WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!!!

It's seems like it's been forever and at the same time it's gone by in a flash. Today, Tuesday June 16th the riders rode up to Chesepeake Bay in Annapolis and dipped their tires! We have arrived

What an incredible trip!! Praise the Lord for His grace and provisions!

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement!

Day 8 Almost there

Chicago to Elyria was a hard route for the riders. Tim's team had route troubles and had to double back getting out of Chicago. Some of the teams had to cut their ride short, because they ran out of time. Head winds, rough roads, and tight time constraints made for an interesting celebration event.

The Church of the Open Door were our gracious (and I mean gracious) hosts on Sunday night in Elyria, OH. We were to start at 5 pm. At 5:30 it was clear the first team to arrive was an hour away. We prayed and explained we wanted to give them a true African experience... we say 5 in Africa means maybe 6 or so:) They were amazing flexible and gracious. Jos went ahead and did his presentation and waited to eat until after riders came. As each team of riders came in they all gave them a standing ovation. We had a great evening of fellowship.

From Collie's blog..."Last night we did a presentation at a welcoming church and I met a woman named Nancy there who has a son with HIV. She came and heard us talk and afterward asked me if I planned on going to visit the orphanages in Africa. I said yes, sometime in the next 6 months with Rikki and she was so moved by the bicycle ride and fundraising efforts that she said she wants to go with us and volunteer her time as well.

This whole experience has been amazing and I’m so humbled by the impact it has had on the people I’ve met during our ride and also knowing the help and support that those children in Africa will be receiving. I feel truly blessed to be a part of this and to be able to experience all this with Rikki by my side." Collie.

Chicago in the rain

Mud. Lots and lots of mud. It was a spectacularly wet, muddy day of riding from Iowa City to Chicago, and no one experienced this more than Tim Patton, Terry Ervin, and Michael O’keefe.

They were supposed to ride the fourth leg of the day, which was a 50 mile ride with some native Chicagoans through the outskirts of Chicago. What they didn’t know was that at least half the ride was on unpaved, muddy bike trails. After trudging and drudging through the pudding-like trails for miles, they reluctantly had to pack it in and take their bikes to the shop for complete tune-ups.

When the cyclists came in they all looked like they had just finished the Paris-Roubaix. Terry got it the worst, when he fell in the mud shortly after boasting that someone else was going to eat it on the trail. Fortunately, all of the riders from Chicago finished half the abreviated half-century, though they were equally caked in mud.

Team Patton wasn’t the only team that had a rough day. Phil, Garrett and Kelvin had a brutal 74 miles through unending wind and rolling terrain. They walked into the event, and it was like a scene from Night of the Living Dead. Phil was a little spooked, since he nearly got creamed by a truck on the highway. He almost lost control of his bike on the “rumble strips” while navigating around the team van, and if he fell he certainly would have been run over. “Angels were definitely watching over me” he said after telling the story.

Community Fellowship Church inWest Chicago were warm and generous hosts that did an awesome job of food, music and atmosphere. We are very thankful for their kindness and the people who turned out and responded to our presentation.

News Report

Oh! Check out this great television news interview from Grand Junction, Colorado. It's really good... http://www.kjct8.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?ClipID1=3851030&h1=Millions%20of%20children%20orphaned&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=169200&LaunchPageAdTag=News&activePane=info&rnd=37944217

Quote of the day... “It took an hour for my butt to find a place on the saddle today”.

Day 5 (Denver, CO to Lincoln, NE) was another really long day, with each team having over 130 miles to ride. Some teams had to brake off riding early to get to the event at Berean Church on time. One team had a break down. Even though not as much cycling took place, the teams still had some interesting stories...

“We stopped at a burger place in Nebraska after we finished our ride, and the place was staffed by what looked like survivors of the Donner party or something. All the locals looked at us like we were aliens. While we were sitting down we could see into the kitchen, and man you don’t want to see that kitchen. When our food came, I noticed something sticking out of my burger. I gave it a tug, and it turned out to be a black, crusty hair that must have been twelve inches long. And you know that wax paper that comes inbetween frozen patties? Well Jay’s burger still had the wax paper stuck between the patties on his double cheeseburger. During this whole ordeal Kelvin was outside, so we decided not to tell him about it until after he ate.” –Phil Hankins

“Susan Brown from Berean Church was at a local restaurant, asking if she could put up a poster for the Ride for Hope. The person who was working called their supervisor in the back to see if it was okay. When the supervisor learned that the ride was benefitting orphans, he immediately got his friend from the back, who was pregnant and considering an abortion. Susan was able to talk to her and establish a connection that could result in the girl deciding to keep her baby.” –Steve Caldwell

At the end of the day we had a fantastic celebration at the Berean church, where we had a great response.

Almost everyone went to bed around 11:30. One of the exceptions was Brett Martin. Brett, being the shredder that he is, decided to go for a midnight bike ride since he didn’tget to ride during the day.

"One of the great things about this ride is that we do get to meet all kinds of people. We pulled up to a rest stop and there were three old men there so when they asked what we were doing I pulled up a chair and started telling them our story.

Anyway we got to talking about the military and Donald, who is on our team and had just gotten back from a tour with the Navy in Iraq, started talking with them. Then one of the old men stood up and shook Donald's hand and thanked him for serving our country. Then he took an American flag pin off his hat and gave it to Donald, who in turn said he would always wear it. It was a touching moment and the camaraderie made me proud to be an American!

Now on the lighter side, during our travels we have made certain observations and we have come up with the top 5 things you find most often on the highways/freeways of America. They are:1) Rubber from semi truck tires2) Bungee cords (probably seen 1000 of them)3) Road kill (everything from deer to baby birds)4) Water bottles and Gatorade bottles filled with urine.5) Ice chest lids" Collie Christianson

DAY 3 It was Grand

I didn't know how beautiful Utah is. driving back from dropping Palmer off at the Salt Lake Airport to fly home :(, we drove down off the expressway through incredible beauty and amazing vistas.

The riders mainly had to ride on the freeways all the way today as the frontage roads were in really bad shape.

Kelvin Tse, whose team had the third-and hardest section, says "day 3 was difficult. Because of a lack of sleep we were all tired from the get-go, and I knew I would have to conserve energy. The last 20 miles questioned my sanity. We all miss sharing the wind and conversation with Palmer, but we know he's here in spirit."

Shortly after starting the fourth leg of the day, Terry Ervin blew out a spoke, and had to jam ahead to Grand Junction get it fixed. Tim Patton and Mike O'keefe soldiered on without him, but they were glad when he returned

Tim Patton is still fighting with a bad knee, but he says he and his team were encouraged by Jos speaking at First Presbyterian Church. "It reminded us of why we are doing what we're doing".

We had a great celebration cookout and sharing time with First Pres. What an incredible blessing of hospitality!

DAY 2 the ups and downs

Highs and lows

Monday June 8, 2009: 473 total miles
127 miles per team on average.

Highs:
All the teams did incredible in this very long day with lots of hill climbs.

Many of the teams didn’t arrive to the hotel until almost midnight. Then had to get up and do it again this morning.

Team 3 (shown above) had the most challenging section with five climbs averaging around 2000’ each climb! Combined they climbed 9000’ in one day!

Team 1 had to ride 40 miles on interstate 80 out of Reno. A challenge in itself.


Lows:
Palmer Lee, reaching for his water bottle while in motion, tapped the tire of the bike in front of him and lost control of his bike. Narrowly missed by a truck passing them, his bike helmet saved him from a certain head injury, but he broke his clavicle.

Regrettably Palmer had to fly home from Salt Lake. Tim Patton had the inspiration to do this bike trip for turning 50, Palmer quietly confided that this was a dream and a challenge for him turning 60. He is disappointed, but we rejoice for God’s protection from what could have been a much worse injuries.

Prayer request

Pray for Tim’s knee. It caused him pain yesterday, but he was able to make it through.
Pray for stanmina. The gang is tired today. Thankfully it’s a shorter day today to Grand Junction.

Day 1

We met in near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco at 7 am to prepare, pray and launch.


At 8:15 am the riders road off to cross the Golden Gate bridge together.

At 6:15 pm we had a police escort through downtown Reno, NV to the city plaza for the first celebration event.

Check out a quick video of our first day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnmhPzZS9uA

Stay tuned for more.