Last night we enjoyed the Lord's supper after dinner, while the whole group stood in a huge circle, listening to hymns played on flutes. No bears sighted after all during the night! Slept well, just too little as usual thus somewhat tired, but all smiles this morning. With Kobie out early again, I left on my own, riding relaxed. Not for long though, since hardly out the gate they started.....those steep ones! Pennsylvania and New Jersey are surely the lands of endless hills and mountains! I guess these were the most number of hills I ever climbed in a period of 8 hours...almost 7,000 feet of them ... UP! I should have counted those hills! Some were really steep, 14% grade, but fortunately few were very long! The last hill climbing up to High Point outside of Port Jarvis, NJ was 4 miles long and about 5 to 6 % grade. At the obelisk monument up there it is possible to see 3 states from the same vantage point!
The day was overcast, and blissfully cool, with even a few tiny drops of rain at times. Fantastic cycling weather! The scenery can be described as some of the loveliest we've enjoyed on the whole tour. Huge trees and dense forests, big rivers, lakes like mirrors, farms with red barns and the greenest pastures, with the blacktop road snaking through it all like a giant roller coaster. The ride was tough, but a great joy as well, as the cool air and greenery made it wonderful! I can not remember a time when we weren't going either up or down....few level roads in this state, it seems! My glutes and quads got a great workout today and I can feel them tonight when moving around. The climbs took long and slow because they were so steep that I seldom could use previous momentum to "overcome" them. So no choice but to patiently churn away in lowest gear snailing up with much effort and sweating buckets full. This took lots of time and most people got in much later than they anticipated. Some of the downhills turned out to be quite awesome and I effortlessly reached 80km/h at times without even trying, just by letting the bike run. At times the traffic was dense and dangerous. I got cut off by a truck once but saw it in time to avoid it. John Vandersteen was less fortunate and got run off his bike by a lady cutting him off. He was so thankful towards the Lord that he was able to walk away from that with only roasties and bruises! Drivers really seem not to realize how swiftly these racing bikes can move, and if they omit to check their mirrors, trouble is in the air! Another young guy slipped on gravel while cruising around a corner and fell really hard but could carry on. Cheryl Harris from my home church did an excellent job and enjoyed the ride despite having much knee pain. Gayle Harrison astounded us all by completing this whole arduous climbing ride on her heavier-than-lead hybrid in time for dinner! She is a real trooper and I'm proud of her to have completed this immense ride from Coast to coast on "that" bike, with all the health and other challenges she had to overcome. Gayle, I am totally speechless and in awe of what you will have accomplished tomorrow despite all odds! Congrats Girl!!! I doubt if I could have done it if I were in your position!
On the way up to High Point, Dan Baarda came along, a good friend from Hamilton, ON that Claire Elgersma and I cycled with on the 2005 tour, and he is Manley's dad. He is fast and a great climber with a wonderful smile and kindly waited for me at the top of the long climb. Down the big hill we went, at an exillerating speed, maybe approaching 80km/h. I dared not look down to check the speed as the road curved constantly and there were oncoming cars regularly, so it was vital to control one's line and speed through curves in order not to land on someones hood or hit a pothole that decorated the black top here and there! It was such awesome fun and like kids we enjoyed every second that the world flashed by. Speed is a total thrill, but we do realize it may harm seriously if things go wrong. Closer to Sussex we were flagged down at a cute fruit stall, where Laura, Leanne, Lorie and Travis, with broad smiles, treated us to a huge ripe peach each! Good stuff!! Thanks guys, you were awesome! (Photo to follow). Closer to the town were more welcome signs, and the Dutch bakery owned by CRC members treated the cyclists to "gebakjes" and coffee.
There is just nothing level in this part of the world, except what man bulldozed level with huge expensive machinery. To get up to the Christian school required even more climbing, and once inside the building, I was so surprized that even their hallways go uphill towards the restrooms! (As if we didn't have enough of inclines today!!)
The reception and dinner here were truly exceptional. It was presented by the CRC churches of Sussex and Goshen. They fed about 400 people and had many diverse scrumptious potluck dishes...way too many to try out. Also had hamburgers and hotdogs and "melt in the mouth" corn on the cob! Lots of desserts which I steered clear of since I need to unlearn this cyclist's habit of eating like a horse, since the tour is almost just an amazing memory, and thousands of calories just won't do our battle against the bulge any good! We had our last peloton meeting tonight...... We are so thankful towards all the support staff, who worked tirelessly and often unrecognized behind the scenes to make this enormous tour run like clockwork! Also the management and media staff.....all of you did an incredible job!!!
One day more of cycling - we have to get up extra early, to be at an assembly point 10 miles from the ocean at 1pm, where 3 different jurisdictions of police will escort the whole group towards the completion of our epic ride! I look forward to this closure with mixed feelings: anticipation to experience the sense of accomplishment of completing what I set out to do, enormous thankfulness towards the Lord for
His profound blessing and protection, so very visible and tangible over the whole tour, and some sadness to part with awesome friends that I shared so much fun and hardship with over this 9 weeks. Some, I know, I may possibly see again, but others maybe never again this side of heaven. What an amazing way of creating a tight knit community - sad that such great things have to end. I look forward to be home again and appreciate and enjoy the things that I have always taken for granted, but now realize they are precious gifts that billions of less fortunate humans have to do without! I look forward to love and spend quality time with family and dear friends, to get to know newer ones better and to invest much more time learning people skills and cultivating my own and others' positive and hopeful outlook on life. I also hope to find tangible ways to continue the poverty relief mission of our Sea to sea tour around the area where God has placed us to work, grow and encourage others to grow.
It is raining buckets outside now, and I am comfy in the computer lab of the Christain school here in Sussex. The tent is 200 yards away tonight.....and I have no jacket with me.... how to get around that one? Oh...Gayle to my rescue, just offered that I can borrow one of hers..... What will one do in life without dear friends?
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