Sunday, September 14, 2008

Day 48 Grand Haven to Grand Rapids

Distance Biked Today: 45 miles

Today my mom, my friend Tim, Joyce Altena, and Bill Waanders biked with the tour for the day. There were over a hundred people that joined us for the day. So the route was much more chaotic than normal.

Unfortunately some of the day riders were really unsafe. I was biking behind a family that turned out in front of cars, would take up the whole lane, and other very dangerous things. I saw several other people biking unsafe. I was glad that everyone was okay at the end of the day.

2008-08-16 Day 48 Grand Haven to Grand Rapids 001

I rode with my mom for a little while before me and Tim went ahead. Tim's grandparents-in-law live on the route, so we stopped there and had some delicious bars and saw his in-laws including his wife Katie.

2008-08-16 Day 48 Grand Haven to Grand Rapids 008

A church had snacks for us along the way. Just as we're leaving my mom caught up to us. Here we found out the Josh Krabbe as he was pedaling standing up, switched gears and his chain skipped causing him to fall taking the brunt of it with his shoulder. At this point we heard it was a broken collarbone (this would be number 3 for the tour so far), but turned out to be just a sprain. I was devastated by this as I had been in contact with him before the tour started. He ended up riding the rest of the tour though, thankfully.

2008-08-16 Day 48 Grand Haven to Grand Rapids 015

Wow, I still can't put my head around the fact that I biked to my hometown, Grand Rapids, from Seattle!

2008-08-16 Day 48 Grand Haven to Grand Rapids 018

The tour went one street away from my apartment so I had to stop and look. The house was going to be painted this summer but it doesn't look like they're done anything. I didn't have keys along, so I couldn't go inside. It's a good thing because I would have tried out my bed and probably not gotten up again. Plus at this point it was 12:08 and I had to be near Calvin at 12:30 for a group ride to Calvin. So, I went ahead and booked it that last 5 miles.

My dad passed me in the car carrying my mom and her bike. She went further than she planned at 35 miles. Great job mom!

2008-08-16 Day 48 Grand Haven to Grand Rapids 019

I made it on time for the group ride. It's amazing riding as a group when everyone has the same jersey and no safety vest. There were a lot of people at Calvin welcoming us. But we were all surprised that it was only people welcoming us. Every other weekend we have had cookies, drinks and offers to have trips around town. Calvin not only didn't open their doors to us, the barely even cracked the door. Thanks to all the locals though who were willing to billet people. Many people have contacts in Grand Rapids so they already have plans.

2008-08-16 Day 48 Grand Haven to Grand Rapids 037

My family was there waiting for me along with many other people that came to say hi, see how I'm fairing and to encourage me. Thanks guys! Now I get to be at home for a couple of days and enjoy life where there's beds and couches! I ran lots of errands around town, including fixing my bike and getting new parts for my shoes.

The night was spending time with family and friends eating and relaxing to the olympics, which I fell asleep to, really early.

2008-08-16 Day 48 Grand Haven to Grand Rapids 044

2008-08-16 Day 48 Grand Haven to Grand Rapids 045

Remember you can still participate by making a donation here.

Also check out more of my photos and videos.

0 comments: