Safe & Sound

Well, those of us who made the return journey via the SAG Van arrived at the Holland LPC around 1:45 AM on Thursday night / Friday morning depending on how you like to look at it. I believe I rolled into bed around 2:15 AM. It was a long day of sitting still in a van, but it is super duper good to be home. I think my legs and back were more sore on the ride home in the van than they were the entire trip, likely because the muscles were confused. Here they had just gotten used to being pushed to their limits on a daily basis, and now what, we're just gonna sit all day in a van?

Now that we've been back for a few days, I think my body is starting to understand that we're done. My metabolism doesn't have to keep up with burning an average of 600 calories per hour for 8-10 hours, which goes hand in hand with not needing to consume upwards of 4-5000 calories a day.

All of us from the ride are hoping to get together soon to continue swapping stories and scobies (ask john).

To each of you who have supported, encouraged, and followed us along the way, we are all truly grateful to you. We could not have done this trip without you.

I will wait a few weeks and then post where we landed as far as fund raising goes.

Until then.

Day 11 - Comin' Home!

Thursday, September 10, 2009

There are several different directions in which we are all going after we make our official appearance on stage in front of all the CareNet Conference attendees.

Mark is staying around Baltimore for a while to sell the Christmas Cards that LPC produces and sells. Our Life Cards are just one more way that God uses to financially sustain the ministry of the four Lakeshore Pregnanccy Centers. Check 'em out at www.lpclifecards.blogspot.com.

Bob and Caleb Curtis are meeting up with their family to do some more traveling before heading to the homeland of Holland.

Dave Dreyer, Cliff Lynema, John DeHaan, and Derek Owens are heading back to Holland with the van and trailer full of everyone's biking equipment.

Keep checking back here, or subscribe to our posts so you don't miss out on anything in the future. We'll be using this same blog next year and even prior to then for a few items we want to stay in touch with you on. So stay tunned, just because this year's trip is concluding, doesn't mean we're done stayin' in touch.

Baltimore, MD to Holland, MI

~683 Miles / 11 Hours Driving


View Larger Map

Day 10 - Final Road Report

Today was our last day of riding. We put in a solid day of 76.46 miles through some tough terrain, not the most challenging we've encountered on this trip, but tough. Quite honestly today was fairly uneventful. I was informed by a guy in a vehicle next to me at a stop light that "You done got ur brake light on sir. Ya might wanna get that fixed." Yeah, if my bicycle had brake lights, I might be so inclined to get 'em fixed, but since it's a bicycle, I think we're okay, the red blinky thing on the back is so no one hits me from behind. 'Preciate the concern though.

Bob had something significant to look forward to all day; meeting up with his wife and kids who came to Baltimore. They greeted us with a sign and cheering some 25 miles out of Baltimore and again as we arrived to the hotel. Thanks guys. Seriously though, knowing he'd see the fam. gave Bob a little extra energy boost throughout the day. It kinda made John, Mark and I jealous as we will not be meeting up with our wives for 1, 2, and 3 days from now. We miss them, not collectively of course, we each miss our own wife respectively.

We encountered some pretty amazing country side full of Civil War era history. Lots of really neat Colonial architecture, unfortunately most of these old homes and buildings were not kept up very well. None the less, very cool stuff. Ellicott City reminded me of a scene set on a post card of a remote Italian sea side city, except not in Italy and not by the sea side. Colonial. All 10 minutes that it took us to pass through Ellicott left a good 1st impression. It would've been neat to spend a day there wandering around.

We arrived into the outskirts of Baltimore and made our way down town with relative ease compared to what we were expecting. Really rough roads, but we got here. As we rounded our last corner approaching the Hilton (site of the 2009 Care-Net Conference) we were greeted by a crowd of Care-Net people. Cheering. Cameras. Questions. Conversations. Catching our breath. It was a great ending to a long ride. Thanks Care-Net folks for the warm greeting to close out our ride. It was a blessing.

Tonight we rest up. Tomorrow we make an appearance at the Care-Net Conference and then head in various directions. John, Cliff, Dave and I will head home with all of the gear in the van and trailer. Bob and Caleb will vacation their way home with their family. And our fearless leader Mark is going to stick around for a few days to run our exhibitor's booth at the conference selling our Life Cards.

As I mentioned previously, please keep checking back here or subscribe to our posts if you haven't already done so. We will be updating you on a few things yet into the near future. Then next year when we repeat this craziness all over again, we'll use the same blog.

Thanks to each of you for each encouraging word, prayer, and contribution. We are all extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in this ride as it has been an experience that has deeply impacted each of us personally, spiritually, professionally and organizationally as representatives of Lakeshore Pregnancy Centers of Holland, Allegan, Allendale, and Grand Haven, Michigan. If you have any questions about LPC, how you can get involved in what we do, next year's ride, or any of our other events, please don't hesitate to connect with any of us.

That's it for now, time to call it a night. Till next time.

Today’s Stats:
Ride Time: 5:44:34
Today’s Distance: 76.46 Miles
Total Trip Distance: 701.22 Miles
Average Speed: 13.3 MPH
Max Speed: 35.50 MPH
Flat Tires Today: 0
Flat Tires So Far: 4
Total # of Dog Chases Worth Mentioning: 0 so far
Road Kill Tally:We have the final count. Cliff will let you know upon our return.

Some pix:

We've arrived. Let's get some pictures taken so we can get off our bikes for the last time on this trip.















Thanks for the welcome banner Care-Net.















Not to us, but to your name be the honor and glory.
It is only by His grace that we have had the honor of gathering and growing together to bless His name. For this we are forever Grateful.

Day 10 - Final Trek!

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Williamsport, MD to Baltimore, MD

~72.17 Miles

Our expected route for the day:

Finding WiFi & Customer Service

The further away from Michigan we get, the more I learn that free WiFi is nearly impossible to come by. So before I begin with today’s update, I thought I’d share a little story. Ready boys and girls? Okay. Once upon a time there was a guy named… well never mind that format, it’s me. This is a story about me. I just came to McDonald’s for free WiFi to update the blog because our hotel wants me to pay for it. Most people would pay for it and do what they needed to do. We all know that I am not most people. Upon entering MD’s I proceed to the counter where I ask if they have free WiFi (I asked because no where here seems to offer FREE WiFi and the poster in the window indicated that I would have to buy an arch card to get WiFi at all). The MD’s Employee (#1) looked back at me wide eyed and filled with, not wonder, but confusion. I asked again. He leans over to his co-worker (employee #2) and whispers something. Employee #2 proceeds to pass on the precious little secret to the manager who immediately walks away and disappears into the back. #1 looks at me as if expecting me to order. I indicate that I’m really only interested in WiFi, so I am going to wait to order until I know if I can pick up a signal here or not. At this moment, which seemed to confuse #1 yet again, the manager reappears on the scene, handing a piece of paper to #2 who hands it to #1 who hands it to me. A WiFi code. Okay, I’ll have a large iced tea, ½ sweet, ½ unsweetened. “$1.06 will be your total.” I hand him 2 $1.00 bills. #1 whispers into #2’s ear again. #2 whispers into the manager’s ear. Manager disappears into the back. Employee #3 shows up on the scene behind me and another customer in line. #1 informs me that he is waiting for quarters unless I want my $0.94 of change in nickels. I indicate that I would in fact prefer 3 quarters, 1 dime, 1 nickel, and 4 pennies rather than 18 nickels and 4 pennies. I can wait. #3 proceeds to step in front of me and begin a vital conversation of no importance with #1 and #2. I stand and wait, keeping my thoughts to myself for the time being. While the manager goes to Bangladesh or somewhere not local at all for quarters, wouldn’t it make sense for #1, #2, or #3 to get my tea and or possibly even simultaneously serve the next customer in line? I thought so too. Instead what progressed was their conversation about nothing, the next customer approaching the counter thinking the same thing I was, only to receive an awkward look from #2 as if to say, “What?”. Manager returns from Bangladesh with quarters and speedily disappears again. I am handed my 3 quarters, 1 dime, 1 nickel, and 4 pennies. Then… nothing. #1, #2, #3 continue their little convo. When I don’t satisfiedly (no that isn’t a word) walk away, #1 realizes that no one has gotten my tea in the 7.832 minutes that have passed by and instructs #2 of this discovery. #2 grabs a cup, fills ‘er up and gives me my large sweet tea. Wait, I’m not from the south and can’t stand sweet tea, thus my asking for ½ sweetened, ½ unsweetened. Never mind. I just want WiFi. As I walk away to find my WiFi I hear “May I help the next person in line?” after which I hear #3 ordering a meal. He slid right in front of the customer who had been behind me in line long before #3 even showed up on the scene. So my question in all of this is this; What instills character in us? Work ethic? Compassion? Servitude? Gratitude? Joy? Passion? Perseverance? Honesty? Integrity? A desire for Righteousness and Justice? Etc. etc. etc. I don’t intend to go into my response to this question, I just thought I’d share the question and how it came to mind. Now to the happenings of today prior to me trying to find free WiFi.

Day 9 - Evening Report

“It’s never too early in the day to start using granny gear”. This is how our day began as we tackled our first accent soon after starting our day. When we shoved off this morning, we were grateful for the warm temperature and the fact that it wasn’t raining anymore. The roads were saturated from a solid rain during the night, but we could deal with that compared to yesterday’s water extravaganza.

Going into the day we knew we had three significant long, steep climbs. You’ll be glad to know that we were able to find each of these waiting for us accompanied by multiple sets of slightly less extreme undulations in the terrain that seemed to keep on a commin’ one after the other after another and another.

Another great quote from today comes from Caleb. After we reached the top of a tough climb, we break, regroup, hydrate, try to level out our breathing and such. Not Caleb. We get to the top of one of our longest climbs of the day, and we get to partake in a dialogue that went something like “ ‘That was fun.” “Fun? What do you mean fun, like let’s go do that one again just because it was so much fun?” “Well you have to admit it was pretty.” Upon hearing Caleb’s response, the only reaction Bob could muster was spewing his mouthful of water all over as he tried to hold back the laughter.

After our last big climb, we got to spend 10 miles on the Western Maryland Rail Trail. You see these rail trails all over the states. There is a great one from Grand Rapids, MI all the way up to Cadillac, MI. Basically they take a stretch of abandon rail road and pave over top of it to form a nice path. Since trains can’t handle steep grades up or down, they are nice and straight with slow, wide turns and shallow grades. All of this to say that the Rail Trail was a cake walk (john would call this “patty cakes”). It was like a red carpet had been laid out for us and for these 10 short miles, we just cruised. No crazy hills to maneuver. No insanely slow average speeds of 4-8 MPH. Just crusin’ along at a steady easy goin’ 17-18 MPH without a care in the world. And then it ended and we were tossed right back into the undulating backbone of Maryland. Oh well, that’s what granny gear is for.

We arrived at our hotel unscathed yet another day. We grabbed some dinner at the American Trough, I mean Golden Corral and called it a day. It is amazing to each of us that we only have one more day of riding left. I think it’s safe to say we’re all ready to get back home, but this trip has flown by and we’ve all had a blast thus far. We’ll have to see if we can muster up a few more stories tomorrow and Thursday. Till then.

Today’s Stats:
Ride Time: 4:24:14
Today’s Distance: 51.70 Miles
Total Trip Distance So Far: 641.10 Miles
Average Speed: 13.50 MPH
Max Speed: 38.90 MPH
Flat Tires Today: 1
Flat Tires So Far: 4
Total # of Dog Chases Worth Mentioning: 0 so far
Road Kill Tally: Keep guessing. Our average has dropped significantly the last 2 days.

Here’s some pix:
A cool B&B from the 1920's atop our highest climb this morning.















We found a park with adult sized safety swings & figured we oughta try 'em out.






























I think Cliff is trying to figure out why he let Mark talk him into this trip.















Figurin' things out.















Coming off the Western Maryland Rail Trail.






























We've arrived at our hotel.

I updated posts all the way back to the Evening Report for Day 3 with pictures if you want to check 'em out.

In addition to the post for yesterday's evening report, I was able to go back and finally add some pictures to the posts for day 3 all the way up to today.

Thanks for your patience.

Day 8 - Evening Report

As I stated in a previous post, with each new day comes new experiences, adventures, and challenges.

As we set off this morning, it was raining, it had been raining for a good portion of the night so everything was nice and saturated, and the forecast called for rain. This was not exactly ideal from the perspective of cyclists in the middle of a long trip such as this one. If I were at home and I was getting ready for my Sunday morning ride with Bob and it were raining, we would text back and forth, letting each other know that we wouldn't be riding and we’d just see one another at church in a few hours. Unfortunately, on a trip of this nature, the option of saying “guess I won’t be riding this morning” and rolling back into bed simply doesn’t exist. We do after all have a quota of miles we need to meet each day so we make it to Baltimore on Wednesday.

So, resist as we might, we geared up best we could for riding in the rain and proceeded as normal. The thing about gearing up for riding in the rain is that you get wet no matter what you do. Option 1: Gear up with rain gear and sweat to the point that you are just as soggy wet as the guy not wearing said gear. Option 2: Don’t gear up with any rain gear and get just as wet as the guy wearing said gear who is sweating like it were his job. So some of us geared up, some didn’t. Personal preference + trial and error I suppose are what it comes down to.

All that to say that we began riding and were all soaked very shortly following our departure. It’s amazing how much road grime (john would call this goopis) you pick up when it’s raining. This stuff gets everywhere and I mean EVERYWHERE. Bike and body being completely saturated only adds to the experience, or something like that. Basically it makes riding pretty miserable, at least this is my personal opinion. I’m sure you could find cyclists who don’t mind or even enjoy getting’ all nasty soggy wet, but not me. So needless to say our bikes are all pretty nasty right now. We figure we'll leave 'em that way so that all ya'll believe we actually did this upon our return.

To give you an idea, here’s how cycling in the rain plays out: you coast down a hill riding your brakes the whole way as to not lose control or get going so fast that your wet brakes don’t assist you anymore. On the down hill you’re freezing cold and can’t wait for the next up hill climb so you can get back to producing some core body heat, then you’re too hot and want the next down hill and so on and so forth. It’s confusing and really makes you wonder if you know what you want at all anymore. I actually heard Cliff say “Man I’m cold, I hope we get to climb a hill soon so I can warm up.” Don’t worry, Cliff was able to warm back up, we were able to find another mountain or twelve to climb throughout the rest of the day.

By about 2:00/2:30 the sun came out, things dried up, and we shed our layers. We once again found that our directions don’t always jive with the reality of how the roads are laid out. That’s okay though, we made friends with many of the locals who unfortunately don’t tend to invoke our trust when it comes to their sense of directions, communication or knowledge of how to get from their town to the next one over.

All this in a good day’s ride. Thanks for your prayers today and throughout the trip so far. God has definitely stretched each of us in various ways as well as blessed us repeatedly. Remember that what we are accomplishing on this trip is beyond any of us without the strength, endurance, and perseverance that God gives us each new day. May we each shine Him in a manner of which He is worthy.

Today’s Stats:
Ride Time: 4:57:13
Today’s Distance: 62.50 Miles
Total Trip Distance So Far: 589.40
Average Speed: 12.3 MPH
Max Speed: 35.10 MPH
Flat Tires Today: 2
Flat Tires So Far: 3
Total # of Dog Chases Worth Mentioning: 0 so far
Road Kill Tally: Keep guessing, Cliff will let you know upon our return.


Here are some pix from today:

Maybe you can't see it, but it's raining, trust us.

We're in Maryland, we must be getting closer.

Coming out of a down hill freeze session, headin' into a up hill thaw.

These kids had themselves a bucket of 9 water bugs they was tryin' to sell for 25 cents each. We were their 1st potential customers all day. We didn't buy any, though later we wished we had just to boost their rainy day a bit.

Detouring through a town.

Day 9 - Almost There!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Flinstone, MD to Williamsport, MD

~54.25 Miles

Our expected route today:

No Internet, update hppefully 2morrow.

Day 8 - Here We Go Again!

Monday, September 7, 2009
Markleysburg, PA to Flinstone, MD

~55.95 Miles

Our expected route for the day:

Rain & Cycling...Pray 4 safety as we ride on very wet roads 2day.

Day 7 - Bringing you back up to speed

We'll as was planned, we are taking today off and resting. It's a good reminder of Sabbath; intentionally setting aside time each week to say, "Yeah, there is still plenty to be done (or plenty of miles to be ridden), but for today, I am done doing (or riding). Today I will just be. I will rest and intentionally regain perspective of who I am and who God is and I will worship Him because He is who He says He is and He'll do the things He says He'll do. We will worship you God, for you are good. We will rest in you because you are our God."

Before I bring you up to speed on the happenings of the past two days, I'd like to apologize and explain why the content of the blog has been lacking for the past two days. Several faithful blog followers have asked why my posting has seemingly dwindled or ceased.

First of all, how awesome is it that people are following how our trip is going via this blog. It reassures me that the time I am putting into it is well worth it. So thank you. I do ask you understand that we may not always have internet access depending on where we are staying. Where there is not internet, there will be no access to the blog except on Mark's iPhone, which can do the job, but trying to type all of the content I want to post via an iPhone would take me approximately 8.638 hours per post (that's just an estimation of course). So please understand when I post something along the lines of "I don't have great internet connectivity right now, I'll update the blog as soon as I do" I mean it. I will post about our progress as often as I am able. Also understand that some of the posts, like the morning route updates, are scheduled to post automatically. I composed them weeks ago and set them up to post automatically on their respective mornings to save myself some time on the road. So just because a morning post shows up, doesn't necessarily assume I'll have internet access to do an evening update. Make sense? Great then let's get to the stuff you actually want to read....



... Day 5 UPDATE - Friday, September 4, 2009
To begin our weekend stretch we departed our hotel in Wheeling, WV to head off toward Richeyville, PA. The distance was short (only 30+ miles) but it wasn’t going to be an easy ride. I thought I’d make sure of this right off the bat, so as soon as we left the hotel parking lot I decided to take a spill. Soon after I pulled out onto the small shoulder, a school bus came up behind me and made me a bit nervous, so I hugged as close as I thought possible to the curb, a bit too close apparently. My sprocket and chain caught the curb and didn’t want to let go, so over I tipped. Luckily God pushed me toward the grassy hill to my right rather than the busy street to my left. It was quite smooth actually; as I tipped to my right, unable to clip out of my pedals, I used the tuck ‘n roll technique, bike and all, until I stopped on the grassy hill, still clipped into both pedals no harm done to me or my faithful Cannondale companion. Once we all realized that I was okay, on we continued. It was a hard day with lots of hills to climb up and coast down, but we knew today was only a warm up for tomorrow. Our goal was to get to Richeyville and shuttle ourselves in the van from their to our weekend cabins in Markleysburg, PA. We got there and were relieved to have a bit of a longer afternoon to relax longer than we’ve been able to yet up to this point, especially considering what we have to climb tomorrow.

Today’s Stats:
Ride Time: 3:28:09
Today’s Distance: 42.89 Miles
Total Trip Distance So Far: 489.65
Average Speed: 12.3 MPH
Max Speed: 43.7 MPH
Road Kill Tally: Keep guessing, Cliff will let you know upon our return.

Pictures: The internet connection I am working with isn't handling picture uploads very well, so I'll try adding them tomorrow night when we get to our hotel.

Here they are as promised:

Leaving our hotel in the morning (just before I biffed it on the curb).

These are no longer hills, they are mountains.

Home sweet home for the weekend.

Packin' in some carbs for The Summit tomorrow.

Day 6 UPDATE – Saturday, September 5, 2009

This morning we shuttled from our cabins back to Richeyville, where we ended yesterday. We picked up our riding here, shooting to end at our cabins in Markleysburg.

So off we went. Today is the day we climbed what locals call “The Summit”. The Summit boasts a constant 9% grade climb for 4+ miles. Which might not seem like a big deal to Lance Armstrong or the like, but lets be honest here, we’re relative novices here, not professionals. “Slow and steady, one crank after another after another. Don’t pay attention to speed, just maintain your cadence. I can see the van up ahead, we can stop and refill our water. Wait, why is Caleb running down the hill at us jumping up and down? What are those guys doing, that can’t be the top already. Dude, it’s the top, We’re almost there!” These are some of the many thoughts that ran through our heads, amongst numerous others. We made it up The Summit and were all surprised at how much energy we still had. Not to say that it wasn’t difficult or that we didn’t struggle up it, but we all made it and finished strong. Once we descended the downside of The Summit, we stopped for a lunch at which point we compared our maximum speeds. 45.8 MPH was the winner, we won’t say who this happened to be, as we don’t want to add any reason for concern for our wives who are reading this. If you have doubt, see the picture of the speedometer below. The max speed registered at 45.8 MPH which is our fastest yet. We’ve decided that from now on, we’ll all try and keep it at 30 MPH or less on the mountainous down hills. 45.8 MPH is too fast for comfort. After lunch, we continued onward for our day was not yet done, we had several smaller “hills” to conquer before we arrived back at our cabins. We cranked it out and made it back. Derek introduced everyone to stuffed burgers over the fire. We prepared the food, we ate the food, and we were satisfied. Tomorrow we will be exercising the Sabbath by not riding. Looking forward to it.

Today’s Stats:
Ride Time: 3:34:24
Today’s Distance: 37.25 Miles
Total Trip Distance So Far: 526.90 Miles
Average Speed: 10.6 MPH
Max Speed: 45.8 MPH (see pix below if you don’t believe me)
Road Kill Tally: Keep guessing, Cliff will let you know upon our return.

Pictures: The internet connection I am working with isn't handling picture uploads very well, so I'll try adding them tomorrow night when we get to our hotel.

Here they are as promised:

Welcome to The Summit.

One crank at a time.

Not quite to the top, but check out that view.

We made The Summit and now we will eat.

No more of this silliness.

Day 7 - Rest Day!

Sunday, September 6, 2009
Buffer / Rest Day in Markleysburg, PA
We are on schedule at this point in our trip, so we'll be taking the day off from riding.
0.00 Miles

Here's where we're staying:


We'll be heading into town this afternoon to find some WiFi. Hope to be able to update you with the happenings of the last two days. Till Then.

Day 6 - Evening Report

Staying at some rustic cabins for the weekend. Not good internet connectivity, so stay tuned. Tomorrow (SUNDAY, 9/6/09) we'll be headin' into town to find some WiFi so I can really spend some time updating the blog and posting some pictures.

Day 6 - Here We Go!

Saturday, September 5, 2009
Richeyville, PA to Markleysburg, PA
~ 38.87 Miles

Our expected Route:

Day 5 - Evening Report

Having some trouble with consistent internet connection. So stay tunned, I'll get caught up here as soon as I can. In the mean time, bear with me as the blog seems to be getting a bit messy / out of order as I have tried posting tonight.

Till then.

Day 5 - Here We Go!

Friday, September 4, 2009
Wheeling, WV to Richeyville, PA
~ 42.04 Miles

Tentative Route:

Day 4 - Evening Report

Every day that goes by we seem to encounter new challenges accompanied by new stories. Today was not an easy day. We knew this when we shoved off this morning and began the day. We set out to cover ~115 miles of tough terrain (up to 9%+ grade climbs). The day was basically book ended by craziness as far as "hills" go. We weren't entirely sure we'd make the whole distance today. The first 1/2 of the day went well. One stroke at a time up the hills and then coasting for a few miles and then back up another steep climb that made each of us wonder what the heck we were thinking and how we were going to make it to the top, let alone the end of the day. We made another visit to our friends at Orrville Cycling & Fitness to get another bike tuned up and then onward we went. We met a very talkative police officer when we stopped for lunch. After lunch things went smoothly for a few hours. Then we hit that second book end and, aside from the struggle to climb the never ending hills before us, things got a bit more interesting. Once we hit the hills, we kinda split into 2 groups. One that was able to tackle the hills a bit more ferociously, and another group, my group, who figured we were in this to finish, so we'd better pace ourselves.

Eventually we ended up so far behind the other group, we could no longer see them. Not a huge deal, we'll just meet up with them the next time they break for Caleb to go to the bathroom for the millionth time today. So we followed the directions to a T, until we reached a dirt road that didn't look the least bit inviting. We rode past to scout out what was up a ways. Nothing was up a ways. We were officially in the middle of po-dunk-nowhere. Seriously, we were beginning to get a bit unsettled about not knowing where we were or how exactly we were gonna get to where we needed to be. I found some very friendly guys sitting on their front porch drinking some shine, who were absolutely no help at all in their 4:00 pm stuppor. With no choice left, we began walking down the dirt road, knowing it was supposed to take us to the next highway we needed. Dave patiently followed behind us in the van, until he saw the hill we needed to climb. We got out of his way so he could keep up his speed, but it was too steep a gravel road to make it up with a 2 wheel drive pulling a trailer of this girth. So now what? We tried the backing down thing. Not so sucessful; it was a narrow, steep gravel road with a ditch on both sides. Luckily God was paying attention and within minutes after the van and trailer were pinned, Steve shows up. Who is Steve you ask? Steve was a God-Send. Steve drove an F350 Dulley pick-up. He offers a tow, to which we accept. For some reason I brought my tow strap. He gets Dave up the hill, that I believe had 2 false peaks and then disapears into the sunset off into a mountainous field to who knows where.

We eventually did get to that highway we needed and we rode until it got dark and Mark told us we had to pack it in for the day. So we loaded up the trailer and headed for the hotel, to which the other guys had arrived to minutes before. They aren't entirely sure how they made it there, but they did and had some navigational adventures of their own, including a down hill that lasted a few miles weaving through the mountains. For their familie's sake I won't mention that they tackled said roads well after the light had faded behind the hills.

Anyways. We met back up at the hotel, swapped lots 'o stories about the past few hours, grabbed some food and went to bed.



Here are the stats for the day from the guys that went the whole distance:
Ride Time: 8:09:33
Today’s Distance: 126.2 Miles
MilesTotal Trip Distance So Far: 446.65 Miles
MilesAverage Speed: 15.5 MPH
Max Speed: 36.9 MPH
Road Kill Tally: Keep guessing, Cliff will let you know upon our return.

The WiFi connection here is a bit scetchy, so I'll post some pix next time I get a chance.

Here they are:

Towin' us up Graves Rd. hill.
















Us with Tow Truck (F350 Dulley) Steve. Not sure why my eyes are closed.

Day 4 - Here We Go!

Thursday, September 3, 2009
Ashland, OH to Wheeling, WV
114.68 Miles

Our expected route today:

Day 3 - Evening Report

The quote of the morning went something like "This should be one of our easier days".

Um yeah, so that’s not exactly how the day played out in its entirety.
Today’s Lesson: When cycling in a tight draft line to cut a heavy head wind, you always run the risk of rubbin’ tire with the guy in front of you and causing a collision. It can happen to anyone in a split second, trust us we know.

We were able to prove this true somewhere around mid-day today. We very successfully and impressively built a 3 man pile-up, relatively free from bodily harm of any of the individuals involved in the extravaganza. Every one of us was able to continue riding and eventually finish out the day. After we arrived, we did a little meet and greet with Ducia Hamm, Executive Director and Wayne Fannon, Board President of Ashland Care Center. Thank you both for coming out and meeting us at our finish line this afternoon. We appreciate you showing your support for what we are doing for Lakeshore Pregnancy Center of Holland, MI and Pregnancy Care Centers across the country just like ours and yours.

Thanks also to the local newspaper photographer who came out, we'd love to have a link to the article when it is published.

Once we rehydrated a bit and stretched it out, we headed to a bike shop that Driver Dave was able to locate. This shop was a professional grade place called Orrville Cycling & Fitness in Orrville, OH. Many thanks to Jon the Mechanic and Roger, Owner of Orrville Cycling & Fitness for sticking around hours after closing time to work our bikes all back into pristine operating condition again. Orrville Cycling & Fitness is by all of our standards, one of the most impressive bike shops we have ever seen. Not only because of how they hooked us up and treated us in a time of dire need, but the entire shop was incredible. If you need a bike shop and your near Orville, OH, Orrville Cycling & Fitness is the place to go, I trust they’ll treat you right just like they did us.

After the bikes were back in tip top shape, we needed to get ourselves back into presentable shape before heading to our host family for the evening. We grabbed a 10:30 dinner and headed on for showers. We were a bit tired of our lycra shorts after having wore them for 12 ½ hours.
I’m not sure how Cliff managed to convince him to help out a rag tag group like us, but John Allison hooked us up huge. He set it all up for us to take showers and clean up at the locker room at his church, Grace Bretheren. He set us up with the Ashland Care Center, who in turn set it up for the local paper to meet us at the finish line today. He set us up with Jim and Linda Streets to stay for the night. Thanks a ton John.

Jim and Linda, what a blessing you have been to us too, and as we understand it, you are to so many others as well. Thank you for your gracious hospitality. Wish we would have been able to spend more time with you than we did. We've been learning that plans have to be flexible on trips of this nature.

Today’s Stats:
Ride Time: 6:05:55
Today’s Distance: 93.84 Miles
Total Trip Distance So Far: 320.45 Miles
Average Speed: 15.3 MPH
Max Speed: 29.9 MPH
Road Kill Tally: Keep guessing, Cliff will let you know upon our return.

That’s it for now. It’s late, and though I am told we get to sleep in tomorrow, I was also told in the same breath that we need to be up by 7:00 AM. That may seem like sleeping in to some, but not to me, so good night.

Some pix:

The whole crew with our generous hosts Jim and Linda.
















Our Friends at Orrville Cycling & Fitness. Thanks Jon & Roger.

Day 3 - Here We Go!

Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Bowling Green, OH to Ashland, OH
~ 96.66 Miles

Our expected route for the day:

Day 2 - Evening Report

Another great day.

To start off, on behalf of all of us riders, I want to thank Dave Dreyer for doing an amazing job of taking care of us along the way. Dave is driving the van and trailer for us. It can't be the most exciting responsibility in the world to drive up ahead of us 15-30 miles and wait for us to ride past, only to do it all over again and again and again until we reach our destination each day. So, thanks Dave, you're doing a great job keeping us stocked up on water, food, stretch breaks, some great pictures and what ever else we need along the way.


This morning we rolled out around 8:00 AM. Once we got ourselves out of Jackson, MI, we were good to go. Getting out of Jackson, however, was a bit of a chore. Our best, most convenient way out would have been via a divided highway. Since we aren't technically supposed to ride on divided highways (and it really isn't a great idea as far as safety goes), we made our way through some mysterious backwoods roads that occasionally gave us no choice but to get chased by dogs that thought they were much larger and more intimidating than they actually were and ride on gravel, which isn't very cool, but we took it slow and made it back around to our route.

The terrain today was nice. Most of the time (excluding the gravel) we were on some nice roads with fairly wide shoulders and hills with very forgiving grades (probably nothing more than a 1%). There was a head wind out of the East most of the day, but we plugged through it when we needed to.

I won't divulge the details, but ask Mark about a very specific riding technique he should be pretty keen on by the time our little adventure is through. If his memory needs any jogging, it has to do with a vital step involved in the whole stopping process when you have clip in pedals. Sorry Mark, but how could I possibly resist. Maybe I'll go back and edit this out of today's post for a small bribe, but don't count on it. Like I said earlier today, pride isn't a terrible thing to lose. I think this still stands, despite how terrible it may be for me to blog about it. Just remember that I've fallen over 1x so far on this trip too.

We arrived at our hotel around 4:30 PM, checked in and did some chilaxin' until dinner. Tonight for dinner we partook in a place I like to frequent quite regularly, Chipotle. It was gooooood, though we felt like we needed more calories, so most of the group went to Bob Evans for a bit more to eat.

Here are some of the stats for today:
Ride Time: 6:34:05
Distance Today: 106.85 Miles
Total Trip Distance So Far: 226.60
Average Speed: 16.2 MPH
Max Speed: 31.2 MPH
Road Kill Tally: Submit your guesses to Cliff. He'll reveal the final count after the trip.


Here are some pix from today:

Look, now I have a unique patch (of sorts) on BOTH arms.















Bob & Caleb getting ready to get back to it.















Look, they are actually riding.












We promise, we're riding our bikes on this trip, it just happens to be easier to take our pictures when we're not bulting past at the speed of light.















Goodbye Michigan...
...hello Ohio.















John decided it might be good to put sunscreen on.















Lunch time with Bob & Caleb's family.















Mark is now happy.















Mmmmmmmm.















Still riding.












You guessed it, more riding.