LPC R4L 2011 - Day 3 Recap

Greetings Family and Friends,

God is good.

What a day! We started out meeting up for breakfast at 6 am (oh to sleep in on Saturday!). After that we met outside to gear up and quickly began adding layers to what we were already wearing as it was cold and rainy. Little did we know that this was the beginning of cyclically dressing and undressing all day long. Cold, hot, wet, damp, dry, hot again, then cold, more rain, then sunshine, drying out, more sunshine, blue skies, and very grateful riders. We have some laundry to catch up on and we hope our shoes are dry by morning after we had to pour the water out of them.

The first 30 miles out of Louisville were cold mixed with consistent rain. We were met at our first break with hot chocolate and coffee to try and warm up. Then the fun began; it stopped raining but we ran into our first mountain. It was a 3 mile climb that was endless (or it felt that way. It was obviously not endless as I just told you it was 3miles), just when you thought it was done it would curve around and there was more! Derek and Mary had some bike trouble on the way up but made it to the top after some repairs. No slackers in this group! After a quick break at the top the group continued on while Derek and Mary took a detour to a bike shop and meet up with us when they were done.

Upon arriving at the E'Town Schwinn bike shop in Elizabethtown, KY we (Derek & Mary) were treated so well and enjoyed spending some time with the Owner (Bob) who sported a very inspiring beard that everyone should aspire to and the in house Mechanic Extraodinaire (Mike) at E'Town Schwinn. They were very helpful, gracious, and generous. This little pit stop again reminded us that itʼs not about the destination, but the journey along the way. Thank you Bob and Mike for being a blessing in so many ways to us and the people of your community! Next time you find yourself in Elizabethtown, KY, stop in and say "Hey" to Bob and Mike, sign their wall of passerthroughers from all over the world, and be blessed by some classic southern hospitality.

After meeting up with the team again at lunch, we were able to ride together the rest of the day, ending with a 75 mile total on the bikes, although it might as well have been 150. The climbs were big but at the end of the day we had some awesome downhills too. On our last downhill coast the elevation dropped 650 feet very fast. The top speed clocked was 39.4 MPH! (we won't tell you who hit this speed. For the sake of your peace of mind, just assume that it wasn't your husband, wife, daughter, or son, mom or dad).

After we were done riding, we loaded up into our SAG Vehicles and trailer to have an "early" dinner and get to bed!

Tomorrow more hills to climb, places to see, and people to meet. It was a long challenging day but once again God was watching over us and all of you prayed us through. We are each being stretched, carried, and blessed in so many ways that we did and didn't expect. We miss you all. Thanks for your many prayers. We'll stay in touch.

Peace out,
Team Ride4Life

LPC R4L 2011 - Day 2 Recap

Our day started cool and drizzly out of Kokomo as we SAGged in the vans to Columbus, IN where we would begin cycling for the day. Our first stop was at a park where we met a guy named Kevin as some of us were coming out of the bathroom. Kevin shared his story with us and was very intrigued by our story. Kevin lives among the homeless of the small town we found ourselves in. As he shared about sharing the gospel with the many homeless in the area, he was glad to accept a small meal pack we were able to scrounge together for him from our snack and Gatorade supply.

Our next stop was a pregnancy center that happened to be right on our route. We visited for awhile, interacted with a client a bit who had TRIPLETS, and then got back to it. Once we were out of this town (the name of which I can't remember as we are falling asleep here) things started getting a bit hilly. We were grateful for the rolliness of these hills as they tended to be series upon series of short and quick ups and downs rather than long draining ones. None-the-less, they were steep and the team worked hard again today and we are all tired.

We were blessed at our lunch stop by our SAG crew with yet another great lunch as well as a mini sermon from our cohort Dr. "Pastor" Don. Tomorrow we look forward to hearing from Pastor Mary.

As always, we wish we had more time in a day (mostly for calling home and sleeping). Today we even had to call it quits before we really wanted to simply due to time. We will try to find time to do some "special reflections" posts, sharing some fun moments we've had along the way.

We will continue updating as we are able. Thanks again for your prayers and continued support, we feel it all. Keep it up as we do the same again tomorrow. And the next day. And the next. And the next. And... I think you get the point (we'll be at this awhile).

Over and out.

LPC R4L 2011 - Day 1 Recap

Greetings LPC Friends!


Our devotions for our day yesterday were from “Jesus Calling” and went like this “Trust me and refuse to worry for I am your strength and your song. You are feeling wobbly this morning, looking at difficult times looming ahead, measuring them against your own strength...” I believe God wrote that with us in mind don’t you!

We started the day with a great breakfast at the Holland Center (thanks Gary and Diane)! Thanks also to the many family and friends that came to see us off. 

Yesterdays ride went really well. We had a crash less than a mile from leaving the center which is the only thing we found humorous about that incident. God was already hearing your prayers as this occurred with no serious injury when it had the potential to be so much worse.  Throughout the day we stayed together at a steady pace and experienced Gods hand leading us to speak with others as to what we were doing and we’re constantly rewarded with kind words and sometimes gifts!

At a BP called Bonnie’s Place people took pictures of us and asked to follow our blog and gave us a case of water for the road.

At our lunch stop while Carolyn and Lyla were setting up lunch the Schwann Guy pulled up and gave us ice cream for dessert!

A bag of Apples at a fruit stand.

All unexpected blessings that gave us the boost to keep going.  We talked last night about how not only to look at the destination but be aware of the people and places that God puts in our path and when he puts them there don’t run them over!

Last night we had a great dinner and time of fun and fellowship thanks to our favorite waitress Brooke at Texas Roadhouse.  Then early to bed because those 5:30 am alarms are going off before we know it.

We are writing this as we sag through Kokomo this morning until daylight and hopefully sunny skies greet us at our drop off point. Thanks so much for your prayers especially to hold off the rain because it didn’t start to rain until we were all loaded up and back in the vehicles. 

We will continue to update the blog as time allows.

Blessings, 

Team Ride4Life

Update From The Road

We are working with fairly unreliable WiFi. We will try to do a post this afternoon / evening. We're doing great. Getting ready to take off for the day.

- Ride4Life Team

LifeRide 2011 Recap

What a great day! We are so blessed to have such quick access to so many of the beautiful areas God created in the places we live. We are also so blessed by the many people who are on board with the ministry of the Lakeshore Pregnancy Center. Thank you to the LifeRide participants as well as those who donated snacks and supplies as well as set them up. We appreciate you.

We started off from the Holland LPC office at 6:15 with breakfast and began riding at 7:00. Thank you Gary and Diane Feenstra for preparing breakfast for everyone.

It was a cold day and we encountered some headwinds as we pedaled to the Allendale LPC. We still made great time and got to Allendale at the planned time. After warming up a bit and grabbing some snacks, we made our way to the Grand Haven LPC. Upon arriving at Grand Haven, we were all quite pleased with how quickly the day seemed to be going and how nice the route was. The next leg back to Holland was a local favorite for many of us who regularly ride along Lakeshore Drive. It was beautiful scenery mixed with a healthy number of moderate hills that teased us a little as we thought ahead to the hills and mountains we would encounter on the way to ORlando next week.

The day ended as planned and ahead of schedule at the Holland LPC office. Thanks to our SAG team who made sure we had everything we needed along the way and surprised us with lunch upon our arrival.

Keep following as we continue to post the happenings of the Ride4Life team.

Grace + Peace

THANK YOU!

We wanted to send out a big THANKS to all of our supporters. Some of you are friends or family of one of the Ride4Life team members. Some of you are longtime supporters of LPC. Some of you are local businesses who decided to make a monetary or gift in kind donation to the Ride4Life team. Who ever you are, know that we are constantly grateful for your support. You are the other side of the coin. Without you, we could not make this happen.

A special thanks to our team jersey sponsors who enabled us to look like a team with our race cut Louis Garneau cycling jerseys. Thanks to Grand Rapids Bicycle Company for providing the customized jerseys to us at a very reduced price. Thanks to Wierenga Asset Management , Duca Tile & Stone, Controllership Services Incorporated, Holland Cycling & Fitness, and J&H Oil for sponsoring our team.

Special Thanks also to Velo-City, Zeeland Schwinn, and Holland Cycling & Fitness for the gifts in kind via discounted bicycles, gear, and servicing, making these items more affordable for each member of the Lakeshore Pregnancy Center's Ride4Life team. Thank you too for making yourselves available to our team in various forms as we prepared for this cross country trek.

LifeRide 2011 Update

There are a few changes to what has been previously communicated about the 2011 LifeRide on Saturday, September 17.

This year's LifeRide will only consist of a single loop which will be a Metric Century (~63 miles). The Ride4Life team and anyone else interested in joining us will meet at the Holland LPC office (click HERE for directions). Breakfast will be served at 6:30AM and we will roll out at 7:00AM sharp, heading toward our Allendale and Grand Haven offices.

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED for all non-R4L team members.

Online Registration is coming soon. Keep checking back here.

$50 Registration includes breakfast, SAG vehicle support, hydration and snacks throughout the ride, and a t-shirt. There will also be a limited availability of LPC Ride4Life Cycling Jerseys for purchase ($50 each, first come first serve).

If you have any questions, email derek.owens@lpcenters.com