Join me as I bike Sea to Sea

I have been talking about all the 'lasts' for the past several days. The last time that I have to sleep in, the last Sunday dinner, and the last time biking down the Kent Trails. Even though there are many lasts for a couple months happening in the next several days, I can't help but think about the many beginnings that are happening.


Biking on Kent Trails from Dave Teitsma on Vimeo.

This is a journey for me and I have done many things to prepare to get to this point. It has been great seeing all the pieces fall in to place to get all the cyclists to this point.

Let the epic begin.

EDIT: Opps I was a little too excited and exaggerated a little... First, it really is beautiful but definitely not the most beautiful place in the world as I say. Second, the sun wasn't setting but it is gorgeous when it does.

Here is a video of the service yesterday at Shawnee Park:


Sea to Sea -- Church Send off / Commissioning from Dave Teitsma on Vimeo.

In the service, I introduced my bike and talked about the tour. We also followed the litany that the Sea to Sea office provided in order to send me off. It was a great experience and everything went as planned.

It was great to talk to everyone after the service and answer lots of questions and also hear how supportive everyone is. I bought several of the Shifting Gears books to sell afterwards. I wasn't sure that they would all go, but they did!

5 Days till I'm in Seattle!

Sea to Sea -- Boxing up my bike from Dave Teitsma on Vimeo.

Watch the video above to see me describe my bike and remind everyone to order a guidebook / devotional and to mark August 17th (not August 18th as I say in the video) on everyone's calendar for the celebration at Fifth Third Park when we stop in Grand Rapids.

I am very excited about this summer (and nervous, but let's not talk about that)! I think about biking all day at work, and then when I get home I go biking all evening it seems.

Training is going good. I'm trying to bike 200 miles a week, but I am mostly constrained by time. It's hard to work 8 hours than bike for three hours and still have time to do other things.

Last Thursday I crafted the best cycling route around the city. It was going to be a long night (especially after working for eight hours), so I started right from work. Here is where I went.

View Larger Map

At the start, I not only got to bike along the river enjoying the vibrant lush green plants and trees, but I followed Chris on his way home. The roads were quiet and the temperature was pleasant.

I recently bought new shoes (Sidi Zeta), pedals (Shimano A530), and a saddle (Brooks B17 Narrow) so I have been slowly adjusting it to the perfect position. I snapped this pic while stopping at a church for fine tuning my shoes.

One of the reason I love biking is because it can feel like you're flying at times. And who doesn't want to be able to fly? This picture shows what it feels like at times! (Also, I purchased a new camera, a Canon SD750, so I'm enjoying taking lots of pictures!)

I stopped at Creekside park for a quick bite to eat while I enjoyed a quick snack/dinner and watched a couple minutes of a girls little league game. After leaving and heading into farm country I almost was sliced and diced by this machine. Trust me, it's a lot lot bigger than it looks. And a lot more scary when you're on a bike!

I have bought a lot of important items in the last month (memory card for my camera (HP 8gb), a hat (De Marchi Countrour Skull Cap), gloves (Pearl Izumi Attachk Glove), 2 pairs of shorts, backup sunglasses (Nashbar No Frame Sunglasses), Rain Jacket (Canari Eclipse), Rain Pants (Novara Express Pants), and a travel towel (MSR PackTowl UltraLite Towel).

I feel torn as I try to be careful to only buy the bare minimal of what I need, but also I need to be prepared for this summer. If I'm not, any problems can really set me back as we have a pretty intense schedule.

Also, a group of us got together mid-April and biked down in Dorr Township. I was going to write about it, but one of the other cyclists did here.

I hope to be blogging more and more, but with more pictures and less words as I'm spending a lot of time make sure everything is ready for June 28th when I leave!

Two of my co-workers helped me with my fundraising through organizing a bake sale at work. The first time it was Amber's bags of delectable cookies and brownies shown below, in pretty bags. We also gave away a Sea to Sea bracelet with bag as an extra incentive!

Second, Karen brought in tasty lemon cupcakes and snack bags with lots of goodies, including pretzels, raisins, dried cherries, cashews and more.

We raised more than we expected and it also served as a great tool to tell more people about this summer. Thanks again to both of you for your initiative and help!

This summer will be truly amazing! Stay tuned in the next couple of days for a full fledged update on preparations.

Lots of exciting things are happening or changing.

First, my spinning class ended last week. I know that I have greatly enhanced both my endurance and my strength. At the beginning I was easily out of breath and had a very high heart rate. Now I have to work a lot harder to get out of breath. But I have to transition the technique and stamina to riding on the road.

And now that the weather is better I will be biking outside more. For the last couple of weeks I've gotten out twice a week. But now I'm going to start biking at least 5 times a week. I'm no where near my initial training schedule, but I'm finding out a was a little ambitious in the amount of time I was expected to devout each week.

This last Sunday about 15 of the Sea to Sea cyclists met up at Riverside Park and biked up to Rockford. It was great to meet some new people, but I've already started to learn names of most of the people there. I look forward to doing this again! Here are some pictures from the ride.

Also, I have been focusing this week on deciding what gear I need and what I'm going to take. The only thing is that biking equipment is expensive. So the main items I'm deciding on are: digital camera, shoes, sleeping mat, new parts for my bike, and rain gear.

So only 78 days left till all the cyclists leave! It's seems it was only a little while ago that it was 200 days.

Image used courtesy of Countryboy1949. Some rights reserved.

Yesterday marked my inaugural ride for 2008! It's very exciting to think about all the amazing landscapes I'll see; the hills I'll climb; and the beautiful blue sky's I'll ride under.

With all of the ice and most of the snow melted I was able to go biking yesterday from my apartment up to just North of Fifth Third Ball Park. It was wonderful to be able to go outside and to see the coming signs of Spring.

The spinning classes I have been in twice a week have really really helped to strength my body. I have been loosing weight, gaining muscles, and less out of breath when exercising. But I still have to do more training and improve my technique on the road.

Photo courtesy of Docksidepress. The photo is posted under this Creative Commons License.

I went ahead and order 100 minicards from moo.com Basically they will be similar to business cards informing people what I'm doing this summer, why, and where to get more info. But they are high quality with a wonderful photo on one side and my spiel on the other.

I wanted to use great biking photos to use, so two people where gracious to let me use one or two of their photos. Thanks Judy and Pat! Go check out some of their photos.

Will you be lucky enough to get one?

This summer, I'm going to keep using this blog as my main way to keep my family and friends up to date. Unfortunately, blogs and feeds are well known around my friends yet so I've added the option to receive these updates via email. If you'd rather receive emails instead of checking this site click on the link on the top left of this page or click here.

Enjoy!

Last month, I started spinning classes at East Hills. Basically its a high-calorie burning aerobic exercise. I wasn't sure what to expect (other than what I've heard), but it really got me sweating. Its nice exercising in a class format, as the leader helps encourage and motivate you to give it your all. And its easy to get into routines, so this helps add a little excitement.

Now my heart and legs are stronger than before, as I have better stamina and a lower heart-rate while in class. It's only two hours a week but I am going to start working an additional day on the rollers in my apartment.

I'm excited to say that I made the final touches on my brochures and I gave them to everyone at Shawnee. I going to be sending out a bunch today also to other friends. I hope that everyone will take time to read the brochure, and also really think about how they can get involved.

Also, I had the wonderful opportunity to share to talk about this summer at Shawnee, and answer questions about what I'm doing. It was wonderful to have everyone excited for me. I've had so many people tell me that they wish they could do the same thing.

I am trying to stay focused and help everyone else stay focused on the reason why we're doing all this work and cycling.

To download the brochure, click here.

I would like to encourage all my readers to sign up for the Sea to Sea email newsletter from the tour organizers. Even though I try to keep you informed and engaged through my blog, this newsletter helps to provide even more news.

Please go to seatosea.org and look in the bottom right corner to sign up.

I am happy to announce that I've made a brochure explaining what I'm doing next summer and why. You should see one soon in the mail, if you don't check back here and download it.

Also I am officially taking a leave of absence from work next summer. I thought that they wouldn't go for it, but they did!

One of the pastors at Shawnee is going to be announcing their sponsorship of me on January 13th at the morning service. Please pray that the congregation is excited for me, but moreover that they will understand that plight of the poor.

Quick update:

I will be leaving in under two-hundred days. Actually, 199 days 8hours and 30 minutes. I'm so excited! 200 days is really a long time, but its exciting and overwhelming what can happen in that amount of time.

I have my plane ticket to get out there now also. So, I am continually taking the steps to make this tour happen for myself.

It's that time of the year. With less daylight and impending cold wet weather, it's time to move indoors. But I'm presented with new choices as I haven't actually been diligent enough in the past to exercise in the winter. The biggest decision is how. Well, I've decided upon rollers upon a recommendation from a friend and good reviews online. One of the advantages is better balance and smoother strokes. However it requires more concentration in order to avoid falling off

I tried it for the first time last night. It's difficult. Especially at first. After a few minutes I was a lot stable, but I was holding myself very stiff. With time, I know I will become very comfortable and will have incredible balance and very consistent strokes by the end of summer. (This picture isn't my place, but it is a similar roller setup as mine)

Another bonus is that my back stairwell has a landing that is the perfect size for my setup while allowing me to grasp a wall to start or steady myself.

(Image courtesy of Steven N Fettig)

This week is my Sea to Sea preparation week. So, one of the things that I finished planning tonight is my training goals and schedule for the 233 days until we start the tour.

I am posting my goals in order to have everyone keep me accountable as I have set some aggressive goals(at least it seems like it to me).

Training Goals:

I was excited when I heard the tour was going to have up to 500 cyclists. Since then I have become more doubtful that this would happen. However this week the number of registered cyclists bypassed 100! How encouraging and fun!

I would appreciate your prayers to soften my managers heart as I ask for a Leave of Absence this week. It would be amazing to not only have them allow me to leave for an extra 6 weeks (9 weeks total - 3 weeks vacation), but to have them support me! This is my prayer.

Not only is more information coming out about next summer but now I have a profile page allowing individuals to look me up and donate money to end the cycle of poverty.

Also, I would like to shout out to my fellow cyclist Sea to Sea bloggers. Here are the ones that are currently listed:

Tyler Buitenwerf

Gayle Harrison

Joshua Krabbe

Doug and Joy Lutke

Stephanie Webb

I'm still really pumped to be get to ride across the U.S. and raise support and awareness for poverty. But already the nervousness is starting to set in. I feel that I need to decide on what I am going to bring along quite soon, so that I have enough time to test out the things that I need to buy.

Also, I am nervous about how I am going to train over the winter. It won't be snowy and slippery for a couple months, but it is already getting dark early by the time I get out of work. Plus in a month daylights saving time starts (or ends, I'm never sure which it is), so it will be dark by the time I'm available.

There is a private forum that was setup recently that is allowing the cyclists and support staff a chance to dialogue. From the posts that I'm reading, I'm intimidated by some of the other cyclists skill.

Even though I'm nervous I know that I can do this, even though I will have to devote a lot of energy and time to this good cause.

I am now listed on the official list of cyclers for Sea to Sea! This is where it all begins. I have been anxiously checking to make sure that they received my application.

Needless to say is that I'm excited! Also, I keep checking the list to see who else is going and if I know them. The only person that I really know so far is my band director from high school, Mr. Doornbos.