Not What I Expected

We have completed Week 3 of the Sea to Sea bike tour and we’re in Colorado Springs right now.  Maybe it’s a bit of a stretch to say that we completed Week 3.  Technically speaking, Rudy completed it, while I had a fall about 20 miles from the end of yesterday’s ride.  As a result, I have several spots of road rash and a broken fibula about two inches below my knee.  My entire leg is in a splint until the threat of swelling has passed and I can see a doctor and get it casted.   

Rudy and I will be driving home tomorrow.  The ER doctor gave no indication whether surgery will be needed.  I hope that I do not need surgery and that the cast does not have to go too high up my leg.  These are my specific prayer requests.  Rudy plans to resume Sea to Sea after I have seen the doctor and we have more information. 

It’s hard to think of leaving this quirky, mobile, beloved community that has formed among us.  I would like to return in a volunteer capacity, but that depends on many unknowns at this point.  I am so, so disappointed that I cannot continue riding.  Riding in the desert and the mountains has been more than I’d ever dreamed of doing.  But I did it, and I loved every bit of it—even the hardest climbs (10,200 feet elevation) and the hottest temps (100+ degrees).   

The Sea to Sea bike tour exists to fight the cycle of poverty.  With or without me, the cause still exists and the ride goes on.  If you haven’t yet made a donation, please consider going to www.seatosea.org to find out more information.  Following my injury, many people have asked, “How can I help?”  If you feel led, consider giving a donation under my name for those who live in poverty and do not have access to the medical care we have.  Just click the link for “Donate to Cyclists” and your gift will help fight the cycle of poverty in North America and around the world.

More to come on another day.

 

God be with you,

Shirley

 

It’s the end of Thursday and I want to let you know that we are fine after three big days of biking.  I’ll give you a quick recap and add more later if I can.  The days go by so quickly.

Tuesday

Today was an 88-mile ride in which we climbed 5,884 feet and descended 3,784 over many long hills.  It was a long, hard day; but rewarding to complete it.  The green hills were welcomed scenery after so many days in the dessert.  We didn’t get in to camp at Chama, New Mexico, until 4:00 p.m.  Which made everything rushed—recover, set up the tent and air mattresses, etc., shower, eat a delicious dinner, and go to bed early. 

Wednesday

We biked our first mountain pass today.  We started out from Chama at about 6800 ft. elevation and reached the pass four hours later at 10,200 ft.  It was hard, but doable.  We pedaled the whole way, stopping to catch our breath, but not to walk.  My right calf muscle was very tight and caused some pain during the ride.  The ride up was BEAUTIFUL.  Shortly after reaching the summit, the clouds moved in and it started to rain.  We road the entire descent (about 3,000 feet over 4-5 miles) in the rain.  At one point it was pouring and we were drenched to the skin and freezing cold.  We stopped at a little gift shop to warm up, and changed into dry shirts.  After some hot chocolate and a delicious peach turnover, we hit the road again.  Again it started to rain and even a few hail stones came down.  We took cover in a SAG van for a few minutes until the lightning stopped and then continued on our way.  We finally completed the 78-mile ride at 4:00 p.m.  And once again . . . no time for blogging.

Thursday

We climbed another pass today up to 9,000 feet after riding about 50 miles on flat land.  We’re camping on a county fairground.  My right calf muscle hurt today again, but I borrowed someone’s muscle roller tonight and it feels somewhat better.  We got in at 2:30 today, but after making a wasted trip down the road to a laundry mat that was closed and doing some laundry by hand, there was, once again, no time for leisurely blogging.  We’re on Sweep Team tonight and tomorrow morning.  We’re looking forward to tomorrow’s ride which is mostly downhill. 

 

Sorry for the minimal details!  Stay tuned for another day.

Week 3, Sunday and Monday, July 7-8. Shiprock, NM

Hey, everyone!  I’m writing this from an open green field at The Wines of San Juan in Turley, New Mexico.  We were not scheduled to be here, but they rerouted us for three days due to the recent fires in Colorado.  The roads we would have traveled are open to vehicle traffic but the air quality is too poor for us to be biking there.  Our ride today was short—55 miles—but we stopped quite a bit and got to camp around 12:30.  This place is in a lovely valley near the San Juan River and is owned and operated by a former dairyman from Wisconsin.  He gave free tours this afternoon where he explained the wine-making process (and offered free tasting, of course).  We are still using port-a-potties, but they rigged up some pretty inventive outdoor showers using shower heads on the ends of garden hoses inside a white canopy tent with separated “walls”.  The water warmed up nicely in the hose, so we didn’t have cold showers!

 

We were up at 4:15 and ready to leave camp at sunup this morning at about 6:00 a.m.  This was the scenery behind us as we left Shiprock.

 

We took a detour through Farmington in hopes of finding a bike shop open, but they didn’t open until 10:00.  We also stopped at a museum called Salmon Ruins, which had artifacts from Native American Ruins.  We also stopped at an Ace Hardware store to look for a screw for Rudy’s bike seat.  He noticed Saturday afternoon at one of our stops that his seat was wobbly.  His investigation showed that one of the two screws that holds his seat onto the frame had fallen out and the other one was lose.  Uh.  Oh-oh.  We tightened up the remaining screw and made it to the end of the century ride just fine.   We couldn’t fine a replacement in Shiprock over the weekend, so we were glad to find the exact screw—diameter, length, thread length and allen-wrench top—at the store this morning. 

All those stops made for slow progress, but we got here!

I’ll make a few comments about our stay at Bethel Christian Reformed Church yesterday.  Shiprock is on the Navajo Reservation, and most of the church members are Navajo.  The pastor has been there for 17 years and is Caucasian.  When he told us what to expect from our stay and the worship service, he said that the morning service started at 10-ish.  Sounds like another church I know of. J   He also told us to expect the service to last an hour and 45 minutes.  They love to sing!  Many of the church members formed a choir to sing for us.  In the evening service, Sea to Sea people read various scripture passages and we sang most of the songs in Navajo.  I was secretly hoping we would sing “Jesus Loves Me” in Navajo because I learned this song in 3^rd grade from Miss Van Engen, who had taught in Rehoboth prior to Ireton Christian School.  And what do you know, but we did get to sing that song and I knew all the words!  What an enjoyable flash from the past! 

Before the evening service started, I asked the lady sitting near me where the nearest store was to buy some chapstick and camera batteries.  She told me which direction to go from the church, and I asked, “Can I walk there?”  She replied, “No, IT’S TOO HOT!”  She offered to bring me to the store.  I was so grateful for her generosity.  I then had a chance to talk to her a little bit.  She is a grandma whose daughter and three children have moved in to live with her and her husband because the daughter couldn’t afford her apartment rent.  I asked if her grandchildren were learning the Navajo language and she said, sadly, that they were not.  It’s a hard language to learn.  She said that some of her own kids could speak it, but others could only understand it but not speak it themselves.  It’s the same thing that seems to happen with most immigrant families. 

We have a couple tough days coming up tomorrow and Wednesday with more miles, mountain passes, and warm (hot) temperatures.  We’ll try to get an early start again. 

It’s quite obvious that most of our ride this morning was off the Reservation.  There were more stores, more irrigation, and the general appearance of a higher standard of living.  It struck me that the past several days we could have called our tour:  Sea to Sea—Cycling to See Poverty.