Riding at Home

It's funny how what is a normal "training" ride can turn positively delightful when you add a few friends.
My usual long ride is to Chesterton and back...it is about 60 miles.
It can be tedious and boring when I am by myself...but when you add a few new friends, that same ride becomes an adventure.
Today, Dirk and I led groups into Roseland from Trinity to see the Roseland Christian Ministries Center. We were responsible for the route and we took care of organizing groups who wanted to take the alternate route to Roseland and then connect with the tour route to Chesterton. It was great fun riding as a pack into the city.
We were on ABC News 7 last night for the nightly broadcast...I don't know if that helped, but people seemed to know who we were all along the way. They called to us from the street and they waved and shouted us along...
We were heading into the southside of the city and it was enlightening for many of our riders who had never been to Chicago. One of the riders said to me, I am feeling very "white" right now....a natural reaction that takes time to recover from I guess and so, many of our neighbors of color feel very colorful when they spend time with us!
It was a drastic difference from yesterday .. on busy roads iwth lots of misunderstanding drivers. We seemed to have a reception committee waiting for us on our arrival. I was thrilled b/c we weren't sure how we would be received. Dirk and I cycle in the city often and never have had a negative experience, but how would 50 white folks on expensive bikes be perceived in communities where getting your daily meals is sometimes in question...I was humbled and thrilled to see the support, and I hope we held just a brief moment of encouragement for them. They took us in to the shelter, gave us a tour and water and sent us on our way with cheers and lots of laughter and joy. We even made a few skeptics on our tour know that they could go safely into the city and see what people are doing to help each other in times of need....and they are doing all that at Roseland Christian Ministries.

Then we headed toward Indiana ...down Hohman Ave, a straight shot into our hometown of Munster. It was good too....signs along the route and when we came up to 2nd CRC our church had turned out on the corner and the Riemersma's were standing with others to shout and hoot and holler...and holding welcome signs. Mom and Dad Feikema, had been standing in their front lawn with a lovely sign too.
Lunch was awesome and the food, as usual was plentiful. We were some of the last riders of the day b/c Dirk and I wanted to stay back to make sure there were no questions on the route or no difficulties since we knew it so well.

Also astonishing to me was that my Weight Watcher's leader, Jen, was standing on the corner waiting too. She was so excited for me and I was excited to see her. She had been waiting for an hour and a half and finally we came. Wow, there's support in action and I will never forget the love of those ladies...They've been huge and without them I could've never have done this tour.

So lunch and then off again with a few others to finish the last 30 miles. And we had a few freinds from Munster CRC church join us too. Bob & Linda biked to Chesterton with Dirk and I and a small group of others. That was a fun way to finish the days mileage, no pressure, a little stop at a small tavern in Porter. We had some good conversations and laughs too and compared notes on our experiences at Roseland and what we appreciated about the day.

So now we are camping at Indiana Dunes State Park...I didn't get to go into the beach but I think we will see some of it tomorrow. Here's hoping that it doesn't rain as a 40% chance of rain is predicted.

Note, I have located a loaner computer,....I'm so grateful for that since my computer never did hold it's own for the last week and a half and I wasn't able to post.
So now the rides are shorter and perhaps I can do a regular blog for the next few days. Tomorrow we are off to South Haven...this is also a familiar route for me. If it doesn't rain it will be a beautiful ride along the lakeshore...Come ride with me today too!