Woke up the last morning with truly mixed feelings: Immense gratitude towards the Lord for the privilege to have been part of this amazing 2008 trek across the continent for 9 weeks and 6,400km! Millions of pedal strokes, thousands of hills and many challenging mountain passes, head winds and day temps over 100F,
62 camp nights, and who knows how much blood reluctantly donated to the ever hungry super sized mozzies....mostly while blogging :-) It was challenging cycling with everything hurting most mornings - sunburn, muscles, butts... but at the same time it was the most delightfully exciting, challenging, adventurous and gratifying "something beautifully good" to do! After nine weeks it almost became a way of life, an extended family, the bike an extension of your body... and tomorrow it will be over... I didn't want it to end, but at the same time it was wonderful to return back home to take up our life again, many of us to look for and start new jobs as we had to resign to have 9 weeks away on the road. It was very hard being away from my best friend in the world, my husband Kobie for the first 6 weeks and such a joy when he joined us for the last 3 weeks as volunteer to put arrows on the road at every turn, the previous afternoon and at dawn the next day. It was invaluable for us cyclists and helped us not to get lost and lose time finding our way back to camp. At the start of the tour he flew out with me to Seattle for the opening weekend, which was great to experience together. On behalf of all the spouses I thank all their better halves for letting them do this great ride with all the personal sacrifice it involved.
Got to know some truly great friends - fellow cyclists with all their interesting little quirks and the wonderful volunteer staff that did a fantastic and unselfish job of running the tour. Every day we met good and generous people along the road and campsites, had many great chats, and saw the true details of the land from grassroots level like few ever have the opportunity. We saw hardworking farmers on lovely farms, thousands of cattle and corn 3 feet higher than I can reach, beautiful estates, but also boarded up houses and businesses as casualties of hard economic times, unemployment and slums without running water or electricity - a remarkable level of poverty unexpected in a first world context. We also witnessed what solid help God is providing through His church and faithful serving people with His passion in their hearts. We saw that hope in the inner city ministries of Chicago, the abject poverty and misery around the city of Gary, many humble rural dwellings where people stubbornly eke out a living from the land....and we saw and met hundreds of God's people from churches we visited that have His love in their hearts and are His hands and feet for the needy and less privileged! And we could be a small part of that! It is honestly humbling....
I salute, I will never forget some of my fellow cyclists that had such a more challenging time than I ever had......Some were heavier, or older, or slower, with heavier hard to ride bikes, maybe not gifted with athletic ability .... but all of them had WAY more grit, determination and dogged resilience while suffering in the heat and crawling up the steeps - not to quit but see this through, than I may ever hope to have. In their hearts they carried His love and the smoldering flame of compassion for those on this earth that struggle and suffocate under circumstances of need they can not change without help.....our help, with every pedal stroke and every drop of sweat, and every dollar you, our loved ones, church family, prayer warriors and generous sponsors of this cause we are pouring ourselves into, relieving and improving life for those that Jesus loves also. And then there are those of us that got hurt badly through accidents/falling.....and the very narrow escapes that some of us had falling in front of cars!! Your prayer cover surely protected our lives!!
We congregated at a point on the last day, all proudly dressed in our C2C jerseys, for a group photo and a communal ride in almost solemn silence through Jersey City to the beach to dip our front tires.It seemed many of us had a heart full of emotions, a mind overflowing with all the experiences of the tour, and a spirit full of thankfulness. Old Lady Liberty looked onto this procession from a distance. But the Lord was there with us - I could feel His Spirit among us, in our hearts Some tears rolled over many a cheek while the prayer of thanks to the Lord was prayed while we were all standing along the pebbly beach. I was at a loss for words and could only lift my hands in thanks....to Him, to you who read this and covered us with prayer and sponsored this great cause. In the end we raised $1.5 Million for those who need it most. I also lifted my little white road bike above my head. It carried me faithfully, fast and efficiently over every mile of often very rough roads, with only 2 flat tires and no mechanical breaks. This first generation Trek 5200 carbon bike did around 60,000 km on the clock (yes that is right - I did on average 5.000km/year for 12 years as I do ultra distance cycling for my sport). So solid down the mountain passes, it flew down there often reaching around 90km/h with no vibration and a perfect feeling of safety and dependability. I had so many races with the young guns down the passes and always beating them because of my heavier weight (gravity) and lower aerodynamic profile. So I always joked with them that "Oma beat you today down the mountain!" and we all had a good laugh!
I am happy - and blessed! I feel it was so worth all the training, effort, personal financial sacrifice and time invested. The steering committee did a sterling job. the staff volunteers were wonderful and my fellow cyclists ....well....they did.just splendidly!!
I would do it all over again!
