Swimming hole ...

Homestead, FL to Marathon, FL

Staying at First Baptist Church

81 miles today, average pace 16.5 mph

Flat

The route was flat again, just like my rear tire that exploded about 10 miles from the finish. 

Just two days ago, while Emmalilly and I were changing one of her 4 flat tires, she asked me how to tell when a tire is bad. I looked at her tires, telling her that when they get flat on top, they should be changed. Then after looking at both of my tires, I showed her a good example (my rear tire) of a tire that’s flat on top and, yep, should be changed. Then of course I forgot about my tire, probably thinking subconsciously that I only have a couple days left, and would be able to change it at home. 

Well, most tires just go flat, but I’ve now had three tires explode, like somebody shooting a gun, so I was looking for the blood. No blood, nobody down, just the rear tire that I should have changed, now totally blown. A rear tire that had literally come apart about a fourth of the circumference, and me with no spare tire. Plenty of tubes, but no spare tire. The sweeps carry a spare tire, but we were a long way ahead of the sweeps, as they had been dealing with their own flats. 

So we had 4 riders waiting for the van. I tried to get Alyssa, Emmalilly, and Christian to just keep going, but since we had been riding together all day, they decided to hang out with me. We climbed over the barricade to get some shade, while we waited for the van. Next thing I knew Alyssa had her feet in the water, and she was soon followed by Emmalilly. As Alyssa step by step inched her way farther into the water, followed by Emmalilly, they were soon both immersed in the ocean, in all their riding clothes (except for socks and shoes). Alyssa quickly realized she could float in the salt water, and started singing, "I'm floating in the ocean," over and over. I had had enough trouble navigating the rocks to just get to the shade and sit down, let alone getting down into the water. And Christian was not going in. However, after at least 30 minutes, I decided it just looked too good to not get in. And, as soon as I started taking off my shoes, Christian did the same, and of course beat me into the water. Soon they were all thanking me for not changing my flat, which allowed them time to take a dip in the ocean. Life is just so good as we bike, enjoying our time together, but yet in doing so, helping in our small way to give some dignity to families in need.

Allen got a phone call from a reporter during rest stop yesterday, who said she wanted to interview me. So I had a nice interview with a reporter from Marathon, FL. I guess I’m up for interviews and/or whatever it takes to get Fuller Center’s name out in front of people.

Scott and Heidi took us all to dinner tonight at a nice place on the water (terrific and thoughtful surprise from them), and they had a small dessert brought out as a "cake.” And, they all again sang that ol’ birthday song to me. Typical acts of kindness from the people one meets on the Bike Adventure -- just great folks, and such fun to be around.

Now I gotta start....stopping....eating so much....and soon!

Peace ...

Day 25 riding ...

Ft. Lauderdale By The Sea, FL to Homestead, FL

Staying at Homestead Mennonite Church

67.11 miles today, average pace 14.9 mph

Flat

Like a fickle friend, she left me. She sneaked away in the middle of the night, like a tenant who can't pay the rent. Debby was a no-show this morning, so no more wind, and of course no hills here at sea level. I will miss her! It seemed strange to be leaving the church this morning with no wind and no rain. But, as they say in Colorado, "sea level is for sissies".

I forgot to mention yesterday that a rider joined us about 15 miles from the finish yesterday. Scott said he had been following us on the Internet, hoping to meet up with us. And he did catch up with us at the last van stop. I saw he had his bike on the back of his car, so I invited him to ride with us for a while. He drove ahead to find a place to park, and rode with us all the way to the church. He seemed to have a good time riding with us, and I enjoyed talking and visiting with him. He talked with Allen a while, and ended up writing a check to the Fuller Bike Adventure, which he told Allen to put to Carmen’s account and my account, since we are both going to ride the West Coast.  

A short day today, with only two van stops. Near the end of the ride we were on something called the Dade Trail, which consists of about 14 miles of a wide sidewalk, with a long traffic light about every 3/4 mile. And of course we caught almost every one of the lights, which made for a long and slow 13 miles, when we were actually trying to hurry and finish the ride, all the while it was getting hotter. 

We had a list of 42 turns to make today, and with that many turns to caulk, I was able to ride with the first group almost all day. We got a report from the sweeps at the end of the day that they had seen some wild monkeys during the first 20 miles this morning; Kelsey has some pictures of them.

***Since we had short mileage most of us went out for a late lunch. We enjoyed very good pizza, but the malt was only another 6.5. Again good flavor, but not nearly enough thickness. 

I have not been rolling my IT bands, and they were screaming when I finally got to it again after the ride today (I’ll get lectured, for sure, by my PT/yoga instructor at home).

We have the run of the church tonight, with a number of rooms for us to use; I grabbed the one with a private bathroom (old man’s privilege). The church served a pot luck dinner for us tonight, and just to make sure of the malt rating, a few of us went back for more ice cream after dinner. ***The rating has now dropped to a 6.0!!!

It’s raining again tonight; we got wet coming back from ice cream. Wondering if we’ll be back riding in the rain in the morning. Only two more days of riding, and then home for a short while, before heading out for the West Coast.

Peace ...

Day 24 riding ...

Port St. Lucie, FL to Lauderdale By The Sea, FL

Staying at Community Presbyterian Church

94.56 miles today, average pace 13.1 mph

Flat again, with a "good" headwind

Debby, my love ... how much better can it be ... she was wild again today! We left in a heavy rain, and finished up in bright sunshine. Heavy rain, then none. Strong headwind, then easy headwind. Strong crosswind, then easier crosswind. On and off all day today.

I was sweeping with Emmalilly, who had four flats. We didn’t have a pump, and I finally ran out of C02 cartridges, but a local rider came to our rescue with a cartridge. We would have made it, but the tire did not seat properly with my last cartridge. 

We left the church about 6:30am, and got in about 4:30pm. Using my fingers to count, I come up with 10 hours on the road today. Actual pedaling time of 7 1/4 hours hours, leaving 2 3/4 hours changing flats or at the van eating and drinking anything we could find.

Another great meal with this church, plenty of food, a shower at the fire station across the street, and a movie after dinner. Toolie and I walked downtown, found some ice cream, and strolled to the beach, to a fishing pier that goes out into the water a long way. But, since the fee was $2 simply to take a walk on this pier, we decided to walk away instead. 

***Chocolate malt in the tourist area was made properly, but was just not thick enough to get better than a 6.5 rating. The quest for the perfect malt continues! Toolie said her hot fudge sundae was very good. 

It’s now after 9pm and a group is headed to the beach. Lights out at 9:45 and breakfast at 5:15. Good luck to the beach goers (oops, I guess my age is showing).

Peace ...

Day 23 riding and... my new best friend...

Melbourne, FL to Port St. Lucie, FL

Staying at All Villages Presbyterian Church

61.76 miles today, average pace 11.5 mph

Flat again, with a "good" headwind

My new best friend? She was slapping me around all day again today, and it was great! I love her. Too bad there aren’t any hills for me to introduce her to. Who, you ask? Why, Debby, the tropical storm, of course. To my geezer biking friends, you’re missing out on great times. My average mph was down from yesterday, so I’m telling myself it’s because the winds were stronger today. Or, maybe because we only had a short rain shower today, and we were in rain mostly all day yesterday.

A very nice surprise this morning. The good news was Jeff was in the parking lot in his VW bus, getting ready to ride with us. The bad news was Roxie was not with him. They were both on the Spring Ride, and are just great folks. He joined us for circle up, then took off with Maranda and others. He rode with Susie and me later in the day, then went back to the lead riders. He rode all the way to the church, and then back to his VW; and that, my friends, was over 120 miles for him today! Too bad that work was calling and he couldn’t stay longer.

Dinner tonight? Tacos (yuck) and we are out of bread! So my trusty bike and I found Arby's Roast Beef (a second yuck, but at least it agrees with my stomach, where chili powder does not). I really need to learn to eat better, but I guess it’s not about to happen at my age. No wait, I am eating more salads, and, remember, I did actually try fried green tomatoes (double yuck)!

I’ve been missing the news updates and happenings, but Colorado is burning! Apparently at this time there are some pre-evacuation areas in Boulder. Things can be replaced, trees will grow back, but, please, pray for the safety of the firefighters who are trying without much success to contain this mess. Temperatures are high, everything is dry, and the winds continue.

Peace ...

Day 22 riding ...

Daytona Beach, FL to Melbourne Beach, FL

Staying at Saint Sebastian by the Sea Church

93.16 miles today, average pace 12.0 mph

Mostly flat again, but a "good" headwind

"My friend, the wind” finally visited us today, thanks to Tropical Storm Debby. We left in the rain, ended in the rain, and had a little riding without the rain. But the wind was against us all the way, varying in intensity from roughly 5-10 mph to maybe 15-30 mph. The good thing was that it did not gust very much, and the only crosswind we had was when we crossed the causeway to get to Melbourne Beach. It's about time we had a bit of a challenge, eh?

Three new riders today: Scott and Heidi on a tandem, and Susie. That means we have 11 bikes now and 12 riders heading for Key West. I rode most of the day with Susie. She had a minor fall because of a tangle with an asphalt crack or ridge, but fortunately lost just a little skin to the pavement. She’s a good rider, but a little nervous about some of the traffic and narrow shoulders we had today. She has only been doing some short 20 or 30 mile rides, and today was her longest ride. She told me she did a century when she was a young teenager, but I told her that didn’t count because it was too long ago. She was a trouper and hung in there the entire ride.

As a group we had a phenomenal 14 flat tires today. I had a 1 1/2 inch finishing nail go into the top of my tire, and out the sidewall like it was shot with a nail gun. The tandem riders had 5 of those, and Carmen had her 15th flat. As explained by a RAM participant tonight, the rain puddles turn the objects off their sides and point them up, just waiting for our tires.

I have never had much desire to meet celebrities, or to get autographs, etc., but tonight I was thrilled to shake hands with a RAM participant, a celebrity to me. He rode about 2,400 miles of it last year, but had an accident going over the Rockies, and just could not recover fast enough, so was removed from the race. He is planning on doing it again next year. I told him we had just finished watching a documentary a few nights ago. I greatly enjoyed talking with him. He owns a couple of bike shops, and was even kind enough to stop by and donate some tires and tubes for us.

Our hosts are fabulous, as usual. They had not committed to serving dinner, but 4 or 5 church members were here cooking and caring for us. The host lady even took us out for ice cream. 

***Unfortunately the malt was only rated a 6. It did have "malt" and good flavor, but it was way too thin, as I only needed one straw to drink it, and could not shovel it into my mouth using two straws like a spoon. ;(

Began to wonder today if anyone has done a study to see if a headwind can be compared to hill grades. For instance, if there is a 20 mph headwind, is that equivalent to a 5% grade; and a 30 mph headwind equivalent to an 8% grade? Just wondering.

Peace ...

Day off ...

A lazy day off today with rain drizzle in the morning and steady rain the rest of the day. We attended church service with the Daytona Beach Alliance Church after we enjoyed breakfast at Cracker Barrel, very generously paid for by Bud and his wife, Mary. I really enjoy attending services at the different churches we stay. The service this morning was very lively (not a Lutheran service), and I appreciated the way they praise the Lord at Alliance. Allen was given time for a five-minute talk about The Fuller Center, and the preacher followed up with questions. He then introduced me personally as an example that Fuller riders are not just young people; even a 70-year-old is riding to make a difference.

Alliance has a very active youth program. We had to move our sleeping quarters after the first night to accommodate the needs of this group. Then we were lucky enough to be able to eat dinner with them all, and chat a little about our ride.

It looks like tropical storm Debby may be with us for the remainder of our ride. We are expecting to be riding in the rain most of this coming week. This will make for more of an adventure, which is what we all signed up for!

I was asked to write an article for a paper here in Florida, which I have posted below. Not sure if it will be accepted, but I hope so. Here it is:

     My name is Tom Weber, aka “geezerman.” I’ve been told I am a hero by a number of people, I guess because I’m 70 years old, and love just riding my bicycle for The Fuller Center for Affordable Housing. Of course, I’ve also been called “crazy” and a few other things by a number of people. I guess “just riding” my bicycle is not quite accurate, because I’m planning to ride 4,000 miles for The Fuller Center this year. I completed the spring ride (400 miles), am about to finish the East Coast ride (2,000 miles), and will soon head to Seattle to pedal the West Coast ride (1,600 miles).

     Well, I’m far from a hero! What I am is an old geezer who retired, and was looking for a cross country bike ride because I like to ride bikes. I happened to find The Fuller Center for Affordable Housing Bike Adventure. It looked like a great ride, except for the “talking and building” that was advertised as part of the ride. I figured that if I had to participate in some building occasionally, and speak occasionally, it was a small price to pay for this opportunity. But when I read about the life of Linda and Millard Fuller, who took action to do something about people living in substandard housing, I found the real heroes. Fullers are responsible for over 500,000 homes being built for people in need of safe housing. They created a life of serving their brothers and sisters on this planet, and set the example for all of us. If you think you can’t make a difference in this world, just read about the Fullers.

     Once I actually had the opportunity to work on a building project or two (helping to build a room addition and handicapped bathroom for a young high school student who was recently confined to a wheel chair, and helping to build a wheel chair ramp for a lady who has been unable to leave her home for two years because of the five steps down from her porch) I changed from an old cynic to a ‘young’ bicycle advocate for The Fuller Center. 

     Other heroes are the young people riding the Bike Adventure with me. They have given me confidence in the youth of this country; confidence that I had been missing listening to all the negative news programs every night. The deep faith expressed and lived by these “kids” is very refreshing to me, and that has inspired me to keep pedaling. These rides can be very difficult, both physically and mentally, with miles to go, no other riders visible, and a long empty road ahead. It often brings up the image that each pedal stroke I take is like nailing another nail in a home of a family in need of a hand up, and to stop pedaling would be like letting a family down.

     I am fortunate to have the ability to ride a bicycle, and have accepted the challenge to ride for affordable housing. I strongly believe God led me to The Fuller Center, and I know he guides me along this path to helping folks.

     I am blessed to be a husband, father, grandfather, geezer athlete, lover of raptors, bike rider, and Ambassador for The Fuller Center for Affordable Housing.

Peace ...

Day 21 riding ...

Ponte Vedra Beach, FL to Daytona Beach, FL

Staying at Daytona Beach Alliance Church

81 miles today, average pace 13.3 mph

Mostly flat again

Our ride this morning started out very muggy, as we left before sunrise again. Emmalilly and I started the day sweeping; Alyssa and I finished the second 40 miles sweeping. We stopped about mile 16 or so to take pictures of us with the ocean as a backdrop. That very pleasant stop provided a chance to reflect before attacking the rest of the day. We had a good, relaxing day as sweeps, riding slowly along the coastline, checking out the new and old houses as we pedaled, one stroke at a time. 

After we were into the third leg of riding I started talking with Carmen about her riding technique, to try to help her to smooth out her cadence and the speed she rides. She has consistently been riding at the back of the pack, and I’ve been thinking she could be doing much better. She said the bike fit has ended her knee pain, she’s feeling much better on the bike, and is performing much better. We ended up with her riding about 35 miles at a 14 mph pace. She has not had a bike computer, so has had no idea how fast she’s been riding. I got in front of her and set the pace, and she did great following and keeping up. I think Alyssa has helped her get a computer on her bike, so I’m anxious to see how she does next week.

We have done only two builds for the East Coast ride, but we continue to ride and talk to whomever we come in contact with, trying to meet our $200,000 goal for 2012. Everything we do seems to have a purpose, even if we don’t realize what the purpose is at the time. 

Joining us today are Karen (Toolie), and a tandem couple, Heidi and Scott. One or two more riders will join us before we take off Monday morning. We have a day off tomorrow to rest before the last week of the East Coast ride; 6 straight days of riding to hit Key West. It seems to be ending too soon, even before it has ended. Five weeks of riding and 2,000 miles doesn’t seem as intense as last year’s ride, and I rode only one more week last year than this year. I think the emotion involved with the van accident last year made that ride very meaningful to me, and the bonding more significant. I’ll have to reevaluate that at the end of the ride.

We ended today’s ride with lunch provided by the church, and all went out for pizza tonight for dinner. It’s been another beautiful day of riding, all for the purpose of helping people. We’re now watching a documentary DVD on The Race Across America before bedtime.

Peace ...