"Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
Oh, give thanks to the God of gods!
For His mercy endures forever.
Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords!
For His mercy endures forever"
Psalm 136
Oh, give thanks to the God of gods!
For His mercy endures forever.
Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords!
For His mercy endures forever"
Psalm 136
The 2010 El Tour de Tucson was a true blessing. Thanks to all of you who made this possible.
But let me start at the beginning. Thursday and Friday we had a booth at the expo. Blesse
d by our sponsor Hammer Nutrition we were able to hand out many Hammer gels and HEED packets. We talk to many cyclists, visitors and vendors, who shared in the goodness of our LORD and Savior. But we also talked to those who do not yet have a relationship with God through Jesus. We didn't necessarily confronted or convict them, but the Holy Spirit was definitely at work. The expo was as in past years impressive. Many vendors returned in support of this race. Our booth was next to Team Colleen (Cancer Sucks) who rides in support of cancer patients and survivors. It was a joy. The interesting part was that Team Colleen was also next to the IC3 booth at a race in Philadelphia. What is God trying to tell us here? We had one racer come by from the NorCal IC3 spoke which was interesting because he didn't know that we had a spoke down here in Tucson. But by the grace of God we are here and are pressing on to do his good work in the cycling community.At the race day we had an Aid Station at mile 51, so about half way through the 109 mile distance. The weather was great, and even though it was windy on most of the ride, it was strangely calm at our station. We were truly blessed by the warms and no rain at race day. As usual the first hour none of the riders stopped, unless they really had to use the Porta Potty. We saw a few IC3 jerseys in that first hour from out-of-town riders and from local members. Way to go IC3 !!! From around 10:30 until 12 there was a constant stream of cyclists riding by and stopping at our station. Those were riders who rode either the 109, 79 or 66 miles. We gladly served them all, with either a snack, water or whatever else they need. Sunscreen, very important down here in Tucson, even in November. We even were able to repair a few mechanicals. One cassette was loose and needed to be tightened with a cassette tool (WOW). There were also a few broken spokes and we tried our best to true the wheel.
We had some local IC3 members participating, Todd and Eric rode the 79 miles. Both reported that the wind challenged them once they turned on the Vistoso loop towards the south. Ebby rode the 66 miles at 75 years young, WAY TO GO Ebby !!! Celia, Gabriel and Larry rode the 109. Congratulations to all of you. We also saw IC3 member from out of town. One gentleman stopped by our station who was an IC3 member from Michigan. He said he and his friend are the only 2 IC3 members in Michigan. WAY TO GO !!! Keep up the good work. Press on. That is exactly how the IC3 spoke in Tucson go started. 2 member for many years until Gods prayer was answered and a spoke established. Jim participated as Bike Patrol for the 66 miles. What an awesome opportunity he had and God knew exactly where he wanted him. He assisted a few riders who drank to little/ate to little and could not continue the race. Another rider crashed due to an unsafe passing of another rider. Jim accompanied that rider all the way to the finish line and they arrived after dark (around 6pm). What an awesome testimony.
These were a great couple of days and again Tucson was spotlighted in the cycling community. We pray that we were successful in planting the seeds of faith in those with whom we shared.
