Then there were 3.....

Yes! We have added a new member to our tour across America. I have begun to describe this trip more as a tour the more people I talk to. The reason is because as I look at some of the terrain on the trip (2nd day we climb for about 70 miles , 8,000 ft elevation) to call it a "ride" would assume I am peddling the entire time. To call it a tour would allow me to hop off the bike and push it up the mountain!

Anyway, we are excited to have "Diamond Dallas Dave" riding with us. Currently he and his wife, Sharon, live in Dallas, North Carolina. They were former members of our board and have helped Crossover really get up off the ground. He is a cyclist and enjoys worshiping and serving Jesus while riding so we figured he would be a great fit. We are excited to have Dave along for the trip.

Enoree Passage 40 miler

Some of you may know that Jesse and I were training to do our first Ultra Marathon this past weekend. A 40 mile run through the woods sounded like a great challenge for us physically and mentally. We had finished our training, (or lack there of), and we were all ready to go. Unfortunately there was a blip in Jesse's schedule and he was unable to make it. Mary, my most beautiful wife, and I woke up at 4:50 to get some food in the system and make sure we had everything packed up. With our four legged children Layla and Kylie in the car, we headed to Newberry for the run. The race started right at 7:30 so it was a nice and cool 55 degree start. Since this was my first Ultra I knew I needed to start out VERY SLOW!!! I started in the back half of the pack and found a group of 3 other runners that suited my pace. We trotted along together passing a few runners here and there. Little did I know we had moved into first place. We made it to the 15 mile aid station to refuel on water and food. I started walking ahead as I ate to wait up for the others but somehow I got off the trail and in no mans land. When I started to notice that there were no trail markers I started to back track. I finally made it onto the course again and headed to the turn around point. I made it to the half way point feeling great so I started to head back to the start. I never really noticed it but we went downhill A LOT on the way out and now it was time to suffer. After a long gradual hill at mile 23 I cracked. My legs started to cramp and I hadn't taken in enough potassium at any of the starts. I made it to the next aid station at mile 25 and started to replenish calories, electrolytes, sugars etc. Rookie mistake.... I hadn't been eating enough for the first 25 miles and I had just over loaded my system with to much and started to feel sick. I jogged/walked the next 5 miles in agony and pain. I made it to mile 30 and took a 5 minute sit down. I headed out with a few other runners and started to have big doubts that I could make it the last 10 miles. After some encouraging words from a veteran who was doing the 30 mile run I kept at it, and surprisingly I felt pretty good. I made it to the 35 mile marker with high hopes of finishing only to realize it was all an up hill battle from there. Literally, it was all up hill. I stumbled along for the last five miles to FINALLY finish the 40 miles in 8 hours and 12 minutes. I placed 18th out of about 70 runners. Not to bad for running 2-3 times a week for 5 weeks. I spoke to some of the runners and they had trained 4-6 months when they did their first Ultra. Besides barely being able to walk the next day I am looking forward to start the serious training for the Cross Country Ride. This weekend Jesse and I are supposed to do a 100 mile ride, if my legs can re-cover by then.

May 5th Devo

Hebrews 11

1) Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of things we do not see.

What does faith that pleases God look like? Throughout Hebrews 11 it talks about faith, examples of faith, and people who lived with faith. I think about my life and wonder how I can display faith through my decisions, actions, and lifestyle. As believers we want to show god we trust in Him through how faithfully we follow him. We follow Jesus because we trust Him, we have confidence that what He says will come true.

Some people may look at 2 guys riding their bike across the country as "great acts of faith", personally it wasn't a hard decision for us to do something like this. We want to use it as an opportunity to share our faith with people and show them that they can use something they enjoy doing as an avenue to share their faith with people. My view of great acts of faith are those people who move their entire family to another country where preaching the gospel is against the law. They require God to intervene on a daily basis just to have something to eat, for protection, survival. To me that's what strong faith looks like.

Faith is having confidence that God will do what He said He would do.

This type of faith is tough because it's easy to have faith when things are going great, but hard when life's not so easy.

The Bible says:

Vs. 13- All these people (referring to the parts of the chapter where it mentions by name a few people) where still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised....

We have faith in God because of what He did for us on the cross not because of what He can give us or the easy life we want to life.

It's like training for an endurance event whether it's biking or running. You have days where you hurt, where it's hard to pedal or put one foot in front of the other, but if you don't quit and you push through those times then that's when you become a better athlete. It's in those tough times that God molds us into who He wants us to become. Those times require faith and evelops an unshakable faith tha tonly God can develop to help us push through in the future.

Through the mud and tough times of life is when God molds greatness.

Training Ride #2 and Trail Run

This past Wednesday night we went for a short but fast ride after work. We had the pleasure of being joined by Old Man Brantley and the sweetheart of sales Geoff "Mad Dog" McDowell. We headed out towards Gilbert with a strong headwind and then the attacks started. Most of you don't know Brantley but he WAS a very strong rider. Well after listening to Glory Days by The Cougar he decided to try and get young again. The old man tried to leave us numerous times until he realized that turkeys will never fly like eagles. After that fiasco we finally got into a pace line and headed back towards home before dark.

The tables have turned. Yes we are training to cycle across the country but Jesse and I decided to do a 40 mile train run to really test ourselves. Actually we made this decision before we made the choice to ride cross country. We are not trying to win the run but more or less just finish with dignity. This past December Jesse actually qualified for the Boston Marathon and has still been putting in some good running miles. So with that in mind I paced us to a moderate 14 mile run around Harbison State Park. The run is next weekend on May 9th. So please make sure you say a prayer for us every hour from 7:30 a.m until about 2:00 p.m.

Sorry we have been short on pictures. I forgot to put the memory card in my camera. We will hopefully have some for next time.

Bike Route

This will be the route that Jesse and I will be taking. Sorry it is not very detailed. We will be putting up each day on google earth so you can see the towns that we will be riding through, and the monstrous mountains we will be climbing.

In about a month we will be able to post all of our training data as well thanks the the Sigma Rox 9.0 computers, (more about those later). But you will be able to see our elevation, speed, heart rate, cadence about a go-gillion other pieces of information. Well we will be doind a short ride tonight and will be sure to have some pictures up.

Pedro's: They Keep it Rolling!

As Jesse had mentioned, our first ride was pretty much monsoon the entire time. Mixed in with the sandy terrain our bikes and drive trains were caked with the nastiness. But thanks to Bert Low and the gang at Pedro's , we were ready to clean the bikes accordingly. Step 1: Take off the wheels and spray a tiny bit Oranj Peelz on the cassette and let sit.

Step 2: Spray Green Fizz on the the bike frame, fork, brakes, EVERYTHING! Once you have done this, simply take a clean cloth and wipe the bike down.

Step 3: If you want the bike to have a nice bling/sheen factor to it, spray a little bit of Bike Lust on the frame and fork, (try to keep away from brakes). Bike Lust is great for UV protection. If you do this regularly it will make your bike easier to clean. Also for our MTB readers, Spray some on your tires and it will help protect against mud build up.

Step 4: Once your Oranj Peelz has been on the cassette take a Pedro's Tooth Brush and scrub away! After scrubbing you can blast away the rest with a hose. If you choose to use a hose be sure to dry off the cassette and wheels as soon as you can. You can also use the Tooth Brush on cassettes, chains, cranks, and derailleurs.

Step 5: Once you have put the wheels back in the frame, grab the Green Fizz again and either apply directly to the rim or spray some a towel. Once applied, you can scrub away all the dirt, grit, and grime from the braking surface and spokes. Step 6: Take your Pedro's Chain Machine Kit and put some of the ol' Oranj Peelz in it. This will make the chain shine like a new diamond ring.

Wipe of the excess cleaner and apply the Pedro's lube of your choice. With rain not on the radar until next weekend we have decided to use GO! . This is great for clean riding conditions and will penetrate well into the chain pins.

Please check back later to see how our training has been going. Thanks again to Bert and Pedro's for all your support. This ride and experience would not be the same with out it.

First training ride complete!

Writer: Jesse
Training miles: 40

Training Day 1: Rain, kinda cold, felt extremely hard core. There are a few things I learned from the first day of "real" training...I've got a long way to go. We pretty much have 5 months until we start and I have to get to a point where i'm riding over 100 miles every day. The challenge is exciting but that excitement dwindles when you hit a hill and you are out of breath and it feels like you are going to fall over because you are going so slow. At one point i thought to myself it would be much better just to get off the bike and run up the hill, it would be faster. What's also bad is as I'm going up these hills and gasping for air my friend Tony is having a nice conversation which ends up being a 1 person conversation because i can't find the oxygen to suffice my burning legs and lungs. Anyway, looking forward to training and getting in form.

T minus: 154days!