Motivation....

Once again (my third year) I will be riding for The Fuller Center for Housing. The first ride is for one week down the Natchez Trace Parkway, starts in three weeks, March 16, and is a total of 400 miles. Then the 3,700 mile ride, lasting nine weeks, starts June 7 in Savannah, GA and finishes in Vancouver, BC.

So as I sit here typing instead of being out on my bike, thinking I should get up and find the Oreos instead of riding. OK, gunna go out, but nope, it might rain today! Said so on the weather report, and it is too cold to be out in the rain. I went to the bike show yesterday in Denver, and on the web site for this show, I could only find parking directions for bicycles. Seemed appropriate, but it was still cold, and there was a 1% chance of rain. Found a place to park my car anyway, and the show was great. Only found one bike that I really wanted, and the guy said he didn't really want to sell it, but he would for only $14,000. (Lois, what do you think????? Never mind, don't tell me what you think, it would not be very lady like.)

This picture is on my donation page, which is where you can go to "like donate", because it says what The Fuller Center is all about. My donate link is on the right side of this blog page, and it is now up to date and working. Please consider donating. Your only excuse for not donating would be that you are planning to ride with me...in which case, I might have to consider donating to your ride. Which I might actually do, so sign up!

This year to date I have a grand total of 4 rides, which total just over 100 miles. Last year at this time I had just over 173 miles logged, so I am only 73 miles behind last year. However, last year starting tomorrow, I started getting a little more serious about miles, so........... Wait, it is still going to be cold tomorrow, and still a 1% chance of rain. I think I should use the spring ride for the start of my training for the summer ride. Maybe I better go back to the bike show tomorrow and look for a bike that comes with a good dose of motivation!?

The following link is a story about the upcoming spring ride down the Natchez Trace Parkway. This is the same ride we did last year, and I believe The Fuller Center is planning to make this an annual event. It is a great parkway to ride, and last year for our build day, we were able to help work on 5 separate work sites, helping five families in need of a hand up. Last year my son Matthew rode with me, and this year there will be three generations in the same family riding, speaking and building for people in need, as my granddaughter, Harper, will join Matthew and me for this adventure. I tell you, life doesn't get much better than this. Here is the link:

Father, Son and Granddaughter ride

I will once again be trying to blog every day while riding to help people. Please forgive me if I miss a day or three, as our days do get a little hectic at times, and I am getting older and slower.

Peace

Biking in 2012 is over....

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year....

At the beginning of the year I thought I could ride 7,000 miles if I stayed healthy, so I set that as my goal for the year. Please notice that I finally got up the nerve to try to ride "look mom, no hands".

Totals for 2012:

7,402 miles

554 hours

238,706 feet gained

333,188 calories burned

The Fuller Center riding was over August 11, and it was another great adventure. I was very blessed to have been able to ride over 4,100 miles without once needing to get into the van for help. Every Fuller Center rider has been an inspiration to me, and a joy to have ridden with. I am in awe of their dedication to serve people in need, and the depth of their religious faith. Because of my association with these wonderful individuals, I have been blessed and my personal faith has been strengthened.

A major benefit of the sometimes endless miles of riding is the opportunity to speak to church groups along the way about our mission, and meeting the wonderfully loving communities we come in contact with.

Of course the best is to personally witness as we work at the build sites. This is what keeps us all pedaling when sometimes all we want to do is throw our bikes over a cliff. I wish all of you who have donated money and encouragement could experience the feeling of leaving a work site after having helped a family in need of decent, affordable housing.

After the Fuller rides, a group of 13 from my geezer community went up to Yellowstone in September  for another week of riding. Five days and 259 miles, beautiful scenery, with decent weather except for the smoke from one of the many fires we had this year. Notice the special caps embroidered by the spouse of one of the riders that say: Yellowstone Epic, 2012, 259 Miles

After being away from Colorado's altitude for almost three months, it was very evident to me how much altitude affects one's ability to breathe. It took a number of weeks for to acclimate again.

2013

I have already signed up for next year's rides. We will start with a repeat of the spring ride March 15 from Nashville, TN to Jackson, MS along the Natchez Trace Parkway. This is a one week ride of about 400 miles, and a fairly easy ride which helps because it is so early in the riding year. Spring 2012 my son Matthew rode with me, and it's looking like there will be three generations riding Spring 2013 as both my son and granddaughter will be riding with me.

The spring ride will be followed by yet another new route for our summer ride. We will spend 9 weeks riding from Savannah, GA to Vancouver, BC, a total of about 3,700 miles. This will be another tough ride mentally and physically, but I feel called to help, and look forward to getting to know another bunch of great riders, church communities, and families in need. Ride with me if you can, donate if you can, I can use all the encouragement you can send my way, or better yet, let's do it all together!

Catch-up ...

FedEx delivered my bike Thursday, so I got it put back together, and took it out for a ride this morning. I’ve been riding my old friend Waterford the last few days, but am glad to have my new Mosiac to ride again. It performed flawlessly on both coasts, having gone over 3,600 miles. This year I have ridden 4,180 miles for The Fuller Center for Affordable Housing. Another big thanks to those who have donated to make this possible. I am blessed!

I’m having a blast reading the Facebook postings from all the FCBA’ers, keeping in touch with each other because of the beautiful friendships made during this nine-week, 3,600-mile adventure, helping people get into affordable homes. I love all of these “kids” and I am blessed to have ridden with them, gotten to know them, and now get to follow them as we all get back to business as usual.

Life is good ...

Peace!

West Coast final three days ...

Day 22 (of 22) riding ...

SATURDAY, AUGUST 11, 2012

Oceanside, CA to San Diego, CA
Staying at Point Loma United Methodist Church
45.2 miles today, average pace 10.2 mph
Total ascent 1,647 feet (grades 5%)

***Chocolate Malt rating: 6.0

Today was our last ride together, at least on this adventure. We enjoyed a nice easy ride with a couple of stops along the way. I rode with Sarah and Sher again, and enjoyed the entire day. 

A few words about Sher. She celebrated her 60th birthday on this adventure, and had not ridden a bike in about 30 years before starting to ride again for this trip. She did a lot of training to get ready, some on a trainer. Since she and Tom live in a rural area, getting used to riding in traffic was quite a struggle for her. I swept our first practice ride in Seattle, and got to see firsthand how nervous she was riding in traffic situations. She was not a strong rider to begin with, so she rode in the back of the group most of the time. If there is too much distance between the lead riders and the sweeps, the day quickly becomes difficult to manage, because the van can't service the entire group from the front and back at the same time. Sher, however, was very aware of this problem, and was always most considerate of the group as a whole, and would on occasion put her bike in the trailer and ride in the van if she felt she might be creating a gap. I know she would have liked to have ridden more of the route, but always put the group’s convenience before her own wants. It was my sincere pleasure to get to know both Sher and Tom.

So here’s a picture of Jenn and me enjoying the ocean waves! Jenn lives about 45 miles from “Geezerville” where I live, and I’m hoping to get some riding time in with her in the future. She, like everyone else, will have to slow down if she wants to ride with me, however.

And this is a great picture I love of Rae leading the pack. She announced her engagement near the end of this ride, and I’m so happy for her. She is just a totally delightful person, and her faith is simply wonderful to witness.

It was tough today, saying goodbye to all the riders, giving hugs, and feeling sad for the adventure to be ending.

Peace ...

Build day ...

FRIDAY, AUGUST 10, 2012

For our one build day on this adventure we split into two groups, to work at two different locations. My group replaced the entire kitchen cabinets with a new (floor model) set of cabinets for our assigned house. We also did a lot of landscaping, cleaning up, planting, and mulching. A special treat was adding a new outside playhouse for the kids. The other group painted the entire inside of their house, and also did yardwork.

When we finished up our work we went downtown and enjoyed a terrific pizza dinner. It’s  always great to meet the people behind the build days, and this was no exception. Bettie Youngs is the local affiliate director, and is the publisher of many books, including her own book, “The House That Love Built”, which  is the story of Linda and Millard Fuller. 

Next door to the pizza was a book signing, arranged by Bettie, for Tony Volpentest, "the fastest man in the world." What an inspiration he is, and certainly now he’s one of my heroes. He had retired from competition, but has now announced he’s back in training for the 2016 Olympics. I purchased four of his books (coincidentally titled “Fastest Man in the World”), three to use as gifts. I look forward to reading about Tony. He is shown here with another of my heroes, Jon, who is a cancer survivor, a FCBA biker, and a man of great character and faith. I’m proud to call him friend.

Peace ...

Day 21 (of 22) riding ...

THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 2012

Huntington Beach, CA to Oceanside, CA
Staying at  Grace Chapel of the Coast
54.5 miles today, average pace 11.8 mph
Total ascent 1,732 feet (grades 4%)

***Chocolate Malt rating: 6.0

Sweep today ... Carmen and I swept and hung out with Sher, and my riding buddy, Sarah. A pretty easy day, with no difficult climbs. I think this was the day that a local newspaper reporter stopped our group as we rode by, and interviewed us. http://www.ocregister.com/articles/center-368037-fuller-ride.html I love the picture he took of me with the cookie in my mouth.

Peace ... 

Day 20 (of 22) riding ...

Reseda, CA to Huntington Beach, CA

Staying at St. Wilfrid's of York Episcopal Church

75.7 miles today, average pace 13.5 mph

Total ascent 1,519 feet (grades 4%-6%)

Accident ... Only one climb today, but unfortunately on the fun way down Jason caught some gravel and went down hard. We got quick response from the 911 call, and very soon Jason was on his way to the hospital. The preliminary report was stitches for his head and also his knee. Fortunately, no concussion! We were all praying that he would be ok, and were encouraged when he kept asking for pictures to be taken, but still bummed out that he had gotten hurt. Of course Jason’s accident put a big damper on the day, but we stayed in touch with him all day as he called with updates. Tonight Allen is on his way to get Jason from the hospital.

Other than that, it was a good strong day of riding, again with my buddy Sarah. Also Ryan joined the adventure late last night, and I rode some with him, Ray, Sarah R, Tim, and Chris. A nice easy ride with good weather all day. Pleasant in the morning, and not too hot this afternoon. The ride today took us along the coast, some routes on bike paths along the beach. 

We had had some flats, using my tubes the last couple of rides, so I decided to make a run to a bike store. Nobody else needed to go, so I pulled out my smart phone, and all by myself, I found the closest shop, mapped the route, and took off. After a couple of turns trying to figure out which way was which on the phone, I rode right to the shop. I got my tubes and a couple of CO2 cartridges, and then asked them where an ice cream store was. They didn’t know, so again I looked up a Baskin Robbins on my phone, mapped it, and rode right to it easily. It was even in the direction of the church. 

***I rated my last Baskin Robbins malt a 9.5, but this one gets only a 6.5. The server used the old metal mixer to make this malt, and they used a blender to make the malt the last time. So, that may be the reason for the lower rating, or else this guy was just not as good.

Finished my malt and pulled out my trusty iPhone, and quickly mapped my way back to the church, with no trouble at all. I AM SO PROUD of my new ability with finding things with my iPhone (finally)! I even gave Turbo a lesson the other day, and he’s up and running with it also.

Another great church! They had snacks, watermelon, and drinks ready for us when we got here. They are also providing dinner AND breakfast. They have a beautiful, large campus facility, and have received us most graciously. 

There’s been talk about our wearing costumes for our ride tomorrow, and now some action is taking place. The suspense is overwhelming as some have headed out to the Goodwill store close by.

Peace ...

Day off ...

Reseda, CA

Kirk of the Valley Presbyterian Church

Turbo, Chris, and I went for breakfast this morning, after sleeping until 7:00. Just a short half mile walk to a grubby looking but decent diner. Then back to the church for a nap until about 10:00. 

Still feeling blah, so yesterday’s ride was evidently tougher on me than I realized. A lot of lethargy throughout the whole group this morning as we try to recover.

Not much planned today, as the forecast is for at least three days of 100+ temperature, and there’s not much energy within our group that I can see, so we’re all really taking a day off! 

Peace ... 

Day 19 (of 22) riding ...

MONDAY, AUGUST 6

Santa Barbara, CA to Reseda, CA

Staying at Kirk of the Valley Presbyterian Church

88.8 miles today, average pace 13.8 mph

Total ascent 2,467 feet (grades 4%-7%)

Heat ... This morning we took off in unexpected brightness. It took some time and miles to figure out that the very bright thing in the sky was the SUN. What a pleasant surprise. However, with the sun out all day the heat also found us. My computer registered over 110 F, and in that heat the real problem was, of course, staying hydrated. I was able to drink enough water until the last 20 miles. I drank about two-thirds of my second bottle, but the remaining water got so hot I couldn’t drink it, so just toughed out the last 6 miles with small sips. Not ideal, but I drank enough to get over the last pretty decent hill. We passed stores where I could have stopped, but I wanted to finish more than I wanted to stop for water. Considering everything, I was surprised I felt as good as I did. Some of the other riders were struggling, and suffering, trying to get rehydrated. 

Turbo's son Mike graciously came by after the ride to give free chiropractor adjustments to any of the riders who needed or wanted the adjustment. He commented that he was making a lot of similar adjustments. Makes sense, with all of us being in similar positions on the bike, that the same work would be needed. Mike also arranged for a massage therapist to come by and give half-hour massage to any who wanted to sign up and pay. I was not really interested in a half-hour massage, but signed up for a full hour!

Carmen and I attended a grief recovery meeting after dinner. She has been riding in honor of her friend who died while on a bike ride last year. The group just happened to be meeting at the host church, and we asked if we could join them. It was a celebration of the end of their class, so we got to listen to the testimonies from each of the attendees. They use the Grief Recovery Method, http://www.griefrecoverymethod.com/ which is very similar to the group I attended after my sister, Pat, died 18 years ago. I think Carmen will try to hook up with a facilitator when she gets home after the ride.

Peace ...

Day off ...

SUNDAY, AUGUST 5

Santa Barbara, CA

Staying at First Baptist Church

Church ... Attended my first ever Mormon service this morning. Dean and 'new' Chris are both Mormons and took three of us with them to the local temple for a testimony service. The service consisted of some hymns being sung by the congregation, and individuals going up to give personal testimony related to their lives. Dean and Chris both gave testimony about themselves in relation to the bike ride we are on, and some of the other testimonies related to us as well. The service was not what I expected, but then I didn’t know what to expect. I’m glad I had a chance to attend, especially with two friends who could explain some of what was going on. 

Following that service we went back to the host church, where I got to sit in on some of the Baptist service. I had to leave early to say goodbye to Wendy and Dean, two great people who are an inspiration to me, and were certainly a pleasure to meet and to ride with.

The host church did not plan to feed us any meals, but those who attended their service were invited to join in a meal afterwards. Our group is just too large for them to have invited all of us, but the few who were able to go enjoyed a good meal and interaction with the congregation. We were not allowed to use the kitchen at first, but once they saw who we were, they immediately told us to please make use of the kitchen and were very gracious to us.

The beach called us, so we walked down in various groups; some rode their bikes to avoid the walk. My group walked down, and after a brief visit to the beach, Turbo Tom and I took a taxi to the main wharf, where we toured a bit, then found an ice cream shop. No malts available, but I had a delicious cone of cookie dough. Three of the girls walked about 4 miles along the beach to meet up with us a couple hours later. They enjoyed the walk, but Sarah managed to lose her phone in the ocean while running and jumping to avoid the waves that were progressing up the beach as the tide rolled in.

There was a group down on the beach corner by the wharf that had set up hundreds of white crosses in the form of a military cemetery. The people were reading the names of all the teenage warriors who have been killed in Afghanistan. A bell was rung after each name and date of death were read. There were also about two rows of black crosses representing warriors who had returned home from Afghanistan but then committed suicide. It all made a very moving statement.

While waiting, we met up with Luke and then we all enjoyed dinner of fish and chips while watching some of the Olympics. There happened to be a Coldstone Ice Cream shop across the street, so I had to try a chocolate malt.  ***Chocolate malt rating: 4.0 no substance to the ice cream, too thin, and straws (2) that were so thin even the weak malt could hardly make it up to my mouth.

Another taxi ride took us back to the church to get ready for another long ride tomorrow. 

Peace ...