Water (Bottle) Outreach - NW Side

Psalm 100

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!
Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
Know that the Lord, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.

We had a great time of fellowship at the Water (Bottle) Outreach on the NW side of town Aug. 18. We setup our canopy, IC3 banner and water jugs near Catalina on Oracle Rd. ready to serve nice ice cold water, Hammer gels, bananas and Oreo cookies (according to Jim, one of the major food groups :-) Rider very very happy to see us. But because of the hot summer temperatures (I think the high that day was 110) only a few riders stopped by. But nonetheless there was a great show of IC3 colors at this outreach. Praises be to God for your heart to serve.

Rides & Events

Link to Calendar

2012 Ride for the Children

The kids and I participated on Saturday in the Ride for the Children in Paradise Valley, AZ, in between Phoenix and Scottsdale. The ride is benefiting homeless children in AZ. Olivia just wanted to ride the 10 miles distance, but I "convinced" them that it would be good to ride the 25 miles because we came up all the way from Tucson. And when we are going to Germany in the summer, my parents ride this distance on a daily basis, so it would be great training. The ride was great. Similar to our charity ride earlier this year, all riders started together regardless of distance. It was not a race, even though we had numbers. We got passed by a lot of riders that most likely rode the 65 miles option. We initially had a police escort. Once we entered the side streets in Paradise Valleys, there were police stopping traffic on all major intersection. It was a great experience for the kids who never rode in a big group before. We stopped at the 2 water stops along our route which were very well organized. After that we rode pretty much by ourselves. Every once a while we passed some riders or they passed us. The scenery in Paradise Valley was awesome. We finished in 2:15 and the kids were finished afterwards. At the finish line we met a gentlemen from Hearts and Hooves of AZ, who took a picture of us and wanted to post it on his web site. It is a Christian organization that takes care of homeless children as well. As you can see from the picture, the kids and I wore our IC3 jerseys representing Jesus and our club. Some riders saw our jerseys and were interested in the club. It was another great opportunity for the family to get involved, praises be to our Heavenly Father for this opportunity.

Weekend Group Ride

Greetings all!

It was great seeing all of you out on the ride this morning.  We had 11 people riding and I liked that a lot. Special thanks to Fernando for leading the ride.  I also want to thank you all for your love and concern. Lou was my physician, Fernando my mechanic, Laura was my heart and the rest of you my encouragement!

Can't wait for the next ride...I'm fine, bike is fine, all is well and God is still Good!

April Meeting and Potluck

April's monthly meeting was converted into a potluck which was held at Lou's house. We had some delicious BBQ chicken and sausages, as well as side dishes for dinner. It was a great time of fellowship. During our meeting we discussed this months events like participating in the Tour of the Tucson Mountains. There are 3 opportunities to serve, at the expo, at the aid station or while participating in the race. We further discussed the idea of having our own IC3 Tucson sponsored ride, like a time trial or pursue ride. God willing He will enabled to give Him praise and honor through our plans.

Judy Bowman in yellow

After the dinner and the meeting it was desert time. WOOOHOOO !!! And there was a special treat waiting for us. We had a visitor from out of town, Judy Bowman from WHEEL POWER Christian Cyclists. She is still touring the country to share the Gospel and be a witness for Christ, not by bicycle anymore, but rather motor tricycle. What a special gift to share the Gospel that way. She encouraged us to do what Christ called us to do and be a witness for Him. And we are not alone in this endeavor. The Holy Spirit, which dwells within us, will empower us at the right time with the right words. That make it so interesting for her. She has a love for our Lord and Savior, and a love for people.

Praises be to our Heavenly Father for the fellowship and Judy's encouraging words.

2012 El Tour de Mesa

Blessings to you from our awesome Heavenly Father.

What a blessed Friday we spend at the expo of the El Tour de Mesa. This years location was at the Hohokam Stadium, the home of the Cubs spring training. It was an interesting setup because we were below the stands in the walkway area. There was a nice breeze and plenty of shade to not roast in the sun. We got to spend some time with Tom Munoz one of the new IC3 members in Mesa. He is anxious to start a spoke and get involved. Tom was very energized and ready to serve the LORD at the booth. He also introduced us to some of his riding partners and brothers and sisters in Christ. We were able to talk to potential new members in the Phoenix area and hopefully get a spoke started soon. So if you read this and are riding in the East Valley and want to join a Christian cycling group or club, contact us. We would love to ride and fellowship with you. Hammer Nutrition as in past years blessed us with Hammer gels and HEED to serve to participants of the race.

Praises, honor and glory to our Lord and Savior.

Women Members on the Rise

WOOOHOOO !!! It is so exciting to see more female riders during this Saturdays ride. I pray and hope that this will continue on and we will be able to group that little group of female riders. Laura has been riding with us male rider for quite some time and it was wonderful to see how she enjoyed the new company.

So if you are wondering and would like to join us, come on out and do. It will be a blessing (See the Rides and Events below).

Praise be to our Heavenly Father !!!

Easter Outreaches '12

"Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead."
John 20:6ff


He is risen!

We had a great time on Good Friday during the Cross Walk on the NW side of town. Lou was able to pick up the cross and bring it to the meeting place. We walked the cross down to Silverbell and Cortaro where Pastor Dixon waited with his group. There was a lot of hunking from cars and we greeted them on our way. It was a good time of fellowship and prayer. What a blessing from our Lord Jesus, our God and Savior.

By His Grace,
Michael


He has risen indeed!

I have many things to rejoice in. The Cross Walk on Friday was worthy and humbling.  I'm already looking forward to next year. The group ride on Sat was really good.  The best part for me, was riding with some awesome club members that I never knew before like our ride leader, Ray and Gabriel, Carlos, Derrick, Charissa, Laura and Bonnie.  If I forgot someone it's only because my memory is about as long as my hair, and so I apologize. The water bottle ministry was so cool.  We talked to quite a few people, including Dwayne the local director from GABA and the Asian gentleman whose name I forgot (got hair?) who was already carrying the IC3 water bottle he got from the club at the El Tour expo.  We may never know when, how or where the seeds we sow will take root.  Let's just keep cycling and sowing!

For His Glory,
Lou

IC3 Visitor From Minnesota

Tim (our visitor), Michael, Jimmy, Todd and Fernando

Tim Turnquist from the Twin Cities Spoke visited us last week. On Friday he rented a bike and rode up Mt. Lemmon with Lou passed the Palisades. It was his longest climb this winter for him because back home, he is mostly riding the trainer or commuting to work. What a blessing to live here in Tucson and be able to ride all year around.

On Saturday we met at Broadway Bicycles and rode out Old Spanish Trail. Tim told us that they had something called the Snipers Ridge, so we had to take him up to Pistol Hill and hammer up that hill. We had to work on the way to Pistol Hill, but once we turned around we flew back down, because the wind assisted us a little.

After the ride we went and got a little cake and coffee for recovery and shared about our Spoke life. Even though the Twin Cities Spoke has many more members, the challenges are similar, just on a different scale. What a blessing it was to spend time with another brother in Christ from our club from another part of the country.

24 Hour Race Breakfast '12

 "And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.” But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” And they said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.” He said, “Bring them here to Me.” Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children." Matt. 14:13-21

We went out on Saturday afternoon to the 24 Hour Race, not to race, but to help with the breakfast on Sunday morning. We have been providing breakfast for the last 3 years to riders, volunteers and visitors of the race. The breakfast went well. We started to serve breakfast around 7am and closed down at around 10am. We served about 280 pancakes (10 lbs of pancake mix), 80 biscuits and 2 gallons of gravy. We also served some hot chocolate and hot tang. There was a constant stream of breakfaster's coming and going. When asked why we are doing this, I mentioned to a few, if Jesus can feed 5000, we can at least attempt to feed a couple of hundred people.

Praises and thanks to our Heavenly Father to be able to do this. Thanks also to FCA-E's Debbie and John from Phoenix, Jim Moutray who is an IC3 member down in Sahuarita for all their hard work in preparing and serving the breakfast. It was fun. God willing, we'll do it again.

Lasagne Dinner

We had our annual lasagna dinner at the Huff residence. It was a great get together and we ate plenty of Patsy's famous lasagna. We got to know each other a bit better, by playing a get to know you game, where each of us had to tell a little story about him or herself, and we had to guess who's story it was. What an interesting group of people we have :-)

I am looking forward to our next fellowship gathering.

2012 VISTOSO CHALLENGE 48 CHARITY BIKE RIDE

 

ST. ANDREW’S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

presents
 

VISTOSO CHALLENGE 48 CHARITY BIKE RIDE

benefiting
 

INTERFAITH COMMUNITY SERVICES

January 14, 2012, 8 AM

coordinate by IC3 Tucson

To sign up download the flyer and contact Todd Huff: 907-8019

Interfaith Community Services
We share a common belief that our diverse faiths call us to serve those in need. We are enriched through the diversity of beliefs of our volunteers and recipients. Our services and volunteer opportunities are open and welcoming to all regardless of faith tradition. We remain true to our founding value of helping those in need with "Love, Cooperation and Service."

Although our roots of support and services are in the northwest area of Tucson, our programs, volunteers, and supporters now extend to most of Pima County. Our partners represent the full community - individuals, agencies, corporations, foundations, City of Tucson, Pima County, and, of course, the faith communities. 

Our multiple services are often the "safety net" that help our recipients remain or become stabilized, enabling them to lead independent lives. We are providing services for thousands of people in need.

About the Charity Ride
Riders or teams of up to 6 riders will enjoy a supported fun ride, distances from 8 to 48 miles along an 8-mile loop through Rancho Vistoso beginning and ending at the Oro Valley Hospital. There will be food for participants & prizes for the largest fundraisers.

Start/Finish (A) is at the rear of the Oro Valley Hospital and begins traveling west on Tangerine Road to Rancho Vistoso Blvd. around the loop to Innovation Park Drive turning south back to the starting point.
Individual participants or team captains are responsible to deliver the donations at ride registration.

Donations are tax-deductable. For cash donations we need an address for donation receipts.

2011 Cochise County Cycling Classic

Praises be to our Heavenly Father for being able to participate and support the 2011 Cochise County Cycling Classic. This year must have been one of the coldest, if not the coldest race start ever. At around 40 degrees it was very cold. The good news, the race temperatures never got over 80 degrees, which made for perfect race conditions. As a Tucsonian, not expecting these temperatures, but being warned by Jim, I had just the right clothing. It was cold for the first 30 to 40 minutes, but just before we started the climb in Bisbee, I took of my arm warms and for the rest of the race (about 3 hours) it was perfect.

We setup at the start/finish line to hand out Recoverite and other goodies from our sponsor Hammer Nutrition. Thanks Hammer Nutrition for another great race support. Patsy, Todd and Michael took turns manning the canopy. Jim participated in the 45 mile race as bike patrol and after he finished the race manned a Hammradio station for the 92 mile event. Thanks for all you hard work and volunteering to make those events possible.

Bill and Michael participated in the 92 mile event. It was a successful race. Bill came in 7th and Michael 9th, only separated by seconds to the first place. WOOOHOOO !!! Praises be to Jesus !!! As always the group separated on the climb to Mule Pass in Bisbee. Usually the groups that are forming after the hill climb in Bisbee are around 6-10 riders. This time we had a group of 14 riders. We all organized into a pace line and stay ahead of all the other groups chasing us.

"Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
To God our Savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen."

Jude 1:24

Night Time Charity Ride

Two spoke members, Todd Stuve and Todd Huff participated in a charity ride that supported Tupelo Children's Mansion, a Christian residential group home in Tupelo Mississippi serving families and children in crisis situations. Todd Stuve and his family raised almost $2,500. Praises be to our Lord and Savior Jesus for this accomplishments. This charity ride was a different kind of ride. It started at 11 PM. That's right. It was a night ride which was the culmination of the fund raising effort with a 65-mile ride from the north side of Tucson to Casa Grande, AZ.  Beginning at near-midnight most of the ride was along the I-10 frontage and there was vehicular support for the riders.  Other riders included youth group members from a local Tucson church group.  The weather was perfect and the cool night air made for an exhilarating and totally different riding experience!

Poco's And Moms - A Witness For Christ

We wanted to take the opportunity to thank the owners of a local restaurant here in Tucson, Poco's and Moms for their support of IC3 for the last 2 years. Poco's and Moms is owned by Kim (center photo) and her mother who are believers in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. They offer some of the best New Mexico style Mexican food. They are located on the East side of town on the northwest corner of 22nd and Kolb.

A while ago we presented Kim a thank you picture and she proudly displays near table 8. She especially liked the verse we have on our banner in the photo.

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." 1 Cor. 10:31

This picture and Kim's very uplifting spirit are a great witness for our Lord Jesus and his awesome love towards us. Kim says the photo is viewed by customers and has generated many comments expressing how refreshing it is to be reminded of eternal Christian truth. When Kim receives comments about the bible verse and photograph on the wall, she takes the opportunity to acknowledge that her life has been changed by her faith. She also mentioned that since incorporating Christian principals into her business, her business has been blessed immensely.

Visit Poco's and Mom, enjoy this wonderful small refreshing atmosphere. Praise, glory and honor be to the only One who can keep us from stumbling and presents us with exceeding joy. Praise be to Jesus !!!

Water (Bottle) Outreach & Goat Head Removal

About 50 riders stopped at our Water (Bottle) Outreach at Houghton and Old Spanish Trail. We refilled water bottles of bicyclists passing by and handed out some Hammer gels. Temperatures got hotter as they day went on, but it wasn't too super hot. We ended around 10am when riders usually end their rides due to the rising temperatures.

All riders who stopped, liked for us being out there and asked what we were doing. We shared our IC3  mission with them, which is to unite Christian cyclists for a worldwide testimony in lifestyle, training, and sportsmanship, and to expose each cyclist to the love and peace of Jesus Christ, so he/she may want to have a relationship with Him. I told some of the riders about Mark 9:41

For whoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you belong to Christ, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.

During our outreach, Jim, one of our members, plugged some Goat Head weeds which are notorious to cause flat tires along side the bike path. These weeds look pretty when they bloom for a little while, but their seeds burst into many little thorns that many riders have experienced during their rides. So instead of fixing flat tires which can be dangerous during speedy training rides, we opted for flat tire prevention.



We all agreed and are praying to continue this outreach until El Tour de Tucson comes around. Riders are in need of water and of good fellowship as well. Praises be to our Heavenly Father for blessing us with such a ministry.

In The Clouds

Today we rode up Mt. Lemmon. We had a pretty decent group of about 7, for a Thursday morning. Everyone rode up to various points and then turned around. But the cool thing was the clouds hovering on the mountain. The more we climbed, the more we rode in the clouds. It was a cool site as well as a cool feeling, giving the August temperatures here in Tucson. Clouds all around. That reminded me of God's word, Psalm 97:2

"Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne."

What an awesome God we serve and can ride for. What an awesome creation and a wonderful site we saw this morning. I wanted to "mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." as it is written in Isaiah 40:31. I wanted to take a picture, but had none ready. Here is a link to a picture what it looked like.

May God Bless you and open your eyes to His wonderful Creation.

Breakfast Ride July 9, 2011

Thank you all for attending the IC3 Eastside Breakfast Ride today. You all looked great with the IC3 colors and other people definitely noticed us on the road. What a blessing it was to have such a great turnout and have new people checking out the group as well. I want to apologize for being a couple of minutes late - Michael did a great job pacing me into town on the "ride before the ride". But once on the road, we were able to travel on a few roads that we normally do not see and riders had options to go around the loop at SNPE and Pistol Hill. I went with the group that toured the loop drive at SNPE and everyone did a great job of riding. our group had about 1240ft of climbing on the way to breakfast - not a bad way to earn a pancake! Hee hee! Let us know what you thought of the Breakfast Ride and whether we should do it again sometime - I for one really looked forward to it and it did not disappoint - the fellowship of brothers and sisters in Christ is priceless! My family expressed a particular joy at being able to help as well. Praise to our Lord for helping us do this activity - may we always be mindful of our Lord and always joyful in His Blessing.

Happy 4th of July

"Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
The people He has chosen as His own inheritance."
Psalm 33:12

Happy 4th of July. We had a great Freedom ride this morning. What a blessing, we started riding at 6am with a cloud cover. It was a prayer answered because we desperately need rain here in Tucson, AZ. But most of all we need the rain of the Holy Spirit to revive this nation and bring it back to it's roots. "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." Chronicles 7:14 And it all starts with us, do we harbor sin in our lives and don't treat our neighbor right. Well today we join as a spoke together to ride together and lift up the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

May you have a blessed celebration of the freedom we have in this country. Be safe and God Bless You and God Bless America.

"Righteousness exalts a nation,
But sin is a reproach to any people."
Proverbs 14:34

GDOP Tucson Cross Walk

"If My people, who are called by My name,
will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wickedways,
then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

2 Chronicles 7: 14

The Global Day of Prayer Tucson (GDOP Tucson) Cross Walk was from June 2. - 11. Each day a cross was carried from a ministry to another ministry, to be finally delivered to the UfA Mall for the final event of the Global Day of Prayer.

We picked up the cross at EWOG (Eagles Wings of Grace) which is located at Pima near Swan Rd. We took turns carrying the cross shouldered, down Swan Rd to Broadway. Everyone who did not walk pushed their bike following the cross. Right before Broadway we met a cyclists named Joshua. He was shirtless and on his way to an appointment. He asked if he could join us to carry the cross. He shouldered it and carried it the fastest all the way to Broadway. We talk a little more, prayed and sent him on his way. From Broadway we went to Alvernoon, down on the bike path to 22nd and back to Columbus where we dropped off the cross at the Sober Project/Giving Tree church. We met Lesa who welcomed us when we dropped off the cross. We prayed together and rode our bikes back to EWOG. Thanks to everyone who participated and especially praises to our Heavenly Father enabling us short notice to participate in His event.