EXPECTING THE UNEXPECTED

When I’m riding my bike, I usually like to listen to music. I’m totally the opposite when I’m in a vehicle, I prefer no music. But, the music seems to make the miles go by quicker and sometimes can motivate me up a steep hill when the right song comes on.

My first mp3 player was a Sansa. It worked great for a while but then it wouldn’t allow me to add any more songs to it. This happened, of course, after the warranty went out. I called the factory and they had me do some things with it but still it didn’t work. So, I decided I’d need a different one for my tour.

I was able to find a newer Sansa, the Sansa Fuze, that someone was selling on ebay. A real plus to winning it was that it already had about 750 songs loaded on it. Whoever had it liked about every genre of music you can think of. I deleted most of what I didn’t like and installed my own songs. I think it has about 850 on it so far. Which should be enough to last me for a 31 day trip, I think.

One feature that I like on mp3 players is the ability to shuffle the songs. I will start my practice ride with a particular song and then I never know what song will play next, it’s always unexpected.

Life seems to be the same way. We never know for sure what’s going to happen from one day to the next. Yeah, you can go into the same job, day after day, and do the same routine, but there is always the chance of something different happening each day, or a different opportunity that may arise. The unexpected could happen at any moment.

Sudden death is usually unexpected. People don’t normally like to talk about death, but, ten out of ten people die and we need to be as prepared for it as we possibly can. I heard news lately of three boys, aged 15-20, that were working at a grain elevator and one fell in a large corn bin. The other two jumped in to try and save him. Two of the boys died. That was an unexpected accident.

I have a number of friends that have developed cancer or other illnesses and none of them ever expected it. I work in an industry that accidents happen, no matter how many safety precautions you make, that are never expected. One of our employees was riding his motorcycle to work the other day and a deer ran out in front of him. He hit and killed the deer, destroyed the bike and barely escaped, what could have been, a fatal accident. He didn’t expect that to happen that day.

We don’t often know why things happen when they do. If we did, we’d probably try and be a little more prepared, or we should anyway. There’s nothing wrong with asking God “why” this or that happened but we should never doubt Him. We can’t see the big picture, just a small bit of it.

There’s a song by one of my favorite Christian groups, Go Fish, that is called Parade. Here’s how the lyrics go:

“Life rolls down the street right in front of me / Marchin’ to a rhythm of its own / Up, down, I feel like I’m livin’ on a slide trombone / Watchin’ it all with my heart parked in a tow-away zone / You never really know what’s comin’ up next / If you blink it’ll pass you by / Right when you think you’ve seen it all – Surprise! // You see the whole parade / From the beginning to the end / You know the route my life will take / You know exactly where I’ve been / ‘Cuz while I only see what’s goin’ by in front of me / You see the whole parade.”

Are you prepared for death? God’s Word says in Hebrews 9:27, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” Everyone who has lived will someday stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Are you ready for that day?

Even though so many things in this life happen unexpected, I have an expectation that someday when I die I’ll be in the presence of my Lord Jesus and find rest in Him and my Heavenly home. I have gladness and joy in that hope. Proverbs 10:28 says, “The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.” I pray you might have my same expectation.

I’m thankful for what my God has in store for me and that there is nothing unexpected that happens that He does not know about. He always knows what’s best and His ways are just and right. I just need to make sure that I always allow Him to lead my parade.

FIELD TEST: PRIMUS ETAPACKLITE COOK STOVE

I needed to fix myself some supper one night when Pat was away so I decided to see how my little camping stove would work. I had not field tested it yet so thought I’d give it a shot.

I had a bag of chicken flavored pasta that I was going to sample and see if it would be worth taking on the trip. I put two cups of water in the pot and kicked on the burner. This stove was highly recommended on-line and was given very high marks for fuel efficiency (80%) and ease of use. I took about 1-2 minutes to boil the water (faster than our indoor cook stove) and I put in the pasta which only took 7 minutes to cook. I let it sit for a couple minutes, placed the pasta in the larger of the two bowls that come with the stove, grabbed a slice of bread and had a feast sitting on my back porch. Very nice. It was a little more than I would normally eat but it would be the perfect amount during the bike tour. I was impressed with how the stove performed and clean up was a snap. Plus, the pasta was hot even to the last bite. I’ll really enjoy using this stove in the future.

THE TRAINING CONTINUES

Though I’ve planned my bike tour during, what I believe to be, a prime time to ride weather wise, training in the Illinois heat and humidity in the summer stinks. It is so hot! It’s always good to try and get out on the road very early in the morning to beat the heat. There have been a couple 70+ mile rides that I really suffered on because I didn’t do just that. I’m going to actually be trying to cut my training miles back a little unless we experience an unseasonably cool day. I’ve only got six weekends left before I set sail so I have to take advantage of it.

Though cutting back my road miles I’ll try and increase my miles on the rollers indoors. I’ve learned that I’m not real fond of spinning. I don’t have the bike set up with a TV to watch and reading a book is too tricky. The best I can do is just listening to some tunes. That helps a little but I can’t put in near the time spinning as I can on the road of course. Plus there are no cows, clouds or road kill to look at (or smell). I’ll just have to make the best of it and console myself in the thought that before long I’ll be shoving off on the real thing.

THE SUPPORT CREW

L to R: Grandson Landon, daughter Erin, son-in-law Justin, granddaughter Julia, wife Pat, daughter Samantha, dad Mark, daughter Heather, son-in-law Caleb.

Before I ever started planning my bike tour/missions trip/adventure I had to be confident that I would have a great support team back home. I think the longest that I’d ever been away from my family thus far has been about five days maybe, and that’s been a long time ago. Just because I take a leave of absence from home and my normal daily routine doesn’t mean the bills stop coming or the grass stops growing. There’s always plenty to do and life goes on.

My son-in-law Justin will be pretty much watching over four houses while I’m away; his own, my oldest daughter Sam’s, my youngest daughter Heather’s and mine. Thankfully, they are only spread out over a few blocks in the same town and within easy walking distance of each other. I’m confident he can handle whatever might come up with them. And speaking of grass, Pat is no stranger to yard mowing and Samantha’s started mowing her lawn as well. By September, I would hope, the grass growth would start to subside a little.

At work, I have about four people that will help carry my load while away. Hopefully, they won’t do it too well.  They are busy enough with their own work and I truly appreciate them taking on the extra inconvenience my job might cause them.

But, the best support I could ever get is given thru prayers that are lifted up on my behalf to our Heavenly Father. I know that my church family, my immediate family, my extended family in India, my friends and many others have been, and will continue to be, praying for me as I undertake this trip. I don’t take that lightly. Prayers accomplish much when spoken in faith and I’m counting on a strong support group in this area.

Some specific prayer requests would be:
• For my health between now and my return home.
• For protection while traveling on the highways.
• For my finances. Though not buying gas I will need to eat more than normal to keep my engine running.
• For opportunities to witness and pass out tracts. And that the Holy Spirit might convict and speak to individuals thru the message therein.
• That my bike will perform well and that I not have any major mechanic problems.
• For my family while I’m away.
• That only small, slow dogs will chase me and not big, fast ones (I’m serious).
• For the churches that I plan to visit and the ministries that God has blessed them with.
• For the churches that I visit that are without Pastors right now (there’s a couple).
• For Bibles For the World and the ministries that God has blessed them with.
• For Living Waters and the ministries that God has blessed them with.

There are other needs and requests that I’m sure will arise and I will mention those as things progress. But for now my thanks and heartfelt appreciation goes out to all who help support me in so many ways while my journey continues. May God bless all of you!

THE MAIDEN VOYAGE

I took off on my first overnight camp Friday June 4th. I arranged with my brother to stay in the fire house where he works in Quincy, Illinois; then return home the next day. Two riding days back to back should tell me a lot about equipment set up, my physical shape and some other things to expect during the upcoming tour. I wasn’t disappointed. I learned a lot.

I made it up the hill at Florence, this time spraying myself down with gnat spray, and then stopped in Pittsfield to visit at a business that I deal with at work. It started off as an overcast day but soon turned bright and sunny. I had sun block on my legs but didn’t bother with my arms. This was a big mistake.

I made it to the half way point of Barry and stopped at a Wendy’s parking lot to have a couple PB&H(oney)’s and also to refill a couple water bottles. Then I took a lower road that paralleled some bluffs that led into Quincy on the West side of town by the Mississippi River. Even though I had four water bottles I almost ran out of fluids before I arrived at the Fire Station. I had underestimated how hot it was and how burned my arms would get once the sun popped out. My totals for the day were 66 miles with 6 hours road time and a 11 mph average. I didn’t think that was too bad considering I was carrying about 65 pounds of gear.

Once at the Fire House I took a good shower and my brother gave me the tour. I met the guys on his shift and then Tom and I just relaxed and talked until supper time. We had a good meal of pork steaks, rice, green beans and sweet tea. Very nice!

I’d always heard that cross country cyclists liked staying at Fire Houses because of the hospitality, food and showers. I think I can now say that they are right, except, for the fact that it was hard to get a good nights rest. With the radio and alarms and TV sounding, and, oh, did I say that it came a thunderstorm too with lightening and tornado warnings going off? Plus, the highlight of the evening (I mean morning) was that I went with them on a run at about 1:30 a.m. to get some poor guy off a church roof that had been in a dispute at a bar! Yeah.

Once back at the station I was finally able to drift off to sleep only to be reawakened at 6:30. The next shift would be taking over at 7:00 and I needed to get packed up and out of there. I have to say that it was a neat experience and I thank my brother and his fellow firemen for allowing me the experience of seeing what life was like in their world. Even though Tom told me it was a slow night compared to normal, it made me more thankful for my normal life and I appreciate how they put their lives on the line for others every day.

Once I rode to the East side of town, Tom and I had breakfast at a restaurant. Oh, did I say it was still raining pretty hard? After we ate I headed back home. I went about 10 miles and it finally stopped raining. That’s when I encountered the first of two steep hills Tom said I’d have taking a different route back. I would be up on the top of the bluffs this time instead of along the bottom like yesterday. I would ride on top for about 15 miles before I rejoined yesterday’s route back down in the bottoms.

The first hill I made up without too much struggle even though I had to gear down to my second gear. I coasted down to the bottom of where the second hill started and stopped for a drink (and to get psyched). This hill was not as long as the first but a steeper grade. One thing I told my brother that I did not want to do was to go into my lowest granny gear. I was saving it for the mountains in Colorado. Well, I made it up the second hill but granny had to help. Boy, I hated it that I had to drop into first, but it couldn’t be helped.

After that I just rode along and enjoyed the ride. I shed my rain jacket and decided I’d wait until I met up with the lower route to peel off the rain pants and my convertible pant legs. Then the unexpected happened. As I rounded a slight downhill turn there it was…..a third monster hill! My brother didn’t tell me about this one. He told me later that he….just forgot. Yeah, right. How convenient. This hill was longer and steeper than either of the first two. So, I stopped, took a long draw on my water bottle and got to it.

About half way up this, what looked like a mile long hill, I decide to stop. It had a good shoulder and I felt I could walk faster than I was peddling. It actually felt pretty good to walk for a while. So, I made it to the top and then had a nice downhill cruise to valley floor.

After that excitement it was just peddle steadily home. I stopped again at Wendy’s in Barry for a sandwich and to refill one bottle. It was all overcast the rest of the way home so I didn’t use up as much water as yesterday. One bad thing about both days’ rides was the awful, nasty, stinking road kill. The weeds along the roads had not been mowed and I came across a number of dead deer bloated and laying close to the edge just out of sight. I could smell them long before I saw them, of course.

I made it home about 4:00 pm with totals of 6.5 hours saddle time, 68 miles ridden and a 10 mph average. I learned a lot this first trip. One thing I learned is that I need to lighten the load a little more, plus, to never ride without sunscreen. I’ll make my adjustments and try and prepare for at least one more overnight camp before I head for Colorado.

A Million Details

Little did I know when I dreamed up my upcoming bicycle tour that there would be so many details to work out. Everything from what and how much food to carry, to when and where I’d clean my clothes. I’ve actually got the food and clothes cleaning part down, I think, but now I’m trying to work out all the details concerning where I’ll be pitching my tent each night. Will it be a City Park, a church, a fire house, a motel (last resort), some one’s back yard, a cemetery (right before the last resort), a ball field or maybe even a bush camp? I have locations somewhat in mind for all the nights on the road except for getting permission from someone. That’s something that will take even more time.

I’m also micro-adjusting and scrutinizing all my gear. Trying to get the weight distributed just right, front to back, left to right, and not taking anything that I don’t think I’ll need. I examine and reexamine everything to determine its value on the trip. Some of it I just won’t know until I get on the road or do some test camps. Sometimes you can over analyze the most minor details and other times under analyze the major ones. Trying to wrap my pea brain around a lot of this stuff is like trying to fend off gnats while climbing a long hill at 6 mph (been there, done that). I can’t imagine how multi-member families plan cross country trips. I’m having a hard enough time doing it just for myself.

I think this all seems to be part of the challenge and the adventure of the trip as a whole. Developing a plan and gearing up for it correctly is important. It’s not just getting to the destination that’s important, but the preparation and getting out there and getting in the game and doing it that’s important as well.

But, it will be great to finally get on the road and experience what exactly lies out there instead of just reading about it. Perhaps what I might be looking for out there, is actually here, but here is just someone else’s out there that they may not have experience yet. But, until that time, I’ve got a million things to do and a short time to do it.

PROVISIONS

This 50 year old engine’s got to have fuel to make miles while touring. I’m occasionally asked what I’ll be eating along the way. I’d like to say I’ll be stopping at nice restaurants for every meal but that’s not reality….and I can’t afford it. So my staple foods will be peanut butter and jelly or honey sandwiches. I’ll probably be eating those at least once a day mid-morning or mid-afternoon.

Pre-breakfast will be some type of granola bar as I’m breaking camp and then I’ll proceed to look for a real breakfast stop 10-15 miles on down the road where I hope for a large stack of pancakes or an omelet of some nature. One of our local restaurants has something called a Mess. Its scrambled eggs with hash browns, onions and your choice of meat all mixed together. They are good! It would be great to have that every day for breakfast….or second breakfast.

Supper will be right before I reach my campsite for the evening at a restaurant or I’ll cook something like Ramen noodles, soup or some other boil-in-a-bag meal after I set up camp. Probably supplemented with more P,B & J. I’ll try and also snack thru-out the day with trail mix, Fig Newtons, a Pay Day candy bar (they don’t melt when traveling) or some fruit.

I’m still experimenting at this point to make sure I eat the right foods that will give me enough fuel for each day and that my body will adjust to. Eating the wrong foods could be disastrous and turn a fun trip into one that will be a struggle every mile.

THE SHAKEDOWN CRUISE

Saturday, May 29th, I took the Pilgrim (yes I’ve decide that name will work) on its shakedown cruise fully loaded. Actually, I’d say I had about 95% of all that I plan on taking loaded. I wanted to see how the bike would perform under stress. The day before, I started laying out all the cargo for inventory and weighing. I’ve read a lot of articles about what cycling tourists feel is the right amount of weight to carry and what ratio front to back it should be. Well, once weighed, it was WAY over what is usually recommended. All the loaded gear, with five full water bottles, tipped the scales at about 75 pounds!

The morning I was to depart I started throwing stuff overboard to lighten the load. I was able to get it down to between 58-60 pounds. I was pretty happy with that and didn’t see how I could cull out anything else. Besides, I can always mail back home anything that I don’t use or that will be dead weight.

I’m using four panniers and a handlebar bag. I also have a small saddle bag for a multi-tool and tire patch kit plus two small stem bags for my cell phone, mp3 player and other small items. The tent, air mattress and a bag that houses my mattress chair and a small folding seat will be tethered to the top of the rear panniers. My sleeping bag fits nicely under the handlebar bag on the front platform rack.

As I walked the bike out to the street for the first time under load I wonder if I could even maneuver the thing. Or if I’d fall over once I started trying to peddle….with all my neighbors laughing. It seemed strange, whimsical and challenging all at the same time. Would pieces of luggage or bike parts start to fall off within the first block? Would I be able to get this ship whoaed when I came to cross-traffic? Well, all went fine and I was soon sailing West out of town to the cheers of all those who lined the streets to see me off (that last part I was just dreaming in my mind).

I was worried, although, about how well the front racks would take the load being secured to a front shock. But, my worries, again, were all for not, they did fine. The new 1.50” tires rode very well at 80 psi also.

There didn’t seem to be much wind, which suited me fine till I stopped for a drink. No wind means gnats! In our part of West Central Illinois we have pesky Buffalo Gnats. And they show no mercy and little concern about when to leave the area.

As, I said, the bike rode great and it seemed to take little effort to get it up to speed and then maintain it. The ballast seemed to make it want to pick up momentum. I was quickly running 15-16 mph and was a happy camper.

The plan was to ride to my mom and dad’s house about 15 miles away and then back home. I’ve taken this route many times and it’s the way I always go to work, plus, though the highway is in dire need of repair it’s flat and a piece of cake. I had gotten a later start so didn’t want to do much more in case something went wrong. What’s more, like always seems to happen, the wind might change direction and I could go from cruising at 15 mph one minute to fighting a 20 mph headwind the next (Illinois is like that).

I made pretty good time getting to my parents house and, somewhere before I got there, I decided I wanted to challenge a certain hill, Florence Hill, on the way home since I’d have to ride up the first day of my tour anyway. It wasn’t all that steep, but it was just a very long, gradual climb that I knew would tax my legs once I tried it loaded. It wasn’t a big deal unloaded and I’d rode up it a number of times in the past.

After I left mom and dad’s I headed for the hill about eleven miles away. It wasn’t on the route going home and I’d have to detour to get to it by about two miles. And, sure enough, the wind had switched directions…it never fails. It was now blowing about 5-10 mph East by South East. That wouldn’t be an issue until I headed back down the hill, crossed the Illinois River draw bridge and rode the remaining nine miles on home, directly into the headwind.

About five miles from the hill, the wind decided to change again and started coming, what seemed to me like anyway, directly out of the South….the direction I was heading into. Bad form wind! Bike riding in Illinois is usually about 10% physical and 90% mental. You can never out guess the wind. It’s as annoying as the gnats.

So, after dropping my cruising speed down to about 9 mph and riding in my lower mid-range gears, I finally made it to the hill. I didn’t even stop for a breather or to get psyched coming off the draw-bridge located at the bottom of the hill. I down shifted into the higher gears of my lower chain ring and pulled into the slower traffic lane that runs up the hill. An up-beat song started on my mp3 player so I was ready for action!

After about the first 50 yards or so I thought, “Hey, this ain’t too bad. I can do this…even loaded!” I did have to go ahead and gear down till I resigned myself to the reality that 3rd gear was the best I could hope for to get the job done.

Then it happened….the gnats! I had no wind to keep them at bay, I had forgotten my bug spray and I was travelling just slightly faster than I could probably walk and ma and pop gnat decided to bring all the kids and their friends to dine on me for supper. I couldn’t conquer the hill without opening my mouth for air and the gnats enjoyed seeing how many of them could enter my mouth with each breath.

I couldn’t believe it! I could see the top of the hill (what seemed like miles away) and I was trying to decide just how bad I wanted this. I wasn’t even half way up and the temptation to do a downhill U-turn and get the wind in my face to rid myself of these devils was tremendously tempting.

But no! I wanted to conquer that hill. No amount of these stinkin’ buggers was going to keep me from my goal! So, all I could do was try and maintain my 6 mph spinning and spitting. Spin, inhale, spit a gnat…spin, inhale, spit a gnat…spin, inhale, spit a gnat. I actually kind of got a rhythm going doing this and had made it about 75% of the way up the hill. I could see the top getting closer. Then it happened….I let something distract my rhythm and I spit on my handlebars! Aargh! The only thing that might have made this worse was if I was a tobacco chewer (which I’m not).

Man, I was mad! I was determined more than ever to get this job done. Spin, spin, spin (no time for inhaling and spitting, I was mad). I finally got to where the hill was starting to level out, and I really wanted to go further, but, I saw a good place to turn around before the slow lane merged with the fast lane so I took it. I did a U-turn, up shifted into my middle chain ring and headed down.

The rest of the ride would be pretty well uneventful after I started downhill, or so I thought. No gnats and I wasn’t in the mood to set a speed record going down so I just relaxed, stopped peddling, coasted at 27 mph and relished in the victory….I’d wait and count the gnat bites when I got home. But, for now, I was happy and the bike seemed to sail well at this speed.

My happiness was short lived. I cleared the end of the bridge to run into the 10 mph headwind with gusts probably pushing about 15 mph. Normally, I won’t let this type of wind bother me too much but I wasn’t on a bare bike. I was tired, I was pushing a 60 pound heavier bike and I cast a bigger shadow. So, I now found myself back at about a 6-8 mph spin, but, at least there were no bugs.

I occupied myself for the next eight miles thinking about that one pint container of Ben & Jerry’s Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream I had bought to enjoy after a ride such as this. It turned out to be a pretty good, yet challenging, maiden voyage for the Pilgrim. In less than a week I’ll be screaming up the hill again on my way over to where my brother lives in Quincy, IL. One thing’s for sure…I will be bringing the bug spray.

ONLY 100 DAYS TO GO!!

That might seem like plenty of time to some folks but that’s not much time for me before I depart on the Million Dollar Tour. I’ve still got a lot to do and training is at the top of the list. Last Saturday I did my longest ride of the year so far, 70 miles. I’ll need to keep upping the mileage if I plan on being able to keep a 78 mile day average by the end of the trip. Right now my training rides are only averaging 35 miles per ride.

I’ll be doing a fully loaded test ride next Saturday and then the first weekend in June I’ll be riding to Quincy and staying overnight in my brothers firehouse and then returning the next day. It will be a couple 65 mile days back to back. That should really help me see how the bike performs and how well the gear will handle the ride.

I’ve still got some equipment to be tried and tested and some phone calls to make to some towns where I’ll be staying. Hopefully I’ll be ready to go by the time these next 100 days are up.

My Vessel

I thought I’d show you the bike that I’ll be taking on tour. It’s not a designated touring bike, but I’ve converted it, as best as I could, from a Mountain bike to a Touring bike. It’s a 2005 Trek 3900. I’ve installed touring handle bars, cushion grips, 26” x 1.5” Bontrager Comfort Hardcase tires, front and rear racks, a compass, mirror, a two legged kickstand and fenders. I upgraded to touring pedals and a better computer. Also, I added a Brooks B-17 Flyer leather saddle. I was going to install my Brooks B-17 Champion saddle but thought I’d give the sprung version a try. So far, it’s not too bad.

Though it’s got an aluminum frame, it should be strong enough along with the mountain bike spokes for the trip. Its 24 gears will be better suited for climbing the hills (mountains?) than any other bike I own.

I debated about leaving the front shock on. It just adds weight and can be a hindrance going up steep hills. But, I thought that it might be better to leave it to absorb some of the bumps. My body could use all the help it can get. Plus, I’ll be hauling a Netbook in one of the front panniers and maybe it would help cushion its ride. I’ll be on some unpaved roads in Colorado and it might prove beneficial then as well.

A lot of cycling tourists name their bikes, some don’t. I’ve never actually named any of my bikes (I own six at this time, I think) but thought that maybe this one might could use one. I’m not that crazy about giving it a name the way some people would name their pets. I’d prefer to give it a name like you would a tool or a piece of useful machinery, a locomotive or a Space Shuttle. Some of the largest pieces of construction equipment had personalized names.

I’ve heard it said that touring bikes are like sailing ships. They travel at their best with a good tail wind and that’s what us bike riders prefer. Ships also carry large amounts of cargo and often are overloaded. A lot of touring bikes would appear that way as well. So, for now, I’ll try and come up with a name from an old, tall masted, cargo ship from the past to tag it with. Any ideas? One idea I had was The Pilgrim since I love the works of the Reformed Baptist Preacher John Bunyan and especially his book Pilgrim’s Progress. There was a cargo Brig in the 1830’s by that name. I’ll have to give it some thought.

I’ll show pictures of the bike fully loaded soon.