Other Events Besides Cycling

Another passion of mine involving cycling are triathlons. Praises be to our Heavenly Father for blessing me with this gift. I starting doing triathlons in 1992 in Rostock, Germany. My last triathlon was in 1996 in Germany racing for SG Fiko Rostock in the Bundesliga. It was a fun race. Soooooo, after many years of not swimming and running, but only cycling, God enabled me to again participate in 2 events this sprint.

The first one was not a triathlon, but rather a duathlon (run, bike, run). It was the US National Championship which took place in Oro Valley at Innovation Dr. The run course had one challenge towards the end of the run leg. It was up the hill of Innovation Dr. The bike course were 2 loops around Rancho Vistoso Blvd. which were light rollers which we know from the El Tour de Tucson.

I participated with a few members from FCA-E (Fellowship of Christian Athletes). It was great to show unity with our yellow jerseys. May God be glorified in all we did leading up and during the race.

The Tucson Triathlon was 3 weeks later. It was a sprint distance triathlon, 825 yards swim, 12 mile bike and a 3 mile run. The swim and the bike distances were great and felt easy. However the run was a different story. After exhausting myself on the bike, there was little left for the run. That's why I am a cyclists. Or maybe I just got to run a lot more. Well I placed 8th overall and 4th in my age group. WOW, 40-44 is a tough age group to compete in. It was fun nonetheless, all those 40 year old showing the young once how to do it :-). It was fun, even after all those years. WOOOHOOO !!!

2011 Ride of Silence

2011 Tour de Mesa

We headed down (or up) to Mesa to participate in the Tour de Mesa (formerly known as Tour de Phoenix). This was the first year of the same race under the new name. The name change only reflected that the majority of the race took and takes place in Mesa. I think at it's closest point it comes within 15 miles of Phoenix and does not even pass through Phoenix. So it only makes sense after so many years to change the name.

God blessed us with the ability to promote IC3 in the Greater Phoenix area at the expo which took place at the Mesa expo center. We handed out Hammer gels, Hammer Fizz, sampled some of their HEED and even handed out some Daily Devotional Bibles. Thanks to Hammer Nutrition for providing all these goodies over the years. We talked to many riders, some interested in the club, some interested in just riding with Christians and others just interested in the free Hammer goodies. It is always a pleasure to give away free things at these expos. And because this expo is small in comparison to the one at the El Tour de Tucson, you got to interact with the riders on a more personal level.

Giving away free things also reminded me of Jesus, to Him and His Father be all glory and honor, now and forever. Free things are not free, and so is our live in Christ. Jesus had to die so that we might live. It's not cheap grace, it cost the Father everything.

On race day, Todd, Harry and I participated in the race. The race starts out with almost all riders heading down University Blvd. at 27 miles/hour in a decent sized group (500 people or more ?!?). We usually take up 3 lanes escorted by police motorcycles. And at 6:15 in the morning we don't upset too many motorists that have to stop at the intersections we are racing through. We even tripped a few red light and speeding cameras. I guess they got confused with all those cyclists riding over the induction loops. All that training payed off and I was able to improve my time from 2009 and finished in under 3 hours (platinum time). Todd finished in shy of 4 hours and Harry finished right around 5 hours. We had a great time at the race, no injuries to report, even though there were a few crashes. We established new relationships with riders from Tucson, that have been part of our training rides. Racing gave it a special bond.

We are looking forward to the Tour of the Tucson Mountains (TTM) and next years Tour de Mesa.

Training Hard And Being A Witness For Christ

In preparation of the 2011 spring races we rode hard and used the God provided opportunities to share. We participated in the Early Shootout which is a well known local training ride, leaving on Saturday mornings at the UfA. There are 2 Shootout groups, the Early group (the older more relaxed riders, yeah right) and the adrenaline filled youth :-) Both rides start at the UfA, go on Mission Rd to Helmet Peak, to Green Valley and back Old Nogales Highway. It's about a 60 mile loop which averages about 22-23 miles/hour (that's the Early group).

Anyhow, it is the usual crowd of riders, some you know by name, some you know by jersey and helmet :-) After some good efforts up Mission Rd and after the first sprinting point, a rider pulls up to me and said, "Hi Mike, you don't know me, but you are an inspiration.". WOW, riders that don't even know me are watching. Well, praises be to our Heavenly Father, because me being in my IC3 jersey and with references to christiancycling.com, what a witness for Christ. I hope and pray that they saw HIM in me and not me.

Along the same lines, one of our older IC3 members did his Saturday ride a little later in the day. He rode 51 miles and after about 45 miles "slugging up Rancho Vistoso" as he put it, a rider pulled up next to him and said, "keep going, I'm tired too, I'm with you brother and God is good, HE's the only way" pointing to the sky and yelling "God is GOOOD !!!". Keeping riders focused on HIM, mission fulfilled, at least that day.

And posting all those wonderful little God encounters on our ArizonaIC3-Rides Yahoo! email list, got the entire list fired up for another week, looking forward to more God encounters.

Updated POST: 2010 El Tour de Tucson

"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

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. Blessed 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.

2010 El Tour de Tucson Expo, Race & Aid Station

We are excited to be present at the 2010 El Tour de Tucson expo again. We are excited to serve the cycling community by being a witness for our Lord God, Jesus Christ as it is written in 1 Peter 3:15

"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who ask you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear."

With meekness and fear, an example given by our LORD Jesus Christ in his life that he laid down so that we may life. Visit us at the booth 304. Talk to us. We have some goodies to give away.

2010 Tour de Safford

Patsy and I went to Safford on Friday afternoon and spent the evening picking up the race packet and getting at least a little familiar with the 66 mile course. The planners had to change the course at the last minute to accommodate concerns from the police. Safford impressed us with its busy and really unexpected vigrance in the midst of a shaky economy.

This was the inaugural presentation for Tour de Safford and we were very impressed by how organized everything was. The entire event encompassed opportunities to run a half marathon, a 5K run/walk, OR a 104 mi, 66 mi or 33 mi bike ride. Also there were really cool classic and race cars on display, aircraft on display, flyovers and lots of other interesting things.

The weather was perfect with a slight wind, cool temps and all the events began like clock work, all starting and finishing at the Safford airport. I didn't get an exact count but the organizers thought that the 104 mi event had around 200 riders and in the 66 mi event we had around 50 riders. I didn't get a count on the 33 mi. The course included extended sections around the Gila River valley, through huge cotton fields and across the flowing Gila River.

PBAA offered a lot of advice and help in setting up this event and actually made it an official training ride for El Tour de Tucson. Beautiful medals and T-shirts were awarded all participants.

IC3 was represented and I wore the colors. They even had a wonderful pre-race prayer during which the person praying mentioned the importance of faith in Jesus our Lord. I finished 22nd with a time of 3:37 in the 66 mi (18.2 avg)

It was a great time and if they do it again next year I would encourage more IC3 folks to participate. It was relatively inexpensive (only $65 for any distance) compared to ETDT.

Now, lets get geared up for our El Tour de Tucson events. We are still looking for helpers at the aid station (contact Martha) and let me know if you can volunteer some time at our Tour Expo booth on Thursday and Friday before the ride.

Jesus is Lord and with Him all things are possible. Blessings,

Todd H.