Day 46 - Sarnia, ON to London, ON

Daily Stats:
Time: 4h35m17s
Distance: 128.37km
Avg Spd: 28.0km/hr
Climbing: 583m
Calories burned: 4,227

Today we started out with a little detour out of camp.  Karel led us back down to the waterfront to check out the bridges.  They were big and carried cars.  If you look closely, you might be able to see the "Welcome to Michigan" sign for the cars heading across to the USA.

The ride today was really flat.  We cruised along, but not too fast as there was a headwind from the NE.  Peter Wong and Eric Stehouwer joined us for the ride.  Somehow the corn fields looked that much better, knowing they are in Canada...

Did y'all see what I did up above...  listing the calories I burned today?  That's to help me justify eating this today: Bacon Cheeseburger Poutine from Smokes Poutinerie!  Nothing says "welcome to Canada" to the Americans like a little French fries, cheese and gravy - with extra toppings!  Brandon, Mark, Eric and Malori all tried this for the first time and were suitably impressed.

The route through London was largely through the river pathways. The pavement wasn't too smooth, but it was great to get away from the cars for a bit.

Accommodations tonight are at London Christian High School.  We're out on the soccer field, and a few folks are stretched out in the hallways.  Temps are supposed to drop to 10C tonight, so we should sleep great outside.

Day 45 - Imlay City, MI to Sarnia, ON (CANADA!!)

Daily Stats:
Time: 4h13m06s
Distance: 125.04km
Avg Spd: 29.64km/hr
Climbing: ??

We woke up today to a storm warning, and lightening flashing in the distance.  This is the scene during breakfast this morning...  the sun is up, no rain yet, but dark, ominous clouds were everywhere.

Around 7am, the skies opened up again, and unleashed torrents of water on us.  Thankfully I don't usually leave camp until 7:30-8am, so we were able to take refuge in the school for an hour, waiting for things to lighten up.  The rain certainly didn't stop, but it did ease up around 8am, so we hit the road.  The toughest thing mentally is to start a ride in the rain - it's like jumping into a cold lake: you just need to make the plunge.  Same thing this morning.  Once you're all geared up, all that's left to do is get wet.

And so we did.  We rode our first 45km in the rain, then after it stopped, we rode in the leftover slop and road grime.  By the time we reached Marine City, the rain had stopped, but we had a bit of headwind and the skies were clear-ish.  The beautiful, blue St Claire River met us, and we sat in a little cafe while we waited for the rest of the riders to arrive for our ferry crossing.

Fifty people was the limit on the ferry, so we took over two trips to get across, plus the semi trucks.  It was only cyclists on my crossing...

Immediately after we crossed through customs, the people of Sarnia had a big spread of cookies, coffee and watermelon for us in the adjacent park. The route into the school was also well marked with balloons and bright red and white signs.

Then when we showed up at the Christian School, the gym was all decked out in red and white Canada colors and the locals church prepared an epic meal of pork chops, potatoes and beans, not to mention a dessert table that blew my mind.

Tonight we're crashing at Karel's parents' place about ten minutes from the school.  We had hot showers, Wi-Fi, laundry and real beds with sheets!  Big thanks to Mr & Mrs Van Klaveren for hosting us guys tonight...

Day 44 - Sleepy Hollow SP, MI to Imlay City, MI

Daily Stats:

Time: 4h54m54s

Distance: 125.05

Avg Spd: 25.4km/hr

Climbing: 544m

Easy ride today.  I started out with the Top Guns, as we once again were the last ones out of camp.  We picked up two new riders - Leo and Peter - both from Ontario, who were also on sweep duty.

Leo rides a sweet, old Specialized Sekine from the 1970s, and we ended up hanging back off the pack after the first SAG.  After SAG 3, we teamed up with Ava, Malori and Betsy, and cruised through the rest of the day at an easy 25km/hr.

After SAG 3 the skies opened up and it rained for a solid hour.  It was cold and miserable.  Many people were caught off guard and didn't have the right clothes, but thankfully I had packed my rain jacket in my saddle bag.

We stopped for donuts and warm beverages in Lapeer at Max's Bakery and chatted with some locals and the owners for a good half hour before knocking off the final 20km to camp.

Camp tonight is at the Imlay City High School.  I'm camping out in the field, even though the gym was opened up for us to use.  It's too hot inside, so I'm counting on it being much cooler outside for sleeping.

Not much else exciting to report tonight.  But tomorrow we enter Canada!! (This means my cell phone will be back on tomorrow night...)

Day 43 - Grand Rapids, MI to Sleepy Hollow SP, MI

Daily Stats:

Time: 3h18m51s

Distance: 107.44km

Avg Spd: 32.4km/hr

Climbing: 491m

Short, easy ride today out of Calvin College.  We all had to meet for a prayer/send-off at 7am, so the ride group was somewhat 'equalized' today in our departure.  The Top Guns, along with Ryan B and John D were the last to leave camp, and we decided to see if we could be the first ones in.  It didn't end up happening, but we probably had the quickest ride time.

No pictures of the ride today because we were powering so much, but we did have a videographer ride with us for a good portion of the day.  Nick from Grand Rapids had been kicking around since Holland, wrenching our bikes and taking some pictures and videos.  Not sure when, but at some point I'll try and track down the rolling footage he grabbed from today.

Camp tonight is at Sleepy Hollow State Park.  The campground was built around a manmade lake, and is named after a local farmer named IB Crane (similar to the fictional Ichabod Crane from "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow").  We'll find out tonight if there's a headless horseman that haunts this area...

There are 36 new riders and volunteers that joined us yesterday, so camp is absolutely overflowing with new people.  But it's only really noticeable in the lineup for dinner.

We started up a campfire after peloton and small groups this evening.  It's a wonderful thing to sit around a fire and laugh.  I'm incredibly exhausted this evening, so I left the group early and will be lights out in a few in minutes.

Day 41/42 - Holland, MI to Grand Rapids, MI

Daily Stats:
Time: 2h39m27s
Distance: 67.19km
Avg Spd: 25.3km/hr
Climbing: 344m

Saturday was an easy ride into Grand Rapids.  We spent lots of time on the bike paths, and there were tons of people.  I would guess we doubled our rider count for the day with new riders joining and locals coming out for a one-day ride opportunity.

Lunch was offered at Calvin CRC in GR about 2km from the Calvin College Campus.  There were so many extra people they ran out of food and had to order in pizza from a local joint to make sure everyone was fed.

After lunch, we met in the parking lot to roll in a big group to the grand entry at Calvin.

Saturday meant the end of the ride for one-week riders (aka "weeklings"), including Jason and Kyle... we got a group shot on campus before they took off.  There was also a special race that took place around the Calvin campus that you might be able to find evidence of if you are proficient with Facebook, but I didn't manage to get pictures of.  There's also a portion of it on YouTube...

The reception at Calvin was quite warm...  each floor of the dorms had a kitchen that was well-stocked with homemade baking and fresh peaches!

I lucked out again and got a dorm room to myself, so will enjoy three straight nights of solitary sleeping in a real bed...  it's a beautiful thing!

This weekend was incredibly relaxing.  After the 'grand entry', we've had free time pretty much all weekend.  We hit up the local bike shop where Karel bought a wheelset, and other people stocked up on a few necessities and replaced broken things.  I bought two packs of GU Recovery drink to see if that helps bring my legs back into business.

Brandon is friends with the resident RD of the dorms we are staying in, and he hooked us up with a projector and sound system, so we relaxed in style last night watching a "Quicksilver" and "Sky Fall."  I only made it through the first movie (an '80s cycling movie that was beyond cheesy) before retiring to bed.  Tonight "Chicken Run" is the movie of choice, and there's a good group of people enjoying the clay-mation satire.

Today (Sunday) I opted not to go to one of about twenty local CRC churches, and took the bike for a short spin around GR, checking out Gaslight Village and East Village.  I was hoping to find a coffee shop or bakery to relax at for a bit, but everything was closed, so I kept moving.

Lunch today came again from Calvin CRC.  I surfed the web and napped until 4:30 when we had our big celebration service at the arena.  All the cyclists entered the arena together, then worshipped with about three-hundred locals.

Another 36 riders joined the tour today, and the gear truck is packed!  I think all the shelves have been spoken for at this point.  It's getting tough to recognize everyone, and I've almost (but not quite) given up on learning everyone's names.

Think that's it for now...  gonna finish up the movie and get a good night sleep in a real bed. 

Day 40 - Benton Harbor, MI to Holland, MI

Daily Stats:
Time: 3h33m40s
Distance: 96.10km
Avg Spd: 27.0km/hr
Climbing: 368m

Today was a welcomed, short(ish) day of riding.  After four days of 130+ kilometers, riding a sub-one-hundred kilometer day was a wonderful thing.

Except for the rain.

Once again, it started as we were standing around eating breakfast.  In a matter of minutes it was dumping buckets, and we were taking refuge in the gear truck, and scrambling to find our rain jackets, gloves and base layers.  It didn't let up much, so by 8am we were on the road, drenched but thankful for a church to provide our first SAG.  We stuck around the church too long, eating cookies and praying for the rain to stop.  It didn't.  It rained harder, and by the time we hit the road again we were shivering, and powered through the next few kilometers to get our core temperatures up again.

I don't take pictures in the rain - especially during torrential downpours - so I can't prove it was raining.  But all the wet gloves, jackets and shoes in the gear trailer say otherwise.  Not to mention the distinct smell of wet dog the gear trailer has developed this week.  I feel sorry for the new riders joining us this weekend...  it's going to be a rough welcome into our little community.

The rain did not last all day.  By the time we reached the little harbor town of Saugatuck, the skies had cleared and the sun was trying to shine.  Brandon and I took a little detour down to the water front and ate a little snack before returning to the road.

We also stopped at the first CRC church in North America - located in Graafschap, MI.  There was a heritage museum in the basement that we were able to look through and follow the establishment of the town of Holland, and the progression of the CRC and its many branches.  Also located at this site was the original church building, built in 1862.

Tonight we're staying at Hope College in the Voorhees dorms.

Holland is the home of Christy, who rode with us for the first three weeks of the tour, and she works at the college.  After she got off work, a bunch of us were able to spend some time with her and enjoy some refreshing beverages and cheesecake.  Earlier in the afternoon New Holland Brewing company had given each rider a free beverage coupon for their restaurant, so another crew of us spent a few hours relaxing and trying some of the local beers.  They had a beer called "Stephen's English Pub Ale" that I naturally had to try, but was somewhat disappointed with it as it was quite bitter.  The Sundog amber ale was a much better choice for my delicate tastebuds...

Tomorrow is another short day into Grand Rapids (Calvin College), so I'm not too concerned about the late night.  But I still want at least six hours of sleep, so it's time to wrap this up...

Day 39 - Lansing, IL to Benton Harbor, MI

Daily Stats:
Time: 5h44m58s
Distance: 141.45km
Avg Spd: 24.6km/hr
Climbing: 475m

Today was a great day.  It all started with a solid night sleep on the floor of Brandon's living room.  We were back at the high school by 6:30am for pancake breakfast, which was done in style with plenty of food for everyone.  And there was the added bonus of Gatorade to fill our water bottles as we left the school.  Brandon's parents were of course around to see us off and take some pictures.

Our route was meticulously created by local Lansing-ers to keep us off busy roads, and it was very well prepared.  We ducked and dodged and turned through numerous subdivisions as we went on our way.  We again had a good ten miles of paved bike paths that were green and well cared for.

As evidenced by our average speed for the day (24.km/hr), we took our time.  Something about cruising on the bike paths really slowed us down. Or maybe it was the mountains of food we ate the day before...  But it was nice to take it easy.

We were in three states today... yes, three.  Starting in Illinois, we quickly crossed into Indiana, then on into Michigan later in the day.  As we were on side roads and bike paths, the organizers spray-painted the pathways for us to alert us to state lines.

The highlight of the day was riding along Lake Michigan.  I've long heard people say that Michigan has nice beaches, but I never believed them.  Today I saw the truth.  The water is clear and blue, and the beaches are sandy.  The lake extends for so far that it really looks like the ocean.

We spent at least two hours rolling along the waterfront and checking out the fancy houses.  It was awesome.

Tonight we are staying at Lighthouse Ministries in Benton Harbor, Michigan.  We were told it is the poorest town in the USA.  I don't have Internet access to verify that fact, but it certainly does not feel like the richest neighborhood in the USA (that might have been Sturgeon Beach that we rode through this afternoon).  Lighthouse owns an old, run-down church (that's massive, and crazy confusing to navigate inside) right on the main drag, and does outreach to the locals in the area.  We arrived in camp a little late today, so we missed a bunch of the info about the area and what the church does.

Our camp is a little odd-feeling tonight...  we're on some decent patches of grass outside this older, run-down church.  There are new houses across the street, right next to old, boarded up homes.  There's not a lot of stores or commercial building nearby, but there's plenty of foot traffic at 11pm.  It's predominantly an African-American neighborhood, and without the strength in numbers of our Sea to Sea camp, I'd think twice about pitching my tent here.

My tent is 5' off the sidewalk and I'm sitting in it typing this blog.  And as if to emphasize our "out of place-ness", a group of guys just walked past and one said to his friends, "y'all are crazy, tenting in the m'f***in' hood, man."

I think it's excellent that we are staying here tonight, and that we got to hear some stories of the local church staff and Christian school principal about what God is using them for in this part of town.  It's encouraging to hear stories of how God led them to this place to work, despite them having different intentions for their life, and that lives of the locals are being touched in positive ways as a result.  As an organization that exists to end poverty, we as cyclists with Sea to Sea are seeing glimpses of it first hand tonight.  I sincerely hope that Lighthouse Ministries and River of Life School will be recipients of some of the grant money that will be distributed at the end of the tour.

So much more I could talk about tonight, but it's late - especially with the time change (we're now on Eastern Standard Time - EST).  It's now after 11pm again, and I'm beat so I'll call it a night.