About 35 of the 219 bicyclists and volunteers on the Sea to Sea Bicycle Tour 2013, wearing their riding jerseys and t-shirts, filed in to a Calvin College auditorium yesterday evening to be presented to the CRC Synod, the denomination’s bi-national governing body.
The group will leave from Newport Beach, Calif., on Monday, June 24, to begin a 3,900 mile ride across the US and Canada that will end with a ceremonial tire-dipping in the Atlantic Ocean in New York on August 24.
Claire Elgersma (photo, right), the tour chair, was introduced by World Renew US director Andrew Ryskamp and covered with prayer by Synod delegates that was led by World Renew Canada director Ida Kaastra-Mutoigo (left).
Elgersma emphasized the inspiring, ecumenical, and community impact aspects of the tour while noting the fun and challenging experience of a nine-week, cross-country ride.
“This event involves more than 100 congregations from different denominations who come together to support the riders while they train, fundraise, and ride. These churches pray for, donate, house, feed, and encourage cyclists,” Elgersma said.
The tour, which is the first since a similar, inaugural cycling event in 2008, will be accompanied this year by a variety of support vehicles, including a new semi tractor-trailer outfitted with a kitchen that will feed more than 200 people a day.
The tractor and trailer were fitted and donated for tour use by a generous, anonymous donor. The kitchen (often described as “sweet”) will continue to be used to feed people in a variety of North American events after the 2013 bike tour is complete in August.
You can see the day-by-day tour route, keep up with the bicyclist’s progress on their blogs, and donate at www.seatosea.org.
