My first day was great! We left Astoria, OR around 7:30 AM and I rolled into my hotel for tonight in St. Helen, OR after 3 ½ hours of riding time after 75 beautiful miles. When we started out this morning it was pretty cool… around 49 degrees! Brr. But I had my cold weather gear on in layers. Every 20 to 30 miles I peeled off another layer!
I felt great even on the two big climbs. One was a five mile climb that was much more fun coming down than going up. I was going 45 miles per hour on the last of the down slope. A guy my size can get up some speed on the down sides of the hills! I felt good tackling the hills today. I felt pumped up!
We had a couple of things happen today that were unusual. Most people are very careful of riders on the road. Some will wave at us or yell something encouraging. But today some guys went by and threw some bottles out of the windows at some of our riders. One guy got hit by one of the bottles and ended up in the ditch. Thankfully, he just had a few bruises. A driver coming along saw it all and called 911. The police came by to check on our group and said they would do what they could to find the bad guys. Turns out the policemen were bikers, too, and were upset about what had happened. Another thing that we heard about was to the most experienced rider with us. He is with America by Bicycle and was riding around 30 feet behind another rider and going 40 miles an hour downhill when that man’s windbreaker jacket, which was tucked into his back shirt pocket, came flying out. It wrapped itself around our leader’s face! Thankfully, he was able to keep control of the bike and peel the jacket off his head, too! There were a couple of flat tires and one guy’s wheel had to have some spokes replaced.
The group in charge of the ride is taking good care of us. We had a couple of stops today where they were able to refill our water bottles, give us snacks to keep up our energy, and check on our bikes. I’m starting to meet some of the other riders. I’ve met two men in the Air Force and one policeman. Jesus happened to come up twice already! In fact, I spent 30 minutes with someone after dinner tonight talking about Jesus.
I prayed through my list of names twice today. I found it was easier on the flat areas to pray because I was too tired going up the hills! I’ll have the list memorized soon.
Today we had Mt. St. Helens in our view with Mt. Hood looming large on the horizon. Tomorrow we get closer to Mt. Hood and spend the night in Welches, Or. Our miles will be about the same.
Thanks for praying. I feel inspired and appreciate your prayers and calls. I can’t get back to everyone but I love the messages!
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2 comments:
Wow Tom..what a day! We are so glad that everyone was safe after all those challenges they faced today.
I am sure Craig wishes he was riding with you. Enjoy the beautiful Cascade Mountains. The Rockies will appear sooner that you think.
In HIm,
Lynn and Craig Fraser
Tom, we are praying for you and the others for a wonderful and safe trip. We were over at Sharp Top Cove on Saturday evening and we were thrilled with the progress of the camp. We stayed for the final club and 85 kids had accepted Christ - pretty exciting. You won't recognize the Young Life canp anymore! God Bless and God Speed!
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