Summer Recap

This Thursday at Gear Up Cyclery in Plainfield I will be giving a presentation about my summer. Come on out at 6:15 to hear stories and see pictures from the tour.

Rumor has it there will even be some Christmas cookies there... :)

Undone

Last Saturday night I stood in the deserted kitchen of a large church in Seattle. With the help of my teammates (who now are closer to family than teammates), I slowly disassembled my bicycle. I removed the pedals, handlebars, and seat, remounted the stem, and then placed everything in a large bike box ready to be shipped. Each turn of the Allen wrench was a vivid reminder that the summer adventure had come to an end, but still I found myself laughing as I remembered the events of the summer with my friends. It was one of those moments where you are supposed to be happy because it happened, not sad because it’s over…but sometimes that’s hard to do. It’s a little crazy that in a matter of 40 minutes I could completely undo the vehicle that brought me up the entire Pacific Coast.

There are other parts of this summer that will not be undone quite so quickly. My new tan lines, for example, will be with me for many weeks, and although it’s starting to fade, the grease from changing 15 flat tires in 5 weeks still stains my hands. Soon (hopefully) my body will realize that I’m not biking 80+ miles a day and it will no longer require me to eat gobs of peanut butter on everything. All these things will fade in time; I’ll probably even forget just how much my butt hurt.

But there are other things from this trip that will never be undone. I hope I never forget the love of my teammates and I hope they all know that I would do anything for them. The generosity of the church is also etched in my mind after this ride and I will not soon forget the beauty of God’s creation that I experienced through ocean views, mountaintop landscapes and my teammates.

I’m back in the “real world” and it’s full of distractions like schoolwork, mail, and bills. Those things, however, cannot undo my summer, and for that I am extremely thankful!

Some days

Some days are great. Like Monday when we rode a century into Newburg, OR. We rode together all day and drafted off eachother. We made it to or destination before 4 o'clock and enjoyed a delicious barbecue.

Some days are not so great. Like yesterday when we rode another century. As a team we had 9 flat tires (only two were mine), two dropped chains (only 1 was mine), one nasty fall with a cracked helmet, and one broken derailer. We didn't make it to the church until after 8...that means we spent more than 12 hours the bike.

Even though it was a long day I still had a good time riding and laughing with my teammates, and by the time morning rolled around we were all ready to do it again.

Harder Than I Thought

This is going to be harder than I thought.

Not the riding.  Sure, that's difficult but that's what I expected of the riding - I wanted it to be a challenge.  The hard part is going to be leaving this life of simplicity in a few weeks.  These are just a few of the many, many things that I will miss when this adventure is over:

Being absolutely physically exhausted
Falling asleep in random places like coffee shops, the dinner table and museum floors
Family dinners
Eating all the time
Doing laundry with other people
Cloudy mountain top sanctuaries
Beautiful coastal views
Going ridiculously fast down a mountain on my bicycle
Aaron's animated stories
Abby's sarcasm
Chris's directions
Deb's hard work
Elizabeth's accents
Eva's cooking
Kyle's love of flowers
Lisa's jokes
Margie's questions
Morning devotions and silent rides
Toasting
Inside jokes
Hearing people's stories
The headwind (okay, maybe I wont miss the headwind, but I will miss drafting with my teammates)
Waking up to the sound of air mattresses being deflated
Eating string cheese and honey sandwiches

And the list could go on and on...

Hello Oregon!

On Thursday we crossed the border into Oregon.  We were met by a magnificent coastline, beautiful trees, and a nasty headwind.  The wind would literally cause us to stand still in our tracks and bump into teammates.   The wind was not the only opposition we had; we also had plenty of climbing.  To pass the time as we were climbing in the wind Margie and I practiced our exclamations.  Even going downhill we felt the effects of the wind and at times were only able to go 14 mph even though we were pedaling hard.  The ride made me appreciate my team even more because there is no way we could have finished the ride individually, but as a group we were able to draft and take turns pulling each other.  I have a great team!

Gravel

Wednesday started out fairly normal.  We had a good sized climb in the beginning of the day, and then of course a good sized downhill :)  After that we reached a crazy-steep climb with all sorts of switchbacks.  Eventually we made it to the top and we were all excited to go down the mountain, but to our great dismay the road turned into gravel.  You can't really zip down a gravel road on a road bike.  The whole way down we were clutching our breaks and fishtailing our bikes.  It would have been a lot of fun if we were on mountain bikes, but my bike just isn't made for those kinds of bumps.  Once we got to the bottom we thought we would be greeted with pavement again, but that was not the case.  We started climbing the next gravel mountain road and made it a few miles before the sag van came to get us.  There ended up being 30 miles of gravel/mud roads that were single lane, scarily steep (by that I mean the van breaks were literally smoking when we reached the bottom of the hill), and insanely foggy...so the whole team was glad for a little help from the van.  Once we got past the sketchy roads we got back out of the van and road about 60 miles.  We went through the Redwood forest, saw wild elk, and made it back to the coast to watch the sunset at the beach.

Rain, Rain Go Away

Today we were supposed to ride from Weaverville to Willow Creek, but it is raining hard and it's supposed to rain all day.  Bikers, rain, low visibility and mountain roads with no shoulder aren't a good combination so we will not be riding today.  We will load all our things into the van and trailer this afternoon and shuttle up to Willow Creek.  Honestly, I'm a little disappointed that we don't get to ride...but it was probably the right decision.  Instead of riding we are hanging out in Starbuck and playing games...it's such a rough live :)

Century

On Wednesday we rode from Watsonville through San Francisco to Tiburon.  It was my first time riding a century (112.75 miles).  The morning was a cold and windy, our support van had mechanical problems, one of my teammates was having knee trouble, and someone else's bike broke...it was a rocky start to the day.  To combat the discouragement that this caused we stopped at a roadside stand and ate deliciously fresh strawberries.  After that we went two more miles and saw a sign that said, "World's best muffins."  Naturally we had to stop here as well :)  I got a pumpkin spice muffin - yum.  After those stops we kicked it into high gear and started cranking out some miles.

Apparently San Francisco is hilly; not nice rolling hills, but steep nasty hills.  At one point we were riding through a construction zone with no shoulder and cars zooming past...and I'm pretty sure we were riding straight up as well.  That was a bit scary, but what goes up must come down and that downhill was really sweet...the cars weren't passing us anymore.  On the other climbs my teammates and I sang songs and practice our multiplication tables to keep our minds off of our burning quads.  The other slightly scary part of the ride was the wind at the top of one of the hills.  It was crazy windy and blowing us all over the place.

Eventually we made it through San Francisco and rode over the Golden Gate bridge.  Even though it was foggy it was still great to ride over that bridge.

Once we got over the bridge we were about 10 miles away from the church where we were staying.  Originally we were not going to be speaking at the church, but the plans changed and we only had 15 minutes to get to the church before our speaking engagement.  We cranked out the miles as fast as we could, but we were still a little late.  When we got to the church we were all spent, but pizza and showers were able to revive us.  

Being Lost

On Tuesday we rode from Big Sur to Watsonville and we got very, very lost.  At first I was frustrated about getting lost, but by the end of the ride I was just enjoying all the ridiculous events of the day and spending time with friends. 

I am now going to attempt to explain the day to you knowing full well that I will fail to capture the essence of the day.  It is probably one of those, “you had to be there” types of stories, so you will have to imagine me laughing as you read.

First I should explain that getting lost is nothing new to us; we get lost and turned around many times a day.  Normally when this happens we just whip out our phones and check the internet for directions or call the support van to help us find the way.  However, since we had been riding through Big Sur the day before all our phones were constantly roaming for service which quickly drained the battery.  On top of that, we camped that night so there was no way for us to plug them in and recharge.  That being said, all our phones were either dying or already completely dead. 

Everything was going great until we saw the inevitable sign; “No Bicycles Allowed on freeway.”  The first two riders did not see the sign and continued on the freeway (they ended up making it to the destination 2 hours before the rest of us).  Margie and I exited and climbed a large hill.  While climbing the hill we were nearly taken out by a car accident in the left hand lanes that sent a car skidding across our path.  Once we got to the top of the hill we made a few quick calls on our dying phones and determined that we were going the wrong way.  So we went back down the massive hill that we just climbed.  

At the bottom we met the other part of our group and decided to use my phone to find directions knowing that it would kill the battery.  As soon as the directions were on my phone we were feverishly coping them down onto any paper we could find because my phone was flashing and beeping as it was about to shut down.  Just as we wrote down the last direction the phone turned off.  It was a team effort as one person had the phone, someone else had the pen and another rider had the three pieces of paper that we copied all the directions onto.  Unfortunately for Margie and me, the first direction was to go back up the big hill we had just climbed and descended.  We climbed the hill again and at the top we asked the nice police men (who were there cleaning up the before mentioned car accident) if we were headed in the right direction.  Of course we were not going the right way so we all went back down the hill. 

Eventually, we found the bike path that led to the road we were supposed to be on.  I decided to ignore the stop sign at the end of the bike path and turned left on the road and went down an even bigger hill.  When I turned around to see where my team was there were all back at the top of the hill, so I had to climb back up the hill to meet them.  We didn’t know if we were supposed to go left or right on the road.  I volunteered to scout out the road to the left again and Margie went to the right.  So I traveled to the very bottom of the hill and the end of the road and did not find the street we were looking for.  Thus, I climbed back up the hill to the rest of the team and told them that we all needed to go to the right since the street was not to the left.  If you understand how this story is going you know that going to the right meant climbing even farther up this massive hill.  We climbed and climbed and climbed.  The climb was not as long as the mountain climbs the day before, but it was much steeper.  Eventually we got to the top and did not find the road we were looking for, so you know what that means…back to the bottom.  Turns out we had to go under an overpass at the very bottom of the hill to get to the street we were looking for.  All of this had taken about an hour and a half and we only traveled about 1 mile in the correct direction. 

We followed the directions for a few more miles until we saw a Starbucks and we knew that it was time for a break.  The break lifted our spirits and after lunch we were back on the road again.  The afternoon was not nearly as eventful as the morning.  There were some kamikaze squirrels, food challenges and vowel discussions, but those are all fairly normal to our days now.  Eventually we met a man named Mitch who was out biking.  He was kind enough to show us the way to Watsonville and suggested we visit a pie shop.  Pie sounded delicious, but at that point all we wanted to do was get off our bikes.  We parted ways with Mitch and headed to the church where we were staying.  

Once we got to the church we all stumbled off our bikes and laid in the parking lot not wanting to move.  While we were laying there a lady from the church came out to tell us that someone called the church and was bringing us pies.  All of the sudden there was much excitement, screaming, and yelling from the group.  Mitch brought us two delicious pies that we thoroughly enjoyed.  Thank you, Mitch, for your generosity.

All in all, it was a bottom middle sort of day, but great memories were made.

Big Sur

Riding through Big Sur yesterday was amazing!

We got up at 5:00 in order to beat the majority of the traffic on the mountain road. Since it was so early it was cold and very foggy. The first 20 miles were easy rolling hills…and then the fun really started. We would climb for about 20 minutes and then enjoy 3-4 minutes of the best downhill ever. Then we would do it all over again: climb, downhill, climb, downhill, climb, downhill…for 75 miles. I felt like I was riding through a movie scene with the mountain to the right and cliffs down to the ocean on the left. The fog was crazy so we could not see the ocean, but we could hear it sometimes.  As we continued to climb we began to ride through the clouds. There were times when we could not have had more than ¼ mile of visibility and, just so you know, it’s very chilly inside a cloud. We almost preferred the climbing because at least our blood was flowing and we were able to pretend that we could feel our numb feet. Margie and I led the pack and finally broke through the clouds. We sat in the sun and waited for the rest of the group to eat lunch at this spot.  The ocean is somewhere far below all those clouds.  When I flew into San Diego I thought it was cool that we flew through clouds...turns out that is much more cool to bike through clouds.

After lunch we did more of the same-climb, climb, climb, downhill, climb, climb, climb, downhill.  I knew that we had been climbing for a long time when my ears started popping.  There were times when our legs were so tired we couldn't  tell if we were going up or down.  When we finally reached the campsite we set up the tents, took a quick trip to a waterfall (we all went in the van:), ate some burritos and marshmallows over a campfire, and then had a great campfire discussion. After that, we were spent and slept well in our slightly overcrowded tents.  When I laid down I still felt like I was moving up and down the hills.

Victory dance at the end of the ride

Sunday

We had a nice short ride today; only 40 miles to Cambria, CA.  I remembered to put sunscreen on...except for on the back of my hands so now I have kind-of crazy sunburns on my hands.

I helped make dinner tonight (I know, you're impressed), we made my specialty: grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.  Going to the grocery store was quite fun.  The first store we visited was crazy expensive so we went next door to the Pit Stop which was, as you can imagine, very classy.  Once we found all our necessary materials we were able to make a delicious meal.

After dinner we went to the ocean to watch the sunset.  Unfortunately the fog rolled in while we were driving so there was no sun to watch, but it was still crazy beautiful.  Standing on the rocks listening to the waves crash around me was awesome; God creation is astounding.  I don't think you can see it in the picture, but there were a bunch of seals in the water just past the rocks.

Tomorrow we are riding Big Sur.  Apparently that is a rather large mountain.  When we talk to the locals about it they first look at us like we are crazy and then an expression of great respect crosses their faces.  I think that means it is going to be a hard ride.  All the locals say the same thing, "It's is absolutely beautiful."  Please pray for safety for my team and I as we ride these mountain roads.

 

First

I'm having a lot of firsts on this trip:

• It's my first really, really, really, really, really long bike ride.
• My first time flying alone.
• First time standing with my feet in the Pacific Ocean.
• The first time I've eaten fish tacos.
• My first trip to In and Out Burgers.
• I ate my first Red Vines on this trip (which, as it turns out, are NOT like Twizzlers).
• First time I road my bike on the freeway.
• My first time on a military base and the first time I've talked to a guy holding a machine gun.
• Saw my first real rattlesnake (as in it was not at the zoo in a nice protective cage).
• First time I've slept on church floors.  After riding 80+ miles a day the floors are amazingly comfortable; however, they do smell I little like feet.

And I'm sure there are many more firsts yet to come.

Sorry...

…I haven’t updated for a while. Turns out biking across the country takes a long time.

Here is what a typical day looks like: We wake up around 6:30 and try to hit the road around 7:30 (which means we normally leave a little after 8). We ride 20 to 25 miles and stop for a water and snack break, then we ride 20 to 25 more miles and then stop for another break, and we do that again and again and again. We ride 70 to 80 miles each day and between the ten of us we polish off a bunch of bananas, bag of oranges, lots of granola bars, and a few bags of chips each day.  Normally we arrive at our destination around 6:00, stash our bikes, eat dinner, take showers, and then head to bed.

For the most part we are riding straight up the coast which is absolutely beautiful. It's great to look to the right and see beautiful rocky hills and then look to the left and see the big blue ocean stretching on for miles and miles.

Almost as beautiful as the ocean is the big, blue, fluffy towels that I got to use at one of the host homes we stayed at. Most of the times we stay at churches, but sometimes extremely nice people from the church invite us into their homes even though we are very dirty and stinky.

Here are a few pictures from the trip:

Tunnel

Eating delicious watermelon during a lunch stop on the side of the road

Slight detour for coffee and cinnamon rolls

Burritos the size of our heads at a farmers market

washing the van.  the very, very dirty van

Picture This...

Riding toward the ocean down a massive hill with beautiful rocky ridges to the left and nothing but the Pacific Ocean ahead. Amazing.

We rode 50 miles today and are now in Oceanside, CA. Tomorrow we have a 90 mile ride to Long Beach.

Church was also cool this morning. They did a send off service for us and prayed over us. And then three of the guys from the church rode with us. That was great because they knew where thay were going!

Oh, and I'm two for two so far...I got another flat tire today.

To the Beach

We did our first group ride today; 20 miles through San Diego to the Pacific Ocean.

There were some hills that were a lot of fun to go down, and there were also some hills that we had to go up.  They weren't as bad as I thought they would be, but I'm sure they will get bigger and longer.

The traffic was straight up crazy.  Fortunately there was a bike lane for the majority of the ride; however, bike lanes aren't that helpful when they are crossing in front of multiple lanes of traffic that are trying to get to the entrance ramp.

I also got my first flat tire out of the way today.  My theory is that I'll only get one flat per state, so that means I don't have to worry about flats again until Oregon :)

The best part of the ride was by far the beach.  Once we all got there we took our shoes off and walk across the sand to the Pacific ocean.  I'm not going to lie, that was a really cool feeling.  Then we took group pictures, a lot of pictures...I think the final count was over 600.

Tonight we are headed to a Jars of Clay concert to promote the Blood:Water Mission.  In the morning we are  going to church and then we're leave for Seattle!

A vendor gave us free chips and hummus at the beach

The beach where we dipped our tires

New fashion statement: inner tubes that go flat while you're riding.

Touch down!

I'be made it to the San Diego airport. There are palm trees and what appears to be very large hills...yikes.

All my bags are packed...

...I'm ready to go.

Bummer

Due to some unfortunate new Indiana education legislation I will have to start my masters this summer.  I was planning on beginning the program in the fall, but with the new laws I have to be started by July; bummer.  So, this summer I will be biking across the country...and getting a masters.

I have been accepted into the Indiana Wesleyan Masters of Education program and will be taking one online course this summer.  It was a painful process applying to IWU; I still, and always will, bleed purple and gold for Taylor University.

Summer Snapshot

I have one week between school ending and the ride starting and I have been busy filling it with every bit of summer possible.  Here are a few of the great things I have done so far:

• Reading a book in the hammock by the river
• Riding bikes with my parents
• Eating French toast at Stackers
• Mowing the yard
• Watching a baseball game...Go Loons!
• Eating a Slurpee (Hooray for Seven Elevens!), smoothie, snow cone, and popsicles…there are so many great foods that go along with summer.

• Swimming with my nephews even though, in the words of Eli, the water was “very cold.”
• Playing at the park, rolling down the hill, and eating a picnic.  It was fun, but it kind-of wore us all out.
• Playing Ticket to Ride
• Going out on the town late at night with my sister (and by late I mean 9:30…we are such party animals)
• Eating great food.  I'm getting spoiled by my mom's amazing cooking...it sure beats the Mac-N-Cheese and scrambled eggs which are my specialty.

Since my bike is on its way to San Diego, I have not been able to ride for a while.  Fortunately, my sister let me borrow her bike so I was able to ride the past two days.  After all the time I've spent on my bike it was strange to be on a different bike...it kind-of felt like I was cheating on my bike.  While I was riding I found myself trying to un-clip my shoes (which weren't clipped in) and check my mirror even though there was no mirror.  My sister's bike is nice, but I'll be glad to have my bike back.

Check

One week from now I will be in San Diego, California.  

Crazy.  

Slowly but surely things are starting to get checked off my to-do list.  I’ve forwarded my mail, paid rent for the summer, and shipped my bike.  The guys at the bike shop packed my bike for me and then I stuffed all sorts of other things into the box so that I wouldn’t have to carry them with me.  I was able to fit my sleeping bag, helmet, shoes, socks, and extra inner tubes into the box.  UPS will deliver all of that to the church where we are staying on Wednesday.  The cost of shipping my bike was not as much as my plane ticket, but it was close enough.  I hope my bike has more leg room than I do on our trip out to San Diego. 

Wet, Wet, Wet

The weather forecast for today was scattered thunderstorms.  Can you already guess what happened???

The Weather Channel website said that the earliest it would storm was 5:45.  That gave me about an hour and 45 minutes.  I decided to just do a 20 mile ride; I would have more than enough time to do that.  Here is the play-by-play of the ride.

Mile 4 – I noticed dark clouds off in the distance, but I didn’t think much of it. 

Mile 6 – Those dark clouds started to look very stormy.  I thought perhaps they looked dark because of my sunglasses, but I was wrong.  I took off the glasses and the clouds still looked threatening. 

Mile 8 – The clouds had become ominous, so I changed my route and start riding back toward my apartment just in case.

 

Mile 10 – The dark clouds didn’t seem so bad.  I figured I was being paranoid earlier and I would probably end up back at my apartment under blue skies.  I considered heading back out again but decided against it.

Mile 15 (1.5 miles away from the apartment) – It started to sprinkle.  It was a nice, easy spring-sort of sprinkle.

Mile 15.5 (1 mile away) – I thought it would have been kind-of fun to get caught in a storm.

Mile 15.75 (¾ of a mile away) – Lightening started to steak across the sky and I took back my previous thought about it being fun to bike in a storm.

Mile 16 (½ a mile away) – Downpour.  Absolute Downpour. 

It’s hard to explain all the things that happened in the last few minutes of the ride, but I am very thankful that I had turned around when I did.  The rain was coming down in sheets so fast that the storm drains couldn’t keep up.  There was a good inch of standing water on the road; that is the first time I’ve had a wake while riding my bike.  The wind was gusting like crazy and blowing me around.  Half of my brain was telling me to go faster so that I could get inside, and the other half of my brain was telling me to slow down as I went speeding around corners through standing water.  The most painful part was the hail…at least it wasn’t very big.

I did make it back to my apartment in one piece.  I was able to actually pour the excess water out of my shoes; I couldn’t have gotten any wetter if I had jumped into a pool.  As I was drying myself and my bike off the thunder was so loud it actually shook the building.  The power flickered once and then came right back on.  The storm was powerful, but it seemed to be short.  By the time I had dried my bike off the worst part of the storm appeared to be over.  That’s why I left the screen door open while I jumped in the shower.  There is a good overhang above the screen door so the nice gentle rain that was falling wouldn’t get inside.  Of course that gentle rain turned into giant-angry raindrops driven by hammering winds.  I was wet, my bike is wet, and now my apartment is wet.  At least everything is equal J.

Not Pretty

It turns out biking is not always pretty.  Here are some examples…

Just a little rain can mean a whole lot of mud.  My shoes – and legs for that matter – are not normally speckled. 

Windy days can also lead to unappealing events.  Riding into the wind is hard work so I end up breathing through my mouth.  That is when the wind whips out what little saliva is left in my mouth and smears it across my face.  Gorgeous.

I’ve mentioned my biking gloves before with the built-in nose wiper.  At first I thought this was gross, but I have found that it is completely necessary.  My nose runs like a faucet while I’m biking.

I have seen a lot of snot rockets in the last few weeks as I have been riding with other people.  The snot rocket was first created by cross country runners and has since been adapted and implemented in almost every other sporting arena.  To perform a snot rocket you plug one nostril and then blow ridiculously hard causing a nasty mess of slime to go shooting out of your nose.  Gross.  A snot rocket that is executed correctly will leave you with clean hands, a clean face, a clear nose, and no nasty tissue.  I have yet to achieve a successful snot rocket.  

Saturday

Saturday’s ride was great fun.  I got in about 40 miles before meeting up at the park with the people from church.  Even though the weather was questionable (we did get sprinkled on a little) there was a great turn out – over 20 people!  I am continually blessed and encouraged by the awesome support of my church.  Some people were there on borrowed bikes, others were on bikes that had not been ridden in years, and there were even little guys getting towed along behind the bike. 

We did encounter some mechanical difficulties in the form of two flat tires, but we were able to find some creative solutions.  Fortunately, the flats were on two of the smallest bikes…meaning two of the smallest people.  After attempted to revive the tires the bikes were left behind to be picked up later with the car.  One of the other bikes had pegs on the back so Evan rode on the pegs with his Mom.  Emmalee got the royal treatment and got to sit on her Dad’s seat with her legs sticking out as he stood up and pedaled the entire way back.  I was very impressed by this!

The best part of the ride was our visit to Dairy Queen.  Ice Cream, Artic Chills, and Blizzards will make any outing a success. 

Big, Bigger, Biggest

Big News: I'm a "strong rider"

The cold weather is back again and it has been raining on and off all day.  I thought the weather would keep people away from the group CIBA ride today; I was partly right.  The weather kept the amateurs and slow-pokes away, but all the hard core bikers still showed up.  This was the best group I have ridden with so far.  Now let me clarify that last sentence.  I have ridden with very good bikers, but it has always been in small groups of two or four.  This was a big group of good riders.  I knew they were good because their jerseys boasted of their biking feats, like The Hilly Hundred in southern Indiana.  For the most part, I was able to keep up with them on the 26 mile ride, and one of them even said I was a strong rider (go me!).  They are a pretty fast group.  At one point tonight I got toward the front of the group and was feeling good spinning along at 20+ mph.  Then, out of nowhere, two of the guys went zooming past me like they were on rockets.  I think they must get all that speed from a turbo-boost button on their bikes; either that, or the fact that their legs are more freshly shaven than mineJ.

Bigger News: The invitation

Toward the end of the ride one of the guys invited me to ride with them tomorrow night.  The feeling I got from the group was that today was the easy ride, and tomorrow will be the real workout.  That makes me a little nervous, but I’m going to ride with them again.  I feel like a middle school student who just got invited to a high school party.  I think they’re going to kick my bicycling-butt, but I’m excited!

Biggest News: Solution found

I finally have an answer for the hair/helmet hindrance.  I’ve tried a lot of different strategies: ponytails, pigtails, bandanas, ect, but I’ve never been quite satisfied.  I find that I am jealous of the bald guys while riding because their helmets go on so smoothly and seem to fit so snuggly.  Today I found out that I can weave my ponytail between the helmet and the straps to get a much nicer fit.  I figured this out after the ride and was so excited I wore the helmet around the apartment for a while, but then I started to feel really silly so I have since removed the helmet.  I’ll have to wait until tomorrow…when I go riding with the big boys…to wear the helmet again.

Bike Like Bekah

Another fundraiser with some people from church.  Come out and join us; it will be a lot of fun!!!

Join us in support of Rebekah Deal and her upcoming adventure to ride her bike from San Diego to Seattle to raise awareness and funds in support of Blood:Water Missions.

Blood:Water Mission is to empower communities to work together against HIV/AIDS and water crises in Africa

www.bloodwatermission.com

We will be taking a 5 mile fun ride with Rebekah as she prepares for this journey. All funds raised through these efforts will go directly to support her efforts and Blood:Water Mission

Hummel Park – Plainfield

Meet in Softball Field Parking Lot

May 21st at 12 Noon

5$ Per Person / 10$ Per Family

Contact:

Don Chastain ddchasta@gmail.com (317)313-5587

Thank You

A big thank you to the people at Gear Up for tuning up my bike.  I rode 20 miles today like it was a piece of cake on my finely tuned clean-mean-machine.

Side Note: Biking and running use very different muscles.  Since my bike was in the shop yesterday I thought I would go for a run; no big deal.  However, I woke up this morning with some sore legs.  There is a ramp right outside my classroom and I’m sure I looked ridiculous as I waddled down it today.

One Month

One month from today I will arrive in San Diego, CA.  That’s just a little over 4 weeks; that’s just 30 days; that’s just 720 hours; that’s just 43,200 minutes; that’s just 2,592,000 seconds.  No more saying, “I’ll work out tomorrow.”  It’s go time.

I started a list a few months ago of things I have to accomplish before I leave.  I’ve crossed a few things off the list, but most of the time I look at it and think, “I’ll take care of that when the trip gets closer.”  That excuse isn’t going to work anymore; the trip is close.

I’m very excited for the trip.  I can hardly wait to meet my teammates and start this adventure with them.  In fact, on my way to work the last few days I found myself doing a little dance in the car because I could hardly contain my excitement. 

Sadly, all that excited energy turned into nervous energy this afternoon.  What if I can’t bike that far?  What if I can’t accomplish all those things that are on my list?  What if my teammates don’t like me?  What if all my flights get cancelled?  But don’t worry, as I am typing this I am already starting to forget my nerves and return to my exited state.  I think my emotions will go something like this over the next four weeks:  excited – nervous – super pumped – petrified – thrilled – scarred – delighted – anxious – elated – tense – and then back to excited again.  Maybe this is good training for the ups and downs of the mountains I will meet out there.

Padwan

Saturday’s forecast of rain in the late morning must have kept some people from joining the group ride, but three other riders and I dared the rain to find us.  Of course, the rain did find us about one mile into the 22 mile ride, but we were not discouraged.  In fact, we ended up adding more miles on at the end of the ride so that I finished the day with 44 miles.  

I was the most inexperienced rider there and that was actually a great thing because for the entire ride these three guys were teaching me all sorts of useful cycling information.  I am Luke Skywalker and they are my Obi-Wan Kenobi.  They taught me about some of the bike laws in Indiana, shifting, the formula between my gears and the distance I travel per revolution, staying hydrated and energized on long rides, and techniques for climbing hills.  My favorite hill technique was to look at the top of the hill and envision myself there, but if it’s a big hill it’s better to not look up.  I’ll probably use the“not look up” technique a lot this summer. 

On the ride I experienced my first biker vs. dog battle.  I’ve had dogs bark ferociously at me, but they have always been behind a fence.  There was one dog who chased me for a while, but he was didn’t sound too mean and he wasn’t very fast so I out ran him quickly.  But this dog was a battle.  The four of us were riding along a back country road and the guys knew that there was a dog at this house.  Even though the dog will chase you, he is always gated in.  We heard the dog coming and my adrenaline started pumping as the big German shepherd came running toward us and the gate that was left open.  I think the dog was just as surprised as we were that the gate was open because he came running through and didn’t even slow down before he ran straight into one of the guys.  Taking a direct hit from a 50+ pound dog added to the wet pavement, there wasn’t anything this guy could do other than fall gracefully.  Fortunately, the dog broke the fall of the bike and rider, so the only injury was a little road rash on his knee.  The dog was so confused by the whole ordeal he just stood and watched as he remounted his bike chain and we rode off. 

Overall it was a good ride, but this padwan still has much to learn.

Flat

My new skinny tires worked really well…until I got a flat.  The flat was not the tires fault, but I’ll get to that later.  This was my first ride with the skinny road tires and, to be completely honest, there wasn’t a huge difference; I wasn’t all of the sudden able to ride 30 miles an hours.  However, I was able to average 17 miles per hour on my 27 mile ride and that is a little faster than my usually average.  I think the tires gave me better coasting distance and a bit more speed on the downhills.

The tires were not the only factors that made me go faster today.  This is one of the first sunny days we’ve had in quite some time and I had been looking forward to my afternoon ride ever since second period when the sun started streaming through my classroom window.  I think the sunshine helped me go faster. 

When I was about four miles away from the end of my ride I noticed that my average speed was only a few tenths below 17 mp, so I challenged myself to see if I could get up to 17 mph by the end of the ride.  I kicked it into high gear and was pushing hard.  Then I hit a BIG bump.  This was not little crack in the pavement, this was more of a gap between the trail and bridge.  The bump rocked my bike pretty good.  It jumbled my computer sensor and even rang that silly bell that's on my bike.  I stopped quickly to realign my sensor and as soon as I started riding again I could tell that something was wrong.  My back tire was completely flat.

To fill my tires I use a small hand pump.  Before I left today I thought maybe I should invest in a bigger pump for my apartment so that I can fill the tires with more pressure.  At the time, it seemed unnecessary, but now I will definitely be purchasing a larger pump the next time I’m at the bike shop.  Even though I topped off my tires before I left today I think the back tire was still a bit squishy and that is why it split on me.

Fortunately, when my tire blew I was on the trails so I didn’t have to deal with car traffic, and the other great news was that I just so happened to put my extra inner tube in my back pocket as I was leaving today.  This was the first time I had ever carried an extra tube with me, and I’m glad I had it!  I was able to change everything in about 10 minutes.  I thought that was pretty good, but I’m sure I’ll get a lot faster this summer.

New Tires

 I put new skinny tires on my bike last night. This was actually on my to-do list for a few weeks ago, but it turns out that bike tires are sold in packages of ONE. Bikes have two wheels, so I logically thought that tires would be sold in pairs…chalk that up to the ever growing list of things I’ve learned about bikes. The second tire that I ordered arrived yesterday. Of course I was at work when the package was delivered, so I had to go to the post office to pick it up. I thought about driving to the post office, but then decided to ride my bike. It felt kind-of poetic riding my bike to pick up my new tire.

Before leaving I went through the logistics in my head. Do I need to take a bag to carry the tire home? No, it will fit in the back pocket of my jersey. Is there somewhere to put my bike while I’m inside? Yes, I’ll only be inside for two or three minutes, so I can just leave it unattended outside.

When I arrived at the post office I was met with the longest line I have ever seen at that office. Only one teller was working and there were plenty of people ahead of me with big awkward packages that needed to be shipped…so much for only being inside for a few minutes. I had a bit of separation anxiety while my bike was unsupervised outside, but it was just fine out there.

As I was standing in line I started to feel a little self-conscious as I looked around. Most of the other people were on their way home from work and wearing suits or cute summer outfits. I stuck out like a sore thumb sporting my padded spandex shorts and obnoxious yellow jersey. The truth is everyone else was probably jealous of me because they had to pay $4.25 per gallon to drive their cars to the post office. I was able to make it there without using any gas. It’s a good thing I decided to bike, and not drive, across the coast this summer.

Changing the tires actually went better than I thought it would. I had read some reviews that these particular tires were exceptionally tight and difficult to get on the rims without puncturing the inner tube. I was able to do it all by myself…and as far as I know I didn’t ruin the inner tube. I felt pretty cool and accomplished as I disassembled and remounted my tires. By the end I was covered with just the right amount of dirt and grease. Fortunately, I was able to keep the grease on my hands and sweatpants, and not on the carpet in my apartment.

When I got to this stage in the tire-changing process I got a little nervous that I would not be able to put all the piece back together again :)

Here is the difference between my new and old tires.

















I haven't had a chance to ride on the new tires yet, but I'll let you know how it goes.

This is a Test

A few months ago I got a super cool new phone so that I could stay connected and update my blog while I'm on the trip his summer. This is a test to see if I can, in fact, post new blogs from my phone.

Test successful!

I will give you a warning: there are far fewer spleling and grammar checks on a phone than there are on a computer. You'll have to forgive my mistakes; I teach math, not English.

Half a Century

I biked 53 miles on Saturday.  That’s a long way.

The trip was broken up into four major parts.  First, I rode the 10 miles of trails from my parents’ house to my sister house.  These were the same trails that were snow-covered last time I was home and caused me to fall.  Fortunately, there was a major heat wave on Saturday (it got all the way up to 49 degrees), so the snow had melted and left in its place large puddles of icy cold water.  I felt like I was playing Oregon Trail (that was such a great computer game) and I had to decide if I was going to look for an alternate route, ford the river with my oxen team and covered wagon, or pay to ride the ferry across the river.  I opted to ford the first few puddles that I encountered, but just like the game the last puddle was HUGE.  Since there was no ferry to ride across, and I didn’t have any money to pay even if there was, I decided to look for an alternate route.  The other route was easy to find.  I just jumped on the road for a while and got back on the trail on the other side of the lake…oh, I meant puddle.

The second 10 miles were fun because I had the company of Dave and my nephew Eli.  Dave was towing Eli in the trailer and it made me very glad that we will have a support van this summer because it looked like a lot of work towing that extra weight.  Eli was excited to go on the ‘icycle’ ride and I think his favorite part was the tunnel.

The third part of the trip was another 10 mile leg out to Colmen.  This part of the trip was not super fun because there was a head wind and my toes were starting to get really cold.  Dave, Christel, Eli, and Luke were meeting me for lunch at A&W in Colmen so at least I had something good to look forward too.  They were able to beat me there in their fancy gasoline-powered automobile.  They offered me some chilly-cheese fries, but somehow those just didn’t sound good knowing I still had a lot of riding ahead of me.

The last part of the trip was 20 miles back to the spot where my Dad was going to pick me up.  There was a nice tail wind and I was able to average 17 miles per hour in the last 20 miles.  By the end I was getting pretty tired, but I was able to make it all the way.  The timing worked out great because my Dad and I got to the meeting location within 10 seconds of each other. 

I spent the rest of the day doing a whole lot of non-physical activities like grading papers, playing board games, and eating cookies.

Entering the Throne Room

On my 53 mile ride I had a lot of time to think.  While I wasn’t thinking, “Wow, my toes are cold!” or “fifty miles is a really long way,” these are the thoughts that filled my mind. 

Before I get started here is a little background:  my niece, Addison, is 6 months old and she is the cutest little girl ever.  She has all sorts of health issues and Friday’s surgery that was supposed to straighten everything out only revealed more issues that need to be addressed. 

Hebrews 4:16

“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” 

I've approach the throne of grace before.

I’ve approached the throne of grace with my heart bursting from joy because my sister got a pool (that’s a whole other story) or my basketball team was going to the national tournament.  In my excitement I forgot that I was addressing the Almighty King and I didn’t show the reverence or respect He deserves.  But He accepts me as I am.   

I've approached the throne of grace broken and confused by the lies that surround and deceive me every day.  In my anger I forgot that I was addressing my Heavenly Father and I was selfish and arrogant in His presence.  But He accepts me as I am.

I’ve approached the throne of grace in triumph after finishing a school day in which I was able to show my students the love of Christ rather than the grumpy and tired attitude I started the day with.  In my hast to thank Him for His help I forgot that I was addressing the Giver of Life and I neglected to thank Him for every breath that I breath.  But He accepts me as I am.

Now I am discouraged and I find it hard to approach the throne of grace.  I am discouraged because I wanted the surgery to work.  I want Addison to be all better.  But she’s not.  I’m sad, and, to be honest, I’m also a little mad.  This Easter weekend, when I should have been reveling in the presence of God and His work of salvation, I found myself standing in the doorway to the throne of grace, and I was afraid to go in.  But He accepts me as I am.

After standing outside the throne room for a while I discovered something about myself.  At first I was afraid to go in, but it turns out that I am even more afraid to stay outside.  It is in the throne room that we receive mercy, grace and help in our time of need.

Sometimes I suppose I just need to be reminded of the truths that I know.  Like the truth of Hebrews 4:16 that tell us that we can approach the throne of grace with confidence, no matter what emotions we may have.  Or the truth that Tristan, Addison’s 4 year old brother, reminded me of over spring break.  He crawled up into the chair with me and we were having a typical conversation about monster trucks, superheroes, and the boss of the world.  I asked him if God was the boss of the world and he said, “No, God is the Savior of the world.” 

And here is the truth that I know about Addison…

God created Addison’s innermost being; He knit her together in her mother’s womb.  I will praise God because Addison is fearfully and wonderfully made; God’s works are wonderful, I know that full well.  (Psalm 139:13-14)

Follow the Arrows

On Saturday morning I went on a group ride with the local bike shop.  There were a few great things about the ride; like riding with other people, getting a map, and being able to follow the green route arrows that were marked on the roads.  By far the best part of the morning was eating with the group at Flap Jacks after the ride.  I love French Toast!

There were actually two routes marked on the map they gave us; a shorter ride, about 14 miles, which we did on Saturday, and a longer 26 mile path.  On Sunday afternoon I decided to conquer the second route.  I was pretty excited to have new roads to ride and I was completely confident that I would not get lost because not only did I have a map, but the roads were also marked with those great green arrows that would show me which way to go.

The first half of the ride went great, I was following those green arrows like a champ.  Then I started to get a little distracted and stopped paying such close attention to the arrows.  Bad idea.  As I went zooming past an intersection down a hill next to a field of cows I thought, “hum, I wonder if I was supposed to turn there?”  The handy-dandy map was in my back pocket so I pulled it out while I was riding.  There was no one around on that back country road to see my impressive feat of reading a map while riding a bike, but I will admit, the cows I was passing looked impressed.  In actuality the cows shouldn't have been impressed because it turns out it’s kind-of hard to read a map while riding a bike, and on top of that I didn’t know what road I was on.  So in truth, the map did me no good. 

I turned around and rode back to the intersection to find that little green arrow that would tell me which way to go.  The cows looked at me like I was a little strange as I rode back up the hill past them.  Fortunately by the time I found my green arrow, and learned that I had been going the correct direction the whole time, the cows had gone back to eating and they didn’t even notice me go past them for the third time.

After that I was more diligent about watching the green arrows.  Every time I saw a green arrow I was relieved and excited to know I was on the right path, but around mile marker 19 my feelings toward those green arrows started to change.  Instead of being happy about those arrows I was just becoming angry.  It seemed like every turn was leading me farther and farther away from everything I knew or recognized.  For a brief moment I thought that perhaps the green arrows were taking me off into some deserted field to kill me.   Yet, I continued to follow those arrows, and it’s a good thing I did because about one minute later I reached a crossroad that I recognized and all my faith in those green arrows was restored.  They led me home without any more conundrums.

Flip for Fun and Funds

Come on out to the Indy on Wheels car show at Westlake Church of God on Saturday, April 30th.  The car show is from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM.  At noon there will be a flip contest and all the proceeds will go to the Blood:Water Mission.  There is a $5 registration fee and a $50 prize for the person who can do the most consecutive flips.  Now, if you are more like me and can't do a flip (I'll admit, I struggle with a somersault) you can still participate by sponsoring and cheering on our flippers.  I hope to see you there!

Mechanic Me: Part II

On Thursday there was a seminar that I attended at Gear Up, my local bike shop, about roadside repairs.  They talked about basic bike maintenance, removing wheels, fixing spokes, and changing tires.  People have explained the process of changing a bike tire to me before, but I’ll be real honest, I never really understood.  So it was great to be able to watch it actually happen and ask questions along the way.

My project on Saturday afternoon was to change my bike tire.  (Well not actually change because it was not flat, but at least practice the process so that if I ever have to do it on the road it won’t be my first attempt.)  The first half of the procedures went great; marvelous in fact.  Well, actually the first half went a little too well because the second half was not so great.  Letting all the air out of the tire was easy and using the tire wench to pull the bead of the tire over the rim wasn’t too bad.  (Did you notice those bike vocabulary words in there?  I hope I used them correctly.)  Then I pulled the inner tube out - half way done now - then I put the inner tube back in.  It was putting the tire back on the rim that was difficult.  I was able to get most of it on, but the last 5 inches proved to be very, very challenging.  At one point I thought I was going to have to take my tire to the bike shop on Monday and ask for some help.  But perseverance paid off and eventually I got everything put back together. 

Before I left for my ride today I checked my tire pressure and found that I needed to add a little more air to my front tire.  I thought this would be a breeze now that I have all that experience from changing a tire ONE time, and I really think that adding more air to a tire should be easy.  Yet, somehow I managed to let ALL of the air out of my tire before I successfully got any air to go in.  In the end, I was able to get the air and a good ride in today. 

Bugs and Geese

In the last post I mentioned that I hope they don’t have big bugs on the Pacific Coast because they sting a bit when I get hit by them.  However, in the last few days I have learned that big bugs are much better than the small bugs.  Riding through a swarm of those tiny gnats is not fun for a variety of reasons.  For starters, they are impossible for me to see while I am riding so they always catch me off guard.  Also, they get smashed onto my glasses and leave nasty streaks behind that are difficult to get off while riding.  But the worst thing about the gnats is the mouth.  You see, I’m working hard while I’m riding so I am often breathing through my mouth and those little gnats fly right in.  Gross. 

On Thursday I took a ride with my co-worker and he showed me a new route around town.  At one point he was relaying a story about how once when he rode this section of trail he was attached by a goose.  As we were speculating on the location of the bird’s nest I happened to look behind us and there was that goose.  She looked mad!  She flew behind us with her neck extended and beak snapping for a while, but then she retreated back to her nest, where ever it may be.  

Mechanic Me

I played bike mechanic today.  (Before I go any further with this story let me explain that I have never done anything remotely like this before.  My idea of bike maintenance is wiping off the frame after I’ve ridden through a puddle.)  On my ride yesterday my gears were sounding squeaky and few months ago someone had mentioned oiling their chains, so I thought I would give it a try.  After school today I stopped by my local bike shop.  I didn't really know what I was looking for so I ask the sales lady and after picking up one product she decided to check with the bike mechanic by asking, “Is this the stuff for greasing the chains?”  He looked at us like we were aliens who had no right to be in a bike shop and said, “it’s called oil.”  Fortunately, he took pity on my ignorance and showed me how to put the OIL on my chain.  He even told me all his tricks like using a twisty tie to mark my starting place, putting the chain on the outermost chainreel so that it is easier to reach, and wiping down the chain when you’re done again and again and again.  Apparently oil catches dirt and mud so the less oil that is exposed, the cleaner the chain stays.

I think my first attempt at bike maintenance was a success.  After oiling the chain I went for a ride and my gears did not seem so squeaky.  Yesterday I rode a 16 mile loop at an average speed of 15 mph, and today I rode the same loop and was able to average 16.5 mph.  That’s still not great, but at least it’s getting better.  I could attribute the added speed to my newly oiled chain or the fact that it was less windy today.  However, I think the real reason I went faster today is because I also picked up some biking socks at the bike shop today.  Clearly it was those black, ankle high, cool-max socks of wonder that added to my speed:)

While I was riding today I was passed by a group of bikers and that made me feel really slow.  Getting past by cars is no problem; they run on gas and motors so when they pass me it doesn’t make me feel like I’m dawdling.  But when these bikers went zooming by I felt a little sluggish.  I was able to keep up with them for about a mile until they turned right and I turned left at the next intersection.  So I guess I could say that I could have stayed with them longer, but the truth is they were starting to pull away from me.  While they were passing me all I could think was, “Wow, their calves are HUGE.”  They looked like footballs attached to their shin bones.  I can look forward to having monstrous calves when I get back next summer.

I also got hit by a big bug today while I was riding; it kind-of hurt.  I hope they don’t have big bugs on the West Coast.

Good Quote

This is a quote from Bicycling Magazine that I thought was just too good...or disturbing...to pass up.

"I discovered early on that my initial fear of spandex was unfounded in light of the horrific alternative: running shorts on a bike at 24 mph."

Overwhelmingly Blessed

I’m completely overwhelmed by the support and generosity shown by my school and my church in the past week.

Thursday night was the Staff vs. 8^th grade basketball game at my school and all the proceeds of the game are being donated to the Blood:Water Mission.  The night was a huge success.  The game was supposed to start at 7:00 but since the line to get into the gym was still out the door and wrapped around the school we waited a few more minutes before we got started.  The gym was packed with students sporting their t-shirts promoting the Blood:Water Mission, parents, and teachers.  Everyone had a great time, and don’t worry, the teachers totally dominated.  As an added incentive, the Junior Optimist Club donated $10 for every three point basket that was made.  By the end of the game everyone was just launching threes and we made a total of 18, but I won’t tell you how many we missed:)

This week was also the end of the coin wars at school so on Friday afternoon my friends and I took 4 recycling bins filled with change to the bank.  Those bins were very heavy and I think everyone at the bank was flabbergasted by the amount of coinage.  The coins were already rolled but we had to count all the rolls once we got there.  So the three of us, plus two of the ladies from the bank, sat on the floor of the bank lobby filling boxes with rolls of coins.  Thank you for all your help ladies, and you should now feel free to use a credit card for every purchase in your life just so that you don’t have to ever deal with coins again!

On Sunday I was able to share about my upcoming summer adventure with my church.  We had water bottles with some information about the trip and prayer requests on them that I was able to give to people who donated.  So many people donated that I actually ran out of water bottles!  How cool is that?  Another exciting thing was that there were a lot of people who had suggestions for other fundraisers.  So keep your ears open for backflip contests and Saturday morning bike rides.  I cannot thank all of you enough; you have truly been a blessing to me today.

To God alone be the glory.  Thank you Father for putting all these wonderful people in my life.