Pierre

Pierre from Holland has biked from Montreal on his way to Bolivia. We
met him in Halletsville! No helmet, socks,gloves.

Day 4 break

Break time on road to Halletsville

Day 4 photo

Phillip Shero with all great riders

Day Four Fun

Subject: Day Four Fun

I know it's hard to believe that a day containing an 88 mile bike ride could be described as "fun" but that's the word of choice for what we experienced today. We have been riding for three days against a strong head wind. So we were in cautioned joy when we saw the motel flag hanging limp as we pulled out at 7:20a. It was barely daylight and we kept thinking the sun would bring the wind. We even rode in "draft" formation for a while to fight a wind that didn't exist.

The road was still flat and (a new experience) the shoulder was roller rink smooth. Wow!! What a joy to ride.

The day went on with great riding and lots of phone calls at the breaks. We were staying in touch with Marilyn and Linda as they drove south to meet up with us. We finally found each other north of Victoria, after the ride team had eaten lunch. Once we were together, Phillip switched all the van contents so we could use the Holland van going north. Then Linda took Brigitte's van and continued south to fetch Brigitte to bring her back to FtW. Linda would still have another 2 or 3 hours of driving before reaching Brigitte's side.

The ladies had brought a thorough report of the road conditons - warning us of some heavy construction before we would reach Halleyeville. Did I mention there was no wind and the road was smooth?

Phillip continued his masterful job as SAG Driver. But now he had a trainee assistant, Marilyn. At the next-to-final Rest Stop, the riders arrived under a shade tree where blankets had been spread on the ground and the food supplies were served to the reclining riders. It was amazing!! One stop later  Phillip left us. We had less than 10 miles to go, so Marilyn drove Phillip north to Schulenburg, where he had pre-positioned his car, while we completed the ride to Hallettesville.

Upon arrival at our motel, we met Pierre. Pierre is a biker too. He is from Holland. He is biking alone  and camping out, if necessary, as he goes. This night he is staying in the Budget Inn. Pierre started his ride six weeks ago in Ontario, Canada and plans to finish in about five months in Argentina. So, the Lord knows how to keep proud riders humble. But I will say I've only met four men on my Iife who have biked from Brownsville to Hallettesville. They are the four friends with whom I shared the road today - and it was a smooth road with lots of fun.

Sent from my iPhone

Day 3 from Ron

How do I begin to describe Day Three? A test? A trauma? A trial? A lesson? I guess I just need to say it was a great reminder. We are not the ones who will decide if this project continues or ends. It continues if them Lord wants it to continue and it ends at His desire. Today, He let it continue.

We were on pallets on the floor when I saw Darrell Crow awake and stretching. So I spoke a greeting as I lay there. He moved across the floor and spoke softly to me as he laid beside me. He told me he and Mike had taken Brigitte to the hospital with heart problems and that she had been admitted for observation. My first reaction was disbelief. That passed quickly and was replaced with the thought that the GREAT Ride was over. Over!

The breakfast table brought prayers for Brigitte and prayers for God to show us what He would have us do. Almost immeditely Phillip volunteered to SAG rather than ride. As we added thoughts and possibilities to that, it became clear that, given God's blessing on Brigitte's condition, we could - and should - continue.

I can't go into the details here (on this tiny keyboard). But I'll just say with the response of our wives and friends, God put together what was needed for us to be assured Brigitte was cares for and still be able to ride. We were delayed about two hours in starting the ride, we pedalled north - into the wind. It seemed as though the Lord wanted us to ride He still wanted us to ride against the wind.

The day brought us to Refugio, Texas - the city of refuge. It also brought three flats, carrying our bikes across a RR track, a bloody elbow, a brief ride ON the Interstate, great support from Phillip and all but 22 miles of our planned course.

Those whom the Lord will be using to keep us going will be discussed as the plan unfolds in the days ahead. For now we are glad to report the Brigitte is well. Linda Bell will get tomorrow and drive her back to Fort Worth. We will ride an extra 22 miles on Tuesday and be back on schedule. Marilyn will SAG as Phillip finishes his tour.

God is good!!

Sent from my iPhone

Day 3 - Glitches!

Here you see Hector Hinojosa in a Big Bike Race! But where are his shoes?

Marilyn posting tonight as the day has been long and started out on a sad note. Bridget Little had volunteered to SAG for the guys from Bishop on for 5 days. Well, she woke Mike Bell and Darrell Crow during the night with an irregular heartbeat so they drove her to the hospital in Kingsville. She was admitted for observation and the guys came on back home to get some sleep.

At 6:30 am today, Ron called me and shared the news and sounded pretty disheartened. But we talked it out and plans have been made through the day. Mike and Ron went back to the hospital to see Bridget and she has been stabilized but would have to stay there for 24 hours. So they went back to Bishop and got started riding their bikes again. Phillip Shero took over the driving duties for this day. Since they got a late start, they did not make it all the way to their planned for designation but arrived in Refugio and found a place to rest for the night.

Linda Bell (Mike's wife) and I will head down tomorrow morning and plan to meet them south of Hallettsville. Linda then will head on down to Kingsville to pick up Bridget. That is the probable plan anyway. We shall see. Hope to post tomorrow sometime or send an email out. Please be praying for Linda and I and also for Bridget.

Day Two: King Ranch

I will post more later, wanted to get something up about the successful completion of Day Two. It was 80.3 miles against a strong north wind. But the Lord saw us thru. For some reason He chose NOT to turn the wind around. But he gave us strength for the challenge. The picture was taken half-way through the day. Gig 'em Ags!

And here is the later post I promised:

North. North was the direction from which the wind was coming. And, north was the direction we were pedaling. That was true ALL day for both motions. Thus, we were fighting the wind ALL DAY!!!

It was cool, almost cold, in the morning. So we all started off the day will jackets and it was two hours into the ride before the extra clothes began to come off.

Did l say anything about how great Beth's support has been? The prime example of her above and beyond service came today in the cold weather when Darrell Crow asked desperately for a klennex handoff. He asked as he was rapidly approaching the vehicle. Beth stopped, jumped out, threw open the back of the van, grabbed a klennex and made the handoff. The Beth Flare came in the Heisman Trophy pose she struck as she made the handoff. It was spectcular. But it was fairly typical of the Beth Style.

We learned a lot today. We learned to focus and not give up. We learned the value of drafting. We learned it is hard to pedal north when the wind is out of the north.

We are enjoying the hospitality of Mike Bell's relatives tonight in Bishop, Texas. We said a tearful "good bye" to Beth. We welcomed Brigitte Little and Phillip Shero to the group. Brigitte will SAG for us for five days. Phillip will ride with us for two days.

We are all very tired, but spirits seem to be high. Tomorrow presents a whole new set of challenges. We are all expecting the challenge of the wind to still be with us. We need your prayers. Thanks for followimg our progress.

The Nav

Day One Done - Saturday, Oct 27

We had much to do before riding this morning from Brownsville. We had breakfast to do - which we did at McDo's. We had the trailer to unload - which we did at the International Bridge. We had gearing up for the first time - which we did at the bridge. We had the Team Picture to take - which we did, also, at the bridge. But we got it all done without a hitch. Beth got the trailer turned in easily and then did some initial shopping - ice, bananas, gas, etc. We got started pedaling at 8:50a. We had set a couple of goals for start times. I think they were all earlier than that, but we weren't very excited about an exact time. We knew we had a relatively short ride - just 50 miles.

The morning was very urban. Lots of traffic and lots intersections to negotiate. We had an unexpected blessing in finding a great bike trail that took us through the part of town about which Hector was most comcerned. Then we got back to the access road of Hwy 77.

We contended with many, many stop lights until we got past Harlingen. But we found no relief after we got past the lights. When we got into the open country, we begin dealing the wind. It was mostly a function of time of day than location. All afternoon the wind was relentless - directly out of the north. I finished the last two hours without ever getting over 12 mph. Mostly my computer read 9 or 10 mph.

We arrived at the motel in Raymondville at 2:05p. Actually, that's when I arrived. Hector was already here and the others were still 30 minutes out. Darrell Plemons had had a flat and struggled to get going again.

We have found Raymondville to be a friendly town. We ate at Pizza Hut with dessert at Dairy Queen. Everyone is sleeping in rooms at the motel and we are watching the World Series - Boston vs Colorada.

Hector did the devo centered around the thief on the cross.

75 miles tomorrow. We're praying for the wind to turn around - literally.

Ron
Sent from my iPhone

Gearing Up

The guys arrived in Brownsville late last night and hit the road this morning. Here is a photo of Mike Bell as they were getting ready to go. Ron will send another email later today so be sure to check again later.

The Ride Down

Its now 10:30p and we are still inbound to Brownsville. We got out of Ft Worth on time, but had traffic problems there and in Austin. So we haven't had very good time. We are all excited about getting on our bikes tomorrow and getting started back north. The wind seems to have died down and is forcast to stay light and variable. The road I'd planned is very flat and has a great shoulder. Those facts just add to the desire to get started.

Everyone will be in a motel room tonight. So, hopefully we will be able to sleep good. The photos are Darrell Crow and Beth Plemmons (she's the SAG driver!)

Hector stayed on the phone most of the afternoon while he drove. At one point I looked around the car and there were three people talking on cell phones.

We watched two DVD movies. I felt like we were on a plane trip. But there has been lots of talking and joking. Spirits are high with anticipation.

Ron - The Nav

Travel Bags

This is my stuff I'm planning to take on the ride. If everyone brings as much stuff as I am bringing we could be in big trouble.

Of course I have the team T-shirts. Also, I am one of the campers, I've got camping gear. At least those are my excuses.

There is some sort of glitch with the blog web site and my iPhone, so that I can't type text on a post - only a title. So I'm asking Marilyn to post my emails on the blog. Thanks Marilyn.

More as we travel down tomorrow.

Happy trails!

The Nav

GREAT Ride Eve

I'm calling today GREAT Ride Eve, since we load the trailer and leave for Brownsville tomorrow. As I thought of the "eve" name, I seemed to just get more and more excited about the ride. As I rode through the cool morning enroute to work this morning (with the top down on my Miata), I really began to realize I was feeling like a kid on Christmas Eve morning. I'm not sure what lies ahead, tomorrow, but I'm sure I'm going to enjoy it.

We had a great meeting last night, at the church building. The whole team was together for the first time. Only Darrell Crow was missing, but we had given him an excused absence. Beth had a sample packet of our Trail Mix recipe - 450 calories for 1/2 cup. Winston Bell, the Executive Director of Bread For a Hungry World was with us to pray over us. I distributed the beautiful T-shirts to everyone. We talked about SAG vehicle procedures and reviewed overnight arrangements that were complete.

Today, we were in communication with each other a good bit by phone calls and emails. Everyone seems to be getting everything together. I haven't gotten any panic-stricken phone calls. I called Hector and he had been able to get the equipment trailer without any problems. It looks like all systems are "go!"

Keep us in your prayers.

Countdown Begins

It seems that all our emails back-and-forth now have a "days to go" tag at the end. We are all beginning to feel the heat of the nearness of the GREAT Ride. We feel the "heat" even though a strong cold front passed through the DFW area on Sunday evening and left a blowing cold north wind behind all day Monday. I say "Come on through, you cold north wind. Blow yourself out and get out of our way."

The key word these days is Nutrition. Beth and Mike are working on that. They are brewing up a super-high-cal/carb Trail Mix that will keep us all energized as we ride north. Another key word is Packing. Lots of decisions to make about what to take and what to leave.

We've been trying to have a team meeting for a couple of weeks, now. It is looking like we might actually get to do that on Wednesday of this week. I think it's because of the "heat" and because Beth is the one who called the meeting.

Four days 'til we drive south

Five days 'til we start pedaling north

Pray for us.

The GREAT Ride begins

[Begining with the end in mind, the picture is of Ron standing by the Red River, under the I-35 bridge - the place where the GREAT Ride will conclude.]

The GREAT Ride is actually the evolution of an idea that came into existence more than two years ago. At that time Hector Hinojosa and I were planning a ride from Port Isabel, Texas to Fort Worth. For some reason that idea didn't seem to resonate with anyone other than Hector and me. It was finally laid aside for lack of support.

Then, a little more than a year ago, I decided to resurrect the idea, but this time expanded the concept. We would ride from river-to-river. We would ride from the Rio Grande to the Red River. Now that was far more fascinating. Don't ask me "why?" It just is. Actually, it's more fascinating to me as well. Then, the idea to call it the GREAT Ride came out of the river names. Actually, I toyed with Grande River/Red River Excursion Across Texas - making it the GRRREAT Ride. But I decided Tony the Tiger was just toooo present in that name. Besides it's the Great State of Texas - not the Grrreat State of Texas.

Also, probably as much as the extended route, the fact that there was more interest simply came from the timing. The time wasn't right two years ago - it's right this year. My desire to resurrect the ride came from the landmark age I attained this year. Having been born in 1947, I reached the status of Old Man this year - 60 year old. I remember, as a boy, being told that my paternal grandfather, also Pop Holland, entered a Walk-a-thon in south Texas in his early 70s. He twisted an ankle and didn't get to finish it, but the fact that he tried such a thing at that age stuck with me all my life. I think it is good to do something worth remembering. So, the trans-Texas bike ride was resurrected from the moth balls and run up the flag pole, again. Hector was still "in." Then, rather surprisingly Darrell Plemons saluted the idea. Then Darrell Crow, a sometimes multi-day riding buddy, stepped up. We've all grown tired of the " . . . my brother Darrell and my other brother Darrell . . . " joke so  don't use it in a comment. Then, finally, making me no longer the Old Man on the ride, Mike Bell threw his helmet in the ring. Part of Mike's draw is the opportunity to ride Marilyn's recumbent. So, we are five. Five who are committed to the 600+ mile trip from river-to-river.

This blog will be our official posting site. I am hoping to be able to update it as we progress via the use of my new iPhone. Failing that, I'm confident I can send email updates to me techno-babe wife who can post the updates here. So, stay tuned. We travel down to Brownsville one week from tomorrow and start pedaling on Oct 27.