Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas to everyone from our family in Ferrysburg, MI!

Love Links - a bicycle ministry

A couple years ago, Derek Rust, an advertising representative at the Grand Haven Tribune, learned that a single mother - whose only means of transportation was a bicycle - had her bicycle stolen. Rust fixed up a used bicycle for her to use as transportation. That kind gesture led Rust to explore ways of helping other people who use bikes for transportation. The wheels were set in motion for the creation of "Love Links", a bicycle ministry under the auspices of volunteers Char and Kevin Velik who are affiliated with the Harvest Bible Chapel in West Olive. Love Links serves as a partner to Love INC. The bicycle ministry was started in 2007, but really began to flourish in 2008 when 128 bicycles were repaired and given away. So far this year, 202 bicycles have been given away.

Read more about Love Links in the Grand Haven Tribune:
http://www.grandhaventribune.com/paid/298216171793177.bsp

Read more about Love Inc. here:
http://www.loveinctricities.org/

More photos from Sunday's ride

Here are a couple more photos taken on my cycling trip around town on Sunday. The top photo is of the pivot bridge for the train. This is a lightly-used train track which crosses the Grand River parallel to the US-31 drawbridge. The drawbridge carries 100% of the car-truck traffic between Holland and Muskegon. The closest bridge over the Grand River is about 20 miles east, near Allendale, MI. The bottom photo is of the south pier and boardwalk to the pier. There was a lot of sand on the walkway plus lots of foot traffic, so I decided to turn around before reaching the pier.

Sunday ride around the Tri-cities

Here are a few photos from this afternoon's ride. The temperature was close to 60 degrees with no wind - almost perfect day for fall cycling! I crossed the drawbridge between Grand Haven and Ferrysburg, then cycled up to North Shore Dr. and over to Cherokee Dr. and passed our new home-to-be, circled through Coast Guard Park and back on North Shore to Ferry Park, where these photos were taken. I crossed the drawbridge back into Grand Haven and cycled through Harbor Island to the boardwalk downtown. I will post more photos tomorrow, so stay tuned.

Photos from Colorburst 2009

Here are a few photos from Colorburst 2009, near Lowell, MI. I completed the 30 mile route in about 3 hours. The temperature was 37 degrees at 9 am and 48 degrees at Noon, but the sun finally came out and burned off the fog about halfway through the ride. The first couple photos were taken at the 15 mile rest stop at Townsend Park and the last photo was at the final rest stop about 5 miles from the finish in Fallasburg Park. It looked like they had a good turnout, as the parking lot was completely full. About halfway through the ride, I tried to shift out of the big ring gear and found out that it wouldn't shift. Looks like I need to take it to the shop.

Colorburst Tour 2009

I will be riding in the 2009 Colorburst Tour tomorrow near Lowell, MI. If weather and my legs permit, I will ride the 30 mile route. The tour begins at Fallasburg County Park, just north of Lowell. Lowell is NE of Grand Rapids. The maples are turning red and other trees are turning yellow, so it should be a colorful ride!

Wednesday's ride to Spring Lake

This evening I rode north across the drawbridge right after work. I checked out the bike path that runs through the village of Spring Lake, right along the boardwalk and along the shore of Spring Lake. The top photo shows lakeside condos on the left and nice boats docked near the path on the right. The bottom photo shows the boardwalk next to the Holiday Inn in Spring Lake. The bike path cuts through the motel parking lot right after the drawbridge.

Greenville MI - Tour de Donut!

Too bad I missed this one. Maybe next year. Anyway, here is what they said about the Tour de Donut:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-mi-exchange-tourdedo,0,7610461.story

Apparently, you were to cycle a 30 mile race, stopping to eat donuts every so often. They would knock 3 minutes off your time for every donut you eat. Greenville is a small town just NE of Grand Rapids, MI.

A few more photos from Sunday's ride

Here are a few more photos taken from the North Pier near Grand Haven, MI.

Video from North Pier

Here is another video from Sunday afternoon. This was taken from the North Pier near Grand Haven and Ferrysburg, MI. The wind was strong Sunday, but even worse on Monday. Winds were up to 60 mph along the beach and only 30-40 mph further inland. You can see videos of 18 foot waves on the local newspaper website: http://grandhaventribune.com

Video of North Shore Beach

Here is a short video taken at the North Shore Beach Sunday afternoon. Sorry about the wind noise! Almost all of the picnic tables were stacked and ready for winter.

Ride to North Shore Beach

I decided to take advantage of the warm weather today before it turns cold and rainy on Monday. My route this afternoon took me from my rental condo north across the drawbridge and into Spring Lake and Ferrysburg. The first photo above shows the bike path next to Spring Lake at Ferry Park (just across the bridge). From there I took North Shore Rd. west past Coast Guard Park to North Shore Beach. It was pretty windy at the beach, but I did take a video that I will post later this week. From the beach, I took North Shore Rd. south past million dollar beach houses to the North Pier parking area. From there, I took more photos and another video. Gayle called me on the cell phone while I was there, however it was so windy, I had to duck behind a large rock in order to reduce the wind noise. I rode back the same way, totalling 13 miles.

32 mile group ride today

I took a chance and tried the Saturday morning group ride offered by Loose Spokes Bike Shop of Grand Haven (http://www.loosespokes.com/). They offer this ride every Saturday morning beginning at 8:30 am. The riders end up in one of three groups, A, B or C. Groups A & B are for the faster cyclists (20-24 mph ave.) I decided to try Group C (16-20 mph). There were about 15 riders in A & B and 4 of us in Group C. Jack, the owner of Loose Spokes rode in the A/B group and told us that they were going to do 40 miles instead of the advertised 30 miles, and that the C group was going to do 30 miles instead of 20. However, the riders were instructed to keep the pace slightly slower since the racing season was oficially over. (Like that would slow them down!)

Our group took off promptly at 8:30 am, heading east on Comstock and Mercury towards 104th St. Bill and Tom (our group leader) took turns pulling. I tried for a mile or so, but pulling at 19 mph was a bit much for me since I hadn't put in the miles in August necessary to do this. Both Bill and Tom were about the same age as I am. We also had (Kevin), who was in his 20's s far as I could tell. We had a great time, with a total of 32 miles. I averaged 18 mph over 1 hour 47 minutes. My cyclecomputer also read 33 mph as the top speed, but I'm not sure where this was as we didn't have any hills. Hmmm.

We arrived back at Loose Spokes around 10:15 am and enjoyed free coffee and breakfast bars & granola. Jack told us about the new Fuji and Bianchi bikes, and we enjoyed talking with the other riders! A most enjoyable ride! However, I defintely need to put in more miles during the week.

Photos from Aug 30 ride

Here are a couple photos that I took on my Aug. 30 ride down to the boardwalk (downtown). I decided to see where the bike trail went in the other direction from the lighthouse. It took me over a small bridge and around on the other side of the charter cruise docks. You can see the charter boats all lined up along the city's boardwalk waiting for customers. You can charter a salmon fishing boat for a 4 hour fishing trip on Lake Michigan for the "reasonable" amount of $400 for 4 people for 4 hours. Perch charters are ONLY $350.

16 miles on Lakeshore Drive tonight

I got an earlier start tonight right after work. I cyled over to Sheldon, then started south on Lakeshore Drive. On the way south, I used the marked shoulder area of the road as seen in the first photo. On the way back I decided to try the bike path (wide sidewalk) along the east side of the road. This is shown in the following 2 photos. My total was 16 miles round trip. Tommorrow morning is a 20 mile group ride, sponsored by Loose Spokes Bike Shop. I will post more photos as they become available.

Out and Back on Lakeshore Drive

I was able to get in 11 miles tonight, however if I would have remembered to bring a headlight and taillight, I probably would have gone a little farther. I started about 7 pm, and got back a little after 8 pm. The sun sets here around 8:20 currently. However, the main problem is all of the trees along Lakeshore Drive. Yes, they are very pretty, however they make it slightly darker than it should be, so lights would have been handy. I headed west on Washington, then south on Sheldon to where it becomes Lakeshore Dr., then turned around south of Ferris (about 5.5 miles out). I only saw 2 other road cyclists, one going north when I turned around, and another that passed me about a mile later. Both were going about 20-21 mph, while I was doing 16-18 mph. I saw them again later stopped at a local school, and waved at them. There were many more joggers and casual cyclists on the bike path that parallels Lakeshore Drive, but they were going much less than 10 mph.

12 miles today

The weather here has been lousy so far. Temps are in the lower 60's with sprinkles and light rain every day since Thursday. They say it is unusual for August, so maybe next weekend will be better. I got out today around 1 pm for some riding. I went over to Lakeshore Drive and followed that south to Ferris Ave., then east to 168th St. and followed the bike path (wide sidewalk) north to Mercury, then back west and north to home. Total mileage was about 12 miles (including some extra sightseeing).

First Ride in Michigan

I know - it looks like I am frowning. It was just a little cold and wet where I took this shot. This is a view of the Grand Haven lighthouse and pier behind me. I cycled from my condo near US 31 and Columbus St. downtown, then along the boardwalk out to the lighthouse. On my way back I cycled on the sand-covered sidewalks near Grand Haven State Park and the city beach. Cycling on sandy sidewalks was a pain, but not as bad as on the beach itself. (I didn't try that) Temps are only in the mid 60's with sprinkles and light rain. It is supposed to get into the upper 70's by next weekend!

New Blog!

This is the first post to my new blog! I am currently in Nebraska, but will be moving soon to Grand Haven, Michigan - on the coast of Lake Michigan between Holland and Muskegon. Stay tuned for more details!