Day 5-8 In Payson, AZ

All the bikers were sent forward to Payson, 4-5 hours by van and chartered coach bus. Julie and I had Jerry and Steve Groen ride with us and we were asked to stay in Quartzsite to help load the 80+ bikes into a rented freight trailer, to get them to Payson. We didn’t quite know what we were getting into, as it took until after 3:00 p.m. for 6 of us guys to get them all safely packed away. The temps in the trailer had to be over 120 degrees and we needed to take breaks every 15 minutes or so to cool down. It was as strenuous as having to ride bikes for the day. You could hardly hold the bikes, as they were so hot from the sun.

Our tired bodies were not allowed a nice ride, as our van stalled in rush hour traffic in downtown Phoenix. We sat for about an hour in 112 degree temps, until a traffic patrol office stopped and helped us get it going again. We have had gas flow issues on and off since part way out to California. It is going into a Ford dealer on Monday morning in Payson to try to resolve the issue. We were able to complete the ride to Payson, barely making 40 mph up the mountain climbs to 4,800 feet here in Payson

The temps are better here, but still 100 today and 101 for tomorrow. Everyone is catching up on their wash, sorting things out, swimming, shopping, blogging in air-conditioned spots, like Starbucks, Macs, or as we are doing, at the library. There is a concert in a local park tonight. Many bikers volunteered to paint a house today for Habitat For Humanity.

We will be here until we resume the tour on Tuesday. 2 new cyclists will be joining this weekend and 12 dropped out as scheduled. It was tough to see them leave and we were all pretty emotional because of what we had experienced together. I will miss Don Zuidema of the Chicago area whom I rode with several days.

On our ride to Payson, we rode the route up the mountains that would have been our cycling ride for next Monday. It would have been near impossible in the temps we have been experiencing. It had very difficult climbs and descents. That was part of the decision by the staff….to not have to move the camp twice and get us to Payson as the next starting point.

 

Day 4 Desert Center, CA to Quartzsite, AZ

Today, temps were expected to be in the high 100s, so I left with Dan and Don at about 5:40 a.m. Most of the route today was on I-10. The shoulder was littered with tire retread remnants and I and many other had flats today from the tiny wire that our tires picked up from riding over them. In total, there were 29 flats today for the entire group. We also had very rough shoulder at times with 4-6” heaves in the pavement every 15 feet or so. Some of us elected to take the white line in the traffic lane to have better conditions and most drivers gave us plenty of room. Someone must have called in to CHiPs though, as a patrol car pulled over in front of us when we were back on good shoulder to keep on eye on where we were riding. It was just so unrideable at times. The temp was not too bad for the first couple hours, but then rose quickly and I was struggling to keep up with Dan and Don and told them to continue on at their own pace and I picked up with another group that was going at my pace. The SAG teams did a fantastic job getting us cooled down at added SAG stops along the way today. They had towels soaked in ice water to wrap around our necks and keep us cooled down in order to make the next SAG stop. Without that, many of us would not have been able to complete the day, and some could not and needed a ride into camp.  I later found out that the temp reached 109 today. There was a 10 mile climb near the end of the route that was a killer today, because of the temps. One of the riders in the group I was with had a flat on that section and I advised the others that I would stick with him and they could continue on to the summit. He was so worn out by the heat that he could not change his tire and I helped him get that done and we continued on to the top, but both us of were near our limit when we reached the summit SAG stop. They iced both of us down and other riders as they came in and we sat for 15-20 minutes. I was able to continue on, but others had to call it a day to be safe.

The last 6 miles or so were downhill all the way into Quartzite, AZ. We were scheduled to be in an open park in Quartzsite overnight with a Super 8 motel options someone wanted it. The park would have been unbearable overnight and the staff found a community center building that was air-conditioned and everyone could lay out their mattresses on the floor for sleeping. It was very comfortable and saved us. The young folks found all kinds of ways to keep occupied, from playing cards, to jumping rope, to balancing chairs on their faces!

At our Peleton meeting, the staff announced that the tour had to be suspended because of the extreme heat advisories that the area has for the next days. Phoenix is expected to post records tying temps of 120 degrees and everyone is advised to stay indoors, much less try to bike 60-80 miles. Those that had signed on for this complete tour and had never done it before were very disappointed, but understand the safety issue. The decision was to leap frog ahead to next Monday’s destination, Payson, AZ. The staff did a fantastic job in making arrangements to transport the group, gear, and bikes to Payson. It was a massive logistics accomplishment.

We are all cool inside and safe for now. We have all had our body systems stretched to the endurance limits, but are ok, but very tired and worn out.

Continue to pray for safety and health and strength to endure the heat.

Day 3 - Coachella Valley to Desert Center, CA

Today we were faced with a shorter day of 60 miles, but because of the predicted heat, we had breakfast at 5:00 and left camp at 5:30. I rode with Adam, Don, Dan, and John. We had about 40 miles of climb today, with a ride through Box Canyon. It was very desolate, but had beautiful and varied stone formations.

Because of the early start, we arrived in camp just before noon. We had stopped at an air conditioned convenience store to cool our bodies off and spent about 45 minutes there. It is so hot today.....about 102 degrees when we arrived in camp. We are staying at a resort in the middle of nowhere that has a small lake and a pool and an air conditioned large room that everyone is setting up their mattresses in for a comfortable sleep tonight. We are drinking so much water and electrolytes these past days. I generally drink 2-22 ounce bottles between each 15 mile SAG stop and then drink more at the stop.

Tomorrow will be another really hot day.
Did I say it is HOT here??!!

   

Day 2 - Redlands to Coachella Valley, CA

Today we were faced with a longer ride of 80 miles. I rode with Adam, Dan Kiel, Don, John, and Joel. We are entering the desert area and we left earlier and left camp at about 6:40 a.m. We wanted to avoid the worst of the afternoon heat. We started with a difficult 18 miles climb out of Redlands. That was tough right off the bat in the morning. I generally like to have about 8-10 miles to loosen up my leg muscles, but did not have that chance as the climb was from the beginning. After the climb we had generally flat or downhill the rest of the day, but it was really hot by late morning. We had a long stretch of steep downhill coming into the Palm Springs area and also had a strong gusty tailwind from the mountain canyons. We were coasting at speeds into the 30s and one of our guys reached 40 mph. It was too gusty for my liking to try to open it up more. Without the downhill and tailwind, it would have been have been almost impossible to complete the day, as it was getting so hot. We have some bikers that followed a wrong turn instruction and ended up on a lot longer route and were in bad shape when they finally arrived at camp.

We passed through Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Indio, and several other towns, all linked together. By the time we arrived in camp it was about 100 degrees. We camped at Jordan Ministries and had a pool available, but it was too hot to even change into our suits. I have included a photo I took of a California environmentally conscience cell tower. It is manmade to look like an evergreen tree. Leave it to California!

We passed through very exclusive areas and golf resorts and ended up on the edge of all this in an agricultural area that was the other end of the economic scale with much immigrant housing, who work in this large irrigated agricultural area. It was a vast difference from either end of the wealth scale.

We decided as a group to move up our start time for tomorrow to 5:00 a.m. breakfast and 5:30 start time for riding, to avoid the heat predicted.

    

Day 1 - Costa Mesa to Redlands, CA

We left on a cool misty, drizzly Monday morning for our first day ride. We left from Vanguard University, since we had ridden to and from the ocean beach on Sunday. It did not seem like a typical California morning, but the coastal area experiences this cloudy cool weather this time of year, but will heat up later when the winds turn from the desert and the Santa Anna winds kick in. My start was almost disastrous, as I had a stretch cord over my rear pack to either came loose, or was not attached on one end and it caught in my spokes and stopped me and it got tangled up and bent the rear brake pad. Fortunately,  I was able to straighten the brake out and no spokes were broken. This was 3 blocks from the start!

About half of the route was along the Santa Ana River Trail.......a multi use trail system, used mostly by bikers. We came across a coyote in the Santa Ana spillway that was chasing a batch of ducklings and the mother duck was able to fight him off as long as we watched. A little further on we rode by the Angels stadium and the Honda Center.

It was a good biking day and we arrived in Redlands at the Arrowhead Academy in mid-afternoon. Tim and TJ Spykstra rode the route out to Redlands with the group and we spoke with them and Patty, before they left for home.

There was one serious biking accident today, where the biker caught his handle bars on the chainlink fence on a narrow bike path. He broke his leg and had surgery yesterday and will need to stay in the area for 2 weeks to make sure it heals. He and his wife were terribly disappointed that they needed to leave the tour.....and only on the first day.

                                  

Pacific Coast Ceremonies

It has been a wonderful time here at Vanguard University the past few days. Today we had a time of worship and praise together with some area church families. We had a great praise band leading our worship and our former pastor at Haven Church, Tim Spykstra gave the message to not rely on our own strength and power, but rely on the Spirit of Jesus Christ for the grand endeavor that is before us.

It was great to see Pastor Tim and Patty and TJ again. Tim and TJ road out to the beach with us for the rear tire dipping ceremony and will also join us for the ride out to Redlands on Monday morning, to kick off our first day of riding. I am including some photos of our worship time and of the rear tire dipping ceremony out at Newport Beach. It was a great mass ride of all of us in our cool looking jerseys. We were led by our own motorcycle escort. It is a great feeling to participate in the mass ride. After the tire dipping, we had a time of circle prayer on the beach.

It has been nice on Costa Mesa the past days and has been on the cool side. We have been wearing sweatshirts, as the breeze has been off the ocean. This will change tomorrow as we head inland, and expect the temps to increase.

Tomorrow we ride!! Redlands, here we come!

Vanguard U. Are Great

We arrived in Costa Mesa, CA at Vanguard University late Friday afternoon. It is a small university that is hosting our tour for the weekend activities before we begin riding on next Monday. They are making our stay enjoyable, with good food and a handy location, only about 4 miles from the Pacific ocean beach area. We made a last minute change and did not take our own pickup truck, as the tour had a van that needed to be driven out to California for the tour and we wanted to eliminate any extra vehicle expense costs to the tour.

We had four of us ride out together in the van......Julie and I, our grandson Adam, and Brandon Haan, a recent Calvin Seminary grad who asked for a ride along. Brandon fit right in and we had a great time with him.

I am a little short on time for writing a blog tonight and will just attach a few photos of our activities to date. Adam and I did ride out to the beach with 5 others this afternoon and put in about 18 miles round trip. It was great to get on a bike again, after missing several days with getting ready to leave home and then the long 3 day ride out to CA.

Tomorrow afternoon we have a celebration worship service with area churches and I believe our former Pastor Tim will be speaking. We look forward to seeing him and Patty tomorrow. In late afternoon we will ride out to Newport Beach for our tire dipping ceremony and prayer time and then get ready for our first day ride out to Redlands.

That's it for now.

Home On The Road

Below are pictures of our tent home for the nine weeks of the tour. Our tent attaches to the rear of our pickup if needed (pickup used as a SAG vehicle by Julie during the day). We can sleep in the back of the pickup on a bed frame I made, if the weather gets really nasty. There is a small porch attachment to the tent shown on the pictures that is removable and will we will not be using that during the tour. We can also remove the sleeve that attaches to the pickup. It will just depend on what is available for a site each night on how we set up.

"Blessing of the Bikes" Night

On May 23 there was a get-together of some of the West Michigan Sea To Sea riders for a time of worship and prayer for the upcoming tour. We met at Immanuel Reformed Church on the East Beltline in G.R. Pastor Doug McClintic and the group "Alive" were our hosts for the evening and it was a time to gather around and pray a blessing over the cyclists who will be riding on Sea to Sea. The service and the prayers offered were very much appreciated.

Our new 2013 Sea To Sea jerseys and shorts were also handed out and they are awesome! Below are my grandson Adam and I showing the new jerseys off at a recent ride with other Sea To Sea Holland/Zeeland riders out of Providence CRC in Holland. The Holland Sentinel was there to take our photo and gather info about the tour. By the way, I just look bigger because I am closer to the camera!