Next Year's Annual LPC Ride4Life

Some time has passed since our return from the 2009 National Care Net Conference in Baltimore, MD. We have been asking ourselves how we might make the approximate 1,100 mile trek to Grapevine, Texas (near Dallas) for the 2010 Conference. We are scheming and planning how to make it work. If you are interested in joining us in any capacity, let us know by emailing ceo@lpcenters.com.

We would love to network with other pregnancy centers along the way simply for the sake of connecting with you as we pass through or JOINING UP with you CPC Cyclists who want to ride to Care Net 2010. How awesome would it be if we were to all roll into Grapevine, Texas together as one huge mob of cyclists Riding4Life?

We'll keep ya'll posted as our 2010 R4L plans formulate and remember, we'd love to hear from you if you're thinking about riding to Care Net 2010.

Till next time...

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.