Strong North winds!!

Well today I did a big ride of 123 kms. Jake (another cyclist doing the whole sea to sea route) and I set out at 9:45 from his place and boy were we travelling!! Sometimes speeds on a straight stretch of 40 kms. an hour .....awesome. Somehow we had a feeling we would be paying for this on the way back since we were heading south and the winds were definitely pushing us along. Even the hills were a scinch. We cycled to Port Stanley along not so busy roads and arrived in Port Stanley before 12:00 p.m. Had a hot chocolate and our lunch which we ate looking out at Port Stanley (too bad I forgot the camera). I could have showed you all how Jake looks in his spandex!! The air was pretty cool but we were dressed for it. On the way back we rode along the lake which was a very pretty and quiet route. Then when we arrived at Port Bruce we knew that we had to tackle the North winds head on for the rest of the trip home which was I think about 30-40 kms. Not too sure. Boy were those winds strong. We were only doing about 15-18 kms. average I think because it took us a lot longer to get home. The entire trip took us 5 hrs. & 55 mins. But after all is said and done we arrived home safely and I thank God for a safe journey because the road from Aylmer to home was pretty busy with lots of big trucks passing us, sometimes pretty close. God is good and it reminds me again of the Holy Spirit which we cannot see but which can also have a powerful impact in our lives. I pray that our journey across this great country will also be a spirit-enpowering experience for us all. So after a long and trying day I think I'll hit the sack early tonight. Thankfully no meetings to attend.

Victoria day ride

One of the London sea to sea riders suggested we do a group ride on May 19th. (Victoria day). I woke up to a cloudy, cold, drizzly day at 5:45 a.m. We were to meet at the downtown church at 7:00. My first inclination was to go back to my warm cozy bed but I decided I'd better not chicken out since they said, 'rain or shine'. So here we are all 11 of us standing near a puddle with our bikes all set to go. It was supposed to be a 70-80 km. ride but turned out to be a 110 km. ride instead. We headed north and naturally the winds were from the north. We struggled against wind and rain - a good training for sea to sea we were told. We were encouraged via email the next day that if we could cycle in these conditions we would have no trouble doing the sea to sea. That was encouraging at the end of the day. We stopped twice at Timmy's. What in the world will we do without our Tim Horton's stops as we cycle through the states??? All in all it turned out to be a rewarding ride and it was great to meet the other London group plus Peter from St. Thomas and Cynthia from Chatham. We hope to do this again sometime soon.

delicious lunch after a 45 km. ride

Train...train......train

It's about nine weeks before I start my trip from Denver. This past week I have put on 203 kms. from Monday to Thursday. During the week before I did a 103 km. ride with Peter, being the longest ride since my training outside this Spring. Last week I rode with another cyclist, Margaret, who will also be doing the Denver to Jersey City with me and we cycled two days in a row together. We did a total of 110 kms. We did some challenging hills. The weather was perfect cycling weather and we were definitely inspired by God's beautiful creation as we cycled in some remote areas. We discovered we will make a good team together on the sea to sea trip. We are quite compatible. One of the reasons I like going to Margaret's to cycle is because she has a hot tub we can soak in after a long day's ride. What a wonderful reward. Is there anyone willing to come on the sea to sea tour with a portable hot tub? I am still itching from blackfly bites! As soon as we stopped at a stop sign they were in for the kill so needless to say we didn't stop too long. It is more fun going with other riders. Tomorrow Peter and I plan on going with about 9 or 10 cyclists for a 70-80 km. run. Weather forecast looks pretty cool. It'll toughen us up for the real thing. We start bright and early at 7:00 a.m. from the downtown church in London. The temperature is supposed go down to 4 c. tonight...brrrr! I hope to post some pictures as soon as I can find someone who will have the patience and time to show me how.

Welcome to my blog

Welcome to my blog - a whole new experience for me! I started this blog because of an exciting adventure which I plan on participating in this summer which will consist of cycling across part of the U.S. from Denver, Colorado to Jersey City, New Jersey. This challenging adventure begins for some who are starting from Seattle, Washington on June 28th and I will be joining them in Denver, Colorado on July 28th.

Now why would I want to participate in something so huge at my age which will be 63 this coming July. This trip is not only an exciting bike trip but has another purpose which is more important than the cycling I will be doing. I am committed to raise $8,000.00 which will assist in raising money for the cause of global poverty. I am also doing this trip to experience God's awesome creation from the seat of a two wheeled bike. This entire trip will take 5 weeks and 3700 kms. across this great country. I was inspired when several of us, 11 cyclists and 5 support team went to New Zealand last March and cycled both islands , South and North for a total of about 2200 kms. What an awesome experience! Very challenging but what a beautiful scenery we enjoyed along the way. I'm not sure I would have attempted this great feat if I had realized the number of steep climbs we would be cycling up. So now I am busy training for this trip and the training is going well. I hope to use this blog to inform my children, extended family and friends along with church family back home as to my progress in training and eventually a diary of my experiences along the way so.........stay tuned!!