Stats for today
Distance 45 miles
Time in Saddle 3.15 hours
Ascent 1208 feet
Current elevation 780 feet
Average speed 14.7miles per hour
Temperature 80
Winds from the NW
My alarm did not go off this morning, so I woke up with a start when I realized it was 531 and we needed to be on kitchen duty at 545. We hustled to get our sleeping bags air mattress and personal stuff packed before we had to report of duty. Fortunately when we got there the kitchen staff had put almost everything out already. They had been up since 5 and had organized everything. We just had to do a few odd things before people started coming for breakfast.
Since it was still quite dark, not too many people were there at 6. Hank and I than got to finish our packing as Mel Hugen was going to be at camp at 630 and Hank was hoping to ride with him this morning if possible. Our job on the swipe team was to get the early morning stuff done while the younger fellows got to sleep in and they would load the trucks and be the last riders out of camp. I also helped Corrine Scmenk one of my swipe team members, get ready and to be out of camp by 7 as she is not one of the faster riders.
Hank rode with Mel and Dave Gabriels from Eastern Ave this morning. Mel and Hank have a long time friendship and have ridden a lot together over the years. Sylvia Hugen came to drop them off so we got to see Sylvia before we headed off for our ride into GR.
It was great to see so many familiar faces in the last day and to be greeted by some many well wishers.
Today, we were also being joined by over 150 local cyclists, who registered to ride for the day, and raised $100 for local poverty organizations. What a great day it is to see so many cyclists biking for poverty today.
Cynthia Aukema was riding today. You may remember she broke her pelvis just outside Denver. It was good to see her and she is hoping she will be able to complete the day. She did. She rode with her son Andrew, who did the 05 Sea to Sea and Jerry Kobes. She managed to stay ahead of Barb and I most of the day. Cynthia is hoping she can ride with us when we go through Canada. It is a blessing and miracle that she can ride after having broken her pelvis only 2 and half weeks ago. She says she has to be careful, and can feel if she is pushing too hard, but she is doing it. She is a determined woman. God has been good and she feels fortunate to be doing so well.
Barb Mellema, Corrine, and I left camp together at 710. Barb is a faster, stronger rider than I am, but when I draft behind her I can go quite a bit faster than biking by myself. It was a very cool sunny morning. The landscape was still very much forest as we were leaving the lake area, lots of oaks and maples. The roads were very good, with some hills, but mostly level. It looked like we were going to be plenty early for our first refreshment stop in Eastmanville. As we were biking, Corrine suddenly was having problems with her knee. She was having sharp pains shoot through her knee and could not bike. We stopped for a while to let the pain subside and she took some Tylenol and did some stretches. This helped a little. We started biking again, but the pain came back. She tried to soft pedal, and still the pain was there. Rick Gritter one of the cyclists on a recumbent came along side her and said he would push her into the first SAG stop or the refreshment stop. As it was Walter’s SAG was only a couple of miles down the road and we managed to get Corrine there. She decided she would stay there for a while and maybe take the SAG to our staging area near Calvin.
It was neat to see how the stronger riders help the weaker riders. Rick pushing Corrine was an interesting sight. Reminded me of how the whole community of cyclists works together and cares for each other. It is also like our church community when we are sensitive to the needs of our community members and encourage and support them however we can.
Along the way, we had a number of refreshment stops; some planned some just put together on the spur of the moment by well-wishers. Our first surprised stop was just before Eastmanville and was put together by Roger Feenstra and Lavonne Koudmen’s family. Parents and siblings of both were there with muffins, coffee and cold drinks. They were there to lend support to all cyclists as well as welcome their family member.
Our first official stop was the Eastmanville Christian school were members of the local church put our muffins, cookies, fruit and drinks. Thanks so much for your support and encouragement.
Our next stop was the Westview Christian Reformed church on Leonard Street. They provided yogurt, fresh blueberries, granola, hard-boiled eggs, bagels, cookies, energy bars, and cold drinks. I went for the yogurt, blueberries, granola and eggs as I was feeling the sweets where too much at this time.
Our next stop was Tyler’s home, one of the cyclists who broke his collarbone earlier and left the tour in Denver. He had drinks and trail mix. Arnie was also there another cyclist who left the tour in Salt Lake due to a ruptured Achilles heel. It was good to see them again. They are both doing well. Tyler will be speaking at the celebration rally in Grand Rapids on Sunday.
After Tyler’s house we had no more official stops. When we were biking up Fulton, I contemplated taking a shorter route to our staging area as we were doing an extra 3 miles by the route we were taking. I opted not to take the short cut and am glad I did not as we had another surprise stop. We would have missed seeing these people who wanted to support and encourage us. As we were biking up Fulton Ave, Mayfair Christian Reformed church had some members out along the route who provided cold water, pickles, and melon. It was a treat since we had biked up the fill from downtown Grand Rapids and it was getting warmer. As cyclists we start craving salty foods as we are sweating lots. The pickles had lots of salt in them. Both Barb and I enjoyed the pickles.
We arrived at the staging area at East Grand Rapids Public school administration building on Hall and Lake Drive at 1145. We needed to be here by 1230. We got a chance to see some of the day cyclists who greeted us. I also saw Terry Beveluis who I had not seen in over 30 years. I saw John Apol, Clarence Hogeterp, Rich and Susan VanHouten, Thanks John and Clarence and Dave Gabriels for riding today and supporting the cause.
We rode into Calvin College as a large group over 150 Sea to Sea cyclists and 150 local cyclists. It was quite a site. I got only one picture of the group assembling. It was too dangerous to try and get a shot while I was riding today in the whole group. When we rode onto Calvin’s campus there were people along the route to greet us. It was an emotional time for us all to see so many people out to encourage and support us in what we are doing.
When we arrived at the Prince Centre on Calvin’s campus we were greeted by lots of people. Denny and Jennie Hoekstra, Nancy Van Noord, my sister Audrey and her husband Frank, were there along with and many others.
Hank and I cleaned out all our stuff out of the gear truck and decided to take everything home to repack and get rid of stuff we did not use in the last 7 weeks.
Marti and Kobe DuPlessis will be staying with us this weekend. Tomorrow we will probably clean our bikes and sort out all our stuff to get ready to ride for 2 more weeks.
Audrey and Frank helped us take home all our gear. When we arrived at home, we were delighted to see how beautiful our flowers looked. Our neighbors Joan and Dave Jekel had done a great job of looking after them. We were pleasantly delighted at how they looked. We also found milk, orange juice, coffee cake, bananas, blueberries and zucchini bread in our refrigerator. Thanks to Joan and Dave and Frank and Audrey for their thoughtfulness.
Hank and I went out for supper with Jonathan and Kendra, Kiley and Mark since it was Jonathan’s 39th birthday on August the 12th and it is Kendra’s 38th birthday on Monday August 18th. I am blessed to have such great kids and grandkids. God has been very good.
When we got home, both Hank and I thought we might some of the Olympics but both of us had trouble staying awake so we went to bed at 9 PM. We realize we are very tired. I did not have the energy to start cleaning out our baskets or write on the blog. So it is early Sunday morning as I am writing this. Today looks like it will be a glorious day for the celebration rally. I understand there are over 5000 tickets that have been spoken for. We are excited about this time in GR.
No comments:
Post a Comment