Finally Headed Home

It's seems like we've been away from home forever, but now we're finally well on our way. Last night the four of us went out for a celebratory dinner. We went to Chili's and as requested, I had a marguerita for my mother-in-law to celebrate making it to Mexico (at least to the border). We had a fun time, as you can tell.


We left Tom and Janet's house early this morning and after 12 hours on the road we finally stopped in Eugene, Oregon. I thought I'd share a few statistics and reflections on the ride.

First some stats. I had planned to ride 1673 miles. I actually rode 1317, or almost 80% of what I planned to do. What prevented me from riding it all? A ferry reservation the first day, rain and cold weather the third day, backside blues on day ten, our anniversary on day twelve, fires closing the road on day eighteen, yada, yada, yada.... The excuses could go on and on. Most of the time it was a matter of extenuating circumstances, or poor planning making for too much difficult or urban riding on a given day. There was really only one day when my body failed me. That was the day that I bought my touring saddle to fix my backside blues. It was undoubtedly the best investment of the whole trip. I could not have continued without it.

During the course of the ride my feet of vertical gain (meaning the total of all the hills I climbed) was 67,001 feet. The hilliest day was the day I rode from Garberville, CA to Mendocino, CA. That day I climbed 6359 feet, or well over a mile! The flattest day was the day I rode through LA, which was also one of the hardest days because of all the urban riding.

According to my heart rate monitor, I burned a total of 66,142 calories during the course of the ride. That was interesting to me because it almost matched the feet vertical gain. I've often found that to be the case on my rides around home. On average I burned 3150 calories a day.

Over the course of 21 days of actual riding I was on the bike and moving for a total of 94 hours and 43 minutes. That's an average of four and one half hours a day. My longest day was seven and one half hours. That was the day I rode 106 miles from Brookings, OR to Arcata, CA. The average length of my ride each day was 63 miles.

During the course of the trip I rode my Giant only the first two days. For the other 19 I was on my Madone. What a great ride! Some people questioned why I would take such a nice bike on such a punishing ride. My answer was that a bike you can't ride isn't a bike worth owning. Over three weeks I went through one set of tires. I had only one flat (in the hotel room in the morning, making it easy to change). I had a rear derailleur adjustment in Aracata, CA. and I had to have my rear wheel trued in Santa Monica, CA. Otherwise, I had no equipment problems.

Now, for those of you are are bored to death by statistics, here are some general insights.
- Our God is an awesome creator. The marvels of his creation are awe inspiring. I saw plants and animals I had never seen before (like a live rattlesnake in Camp Pendlleton).
- The Pacific Ocean is always changing. It's size and power are overwhelming. It was my almost constant companion on this trip and the sound, smell and sights will stay with me forever.
- The mind and will are stronger than the body. You can make your body do things it could not ordinarily do when you want to badly enough.
- God is a gracious protector, always watching out for us, especially when we commit our ways to him in prayer. He kept me safe on the bike without incident for three weeks.
- Life is an adventure. Whether you're riding your bike from Canada to Mexico, or living your routine, look for the adventure every day. It will make life a lot more exciting.
- No one is an island. We all need each other. I could not have done this ride without Diana and Tom, the support of my family and friends, and the people of OSLC. Don't try to live life alone.
- Beer, ice cream and big juicy hamburgers taste a lot better when you've been on your bike all day.
- Don't spend too much energy shifting gears. When the hill gets steep stand on the pedals and push harder.
- Hard things and big things capture people's hearts and give them a vision of great things. That's why this ride enabled me to raise over $9,000 for Rid4US and CareNet. Thankyou to everyone who caught the vision and helped the cause. You are awesome.

I'll quit for now, but I may write again when I get home so check back soon. Rebekah and Elijah, we'll see you tomorrow! Yea! My love to everyone in Christ Jesus our Lord.