We were looking forward to having a short day into Pella today after some pretty long days. Today I rode without my removable cast. My hand did not hurt even with all the bumps on the road. I started out about 645 and met up with Rick DeJong from Hamilton Ontario. We rode all the way together again up and down hills much like the previous days. Some hills were 9% grade which slowed me down considerably and Rick would patiently wait for me to catch up. Rick is a strong rider, but decided he was in no hurry to get in as it was a short day. At mile 11 today we crossed the half way point for the tour in terms of actual riding distance.
Rick and I at half way mark.
We continued on into Knoxville at mile 37 where Celebration Church provided us with great pies, coffee and fruit. After Knoxville we only had 14 miles to go. As Rick and I were biking along the road a gentleman is putting up lawn chairs along the route and shouts to me "Are you taking donations?" As we were riding quite fast I shouted yes and whipped around back to talk with him about the ride. He knew all about us. His name was Jerry Weldon from Celebration Church and emphasized that they believe in taking the church to the streets and really liked what we were doing. He had us $20 donation. Thanks Jerry.
We continued on our ride into Pella. We went down a steep grade when we got to the Red Rock Dam and took the bike path down. We were warned it was steep and to be careful. The road had an 8% grade going down. The trail was lovely and we biked along the creek from the dam for a while before it started into town.
We arrived in town about 11 AM which was nice and early to give us time to take a look around Pella before I did my serve project at the Bibles for Missions Thrift store at 2 PM.
Pella is a very picturesque town with a strong Dutch flavor. Lots of Dutch looking buildings and many words in Dutch describing businesses and places.
Bike sculpture made of recycled bike parts
The canal in Pella
At 2 PM 9 of us went to volunteer to help sort clothing at the Bibles for Missions Thrift Center. We were told they only started 4 years ago and make at least $25000 per month. Sometimes they make $1000 a day just on their clothing. They have over 80 volunteers who work during the day and another 40-50 that work at night after hours sorting clothing. We also helped unload one of the vehicles that was full of donated items.
Harry Drost from PEI and Rachel Kiers from BC hard at work unloading.
Nancy DeJager doing her part to unload the truck.
For the evening we had a great meal served at Central College giving our kitchen staff a much needed break. At 7 PM we had a Celebration service lead by a praise group from Faith Christian Reformed church and Ryan Faber gave a brief message. We also heard about the work of Partners Worldwide in Honduraus and work being done by people from Iowa from Ken Van Zee. Lots of good work being done to help end the cycle of poverty with the help of business people who have a passion and care.
Tomorrow I will not be riding as my right Achilles tendon seems to be sore. It has been bothering me over the past several days, but at the end of the ride today it felt more tender. I thought it best not to push it too hard especially tomorrow with lots more hills and a 94 mile day. So I will be doing the SWEEP which means I will be driving my van behind all the cyclists to make sure the last cyclists gets in and or provide help to them if they need assistance. Being a long day with lots of hills, I expect the last cyclist might not get in till close to 6 PM. We are also expecting some 15mph winds from the NW in addition to lots of hills. It may be a challenging day for everyone. Pray for strength and safety for all
Total flats on this tour 241 as of tonight.
Daily stats
Distance51.69 mi
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