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.