Sunday, August 3, 2008

It is hard to believe that we have completed five weeks of the Sea to Sea journey across the continent. We have travelled over 2100 miles or 3200km (my actual mileage is closer to 3500km.). We have travelled through the states of Washington, Idaho, Utah, Colorado and are now almost through Nebraska and will be entering Iowa early next week. That's a lot of country that we have traversed. I still have to give myself a pinch, it seems unreal that we are so far already. A year ago I would never have thought this would be possible. The body is an amazing machine, wonderfully created to handle the heat, the long days in the saddle, the climbs, the strain. There have been days when I have completed the day's ride feeling quite exhausted and very thankful that I have made it once again, but also wondering if I will be able to endure another hot, hilly, long day. And yet, I have been equally surprised each morning anew that I feel ready to tackle another day. God certainly, wonderfully provides what our bodies stand in need of.

This past week was the longest in terms of the total distance travelled. Each day was close to 150km or 92 miles for total of 553 miles or 890km. As mentioned above the actual mileage (including extra trips into town to the bike shop or other facilities) was close to 100 miles or 160km. total for each day. For example, on Thursday we travelled from McCook to Minden and my actual mileage was 101 miles, not including going into town. Those are significant distances when you think about it. I look back to last fall before I started training for this ride and I can remember thinking that going 10 miles was a HUGE trip.

Friday and Saturday saw us travelling some more through the Nebraska cornfields (more so than soybeans). Growing up on a dairy farm and being a country boy at heart, I just love looking at the crops. Field after field of bumper crop corn lines both sides of the roads. I'm sure it stands eight to ten feet tall. It is especially picturesque when you reach the top of a hill and have the opportunity to look out over the valley below. We have passed at least four or five ethanol plants (where they turn corn into fuel) and that may partly explain the huge acreage of corn we are seeing. Some locals near Omaha, were telling me that this area normally receives about an inch of rain June. This year they recieved nearly twelve inches. Everything around here is lush and green (a far cry from what we have been experiencing for nearly the past four weeks. With the intense heat wave the past week or so some of the lawns and grass along the road are showing signs of strss.

On Friday just as we were leaving Minden to York we experienced one of the most beautiful sunrises yet on this trip, a huge red fireball slowly rising over the treeptops. One of the riders (Hans) whom we had just passed was singing, "It's a Beautiful Day." Just after we passed him, he decided to take a picture of the sunrise while still riding his bike, of course without hands on his handlebars. As he was taking the picture his front tire hit a rut in the road and over the handlebars he went. His tune quickly to "What a Horrible Day" (just kidding) Fortunately he sustained only a scrapped elbow and leg and was able to continue cycling after getting bandaged up. I'm sure he won't be taking pictures without holding on to the handle bars any time soon.

I encountered my fifth flat of the trip some 90 kms. into the trip, a little staple that my tire had somehow picked up on the road. We have the tools with us as well as spare tubes and so a few minutes later we were on our way again. Five flats may sound like a lot (it's about four more than I would like), however one of the gals on the trip has had 21 flats already. Several others are in the mid teens with their flat numbers so I don't have too much to complain about. There are a small number (my guess would be about twenty cyclists, who have not had any flats to date. Most of them have hard case tires on their bikes which are more expensive but are good at keeping out things such as little staples or wires from shredded tractor trailer tires that lie on the shoulder of the highway or goat heads that have been the cause of so many of our flats. Incidently, Friday marked a milestone in terms of flat tires. We passed the 500 flat mark and are actually nearing the TOTAL number of flats experienced three years ago when cyclists did a similar tour across Canada.

Not only did I have my fifth flat but that evening in camp I had to replace the rear tire on my bicycle. It was completely worn through. Many of riders have had to replace theirs already. Some of the roads that we have been travelling on have been freshly tar and chipped, which is very hard on the tires and chews them up quite quickly. I may need to purchase at least another tire or two before the trip is over.

Shortly after that flat, we entered the small town of Sutton. A gentleman in white van (from town) had stopped us a few miles out of town, realizing that we were the "Sea to Sea" people (makes us sound like aliens or something). He was so excited that we were "coming to town" and wanted us to stop at several of the business establishments because they were waiting for us. Sure enough, as we entered town there was a sign that said "Welcome Sea to Sea Cyclists" and that was followed by listing several of cyclists names who were on the tour. Don't ask me how they got our names. Someone must have gotten hold of the website somehow (there had been a big story in Minden paper the day before) and pulled our names from the list. We stopped at the local bank and it was free popcorn and something to drink for all of us. Then it was on to the local hamburger joint for $1.25 hamburgers, fully loaded. The owner of this little establishment, no bigger than many of our kitchens, sells six to seven hundred hamburgers a day. That's amazing when you consider that the town has a population of 1,400.

Later that afternoon while arriving in York I personally encountered an irate driver (not the first that we have encountered on the trip, though most are quite considerate or at least tolerant). I was going through a green light and this driver coming toward me, decided he wanted to make a left turn in front of me. He got half way across the lane and suddenly saw me coming through and slammed on his brakes, causing other traffic going through the green light to slow down. I guess he felt that cyclists like myself had no right to be on the highway, let alone going through a green light. He honked his horn loudly at me and rolled down his window and said some, shall I say "not nice words" and made some finger gestures (I'll have to ask someone what they might mean ha! ha!). In the heat of the moment (and it was very hot outside) I must confess that I came very close to making the same finger gesture back and saying a few "choice" words of my own (I don't know that many but a few did pop to mind). However, with a tremendous amount of restraint I was able to control my tongue and my hand/finger movement. Maybe I should get some browny points for that.

Yesterday, (Sat.) from York to Fremont was another beautiful ride through the countryside but also a very hot day (mid ninties). This time however we faced a significant crosswind that was partially a headwind for much of the trip, making pedalling much more difficult. I was happy that we were on the road by 6:30am and had a big part of the trip behind us before it got really hot. I had contacted my niece in the Omaha area the evening before and was very much looking forward to seeing her and her family (she would meet me in Fremont), not to mention being in an air conditioned home with a nice soft bed and little noise (like trains that alway blare their horn seemingly right beside your tent as they pass through or sprinklers that suddenly turn on at 2:00am and soak your tent, or the millions of cicadas (these insects that are larger than grasshoppers) that have come out of their sixteen year dormancy to suddenly mate, making very shrill noices with their wings to attract mates ). I was contemplating all of this (incentive to keep on pedalling, right) and talking to Andy about it as I was climbing a hill. As usual, my mouth is partially open so that I can breath more easily during such climbs. Wouldn't you know it, one of the thousands of huge grasshoppers that are all over the place, came flying right at me and parked right inside of my mouth. Talk about a rude awakening. YUCK! Grasshopper pie anyone? NO THANKS! I still shudder when I think of it.

Our group arrived in Fremont at 1:45. I quickly showered and changed and less than an hour later my niece was waiting for me. I heard later that many of the cyclists had to SAGed in because of heat exhaustion and the headwinds later in the day. I was happy to have made it much earlier in the afternoon. Many of the cyclists did not sleep well last night because of the heat. (It stayed in the mid seventies last night). Many of them ended up sleeping in the local ice hockey arena. Many more are contemplating doing that tonight. Thank the Lord for air conditioned homes.

Seeing my niece and family has been a real treat. I have never been to their home before and we seldom see each other because of distance. We've had a lot of "catching up to do." It's wonderful!

This morning we went to Prairie Lane CRC in Omaha and were treated royally. The service was quite contemporary with a huge praise band leading the singing. We had a speaker from the local homeless shelter (I forget it's name). What I was surprised to hear was that the city of Omaha has over 2000 homeless people. I was also very surprised to hear that the average age of a homeless person in the U.S. is nine years old. Yes, that's right! Nine years old. That means that there are a lot of single moms with small children (perhaps partially due to domestic violence) that really have no place to call home. Please pray for the homeless, not only in places like Omaha, but in all of our cities and towns. Someone like myself has no idea what it must be like to be put into that position. We are such privileged people.

Also, as I close, please continue to pray for safety on the roads for all of us. This past week we had several spills that left individuals quite badly scrapped up. Also pray for us as we head into some very long, daily distances, two consecutive 182 km. rides, followed by a 161 km. ride. Until next time, take care and thank you all for your continued prayers and support. It means a lot to me and all of us.