Bike Trip!

Last week we successfully completed the first Haven Bike Trip! A bunch of the group left Saturday... drove down to the Indiana border and biked back to Zeeland (80 some miles). The rest of us joined up with them and left from the Haven parking lot Sunday following our time of worship. We had 10 bikers in all, plus one SAG (Support And Gear) driver, Julie.
Here is a breakdown of our week:

Sunday... Biked Zeeland to Muskegon, 59 miles. Lots of sun and wind! Funny moment of the day: A carnival was set up right in the middle of our route, so the guys stopped and bought an elephant ear! We stayed in Muskegon State Park and had no rain.. yeah!

Monday...Biked Muskegon to Ludington, 71 miles, max speed on tandem: 42 mph...wahoo! We had no rain while we were riding, but it started raining right when we set up camp (at Ludington State Park) and rained the rest of the night. Tuesday... Packed up camp in the rain, then rode in the rain (am only) to Platte River (part of Sleeping Bear Dunes), 78 miles total... VERY hilly, especially through Arcadia! We had our first flat tire and also the first fall. Thankfully Brian was okay and we could replace the rear wheel on his bike. Notice the sunglasses in the rain? That was to keep the water & mud out of our eyes!

Wednesday... Packed up camp in the rain... again... then started out in the rain for our longest day... 95 miles from Platte River to Fisherman's Island. We got our first flat tire after only 1 mile, and then another only 2 miles later. In the rain. And cold. And being swarmed by mosquitoes. And having 90 miles ahead of us still. And knowing we wouldn't have showers that night (our only night of rustic camping). Can you tell we were getting discouraged by this point? We rode in the rain for 5 hours and were soaked to the bone and COLD! Oh, and there were even more hills than the day before! And it was windy! We had a total of 5 flat tires that day and 1 wrong turn (extra 2 miles). When we got to the campground we were told to make sure to put our food in the van at night because a bear had been spotted nearby recently. Did I mention we were cold and didn't have showers? It was pretty much the most miserable situation any of us have ever been in, but we were with the best people we could have been with. We made the best of it and were able to laugh about it. And our verse in our devotional that day was just perfect: "May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 15:5-6). And we are thankful that God gave us the endurance and encouragement we needed to make a miserable day bearable. And the God-moment of the day: We had about 2 hours when it wasn't raining, and at one point the sun came out for about 10 minutes. We took our shoes off and tried to dry out our cold wet feet! It felt so good on the warm pavement! Thursday: Packed up in the rain... again. Biked from Fisherman's Island (Charlevoix) to Wilderness State Park, 58 miles. We had some rain and were very cold. Only 1 flat tire. Lots of hills. And rain. But... we got to camp on time for once (3:00) and then the SUN came out! It felt so good to relax and dry everything out! We also had the "pudding challenge:" We had 10 minutes to down a Gordon-Food's-sized can of Vanilla pudding mixed with crushed Oreos. Only a couple of us got sick afterwards!

Friday: We were able to pack up dry tents... hurray! Our bike ride was short...12 miles to Mackinaw City. Then we took the ferry to the island and biked around the island...another 8 miles. It was cool and cloudy, but no rain. A fun relaxing day and great way to end our week! After lunch, we pack up the van & trailer and drove home! Think everyone was tired after our adventurous week?! We give praise to God for giving us safety and allowing us to have such a great time together in spite of some big challenges! And our legs aren't even TOO sore (anymore!)