Oh, Canada!

Back home at last.
And boy has it been a busy week. So I'll try my best to give some highlights of the past week. On Monday we left Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI (which I'm sorry to say was a disappointing weekend. I can't say I've been too impressed with the Christian colleges except for Dordt in Sioux Center, IA. But we'll get to more of that later) and headed for Sleepy Hollow State Park near Laingsburg, MI a little more than 100km (63mi) away. The ride again was similar to the sights and sounds of Southwestern Ontario. I started the day riding with Christeena, Dave Teitsma, and Brent DeVries and ended up with just Christeena for the last half as Dave was having some troubles with his back tire. Sleepy Hollow was quite a nice campground, with the man-made Lake Ovid, which had a nice beach.
The next day (day 51) from Sleep Hollow to Richmond, MI was my second last century of the tour (100+mi). Nothing too exciting on another routine day, although I was pretty excited about entering Canada the next day so I took a day to myself at my own pace. I did catch up with some people in Durand, MI and stopped for coffee with them, until a local told us that the best bike shop in Michigan was just 5mi off route in Swartz Creek (just outside Flint, MI). So, I thought about it a decided to go check it out and make the 153km day a 162km day. The store was called Assenmacher's and although they didn't have much to look at for clothing and bike accessories their shop was incredible. So I guess I just got my info for the local wrong as they are the best custom bike builders/repairmen in Michigan. So I went back and joined the group and had another routine day.
To Canada! I was excited. So I left camp and went as fast as I could to the border just to see Canada on the other side of the St. Clair River, and it was refreshing and confusing to see. Really the whole experience of the crossing was confusing: from the 200 some people greeting us, to the familiar roads and faces. Confusing in the way that the far away and distant had now before connected to the nearby and familiar. However it was still nice to be home for the night after some fries and swimming under the bridge.
The next day Christeena, Lou Haveman, Hans Doef, and myself set out from Sarnia for London. We took a pit stop at my Aunt Alice's house along the way and continued. We parted ways near Strathroy as they continued to London and I headed for Strathroy for the day to see Brittany. Another good day, and only 78km too.
The journey to Redeemer College in Ancaster was the next day. I had some catching up to do as my sweep team was on duty for the road clean up, meaning they were leaving last from camp. So I left Strathroy around 8:30 knowing they wouldn't until about 9:45 or so. This gave me a good start to catch them by Woodstock as I had an extra 45km by the end of the day giving me a 172km day. The third longest of the tour. In Woodstock I got to see my Grandparents and my Aunt Betty-Anne at the stop organized by Maranatha CRC. We finished off as much food as we could and left after an hour and a half. We stayed so long as to let the slower people we caught up with get ahead. We continued and before long caught up with a rider, so we stopped again to let him get a little farther. So we got to Redeemer around 6:30 and we were hungry so went to get supper that Redeemer was providing. Well, that's how it should have ended but Redeemer didn't provide, we (the sweep team) had to go out and buy supper because Redeemer didn't want to make anymore food for us. Which wasn't surprising after I overheard a cook complain about us being there and they weren't getting anything for the meal. I'm not saying we deserve it, and I'm not saying food it is owed to us. But this is Redeemer, one of the few Canadian stops and the only Canadian CRC college stop. A little hospitality would have been nice. So we got our own supper and came back to camp, it now being nearly 8:30. The rest of the night was ok, the sleep in the tent was alright as well. But we did half expect dorms perhaps? I guess not. I think maybe Dordt set high standards for the schools. But to end this rant I can't say the behaviour of both Redeemer or Calvin surprised me too much.
Anyway, yesterday's ride went well again. I visited a friend from school in Grimsby, Danielle Dekker. I stayed there for a few hours and lunch and was again on my way and well behind everyone at this point. I'm pretty sure everyone was in camp before I left Grimsby. Anyway, it didn't matter too much, I was there in little over an hour as I drafted a Roseman semi from Beamsville to St. Catharines, making it quicker than expected. Beacon Christian School has treated us very well. And I'm excited for the Celebration Rally this afternoon at Queenston Heights Park near Niagara Falls. Hopefully it doesn't rain.
Peace&GodBless
Matt

ps: If any comments about Calvin/Redeemer offended you, please remember this is the impression we got. I'm not the only rider disappointed in these schools.

Sunsets and Sunshine

Hello again everyone. I must say, these shorter days sure make it easier to find some time to write you all. The first two days biking out of Indiana Dunes State Park in Chesterton, IN we spent biking along Lake Michigan. And it has been nothing but beautiful scenery and towns. If you ever can (if you haven’t) take a drive along Lake Michigan’s eastern shore and visit the small beach towns that dot Michigan’s west coast. One thing also the last couple days was that I had to keep reminding myself that I was biking along Lake Michigan not Lake Huron in Ontario. But I tell you this, the area from Chesterton, IN to Grand Haven, MI look pretty identical to the area from south of The Pinery to Grand Bend, ON: lots of dunes, sand, oak, and tall pines. Beautiful scenery all around and I loved the towns.
As I have said the ride along Lake Michigan was filled with water front views, forests, and dunes. It was been cool along the lake here and boy is it nice to have the lake breeze once again. I have missed it. South Haven had an awesome beach, no stones and was shallow for a fair bit, but a cold breeze. At least we dried off quickly. Me and a friend, Jess Fox also grabbed some ice cream at Sherman’s on the beach. Nice place and good homemade ice cream.
The next day’s ride from South Haven, MI to Grand Haven, MI was again beautiful and very short, 79km. Same scenery as the day before, but just as nice and a few more (and nicer) towns. There was almost a town every 10km, 7 in total. The ones that stick out in my memory are Ganges, Douglas, Saugatuck, Graafschap, and Holland. Unfortunately I forgot my camera’s memory card for this day, so no pictures, sorry. I rode most of the day by myself at a fast pace, but had coffee in Saugatuck with Brian Garret, Sarah Terpstra, as well as a couple from Fredericton, NB who were riding for three days to Grand Rapids. We had a nice lunch stop at Graafschap CRC, the first CRC church in North America. The original church has long been torn down, but the church now standing has a nice older aura to it. A actually scale replica of the original log church was built for Graafschap CRC’s and the North American CRC’s 150th anniversary. In the basement at Graafschap was a historical centre. It was really interesting for me at least because it had the history of the original settlers to western Michigan, the Dutch, as well as a history of the CRC both in North America and back in The Netherlands as well as an overview of the church’s main figures, such as John Calvin and Gijsbert Haan. Holland, MI was also a very nice town. I hope to go back one day and spend more time there, maybe during the tulip season.
Today’s ride was pretty busy from Grand Haven to Grand Rapids. We had about 150 extra people riding for just the day with friends, family, or just because. Again a very short ride of 75km with three refreshment and snack stops hosted by churches, one in Lamont and two in Grand Rapids. Plus a stop at Tyler Buitenwerf (one of the cyclist who was injured and couldn’t continue). That was really nice as Arnie Issette was there was well. He also as it turns out completely severed his Achilles tendon. Very nice guy with a huge personality. Right now I’m sitting in the Prince Conference Centre at Calvin College in Grand Rapids watching the Olympics. Not many people are left at camp here. Lots have billeted out (which is really nice once and a while as I billeted out back in Palos Heights, IL), and lots are staying the weekend with family or friends as a large portion of the riders are from western Michigan or out right now at the local bars. Anyway, it’s nice to catch up with the Olympics again. And I would like to say congratulations to Michael Phelps as he has now won his 7th gold medal. I know he’s American, but he is incredible and I’d be willing to bet he’s clean. I would also like to say congrats the Canadian medalists: Carol Huynh (gold – women’s 48kg wrestling freestyle), David Calder and Scott Frandsen (silver – men’s pair rowing), and to Tonya Verbeek (bronze – women’s 55kg wrestling freestyle).
Peace&GodBless
Matt

Miracle Mirror

Wow, already 3 days out of Madison and we are already in Indiana. The first day out of Madison we biked through some beautiful country, lots of tree covered and meadow covered rolling hills. We also entered our 9th state, Illinois (10th if you count the 5 minute detour to Kansas). Coming out of Madison I biked with a fellow of the name Johnny Peirce, a jail guard from Michigan’s UP and also the camp clown. And this guy can bike... fast. I kept up to him but there is a reason for that. At the beginning of the tour I was riding my bike with the tires I bought it with, size 700 x 32c. These are relatively large tires as far as road biking is concerned. In Sioux Center, IA I bought some new tires, size 700 x 28c, the smallest that could fit in the rims I have. Only problem is that in Madison, only a few days later, I noticed a hole in my front tire where the tube was bubbling out: an explosion ready to happen. So in Madison me and my friend Leslie went and bought some new tires as I didn’t trust these ones anymore, and was rather disgruntled. Anyway, my tires now are great and smaller which is why I could keep up with Johnny, less tire less friction. It all makes sense. Arriving to Woodstock, IL went without a hitch, except Illinois failed to have a welcome sign, much to our disappointment.
Woodstock, IL to Palos Heights, IL: our first day riding through the greater Chicago area. I was also with my team on sweep that day. It was fun, long but fun. We first went for coffee in downtown Woodstock, which is very nice and also the place where the movie Groundhog Day was filmed. Again while downtown we started talking with some of the locals we received $40 in donations. The generosity and support continues. So while biking south first to Aurora, IL down the Fox River Trail we got lost, and so did pretty much everyone. The path and a few choices, a lot of us apparently made the wrong choice. Us, the sweep team, made a 12km detour wrong choice. We split of the Fox River Trail from South Elgin and ended up in Wayne. So we figured we would just cut across to St. Charles instead of biking all the way back. We also a combined total of 7 flats as sweep, 3 of which were mine. But only one real flat, one was a broken stem, the second was a real flat from hitting something rather big (I’ll get to that soon), and the third from a faulty tube that burst after about 500m. And the traffic was unreal. I’ve never been so focused on everything around me in my life. Don’t forget, I was on sweep, we started coming into the bigger part of the Outer Chicago area around 5pm, also known as rush hour. Cars were whizzing by mire feet to our left (some honking other giving the Trudeau Salute and others yelling. But it really wasn’t bad as far as drivers go. It was just really busy. Anyway we split into two groups of three, I took up the rear. And as Jason Veldhuizen, Melinda Booy, and myself (in that order) were biking I hit something, not sure what, and didn’t see it coming. And if you are on a bike and don’t see something of considerable size coming you are in trouble. So I hit it, full force. My hands flew off the bars from the impact, my chest hit my handle bars or arrowbars (it happened pretty fast, all I knew was that my chest hit something), and I was headed off the road. Remember this is happening real fast so my hands are now on their way down missing the handle bars, except my left, which clasped onto my mirror at the very end of my bar ripping it off, but with enough force to correct my front wheel back into a straight path along the shoulder. God at work through a little mirror. The rest of the day went well, we got to camp at 7:35 due to the extreme traffic, wrong turns, and 7 flats.
Today’s ride from Palos Heights, IL to Chesterton, IN was very short (90km) and spilt up with three churches wanting to greet us, with the last one providing a full out lunch of subway. Anyway, we are at the beautiful Indiana Dunes State Park on the south shore of Lake Michigan. I water is cool, the insects are chirping, and the mosquitoes are biting. I should go now, I anticipate seeing my family in the CRC’s Jerusalem (Grand Rapids, MI) and hopefully some more of you when we start our travels through Canada next week Wednesday.
Peace&GodBless
Matt

Live from Beautiful Madison, Wisconsin!

Hello everyone from the beautiful city of Madison, Wisconsin!!
The past week was the most anticipated week of the tour. The previous week from Denver, CO to Fremont, NE may have been the longest week of the tour as we covered about 900km (560mi). Last week, however, included three centuries. A century, as I’ve said before, is 100mi or about 162km in one day. But let me start from our trip to Dordt College in Sioux Center, IA.
The ride to Sioux Center was a nice short ride of 98km (61mi) from Sioux City. We had a bit of head wind and cross wind, but nothing unbearable. It’s funny how a 100km ride is now seen as a nice break, it’s also funny how quickly we adjust and adapt to life as it comes at us. The first couple weeks of the tour we took it pretty easy, not many days over 100km and a few mountain passes here and there. And now tomorrow we ride a 133km to Woodstock, Illinois. This is also seen as a short nice day, but we’ll see about that. Wind can bend you and mend you, dry you and fry you, and can literally give you an extra 10km/hr. Dordt College was a great, they let us sleep in the dorms. Having a bed is awesome. And we all needed it, as the next day (Aug 6) we biked 186km (116mi) our longest day of the entire tour. Which brings me to my next learning point of this past week.
God has a very good sense of humour, and He likes practical jokes once and a while. The morning we woke up at Dordt it was raining. Big deal you say. Well this was our first real day of rain, any other precipitation we got was either a sprinkle or a drizzling mist. This was not. This was ice cold, freeze you to the bone type of rain and there was a lot of it. So we all scampered to the dining hall to have breakfast, thankfully it was indoors. And as soon as we got back outside it had stopped. It rained later in the day but not nearly to the same extent. God saw that we were very anxious about our first 100+ mile day, so we woke us up to a down pour, and then stopped it before we left (well most of us). The next day from Algona, IA to New Hampton, IA had the same start. Waking to rain, leaving dry.
God truly does answer prayer, in due time. We prayed from a tail wind for the two weeks coming out of Denver (which was a longest week of an average of 148km daily. The second week out of Denver was 147km daily). We experienced three days of head wind and one day of tail wind the week out of Denver. But once we started our three long days God provided. Tail winds all three days, and to top it off, He provided cool temperatures. So the days were good. The longest riding time on my seat was 7 hours and 57 minutes. On our journeys we rode past vast fields full of hundreds of wind turbines as far as the eye could see in some places, and many little towns. And these towns can be seen coming as they all seem to have the trademark of grain elevators, water tower, and a church steeple peeking above the town’s tree line. We stopped in the town of Britt in central Iowa for coffee as they were having their International Hobo Day Celebrations, strange I know. And in Charles City closer to New Hampton there was a wooden bridge that had been washed out due to the flooding Iowa and the Midwest had experienced this past year. The prettiest rides came as we rode into Wisconsin and the forests started to appear out of the prairie.
When we crossed the Mississippi River from Iowa to Wisconsin the landscape changed. There were still hills and now suddening lots of trees: which is a very nice change from the deserts and prairie of the last 6 weeks. And to close this long posting; we stopped in the town of Mount Horeb, WI at a coffee shop. The store owner asked us who we were and what we were doing, so we talked a bit. The outcome was again a huge out pouring of generosity that people have been giving more and more as we go. Anyway, she gave us cookies, muffins, coffee, lemonade, and ice water all on the house!! It was incredible. Also, a highlight of the week was a good friend of mine from a SERVE trip to Grand Rapids two years ago came and visited me here in Madison today, so we hung out in the downtown area. Thank you again Leslie. It was good to see you after 2 years.
So if you are ever in Wisconsin make sure you visit the Coffee & Wine Bistro in Mount Horeb and make sure you visit the beautiful capitol area of downtown Madison, which is nestled between two fresh water lakes.
Peace&GodBless
Matt

Fire Earth Water Air

The ancient Greeks may have been on to something when they established to four element theory. This theory was in common use I believe until the 19th century. It was that everything consisted (in varying amounts) of fire, earth, water, and air. They might have been on to something. These four elements have been a big part in making this experience what it is.
Fire: the sun is fire, essentially. If you don’t believe me spend 10 hours a day everyday under it and then we’ll talk. The sun will leech every drop of water from you if it so desires, it will cook you like a stuck pig and make you sweat like one too. The sun is fire. But fire also seems to enjoy the company of our gypsy-like group. There have been 5 separate occasions where we arrive in a small town for the night. And sometime before supper the sirens are sounding. They have all been brush fires, but still very strange. Steph, a rider with us actually helped save a line of trees from certain doom when she noticed that the base of one was on fire.
Earth: the earth is an obvious one. It can be flat, it can be hilly, and then it can be downright torturous. From the flatlands and rolling hills of Nebraska, and eastern Colorado to the mountains in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, and central Colorado the earth has presented some challenges.
Water: the most essential element in our fight against the other three. Water rejuvenates us, replenishes us, cools us, and helps keep us going. Cold water is a delicacy; it is incredible how quickly the sun can heat up a bottle of water to an unlikeable degree. But we drink our pee warm water to stay alive. But water can also hinder us, but only when it joins forces with air, this is called humidity.
Air: it also essential in itself as we need it to breathe. But when this air starts moving it can create a long day. We were told before we left that wind blows west to east; that is wrong. Wind can, and wind may. But the wind doesn’t always blow west to east. On three of five days last week the wind blew east to west, which is ok if you are either biking west or biking for only 10-20km. We, however, are biking east over 150+km a day. Those days were long, drawn-out and tough. We did however have one day in where the wind blew east. I biked with my friend Sarah Terpstra and made record time averaging about 31km/hr over 156km.
This past week we entered Nebraska and biked our way through the towns of McCook, Minden, York, and we spent the weekend in Fremont. Now Nebraska has some very nice people. I stress some. Not because the people are unfriendly, cause they have been very good to us, but because there aren’t really any people here. Fremont, NE is home to about 25,000 people and is Nebraska’s 5th largest city. The other 4 largest are found in the same area, Eastern Nebraska. This should give you a glimpse into what the western side looks like: corn and soybeans. Nebraska is basically flat in the central areas, with rolling hills towards Colorado (in the west) and Omaha (in the east). These were very disappointing as we were told the plains would be flat. But there is nothing we can do except bite the bit and pedal up the hills. But on Saturday the long, dreadful ride was worth it; as I got to spend the weekend with my parents who came without me knowing. A very nice surprise.
The rides have been mostly dull and seemingly endless with infinite road stretching out it’s long legs across the horizon parting seas of corn and soybean fields. We entered Iowa today and are now technically in Sergeant’s Bluff a city a few miles south of Sioux City, Iowa. Tomorrow we have a short ride of 98km to Sioux Center where we will get to stay in dorms at Dordt College. After that we have two 182km days followed by a 162km day. Also known as centuries (100 or more miles).
I will write back after the 3 long days ahead when we will be in Madison, Wisconsin. That is if I survive the three back to back to back century rides.
Peace&GodBless
Matt

Its only fingerlengths.

Hello Everyone. I write to you from McCook, Nebraska. The internet is a hit and miss thing around here, so I’ll post this when, no, if I get connected again. Today I was in 3 states, crossed 2 state lines, and crossed into another time zone. The last bunch of days we’ve been biking east from Denver which has been more or less the same. Denver was a great city, my favourite city so far. I spent Sunday, our day off, touring the downtown area with 4 friends particularly down the outdoor mall on Denver’s 16th Street area. The terrain east of Denver has been full of small and large rolling hills, more sage grass country. The days have been long, hot, and with endless road ahead. Our shortest day was yesterday at 138km. This week is our longest riding week on average with 148km daily. Today we rode our second longest ride so far on the tour at 152km. The nice thing about this area, meaning no desert or mountains, is that there are lots of small towns to visit and stop at for a coffee or ice cream on these 35+C days. Today it reached 40C, very hot. We’ve experienced head winds, heat, and distance. It makes thins tough on a lot of us. But it’s best to take it one peddle stroke at a time. On our way from Fort Morgan, CO to Wray, CO two days ago, we stopped at one of the SAG vehicles (Support and Gear) as we normally do. Anyway, as we were there a guy and his daughter and mother who stopped in wondering what we were doing. So we talked to him, his name is Jerry Traylor. Look him up online. But in short this is his story, which is incredible, inspiring, and intense. He was born with cerebral palsy, has had 14 corrective surgeries so we can walk with crutches instead of having leg braces. He has run, with crutches, 35 marathons; his best time for a mile is just over 9 min. But what was incredible is that he ran down this same highway (US-34) in 1985 as he ran, ran, and ran from Los Angeles to New York. This guy ran across the United States with crutches. And to top it off he has cerebral palsy. Anyway. Meeting Jerry has been the highlight of the week, I’ll never forget him, he is a motivational speaker, and author of a couple books; one about his journey across the US. We are now in Nebraska, and now crossed into Central Time. We also reached the half way point of the tour, time wise, today after 4 ½ weeks of solid riding. Tomorrow we reach the half way point distance wise. I’m thankful that as we biked out 152km today we slowly exited sage brush country (essentially desert) into a greener, more agricultural area.
I hate doing this, but I ask again to keep these people in your prayers. Sadly we lost another rider to an accident, 2 riders in two riding days. Sadly, Cynthia Aukema was involved in an accident with some roadside debris and is injured enough to not be able to ride with us anymore. We will miss her a lot. She’s a great person and was committed to this tour more than the average person. As I have said before. We are a community, a family, one. We have lost 3 of our own, and we miss them all, we pray for them all, and we wish they could still be riding with us. So again, please keep Arnie Issette, Tyler Buintenwerf, and Cynthia Aukema in your thoughts and pray for quick healing. Physically and emotionally.
Peace&GodBless
Matt