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.

To God Be the Glory!

Today's post is a day late, since travel back to Tom and Janet's precluded doing my blog yesterday. So I'm writing this for June 30th.

This morning felt kind of bittersweet. I have to admit that I'm glad the ride will be over today. I'm tired, and the routine of getting up and getting ready for a long ride day after day is wearing on me. At the same time, I'm sad that the adventure is ending.

Tom and I left Oceanside very early, since we knew we had a long drive home after I finished my ride. The streets were empty as I rode down to the Pacific Coast Highway. The road today was great for riding. Mainly flat, with a nice shoulder or bike lane most of the time. Since it was Monday morning there weren't as many tourists so the traffic was relatively light. I was really in a mindset to accomplish my mission and finish the journey, so as Scripture says about Jesus and Jerusalem when he was going there to die for our sins, "I had my face set like flint for the Mexican border." I only stopped briefly for a couple of times along the route.

When I got to the Torrey Pines State Reserve north of San Diego the scenery really was beautiful. There was about a 430 foot climb, then a fun descent on the other side. La Jolla was beautiful, as was Mission Bay Park. It was amazing to see all the yachts as I rode around San Diego Harbor. Finally, I had the privilege of skirting another important military installation, the San Diego Naval Base.

In the meantime, Tom had missed the turn for Torrey Pines Drive and ended up on I-5. In his efforts to get back to me he spent a couple of hours wandering around San Diego, being misdirected by our GPS. After some time, we reconnected just south of the naval base, and rode on toward the border.

About two miles from the border I already felt like I was in Mexico. The people were almost exclusively Hispanic, and the signs and chatter were all in Spanish. I had given Tom my camera to snap a picture of me at the border, but there was no place to park, unless you wanted to pay $8 so you could walk into Tiajuana. So Tom gave me my camera and I asked a gentleman to snap a picture of me. It's really quite a contrast from the picture at the Candian border. Here are both of them.


What did you notice? Not only a different border. A different bike (I started out on my Giant with fenders because of the rain). Slightly different attire (about five layers up north, jersey and shorts down south.) Bright sunshine versus Washington overcast. Maybe even a pound or two lighter (but that's all; too much good food along the way).



I know that I could not have accomplished this goal without my faith and God's help. It was by his grace that I was kept safe the entire ride. It was by his strength that I overcame pain and fatigue to ride on. It was by his love that people were motivated to Illuminate Hope for mothers with crisis pregnancies by making pledges to my ride. I am so thankful to God that this goal has been achieved. Praise the Lord!

Thank you to everyone who rememberd Diana and Me (and Tom and Janet) in your prayers. Thank you to all of you who commented on my blog and offererd encouragement. Thank you to all of our family for their thoughts and prayers.

Two more days and we will be home, Elijah! Yea! Please pray for safe driving back to Washington. My love to all of you, in Christ Jesus our Lord.