What's up with that?

I understand folks who choose not to ride with a helmet. I understand kids who remove their helmet once they're out of sight of Mom, or just forget to put it back on after playing at the park. But these three were adults... I'm at a loss to explain that one.

Had another odd week for training. Broke a spoke Monday, the store was too busy on Tuesday, dropped the bike off Wednesday, picked it up Thursday... so that is three days with no riding. And I had just committed myself to riding every day from now until the tour. Sigh. What can you do?

And on top of that, on Friday I did a 45km loop and my left knee/shin started giving me grief again the last 5km. Argh. My friend Pieter then loaned me his MTB to just see if a different bike/fit/etc would make a difference. I dunno. 35km this morning and all was well. I think I'll try swapping between the two bikes for the next couple days to see how things progress. (Pieter's bike has no mirror... I keep looking at my left hand out of habit, but no mirror there. Drives me nuts!)

Convenient Accident

2008-07-14T18:52:00.000-07:00

Had a minor scare on Saturday... Four of us were out west of London doing a ~110km loop. We were heading home and getting to within 20km of the end. My left shin was again complaining, which was not nice.

I crossed a double set of train tracks, and they were on the bumpy side. Suddenly there was a snap, and a clatter, and my bike seat fell out from under me. Visions of jagged metal under my ... uh seat sprang into my thoughts and I quickly took my weight on my pedals and stood up as I braked. My bike seat was on my rackpack, and the pieces that held it to the seat post were rolling around on the ground. It turns out that the bolt that holds it all in place had snapped completely in two.

But this is what cell phones were invented for, after all, so I called home to tell Heather to come and get me ..... and got our voicemail. No one there.

But hey, we know some folks from church who only live a couple km away ..... but my fellow rider Albert told me they were on vacation.

Not knowing exactly what to do, I gathered up the pieces and the four of us started cycling along slowly, as I pedaled standing up. Then came a providential surprise, as not even 200 meters down the road we passed a Honda Equipment dealer/garage that was open. We showed the guy our snapped bolt and and he quickly produced a bolt with a matching thread, and loaned me a wrench to snug it down tightly (It was just a regular bolt, not one designed for a bike, or for bike tools.)

No charge, just a smile. We are in the hands of providence! We had rolled through many, many, km of open countryside where we would have had real fun trying to solve this, but instead the breakdown happened in exactly the right place.

Biking Safety / Riding Two Abreast

2008-07-11T16:15:00.000-07:00

Biking Safety / Riding Two Abreast

Biking Safety has been on my mind a bit lately. In part this started with the accident in Manitoba (see back a few blog posts.) and our discussion with the TV news crew. But also, our experiences on various rides and our treatment by various motorists brought this to the forefront of my thoughts. In particular, my friend (and fellow C2C rider) Pieter and I have been talking a lot about this.

I'm sure all of us have had our fair share of run-ins with motor vehicles. Whether an undeserved toot on the horn, or a truck that passes too closely, or even some unkind words yelled at us... I'm sure we've all gotten some of that. It's too bad, as the vast majority of drivers do pass us with perfect courtesy, but it is the others we remember.

Last week, four of us were out on a 100km ride, on quiet paved back country roads, training for the East leg of the Sea To Sea tour. As such, we were riding two abreast. This allows us to talk and fellowship together as we ride. We were passed by a pair of motorcycles, one of whom slowed down and yelled at our lead biker that we were "all over the road".

The truth is, we weren't. We were within one lane, and in that lane we were riding on the right hand side of that lane. But we were riding two abreast.

Both Pieter and I have since put in some reading and researching and googling to find out more on this. And I thought I'd pass along some of what we found.

First off, two abreast bicycle riding is perfectly legal in Ontario.

Don't take my word for it, go to the Ministry of Transportation's Cycling Safety web pages and see for yourself. It makes no mention of a prohibition against two abreast cycling. The Can-Bike II safety course manual also makes no mention of two abreast cycling.

The ministry guide summarized bike safety like this:

Slower traffic stays right
Slower traffic must give way to faster traffic when safe and practical
"Accordingly, cyclists should ride one meter from the curb or close to the right hand edge of the road when there is no curb, unless they are turning left, going faster than other vehicles or if the lane is too narrow to share."

In other words, you are entitled to the entire lane IF you feel that your safety warrants taking it. (This is partly based on other bits and pieces I read there and in other locations, not just on the above quotation.)

Another good document on this subject was written by Avery Burdett of the Ottawa (Ontario) Bicycle Club. (Follow the link to read up on his run-ins with a police officer on this very topic.)

And one more from the Ottawa Bicycle Club here: Group Riding Introduction
In particular I found this section of that document very informative:

"The default formation is double file, changing to single file if traffic and road conditions dictate, provided that doing so does not imperil the safety of the pack. Riding double file is the traditional format for cycling groups-it permits easy conversation with other riders, uses the road space efficiently, and minimizes the overall size of each pack."

-ALSO-

"If motorists are experiencing difficulty passing the pack because of heavy and continuous traffic in the opposite direction, the pack leader will decide whether conditions merit changing to single file. The key factor is the width of the roadway or lane. It may be safer to hold up traffic if there is insufficient width for it to pass comfortably. Riding single file may not benefit either cyclists or motorists -- it doubles the length of the pack and this could make passing more hazardous because of poor sight distances." (emphasis added)

Well, lots to know. I just wish that all motorists would also be reminded of this. Especially the three drivers who honked their horns at me today, as well the two large trucks who passed me without giving me (IMHO) a safe amount of clearance.

Oh and just for our non-Ontario readers, let me add a bit more.

I also found this other document. This document is again from Ottawa (active cyclists up there, I guess) and primarily dealt with a local bylaw prohibiting two-abreast cycling, which they repealed. However, it also provided a bit of background information that covered other locations around the world.

For instance:

European countries and Australia permit two abreast cycling. The UK Highway Code states "when cycling, do not ride more than two abreast".
Eight Provinces and two territories explicitly forbid two abreast cycling. Ontario and Saskatchewan have no specific rule. (wow, lucky I live in Ontario!)
Although it was not possible in carrying out our research to obtain information on every US state law, we found that most states permit side by side cycling. Virginia is the only state known to forbid the practice. "State laws are generally based on the Uniform Vehicle Code & Model Traffic Ordinance (revised 1987) published by the US National Committee on Uniform Traffic Laws and Ordinances. It states "persons riding two abreast shall not impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic, and on a laned roadway, shall ride within a single lane".

And once again what started as a simple idea to write a short article about safety and two-abreast cycling has grown into a huge document. I hope you learned something, I know I did!

Safe Driving! (And Safe Cycling as well.)

I took this photo this morning... Bells are required by law in Ontario, but mirrors are not... curious. I think everyone should have a mirror on their bike.

Things I learned reading SeaToSea blogs...

2008-07-07T09:09:00.000-07:00

Dave Raakman, communications manager for the seatosea tour has reported that web traffic to the CRCNA web page is way up. So I know that I'm not the only one who is visiting there a lot to see the progress of the tour.

Since I don't get to join the tour until Grand Rapids, this is how I vicariously "participate" in the tour. So this is what I've learned during the past week...

David Tietsma takes a LOT of photos, and better yet, posts them on flickr for us to see.
Eritia Smit is the "fastest girl" on the tour, according to Joshua Krabbe.
Gayle Harrison likes "Wild Life".
Someone keeps forgetting to ask their hosts to turn off the sprinkler systems.
Cynthia Aukema likes riding in a pace line, but doesn't want to be the leader.
Seems like you can't avoid flat tires, but if -- no, make that when -- you do get one, odds are you'll soon have a half-dozen folks parked beside you helping. Good Samaritans abound on tour.
Lots of folks write about not being in a race and wanting to slow down and enjoy... but still I keep reading about people who are so excited to be averaging 30-40km/h (18-25mph)
Alarm clocks seem to wake up everyone else except the person who set them.
SAG vehicles are often stalked with dropjes (no word on if they've got "double-zout" or not).
It only took 6 days and already the tents are organized in "snoring" and "non-snoring" sections.
Speaking of 6 days later... 10:30pm is now considered late. Even by the 18-25s. Some folks chose bed over fireworks due to that.
ONE shopping trip to Costco by the cook staff runs $4000. No word on how many days that provides...
McDonalds has wireless internet. But it ain't free. (no Starbucks around there, folks?)
Root Beer Floats Rock.
Everyone... Everyone wanted a photo of that "no fireworks" sign in Stevens pass. (Okay, maybe it really was the elevation sign...)

On The News / On the Road

2008-07-01T12:19:00.000-07:00

(this is a two-part post...)

Part the first

Yesterday, Jun 30, the seatosea officially got going in Seattle. I wished I was there.

However, in another part of the country, there was tragedy. In western Manitoba, a quartet of cyclists who were cycling across the country to try to raise funds for Juvenile Diabetes were struck by a car, leaving 2 dead, and one still in hospital. They were on the Trans-Canada Highway (a 2 lane road, despite the name) which in that particular area has no paved shoulder.

I knew none of this at the time. Like many other people I was sitting at my computer, trying to watch the live satellite feed of the tire-dipping ceremony. I say trying, because they apparently had technical issues and there was no video. At the same time I was visiting the track-the-tour page to see their position according to the GPS unit that a cyclist is carrying each day.

Then the phone rang, and when I picked it up I was speaking with Sarah McGrath from the local A-channel evening news. She told me about the above tragedy, and as she had learned earlier about the Sea-To-Sea tour, she wanted to to talk with some other cyclists who were planning/participating-in a charity ride.

One thing led to another, and to make a long story short, in about an hour I drove out to (fellow cyclist) Pieter Pereboom's house and met Sarah there with her cameraman Jerry. We talked about the sea to sea tour, about what we knew of the safety precautions that our tour was using, as well as about the cause, and multiple other related topics. and of course, we talked about the terrible accident in Manitoba.

Despite the tragic circumstances, it was a great conversation, and some good publicity for the tour. It turns out that Sarah is herself a long distance cyclist, and while we did not convince her to join us on our planned ride the next day (more on that later) we did invite her to join us on August 21 and cycle into London from Chatham. She seemed quite interested in that -- we suggested that while she rides, they could have a camera crew driving along and filming and all that. Who knows what will come of it, but it was fun to plant the seed!

They gave us a fair bit of coverage on the 6 o'clock news, including throwing up the seatosea.org website address, which was very cool.

I do not have a digital connection to my TV, and neither did they put it up on Youtube, so you'll have to be satisfied with some snapshots that I took of the TV while I paused the tape. ;-)

Part The Second

Today is July 1, Canada Day, and a holiday here in Canada. With permission from our lovely wives, Pieter, John deVries, Mike Talsma, and I, got up early to drive a metric century.

This one:
&amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/canada/on/london/489296855"&amp;gt;London - SW to Glencoe and back&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;&amp;lt;br/&amp;gt;&amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/find-ride/canada/on/london"&amp;gt;Find more Bike Rides in London, Ontario&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;

We met up at 7am and headed SW of London. Our destination was Glencoe, a small hamlet about 55km away from us. We planned out a nice loop, on quiet paved country roads, and had a great ride on the whole.

Once in Glencoe, we turned around and came back into London using the planned route that the Sea To Sea tour will follow on August 21. And we can report that it is a pretty nice ride. There is only about 4km that is on a somewhat-busy street. All the rest of it is on nice quiet paved backcountry roads. Well done, Ed Witvoet!

I did bust a spoke at about the 40-45 km mark on the ride out. On the back wheel that I had just had fixed. I suspect that the problem was my recently removed kickstand -- I had removed it as it had gotten jammed in and bent a spoke. The wheel had a slight wobble to it after the spoke snapped, but I just wound the broken spoke around it's neighbour to keep it out of the way and we pressed on. Time to visit the bike shop again!

The total ride was about 108km for me, averaging 24 km/h(!), with a total ride time of about 4:36 in the saddle. Riding in a group sure makes the distance shorter. My left shin started acting up a bit again at the 75km mark, but didn't get too bad. I tried adjusting my cleat on that cycling shoe, perhaps that helped, as it didn't get any worse after that point.

And that's all for today. You can now go back to browsing the blogs of the riders who are already on the seatosea tour...

Finance Ponderings...

2008-06-27T09:44:00.000-07:00

Since the Sea To Sea kicks off this weekend in Seattle, it seemed a good idea to come back and revisit the issue of finances. Even though I am not joining the tour until Mid-August, I still feel that "it's really beginning" excitement.

Back in November/December of '07, when I first started down the road of fundraising, I set the goal of having my funding in place by the end of March. It seemed like a good idea at the time! I wanted to get the funding out of the way as soon as possible, so that I could then just focus on the physical training when the spring arrived.

Well, here we are in June, and the financial aspect of the ride is still ongoing.

This has been an education, of course, in so many ways. I have to keep reminding myself that this isn't about me and my fun biking trip. I've said it before: the cause is the key. I've had to humble myself a bit and admit that my earlier goal was kind of naive. I now realize that I had best be prepared to talk about this cause, and yes, fundraise, all the way through to the end of the tour.

(as an aside, all riders who are going from sea to sea were asked to raise $10,000. All riders who were going to ride just one segment of the tour were asked to raise $4,000.)

This grand project has been an education in the challenges of fundraising as well. This was all new to me, as I'm sure it was to the other riders. I really didn't think it would be as hard as it has been. And it has been hard.

So, where do we stand?

Back in the fall, 8 local riders, mostly based out of our church, formed a group and covenanted to fundraise together. And some of us, were very good at it. As a group, our goal was $50,000 to cover the commitments of each of the 8 riders. To date, we're are at about $52-53,000 which is amazing news. Praise God!

Still, not all of us have achieved our personal goals. The group may have hit the goal, but individually, most of us would still like to achieve our own individual goals. Call it a bit of pride, or competitiveness, or a DIY attitude, or just plain determination to see things through to the end.

I have raised just over $3100 toward my own goal of $4000. It would be nice to cover that before I start the tour in Mid-August... seven short weeks from now. We'll see.

Blessings,
...art

Pondering Gear Again

2008-06-21T05:37:00.000-07:00

First, let me suggest that you go and read the June 17-21 editions of the Frazz comic (direct link here to the first one)

Now...

Pondering Gear Again

Back in the fall I first pondered gear. This was my Kona Dew Deluxe as it stood back then.

Since then I've put on almost 1500km, and I should put on at least that much again before I set out to join Sea-to-Sea in late August. I have to admit that there are still times that I wish for another bike. (This one is a 60cm frame and I'd really like to try out a 62/63cm frame for the longer top tube.) However as long as I'm unemployed, that just is not an option. In the meantime I try, sometimes not very well, to practice contentment, as the Apostle Paul encouraged us. The bike does work, and let's face it, even on another bike I probably still would get a sore butt and tingly hands during a long ride.

Here is the bike as of this morning:

Since October I have made these changes:

Added another bottle cage, so I now have two. That should be enough, as there will be SAG wagons along the route with refills
Replaced the rear tire and rear rim thanks to the blowout two weeks ago. So yeah, the two don't match. (It's the same rim, but the newer model now has a "racing stripe" on it. Ditto the tire.) I try not to be vain about my bike. Gayle keeps telling me to get kevlar tires for the tour. We'll see if I replace these tires before August or not. I am only going for two weeks after all.
Replaced the cage pedals with clipless Wellgo SPD (WPD-823) pedals. I like these quite a lot. And sorry Heather F, but I have not yet fallen. I just don't seem to have any issues with getting my feet out of the pedals.
Bought myself a nice MEC rackpack for the back rack. It's smaller than the pannier that I used to ride with, but hopefully this is a bit more aerodynamic, and I do like how it is easy to find things in this long/shallow "trunk", rather than the deep/cavernous pannier. I like it a lot.
Replaced the lousy seat with a thickly padded split seat (Bontrager Sport LUX CRZ). I still get a sore butt after 10-20km. That's what breaks are for, I guess. This is where someone will tell me to get a Brooks B17, but I doubt I will.
Replaced the hand grips with tear-dropped shaped grips (Lambert Select)
Replaced the handlebar with one with another 1 to 1-1/2" of rise in them. This is harder to judge. I think it works well.
I haven't gotten rid of it yet, but the kickstand is on it's way out.

And that is where things stand.

Happy Weekend!

Good Cyclist / Bad Cyclist

2008-06-21T05:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning I went out on a 51km ride.

Just a few km from home, I'm biking down Wonderland Rd, which has a dedicated bike path alongside it. I'm biking south on the path. Coming north are a younger (Late high school? Early college?) woman and man cyclist. I met the woman first, who was riding helmetless.

Behind her came a young man, also helmetless. He was wobbling all over the bike path... because in one hand he had his cell phone out and his thumb was punching numbers and ALL his attention was directed down onto the cellphone.

I actually had to yell "Heads Up!" at him to prevent him crashing into me.

Dear Lord, I pray that we on the sea-to-sea will always bike safely, be aware, and be courteous to those around us.

Much later, I was stopped at the 25km mark on a back country road, just having a granola bar and a stretch. I pulled out my map to check on where I was going to turn back. Along came a woman on a road bike (wearing a helmet) and asking to make sure I was okay, and not lost. She even was starting to unclip as she slowed down. I reassured her that I was just stopping for a break, and she pressed on. In hindsight I wish she had stopped so we could have chatted.

Dear Lord, may we always be as polite, helpful, and solicitous of our fellow riders.

Amen, and Amen.

The Route Through London.

2008-06-18T16:59:00.000-07:00

Hello!
Today's blog posting is primarily aimed at my fellow Sea-to-Sea riders. The route through London, Ontario, follows the river valley multi-use path. I'm quite familiar with this path, but lately I've been looking at it with new eyes, now that I know that it is going to be used by the Sea To Sea tour. I have to say, that I think there are a few confusing places on this path, and areas that really do not have great signage.

So, today I started at the SW edge of London, and biked the entire river valley path from one end to the other, and took several photos along the way. I present this here for the cyclists to have a look at. Hopefully when you get to London, this will now look a little bit more familiar.

(Alternatively, you could just make sure you ride into London with one of the locals. There are over 9 riders from the London area on the tour!)

The Sea To Sea Route through London

We will enter London along Byron Baseline Rd, a nice mostly-downhill ride along a secondary city road. Then a left turn onto North St, and another steeper coast downhill brings you to the main gates of Springbank Park.

Enter the main gates and pass not one, not two, but THREE streets heading off to the right. Just head toward the river and turn right onto the bike path when there is no where else to go -- the THIRD right, by the way. (The "wrong way" sign is for cars, not cyclists!)

You are now on the Thames Valley Parkway -- a Multi-Use pathway.

Watch out for pedestrians, joggers, strollers, people with strollers, public works trucks, and most of all... Geese. The Canada Geese yield to no one. There are long smooth stretches, and sections that have blind corners and sharp turns. There are sections where roots have produced bumps in the path, and other areas where it is pretty narrow. But there are NO CARS! Still, I wouldn't recommend racing along it too quickly.

As I mentioned previous, I find that it is not tremendously well signed. A few times you might find puzzling forks in the path.

I think that in almost all instances what will work is this: If in doubt, stick close to the river, and keep heading east.

After a while you will come to your first of many paths under a bridge, such as this.

The river path moves from Springbank park to Greenway park as it heads toward downtown. After Greenway park the path makes an abrupt left turn and tunnels under a rail line

Now, don't panic here, as the path appears to end and dumps you onto a city street. There is a 2 block break in the path due to an older neighbourhood bordering the river which must predate the path. Just do like I suggested and stick close to the river (keep turning left) Oh, and follow the nice signs! (This is one spot where there are good signs.)

and you'll be back on the path in two blocks. The path starts again right by the London Children's museum. If you really want to take a break and explore, feel free.

Just a little bit more and you will be passing the HMCS Prevost on the right, which is a Navy installation.

And on the opposite side is your first bridge to cross. This is a bike/pedestrian bridge)

This bridge dumps you out at the Fork of the Thames. So named because the river Thames forks here. (Surprise!) The North Thames continues north but DO NOT FOLLOW IT! The main Thames continues East, which is our direction. The river valley multi-use path goes in both directions.

This park is right on the SW corner of downtown. There is a play park, and a spray pad about 50 meters North, if you need to cool down. (and even better: public restrooms). A short detour north would bring you to First Christian Reformed Church. If you need some work done, there are also 3 or more bike stores within 2-3km of this park.

But let us press on. We need to turn RIGHT to follow the river east, but to do so, you follow a cloverleaf in the path which first goes LEFT ...

... and then proceeds under the bridge and on along the river.

Hang on, I think an aerial shot from google maps would be a help here:

There, I hope that clears things up.

Less than 100 meters down the path, the path goes under a train trestle bridge. The bridge or the trains must shed a lot of dirt, because it is always dirty here. The city has gone so far as to build a roof over the path, but the path is still always partly covered in dirt. SLOW DOWN.

And the path continues along the river. There are several more bridges that we go under, and at times the path is narrow and winding.

There is one place where the path stops and crosses the street.

The path also crosses the river twice - it first switches to the south side of the river, and then crosses back to the north. In both situations you first hit a sort of cloverleaf, and then merge with the sidewalk to cross the bridge, before continuing onward on the other side of the river.

There are still a few more km of winding path ahead, but there is only one more little trick to watch out for. Near the end of the path, but not quite, the path appears to abruptly stop at a road. If you turn right, you see an old bridge. DO NOT TAKE THE BRIDGE.

Rather, you jog right about 5-10 meters and the path continues.

Here is an aerial shot from google maps.

And that is about all. The path comes to an end beside a "off leash dog park". If you cycle up the hill you'll be at Hamilton Rd.

Turn right, cycle a few kilometers and then left on Braesyde to end the day at the London District Christian Secondary School.

-----

Things to keep in mind:
You can view the route for this day online at mapmyride

Also the satellite photo on maps.google.ca was recently updated and is very high resolution, so you can also go there to scrutinize the path through the river valley.

Darn Bike, Goes Boom!

2008-06-05T11:32:00.000-07:00

When you live on the NW side of a city, a largish city that is, then a SE wind is a pain in the neck for a cyclist. I can either go West or NW, like I usually do, and then have to fight the wind on the way home (ugh), or if I want to go SE then I have to cross the city to do so. (ugh again.)

Still, the wind is usually not too bad in the morning, so I headed a bit west in the river valley, then south past Hwy 402, and then East for a while, before heading North towards the center of the city -- though on quieter roads, and getting off onto the River valley bike trail as soon as possible. (Here is a map, for future reference, I may ride it again some time.)

But at the 36km mark, "disaster" struck.

I was zooming along the bike path, and there was a sudden small bump and a hiss. I was certain that my back wheel had picked up a leaf, which was now stuck under the mudguard and rubbing. I've had that happen several times before. But when I looked down a moment later the rear tire was flat.

Fortunately, I was right at a park (Fork of the Thames, if you want to know), and so I walked my bike up to a park bench to set about changing the tube. I was dreading this, as I've got very tall rims on my Kona, and I find them very tough for removing the tires. It's always a struggle.

But when I examined the tire I first found a small 1/4" long slit/cut in the tread. And next I found this:
Yes that is a HOLE in my rim, right under that spoke. Here, have a closer look:

And then I found more damage:

So... did I hit something? Maybe, but there is no hard evidence - no nail or thorn did I find. Or maybe the rims just failed. It doesn't really matter. I dropped the bike off at my local trusted shop and he's going to work his magic on it... It was time for a tuneup anyway. I recently put new handlebars on, with a bit more rise to them, so I need new cables as well.

So, it looks like no riding for me this weekend.

[Later Edit: (much later) The title of this post refers to an obscure story I came across years ago about a Gorilla that had been taught some sign language. After an earthquake, the gorilla reacted by communicating ""Darn darn floor bad bite." And for some reason it sprang to mind when I sat down to write this.]

Things I Learned Today...

2008-06-03T04:44:00.001-07:00

Today I learned that yes, I actually can hear my cellphone ringing on a bike ride, even when it is behind me packed in my rackpack.

I was about 25-30km into a "quick" two hour/40km morning ride when Gayle called. She wanted me to join her and Pieter on a ride out to Grand Bend and back... Grand Bend is about 70km from my house, so 140km round trip.

There were several calls back and forth and the upshot was that I finished my ride home (44.75km) and took a one hour break while waiting for Pieter and Gayle to get themselves organized and call me. No, we were not going to Grand Bend, as that was too far... I didn't think I was ready to make the jump to a 180km day!

Instead we decided to run out to Ailsa Craig and back --- more or less this ride, but not starting from the church. The wind was west-ish and supposed to come around to the North-west, which would perfectly suit this ride.

And so around 10-10:30 the 3 of us set off. It was a gorgeous day - clear blue skies with some puffy clouds here and there, temps in the low 20s and heading towards a high of 27c in London, a mild west wind, and beautiful countryside.

First time I've ever started a ride with an already-sore backside... :-) Today I Learned that you can start a (lengthy) bike ride while already a bit tired, and still work through it and do well.

From my house, Ailsa Craig is about 30-40km, so I knew that I was getting myself in for another century ride. That's okay, as I do need to work myself up to that. The route is a nice back country road, all paved roads, and mostly quiet. I love a ride through the country when we can cycle side-by-side and talk and enjoy the day together.

In total I rode 44km plus 76km, so 120km for the day. Today I Learned that a century ride can be a lot more pleasant than it was on that ride back-n-forth to Exeter. I was actually feeling not too much pain when we passsed the century mark.

Today was also my first really lengthy ride with my new clipless pedals. And Today I Learned that my shins can really, really, hurt... I knew I would need to develop new muscles with these new pedals, but maybe I should have done an 80km day or two before jumping to 120. A mild ache started in my left leg around the 80-85km mark, and got gradually worse. Fortunately it was only one of my legs that was hurting, as my other leg gave me the most of the oomph those last 15km home. The sore leg was okay as long as I kept gently pedaling. The stopping and going was worse. Still, when I dismounted in the garage at home, my leg told me, very loudly, that it was not at all pleased with me. I rested with it on ice for a half hour and then took two ibuprofen... and the rest of the evening was much better. Today I Learned that aggressive treatment of a minor injury like this can dramatically shrink the recover time.

Oh yeah, and once again the weatherman was not to be trusted as the wind mostly stayed in the west, maybe WNW, so the ride home wasn't quite as easy as it should have been.

I think that is about all. The final Today I Learned segment is that deciding to write a blog with cutesy theme like this Today I Learned bit, can be hard to write and sometimes reads weird. Oh well, next time I'll think of something else...

blessings

...art

PS: Today I learned that sunscreen really should be re-applied after a few hours, and that I need to be a bit more careful how I lay it on my calves to get full coverage... oops

Gear Tweaks... Gear Headaches...

2008-05-28T11:56:00.000-07:00

Back when I signed up for C2C I kind of vaguely knew that I'd need to spend some money on gear, but I really had not shopped around to find out what good bike gear costs, and how much I might need. So I did get a bit of sticker shock back then once I started looking around.

Since then I've tried to be cautious on expenditures. Each time I've wanted to be sure that I needed what I was getting, rather than just "wanting the new bling-bling!" So, for instance, I've been making do with just one pair of cycling shorts. As such, I could train, but I had to do wash every time I came home. But it did save me some money for a while, and I did get some experience in those shorts, so that now I better know what I need. So now that I've got a bunch of riding under my belt, so to speak, I know that I need riding shorts in order to make 100km days, and more than that, I need good riding shorts with good padding in them.

So, end of the introduction.

Monday I had an errand to run near Toronto, so I asked around and Pieter and Gayle also had the time and inclination, so they joined me on a road trip to MEC! (To my American Friends: MEC is Mountain Equipment Co-Op, which is an awesome outdoor equipment store. Good Gear, Good Help, Good Prices.)

Along the way we stopped at the (Canadian) CRC headquarters in Burlington to pick up a couple boxes of the C2C Devotional. While there we got to meet and chat with Al Karsten and Terry Veldboom, who are also C2C riders. Now, none of us were on bikes, so it wasn't a perfect meeting, but it still was nice to chat with them for a few minutes.

I picked up some shoes and Wellgo clipless pedals. I've been making do with my toe-strap pedals up until now. I'm used to them, and they do work better than plain pedals. And like I said above, I wanted to be cautious about expenditures on gear. However, I'd become more and more convinced of the usefulness of clipless pedals. In particular, while other riders were complaining about their backside after a long ride, I usually had throbbing upper thighs, which a few people told me were due to how my muscles were being used on those old pedals.

So yesterday, I set about changing my pedals. Or at least I tried to. The old pedals wouldn't budge off of the crank arms for all the beef in China. And yes, I do know that the threads on the one side are opposite to normal. I tried and tried. All I did was start to round over the nuts. So I called up John Vandersteen, 2005 C2C veteran, all around bike gear head, and very helpful gentleman to boot. He also made sure that I was turning the nut the right direction... but agreed to swing by today.

John couldn't get them off either. We tried penetrating oil. We tried a propane torch to heat up the metal. We tried wacking with a hammer. And finally resorted to pulling out the drill and trying to drill out the rust-seized old bolt.

No go.

So off I went to my local bike shop, tail between my legs. And there my grinning bike tech Brian had them out in less than 5 minutes. See, Brian had two things that I didn't. First, a metalworking vise on a solid bench. Second, a pipe wrench. (He couldn't get it off with a standard pedal wrench either.)

Okay folks, here in London I highly recommend Brian, owner of Cyclepath on Richmond steet as a stellar person/store to do business with.

Hmm, this is getting long. No matter.

So I got things back home and put the bike back together -- the chain needed cleaning anyway -- and at last I could install my new pedals (Wellgo WPD-823 by the way)

This is the point where you start falling. At least, that's what I've been warned to expect. Only, I didn't. Getting OUT of the pedals is not any problem at all for me. Getting IN, though, is still a struggle. I think that is just going to take some time to instinctively know where to position the shoe to get the front of the clip in before stepping down. But not to worry, I'm sure that I will fall sooner or later...

and that's enough for now.
blessings all.

More on that Century + distance to date

2008-05-23T16:18:00.000-07:00

Here's another photo from that century ride on Monday.

L-R we have Gayle (c2c), Peter (Sag driver GR-NJ), Rita (Denver-NJ), John (GR-NJ), John (c2c), Pieter (GR-NJ), Art (GR-NJ), Ralph (c2c), Cynthia (c2c), Mike (GR-NJ), Peter (c2c).

But we need a bit more explanation of that pose. Our church parking lot has just a bit of trouble with drainage after a heavy rain, so we sometimes end up with a "lake" in the parking lot. Now, since we were a bunch of C2C riders heading out that morning, we all thought that we should "dip our tires in the lake" before setting out. Considering that half of us aren't going to be at the initial tire dipping in Seattle, this seemed like a good idea.

----------

Now about distance to date. Back in October, I received a Bike Computer for my birthday, which I promptly installed on my bike and started to use as part of my training. Now, I don't remember when, but within a few weeks I had reason to fully reset the gizmo (I forget why), and I really didn't do that much training in the fall anyway (a few 40km rides at most). So most of the distance that I've covered so far as been this spring.

I just had a peek at my Odometer on the bike computer and it reads 1170km (727 miles, for my less metrically inclined readers).

Now, I haven't really been tracking my rides in my organizer or any sort of a chart, so I really don't know how all those km have been gained. However, I'm willing to bet that half of that was in the past 4 weeks, which is when I started to put in some more longer distance rides.

The whole trip, for me, in August, will be about 1200km, so I've almost covered that in my training. It will be interesting to see how much distance I cover between now and August 17. I gather that there are some guidelines out there from the C2C organizers as to how much distance you "should" cover in your training, but I haven't looked it up. Did they do that for us partial distance riders as well? Hmm.

Busy weekend ahead here, so I don't think I'll do a big ride this weekend. I'm thinking about a 2hr loop tomorrow morning, if I can make myself get up and out there by 7am.

blessings all!

ps: Going to MEC in Toronto on Monday, got a big shopping list, please pray for my wallet... ;-) Seriously, I think perhaps that shoes and clipless pedals are going to come home with me. Time to move up from these cage/clip pedals.

Joining the club

2008-05-20T05:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a big deal. Here in London we arranged for a group ride on the holiday monday. Eleven brave people showed up under a gray sky, with forecasts of 20kph winds with gusts well over 30. Not to mention the 20% chance of rain -- make that 100% as we'd already been sprinkled upon. Oh yeah, and it was 7am.

All in all, not really a fair weather day.

(L-R: John, John, Cynthia (in the van) Ralph, Mike, Pete)

(L-R: Rita, Pete)

But off we went, heading north out of the city. 28km later we were all enjoying a break at the Tim Hortons in Lucan, trying to warm up our toes -- we'd been sprinkled upon for 1/3-1/2 of the ride so far, and most of us had very cold toes.

This was when the trap was sprung. I'd been anticipating an 80km or so day. And with the weather as it was, I was beginning to think that 60-70 would be good enough.

But suddenly I find myself among a group of people who are deciding that they want to make a century. (one-zero-zero kilometers!? In this wind!?) And off we went further north to Exeter and another Tim Hortons. It was a conspiracy, I'm convinced. I blame P and J. (given that there were three Peters/Pieters and two Johns on the ride, that's nice and vague. But they know who they are!)

By this point it became clear that we were not going to be done by noon, as I had expected -- in truth, as we had "promised" everyone when we advertised this ride on the sea-to-sea forum. But around 11am there we were, at the 51.5km mark! I took a moment to call my wife to apologize in advance for the fact that I would NOT make it home by noon.

As a side note, both of these stops in Tims were interesting for the mini-publicity. There was a reasonably large crowd in both places. And before we left, a good number of them knew that we were training for a cross-continent ride. It was fun to spread the news, and get some kind words of encouragement.

The ride home was supposed to be a cakewalk, as the weather forecast had the wind switching from NW to N. But it didn't, really. The wind was definitely strong, and it was far better than when we'd gone north, but I found that it was still mostly a cross wind, gusty, coming over my right shoulder and sometimes just directly from the West, as I pedaled homeward.

And so I joined the century club -- 100km. I made it home a touch before 2, so overall that was 7 hours from start to finish. But I don't recall when we exactly left. My computer reported an average of 20kph by the end, so that would be roughly 5hrs of actual pedalling.

All in all, it was a lousy day for biking -- cold, rainy, windy, gusty, did I mention cold? (I had 4 layers up top, plus gloves, and never felt like removing them.) But John Vandersteen, a veteran of the 2005 ride, passed along this interesting observation: If we made it today, we'll manage the C2C. The weather today was the worst we'd likely see on the tour, so if we made it today, we'll make it then.

And THAT is some nice encouragement after all!

----------

Here's the route map on mapmyride.com, if you're curious. Not my favourite so far - not because of the weather. I just prefer quieter country roads so that you have the option to cycle side by side and have more of a community feel. These roads, on the whole, were just too busy to do that.

putting in the klicks...

2008-05-10T12:37:00.000-07:00

Well, I've still got 15 weeks to go, but I still need to work on my fitness and distance. I'm trying to make sure I put in at least two long (ish) rides a week, and one of them in a group.

Monday I took a long ride with fellow riders Ralph and Pieter. We were going to head North, but the wind was from the Southwest, so we changed to a southwest route. We headed about 40 klicks SW towards Glencoe (got about halfway there) and then came back pretty much the same way.

Well, I've gotten so that a 35km ride is no big deal, but an 80km ride still is some effort! I find that my upper front thighs are where I ache the most afterwards.

Wednesday I did one of those "short" 35km rides solo, and Saturday morning I managed the time for another group ride. Again, just Pieter and Ralph this time. This time we elected to head East and then North. The wind was supposed to be from the North, but at first it was East-ish, so this was a good choice. We headed from church south first, and took the river trail system, which neatly avoids all the downtown issues. The trail pavement is a bit rough in spots, but it beats dealing with stoplights and traffic. East of the city we took Gore rd, which is moderately quiet, and then looped north in Thamesford where Ralph told us all about the history of the Cold Springs farm (he worked there 40 years) and we had a nice break at the Tim Hortons.

Then it was north and into the wind, a hard slog for about 9km directly north to Kintore. Very scenic area along the river just north of Thamesford, I must say. From Kintore it was west, with relief from that headwind, towards Thorndale. Another short break at a micro-park in Thorndale where a confused young squirrel tried to get into my Pannier, and then climbed both my leg and Pieter's leg - more than once! I suspect it lost it's mom and didn't know what to do. Still, it's non-fear of humans was surprising.

The last 20 klicks is always hard. Ralph left us at Clarke Rd to head home, while Pieter and I jumped one block north to 8 mile road to get away from the traffic.

All in all, another 80km under my belt, though Pieter probably made it closer to 100km, with his further ride in and out from his place in the country.

Oh yeah, and I started playing around with mapmyride.com and so I drew in a few routes. Here is this one, sort of: (I didn't follow it all the way back to the church, none of us did, but I drew the route that way to make it a full loop.)
FIRST CRC - east to Thamesford, North to Kintore, then back.
Find more Bike Rides in London, Ontario

Ouch, my thighs. Took an Epsom salt bath, but they're still sore. Bless my wife who made us bacon and eggs for lunch right after I got home!

ttfn,

the hill

2008-05-02T09:34:00.001-07:00

Hey folks,

Did a quick 25km loop this morning, visited this nasty hill for the 2nd time. This time I remembered to bring a camera with me.

Oxford St west past London city limits. (actually I'm looking back east) A bit of an overcast morning, rain is likely on the way.

I think I'm under the limit...

Stopped about 1/8-1/4 of the way up the hill and looked back...

and forward...

First, I don't recommend stopping partway on a hill. Makes it hard to get going again.

Second, I need to work on my camera skills as these photos don't really convey just how steep this hill is on the bike. How do you estimate hill steepness anyway? I think it was like a 4:12 roof pitch at least.

Happy Friday!

"You don't spit, into the wind..."

2008-05-01T08:49:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was a crazy windy day here in London. There was a strong wind coming from the north.

I went out in the morning, but my heart wasn't it in, and I "only" did a short 20km loop.

But late in the afternoon, fellow rider Pieter called on the spur of the moment and asked if I'd like to bike home with him. He lives 15km directly north of me. So we slogged north into this nasty headwind. I took 55 minutes to cover those 15km. Ow. Ow. Ow. At times it felt like a walking pace as the wind buffeted us down to 12 km per hour. Trucks driving south were particularly unwelcome, as the wind of their passing just made it worse.

When we reached Pieter's house, we had some tea and cookies and relaxed for a half hour. Then came the fun as I hopped on my bike to head back home alone. Pieter was sure I'd make stellar time, and wanted me to call him as soon as I got home. So my ride alone wasn't quite alone; it felt like Pieter was on my shoulder the whole way pushing me. (I may be reasonably healthy, but I have NEVER been an athlete.) Ever time I thought of just relaxing and coasting home, I could "hear" Pieter encouraging me.

And it was a lot of fun. The wind at my back was exhilarating. I was averaging 29.8 kph up until I hit the edge of the city. Then the rush hour traffic and stop lights knocked my average down to 27.5 kph overall. The trip that took us 55 minutes going north, was completed in 17 and a half minutes going south. My thighs were burning, but it was a fun accomplishment.

[EDITED MUCH LATER: And much later of course I realized that this didn't make any sense whatsoever. I must have read my computer wrong and didn't do the math properly, since even at 30km/h it would work out to about 30 minutes, not 17. Mea Culpa]

Short ride, Morning ride...

2008-04-26T12:03:00.000-07:00

Thursday morning I checked the forecast and the Friday/Saturday forecasts had rain, and I felt like getting out, so I hopped on my bike early and was out the door around 7:15/7:30am.

I "only" did 34km, but it was fun, and interesting to see how it felt compared to the 74km I did last week. I also found a really nasty hill, which I'll have to ride again sometime, as it's good training, no doubt.

And again I realized that I should bring a camera so that I can snap some pix and make these blog posts a lot more interesting.

I wasn't happy with my bike seat, and so just to try it out I "stole" the padded + sprung seat from my wife's bike a few weeks back. So far I'm liking it quite a bit. It bounces a bit, which I think helps hide the fact that my bike has no suspension. And that 34km ride felt pretty good on my backside compared to when I did such a ride last fall.

The other discovery I made, which is kind of obvious in hindsight, was how much you can accomplish if you just get out there a bit early. 7:15 isn't even that early to get on the road. I was home just after 9:30am, had a 2hr ride behind me, 34km done, and the day was still wide open ahead of me!

ttfn
...art

Milestone: 70+km

2008-04-18T11:18:00.000-07:00

Hey folks,

Today I went on a group ride with 3 other cyclists from here in London. It was a pretty good mix -- one guy was definitely a faster cyclist, one was self-admittedly slower, and two others sort of in the middle.

Total distance was about 72km, which is longer than I've ever gone before. Much to my surprise, my hands and my rear feel no worse than when I've done a 30-40km ride. (and my back and everything else is fine.)

Our average was only 18.9 kph, but that is okay. Today was more about being able to go the distance, than about how fast we did. Max for today was 51.8 kph, which was faster than I've ever clocked myself, quite fun!

I really must endorse the idea of group training rides, and I encourage everyone out there to do so. It makes the distance pass quicker, and the breaks are more enjoyable. Definitely the way to go. In miniature, we were thinking that this was also somewhat what things will be like on the actual tour this summer.

Blessings!
...art

Snappy Comebacks...

2008-04-07T16:45:00.001-07:00

This past week there has been a lively discussion on the cyclist forum about "Why A Bike Ride". Discussing sort of the meta- question as to why are we going on a bike ride, and how does that help, and why not just raise some money and so on.

There was a lot of good and heartfelt discussion about how to address people when they ask that very valid question.

This post is not about that.

No, this post is about the very nice snappy comeback that my friend passed along to me today. I wonder if I'd have the nerve to use this, when next I get asked this question.

It goes something like this: "Look: I could go on umpteen different vacations this summer, and spend about the same amount of money (or more, even) that I'm spending on my bike and gear and so on... and it wouldn't make a lick of difference to anyone in the world."

Okay, maybe I do need to get a bit serious. Sure, all the cyclists are raising a bunch of money each as part of this bike tour. But the critic would suggest that we could still donate more, if we didn't spend all this other money on our bikes and gear, and the tour itself. So wouldn't that make more sense?

We say no, because Raising Awareness, is also very important. Some have argued that it is even more important. We've already seen cyclists being profiled in the media, which is having a wider impact. And when the tour itself goes on, you can bet that we're going to see lots of local media checking out what the heck all these cyclists are doing. And that, again, will have a wider ranging public impact.

I believe that doing the bike tour, is going to have a lot more impact than if we had all just gone out quietly and donated $4000 (or $10,000 for the full-distance cyclists) to charity.

Back in the saddle?

2008-03-26T12:30:00.000-07:00

Quickie update... did 10km just now. Nothing to brag about, I know. But it's been 3 months since I was on my bike, minimum. First came winter, and then re-injuring my back. Today was sunny (+4c) and the roads are pretty clear, so I purposefully set out on a very short ride, just to see how things go. Out to the grocery store, picked up a few things, and then home. No great distance, but the legs and back feel fine, which is great news.

Now to start ramping up the distance.

ttfn!

Ups and Downs

2008-02-20T03:55:00.000-08:00

Hi folks,

Bad news first... I (re-)injured my back. Back in April I injured my back for the first time. Thanks to a bulging disk that was pressing my S1(?) nerve going to my right leg I was off work for 3 weeks and a further 3 weeks on reduced hours. Medication and exercise took care of it then.

Well, earlier this month, while shoveling snow I strained my back, so I was in pain again. This time it was only for about 4-5 days. Unfortunately, just over a week later (Monday Feb 11), I forgot myself when lifting something, and did it again. In both cases it was a bending/lifting situation. Lifting vertically I can do, but when bending over and then exerting myself, that's the bad kind of lifting.

This time, my sciatica (the bulging disk) flared again, and 9 days later I'm still dealing with it. Mornings and days are pretty good. Early evening is when the pain starts to be worse. It is just like last spring, though thankfully in a reduced way, so I know I just need to work on my exercises, take it easy, and wait for the swelling/inflammation to subside.

Still, it is frustrating. I'm angry with myself for doing that lifting. I feel like I let my wife down. And I feel semi-guilty, since "obviously" I wasn't exercising enough to strengthen my back. I know, I know, not all of those are true or valid -- sometimes things happen for reasons which we just can't forsee, and we may never know why (in this life). But the emotions are still there.

All I can do now is press on and do what I can.

On the upside, this week marks the 1/4 mark for me in fundraising. Yesterday I wrote another series of 22 letters to go out, to another group of contacts that I have not yet approached. Also, our London group (we are working together on fundraising) has more ideas and energy to move forward. I'm confident we're going to make it.

And look at the tour overall! 211 cyclists! Wow, Praise God. 129 going sea to sea, and 82 going part way. Do the math, that is a big chunk of change going to poverty issues! (I figure somewhere in the neighbourhood of 1.5mil)

I'm also really curious as to just what kind of PR we're going to get this summer. A bike tour this size has got to attract a lot of interest and curiousity. That is something to look forward to as well.

And I'd better wrap this up. Blessings, all!

Not A Real Post...

2008-01-29T04:49:00.000-08:00

Hi folks,

On the one hand, I get frustrated by folks who don't post to their blogs regularly. And so, I must apologize for my tardiness in posting. But on the other, I don't see much value in blogs full of nothing. And so, the reality is I haven't had much to write about!

It's been a slow month, as far as tour preparation. I try to get on the treadmill 2-3 times a week, and I continue to do my back strengthening/limbering exercises. But I haven't been on the bike at all, this month.

I have had some donations rolling in, which is great to see.

I also had to make a drive into Toronto last week, which gave me a great excuse to stop by MEC (Mountain Equipment Co-Op) and go shopping. I got myself some more gear at a good price. (Long cycling tights, cycling jacket, chain cleaning tool, cotton sleeping bag liner, and a sleeping pad - MEC equivalent to a therm-a-rest.) I still will need to pick up a tent in the spring, unless I borrow one from somewhere.

I am curious as to how many people use actual cycling jerseys (shirts) versus just plain cotton T-shirts. Do you really find it makes that big a difference?

thats all for now,
...art

Giving and Getting

2008-01-01T10:35:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to anyone out there! I hope you enjoy the time spent reading through my blog.

We still have a few months before the weather turns mild enough to focus on outdoor training. So for the next few months our focus will be more on fundraising to meet our goals.

I don't like asking people for money. Do you?

I suspect that most of us don't. I've considered, at times, what a career in development (ie: Fundraising at hospitals/colleges) would be like for me, and I'm sure that the first few times you ask someone for a significant donation would be tough. Like all gifts and skills I'm sure that it requires plenty of practise.

But regardless, fundraising is part of what all of us have committed to doing for this tour. (Hmm, I digress, but it occurs to me that by the time the summer rolls around we will have over 150 people who have learned a lot about fundraising. I wonder if that will lead to any career changes for people involved in this tour?) Therefore, last month, I sent out my first handful of fundraising letters. It was not easy to write those letters. But the next set -- which went out with our Christmas letters -- was a bit easier. Now comes another part of fundraising, the waiting for a response.

That response will itself be a new experience. Receiving gifts can itself be tough ... even humbling. Last month I received my first donation update from Sea-To-Sea HQ and I found myself stunned to see a donation listed from people I didn't even know. I've put donation links here on my blog, and in other locations, and told people about my tour. So on an intellectual level I knew that this could happen. And of course, I was hoping it would. But still... seeing for the first time a response like that was quite something. (Dave and Marcella, thank you SO much! Maybe I'll get to meet you someday.)

I've also been delighted to receive some tour-related gifts from friends and family. These will also help me a great deal in preparing and undertaking this trip.

Best Wishes for January 2008!

5700 km - but not on a bike

2007-12-12T16:54:00.000-08:00

I've traveled over 5700km since my last blog update. Unfortunately, none of it on a bike. In fact, nothing much bike- or sea-to-sea related has happened in the past few weeks. But, blogs that don't get updated aren't much good, so I thought I'd best take a moment to post some news.

As I said, we've covered over 5700 km, but not on a bike.

Just over a month ago I received the not-exactly-unexpected news that my job was being eliminated. Thanks in part to a merger, and in part to grants not being renewed, the lab where I have been employed the past 9 years just couldn't afford to keep their entire IT staff, and so I was let go.

As I said, it wasn't entirely unexpected, and my wife and I had been planning that when the time came we would take the family on a nice long adventure of a trip to get away from things and have a nice break. We homeschool our kids, so that was not an issue. We drove south, visited Mammoth cave, then Panama City Beach in the Florida Panhandle, then Kissimmee (and yes, Disney and Kennedy), and then back north via friends in North Carolina, arriving home today 18 days and 5700 km later.

Hmm, there seems to be snow on the ground now... uh-oh.

In the coming weeks I hope to get back into some form of training, depending on the weather, as well as focus on seeking donations to support the sea-to-sea cause.

In the meantime, greetings to all. And if anyone knows of a company in Southwest Ontario (London preferred) who could use an IT Manager/Tech Manager (Systems/Server management) who is a talented communicator, a creative problem solver, and a insightful researcher, do let me know.

blessings,

Passport Time...

2007-11-21T09:04:00.000-08:00

It isn't -- yet -- mandatory to have a passport to enter the US at a surface crossing. It is for air travel, and supposedly it soon will be for surface crossings as well. Consequently, all Canadian passport offices are reportedly buried under applications. I've heard stories of 90 minute waits.

The seatosea tour next summer will be crossing the border twice, and even though passports are not yet mandatory, HQ has stated on their cyclist guidelines that all cyclists must have a passport.

(ours is not to reason why ... )

My own passport was long expired, so it was time to get another one. As I visited the Passport website, I discovered that they had an option for an on-line application. You still had to bring paperwork in person to a passport office, but most of your information is already in their
computers since you filled it in on-line. They just need to scan the barcode of your application, and verify the information of your guarantor (and check your IDs and take payment...).

But the number one most important thing about the on-line application option, is that when you bring your paperwork to the passport office for filing, you get to go into a "special" line up, which moves quicker.

Today, I got around to dropping off my own application at the office. I got there around 11:30 am, on a Wednesday, and the office must have had about 50 people in the waiting room. (No, I'm not making that up!) As I entered the room, with dismay, a guard approached me and checked my form and then issued me a number (F937) and told me to sit down watch the board under the "F" and wait.

I had barely sat down and found the sign board when I saw my number pop up, and I was called up to see an agent.

My jaw was on the floor. I was done and out the door maybe five minutes after entering the office. The agent was joking about me "feeling the eyes" of everyone else in the waiting room who I'd just skipped past.

The Group is Growing...

2007-11-16T05:48:00.000-08:00

One of the many factors that encouraged me to take up this cycling and fund raising challenge was the knowledge that I would not be alone in this.

First of all, we have the SeaToSea Headquarters helping us with logistics, planning, support and much more more. And of course, there will be all the other cyclists who are cycling. When the actual ride takes place, I know I'll be surrounded by all kinds of encouragement and other group dynamics. And I trust that I'll be providing that to my fellow riders as well.

But sooner than that, and closer to home than that, are the other local cyclists.

Here in London at my home church we have a group of cyclists planning to cycle all or part of the trip. Yet we have also come together now, to plan and work together with all the fund raising, as well as the bike training that we need to do. We call ourselves the "Peddles and Prayers" group. (We also have several non-cyclists in the group, who are helping immensely!)

For myself it was the existence of this group that helped me make my own decision to join this tour. The thought of all that bike training -- hours and hours alone in the saddle -- as well as all that fund raising that we are expected to do ... well I can see how it would seem intimidating. But with a supporting group of people around you, it doesn't seem like such a daunting task.

Gayle was the first, and John soon after that. Then came Scott and Pieter. And then myself. Wow, five cyclists, that's a big group. But that wasn't all. We now have Mike, who joined a couple weeks ago, and just a few days ago Ralph signed up.

And then there were SEVEN.
(However, unlike in that familiar Agatha Christie mystery novel, our numbers have been going up!)

So, Kirsten, are you going to make it eight?

Ow, my bum hurts!

2007-11-03T13:56:00.000-07:00

How do you guys manage it?

I just got back from a 2hr ride. 41.5 km. It was a slightly larger loop than last week. This time I went west on Oxford St out of town until it hit Vanneck, and then north and pretty much the same as last weekend.

Oxford St West is, I think, a pretty good road for training. It has 3 long hills as you leave town, which is a good workout I suspect. I think they're all at least a half km long incline, maybe longer.

But I digress. My hands are hurting again, but my butt is hurting worse. How do you long distance riders manage this? When I started down this road, I wondered if my back would force me to consider getting a recumbent bike for the tour, but maybe it'll be my backside that casts the deciding vote.

ttfn.
...art

A Square Loop

2007-10-29T07:27:00.000-07:00

I was aiming for a 2hr ride yesterday afternoon, but for various reasons (**) I didn't get going
as early as I would have liked, and the wind was more than a bit irritating (Chilly).

I headed NW, so I was into the wind on the way out. West on Gainsborough, and then North on Vanneck. I stoped at 9mile rd and had a granola bar, called Heather, and headed home. East on 9Mile road, and then south on Wonderland. Almost a perfect square, if you look at the map.

Total run: about 34km, 1:40 elapsed biking time.
The wind makes a fair difference. I was about 10 minutes quicker coming home than going out. I averaged just a hair under 20kph overall, again thanks to the wind. On the way out I was lucky to get above 19, but on the way home it was much nicer, even hit 30 on one of the little dips along 9Mile road. I like those quiet country roads. No traffic to worry about.

The bike was fine, though I really need to get in for a tuneup, as the rear deraileur needs some adjustment. But my hands were tingling a fair bit, despite my padded gloves. That's something I need to watch.

...art

** The "various reasons" would be the 3 year old, an empty room, and a blue sharpie. 'nough said.

Motivations and Money, oh my.

2007-10-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

So why am I doing this?

When the 2005 sea-to-sea (within Canada) trip was announced, I thought it was a bit of a goofy idea. Then the trip actually started, and I started reading about the incredible adventure these people were having. That's when I realized I was missing out on something big.

So when this 2008 tour was announced, I was intrigued. But I really didn't think I could take the time to do so. My wife and I have four young kids (aged 3-10) and leaving them for 9 weeks just wasn't going to happen.

Fast forward to early September. At our Church picnic my friend Gayle -- who is doing the full nine week tour -- encouraged me to consider riding part of the trip. (at the time, they were offering the option of just riding 1/3 of the trip, three weeks). Within the hour, my
friend (and pastor) Pieter also said that he thought I should do the trip.

That is the first time that I seriously considered it, and so my wife Heather and I, while driving home from the picnic, actually talked about how it would be for me to do part of the trip. Not two days later, I was checking the sea to sea website, and I discovered that they had rearranged the schedule such that the final leg of the trip was now just two weeks.

I took the hint.

But what about the money?

First let me say that, surprisingly perhaps, being tasked with raising $4000 doesn't really bother me. Part of that is the enthusiasm of Gayle and the others on our fund raising team. Another part of that is the peace of God. And really -- to raise $4000, all I need is 40 people to donate $100. I think that should be doable.

But on the whole topic of poverty? That is a longer story. Some two years ago, our church did a focus on poverty. We handed out white bracelets, learned about makepovertyhistory.ca and similar organizations, and so on.

Giving has always been a part of our family makeup. But since that time we have made it a practise to make sure that poverty is one of the causes that we give towards. So, via CRWRC we have donated towards poverty causes each year. It doesn't cost much to buy a goat, immunize a child, or provide school materials and so on. Even the Free-A-Family
program -- freeing a family from poverty -- is less than $300.

So yes, I'm supposed to raise $4000 towards poverty, which is great. And the tour is set up such that I cover my own costs, and HQ is trying to find donations to cover the tour costs, so ALL of that money that I raise can go towards ending poverty. That's great.

But if I can get a few more families ... say those 40 who are going to give me $100. :-) If this event can help encourage them to make giving towards ending poverty an annual thing? That would be the best.

Distance Milestones...

2007-10-15T06:13:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I managed 4 rides, each of about 12-15km.

This past weekend I only manged to make time for one. But it was a full 30km.

The route was pretty simple, 15km north, and 15km south (home). The weather was chilly (I didn't write it down, but I think only about 10c), but a biking body generates a fair bit of heat. The windbreaker stayed in my pannier, and two t-shirts (one long sleeve) was all I wore on top. At the 15k mark, I stopped and had a granola bar for a couple minutes and then headed back. I couldn't stay long, as I would get a chill if I stayed put too long and allowed the sweat to cool...

There was a sharp wind out of the NW, cross my path, which made the ride a harder slog, and definitely slowed me down. Only helped a bit on the ride home.

So what'd I learn? Well, 30km really wasn't that hard. At least as far as stamina. I didn't really feel that exhausted or tired. However, my butt got rather sore starting at km 20, and my hands started tingling by that point also. But once I was home, things were fine.

And most important of all, my back was fine.
Today, my friend and fellow rider Gayle is in for (planned) surgery on her foot. Dear God, be with her, and may she heal fully with good speed, Amen!

I'm In

2007-10-10T04:03:00.001-07:00

... for real this time.

I got my endorsement form signed on Monday (cornered the chair of council after our thanksgiving service) and faxed it in on Tuesday, and now it's Wednesday and my name has made it onto the list of official riders.

Originally, the tour segments, for those not doing the full sea to sea, were going to be each three weeks. So you could sign up for an even "1/3" of the tour. But they changed that to make the final segment just two weeks. This made it a lot easier for us to decided that I would cycle the final segment. However, I was also quite concerned that suddenly a lot of people out there would also decide that two weeks was do-able, and sign up for the last segment.

Hence, I've been quite eager to get my stuff together and signed up as quickly as possible. But, perhaps I was worried for nothing. For today is the first day that they list the "segment" riders, and so far there are only seven of us. huh.

Oh well, either way I'm delighted to be "official". But I do hope that they get a lot more riders signed up. The more people that go, the more excitement we'll go, the more adventure, the more high-profile (== public/media awareness), and the more attention we'll draw to the cause, and funds that will be raised.

Onward.

Pondering Gear, part 1

2007-10-05T08:45:00.000-07:00

This is my current ride.

It is a Kona "dew deluxe". The largest frame that they had -- don't ask, I don't remember the size. The frame is a good fit, and I love the disk brakes. I bought it about 18 months ago, and it's been my daily ride since. I commute to work about 4km (each way) all year. I've got a rack on the back, toe clips, fenders, and a 2" extension on the handlebar stem to allow me to sit more upright (more on that below)

Is it the bike I'll be taking on tour? Well to be honest, the jury is still out on that. I have not yet had a chat with my bike store, but I should soon.

Getting the opinion of my (trusted) bike mechanic is only half the decision, though. I also need to spend some time getting in some good long rides this fall to see how the bike feels after 2-3hrs of riding. (For instance: So far, I already know I want different handlebars. I don't like riding for long with these plane straight bars. My wrists and forearms aren't happy. I need something with a bit of curve to it, to allow my hands to fall into a more natural position.)

The deciding vote will come from my back. Last April I injured my back -- the two lowest disks are bulging a bit. After rest and exercise, I'm fine, or at least as fine as I'll probably get. But I am wondering how prolonged cycling will feel. Back in the spring my physiotherapist told me it was fine to start cycling again. The main allowance I need is to make sure I sit with a more straight back. No hunching over the handlebars with a curved back!

And if the back complains, then I may be shopping for a recumbent. I used to own a homebuilt recumbent SWB bike.

I sold it back in '02. It was too heavy, and I didn't like it on hills, and the frame was cracking. But the newer (professionally built) models are lighter, stronger, and are even available with full suspension.

We'll see.

I'm (almost) In

2007-10-04T07:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I found out (unofficially) that my church has agreed to endorse me to join the Sea To Sea tour next summer. I've already sent in my application, so now I just need to fax in (fax? How 1980's!) my endorsement form to SeaToSea HQ and Bob's-yer-uncle.

(well, unless they turn me down, which I don't expect, unless they've been flooded with applications for that segment of the tour.)

Stay Tuned...