WELKOM to the life of Tyler Buitenwerf

More Ian Lucas Buitenwerf pictures

2010-04-17T16:27:00.003-04:00

Ian Lucas Buitenwerf

2010-04-16T09:30:00.004-04:00

Last night at 10:19 PM Anita and Tyler Buitenwerf welcomed Ian Lucas Buitenwerf into their family. He weighed 4 pounds and 13.5 ounces and was 18 inches tall at the time of birth. Continue to come back periodically as I will ad pictures throughout the day.

2009-06-20T11:22:00.002-04:00

This is Anita. I thought that I would help update the blog for the past week. We have not had access to internet this week, except briefly yesterday at a McDonald's in Missouri Valley. Tyler's doing more route planning right now for next week. As Ed can probably attest, planning a safe and feasible biking day is a work in progress. Tyler's not following the exact route that Sea to Sea took last year so that he can spend time with family and get their help with day to day support. So, without further ado, highlights from this past week:

Prep ride in Fort Collins - Tyler rode up into Rist Canyon on the suggestion of Doug and Renee. Doug took me up there on Sat while Tyler was riding. This was quite beautiful. It was a great preview of the foothills around Fort Collins. Huge THANKS to Doug and Renee for hosting Tyler and myself. They are great hosts.

Sat. June 13, 2009 - Fort Collins to Sterling, CO
Tyler, myself, Doug, Renee and the kids rode together on the extensive bike trail system in Fort Collins to Tyler's send off point for the day. One could ride for miles on the trails there. Fort Collins is a very bike friendly city. Tyler and I both commented how green CO is this June. There were fields of wild flowers all along the route 14. The high plains are beautiful - vast open spaces, both sky and land. The birds kept playing playing chicken with the car and two lost. Sat. night was the first a many storms this week. We camped at North Sterling State Park. We had sustained winds of near 40+ and a tornado warning! Tent held up great. Throughout this week we were on the edges of each of the major storms and so avoided the worst of the weather.

Sun. June 14, 2009 - Sterling, CO to Ogallala, NE
Long day. Tyler began struggling with stomach upset, but was able to finish out the day. Camped at Lake Ogallala State Rec. Area. We got a site right on the lake. Thunderstorm #2. I definitely would go back here again to camp. We took the scenic route to Paxton, NE for dinner ate Ole's Big Game Bar. The scenic route means the map indicated a paved route; it was not. Not much in that part of NE except ranches, so few and far between they actually are labeled on the map. Also, if you've never eaten at Ole's, it's worth stopping once just for the experience. Ole was a big game hunter on seven continents and the results of his hunting are displayed throughout the bar.

Mon. June 15, 2009 Ogallala, NE to Maxwell, NE.
Tyler's stomach so upset, he was unable to ride a full day. We abandoned that day's planned route completely, and in order to make the next day easier, he rode from Maxwell to Gothenburg. We stayed at a private campground right by Fort McPherson National Cemetery -thunderstorm #3 and tornado warning #2. We were instructed by the owners to use the storm shelter by the main house if needed. I've never experienced a true storm shelter on an old farm. We looked at it just in case, and I'm really glad that we didn't have to use it.

Tues. June 16, 2009 Gothenburg, NE to Shelton, NE
Tyler feeling a little better today, but not able to eat much while riding without feeling ill. We're now following US30. Best part about taking this route are all of the trains. We saw a train about every 10 minutes today. Most of the trains were carrying coal, but one train had blades for wind turbines. It is completely amazing how long they are. Tyler met a couple of other cyclists biking cross country. They started in San Francisco. We camped at Fort Kearney State Historic Park. Tyler and I went to the Archway Monument on I80 as an excursion - meaning I dragged Tyler. Probably won't do it again, but now I can say that we've been there.

Wed. June 17, 2009 Shelton, NE to Columbus, NE
It really started to get hot this day. It topped out in the low 90s. The wind also picked up in the afternoon and changed direction causing a stiff head wind for Tyler. He really had to work hard towards the end of the day. During his trip planning, he found a cabin at Windmill State Park with air conditioning, so we stayed here for the next two nights. I drove him back and forth to his start/stop points each day. The park is on the Missouri River by Desoto National Wildlife Refuge. The "big muddy", as the Missouri is commonly called, was a rushing mess of mud, trees and debree.

Thurs. June 18, 2009 Columbus NE, to Missouri Valley, IA
HOT AND HUMID 93 degrees with blazing sunshine. Tyler worked really hard to make sure he stayed well hydrated and kept up with his electrolytes. He had a bit of a tail wind this day. As he got within 30 miles of the Missouri river, the ride got a little more interesting again as he encountered more hills. I30 traffic started to really pick up. While the best thing about I30 might be the trains, the worst thing, is that like I80 it follows the Platte River Valley the entire length of NE. This means it's a very flat ride, but after a few days, not so interesting. We were a little concerned about road safety today and tried to find an alternate route in the morning for the next day, but were unsuccessful. We had another mini-adventure on the NE back roads. We met a road construction worker who thought that they'd gotten 6 1/2 in rain in the last 2 weeks. This gives new meaning to "BIG MUDDY"! Big thunderstorm #4. We actually got up at 3 am to watch it. We heard that there was a tornado in Columbus, NE with this storm.

Fri. June 19, 2009 Missouri Valley, IA to Guthrie Center, IA - but went further to Panora, IA
Route 44 - RAINED all day. Tyler probably felt the best this day since Sat. The roads are hilly on the west side of IA because of the Loess Hills, a unique land feature that can only be found 1 other place in the world -China. I spent an hour in the morning at the wildlife refuge. This is really neat park. I really liked all the animals. I wonder what the turkey to deer ratio is? The visitor center has a display on the Bertrand, a steamer that sunk in the Missouri in the 1860s. They recovered the cargo in the 1960's, and it's on display. We didn't feel like camping in the rain, so we drove ahead to his parents in Altoona, IA. Tyler will ride Panora, IA to Altoona, IA tomorrow.

Next week, Altoona, IA to Manitowoc, WI. His Dad is going to do support for him. Continue to pray for safety and good weather. So far, no falls, no flat tires, and no serious health or other bike issues. He misses the camaraderie of the riders from the tour last year. We appreciate all of your support and words of encouragement this year. Tyler's going to add some highlight pictures later and maybe a few comments of his own.

I am in Fort Collins, CO right now

2009-06-10T23:26:00.002-04:00

SO it has been a while since I blogged. I made it to Binghampton in NY and Anita and I then drove home on SUnday night. We got in really late and then Monday I spent the day getting ready for my drive out to CO. I then left on Tuesday to my parents in Iowa and today I made it out to FOrt Collins, CO. I am staying here for a few days until ANita flies in and then I am giong to start riding on Saturday.
On the way here today I was some of the most beautiful storms I have ever seen. There were some North and some SOuth of the Interstate and at one point it rained SO hard that I could only drive 35 MPH. It is pretty out here. I plan on giong for a ride up a canyon tomorrow and also checking out the New Belguim Brewery. I will post some pics of the storms and hopefully the the ride tomorrow. See ya later.

Two decent days of riding

2009-06-04T17:46:00.003-04:00

Sorry I did not post last night Ted Harris and his family were too good of hosts they took me out and showed me the sights of the city and I did not get a chance to sit down and blog.

Yesterday was an easy day of riding. I took it really slow and just relaxed. It was nice since my legs were hurting in the morning when I woke up. Eritia lives in the part of hamilton that they call down the Mtn. For the non Canucks reading. It is below the Niagara Escarpement that runs along the lake their all the way to the falls. It is what the falls go down when they actuall fall. Anyways, I had to ride up it first thing in the morning. I mean literally first thing in the morning. That was not a ton of fun, but I endured none the less. I then went through Hamilton and ended up on a road called Ridge Road. Named because it runs along the ridge of the escarpement. It was beautiful. I could see all the way across the lake to Toronto.

I then stopped for about an hour and a half at The Dutch Shop in Grimsby where Eritia is the Baker. She treated me to an excellent lunch. I had two sandwiches and some coffee. The second was the best Grilled cheese ever. Foccacia and Rosemary bread with Gouda chees. (go ahead and drool)

I then rode on into St. Catharines. On my way I happened across a winery called Wayne Gretzky Estates. Yes it is owned for Wayne himself since he is the owner. I picked up a bottle of wine that I am regretfully now carrying in my trailer.

Today I rode to Niagra falls and spent about an hour an a half looking at the falls from the Canadian side. I then crossed the border with no problems at all and then headed into Batavia, NY, Where I am now. I am staying with a gentleman by the name of Keith Andrews. I contacted him on a website called Warmshowers.org. It is for touring bicyclists. You can find places to stay as long as you are willing to host also. He is a nice bachelor in his 40s who used to ride a ton and still has 4 nice bikes. Yes Anita I said FOUR. Tomorrow I am off to Geneva NY where I am staying in a hotel just West of the City. I hope for a little less wind than today. I had a somewhat stiff breeze at my 10 o'clock. It made for some working harder than I wanted to.

I may not get to blog again tomorrow or Saturday so I will Update when I can.

Niagra falls

My camera sucks (I guess I should stop dropping it)

Eritia and I after lunch. MMMM good

Eritia and I after riding into Hamilton. Picture taken by Ed Witvoet. Tour director

cool and long day

2009-06-02T19:52:00.002-04:00

Today was another 80 mile day. It started out with John Vandersteen coming to escort me out of London. I probably would have gotten lost without the escort. We then cycled onto meet Eritia Smit about half way between London and Hamilton.
This morning was a slow ride. We had a nasty head wind in the morning and John was tired from escorting me in the day before so we took it easy and when we met Eritia he turned around and went back home. I am sure he is tired and ready for a day off the bike.
When I met up with Eritia we picked up the pace a little and made it into Hamilton at about 3:30. We stopped by to see Ed Witvoet (the tour director) and talked with him for about 20 minutes. After that we wen on to Eritias house were I am staying tonight. Eritia cooked an excellent meal and I got a lot of calories into my body.
Tomorrow will be an easy day. It is only 50 miles onto St. Catharines were I am staying. I plan on stopping about half way in a town called Grimsby and having lunch at The Dutch Shop. Eritia works there as a bakers apprentice. It should be excellent.

My legs are sore but doing well, my bum is also sore, but doing fine. My shoulder is really sore, but thank goodness for ALeve.

I will post some pics tomorrow hopefully.

Adios.

Tiring and wet day

2009-06-01T18:21:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I entered Canada and rode a total of 62 miles. I stayed with a couple that was on the tour last year. Paul and Theresa Hoekstra. They were very gracious and wonderful hosts. I was lucky enough to have a tailwind all day long. Nice way to start the week. I was tired and slept well.

Today I rode 80 miles to the city of London. It is Northeast of Chatham where I stayed the night before. I was met about half way in by three guys that were on tour last year. It was great to have some people to ride with the last 35 miles. I got quite wet today. About an hour into my ride it started riding. I ended up riding in the rain for about 2 hours. The rain stopped after lunch and made for a nice ride into London. My bike was a mess and needed some TLC when I got into Mulder's place where I am staying tonight. My dry bags were a mess, but all inside was good and dry. After some clean up time and dinner it is now time to blog and relax fr the rest of the evening to embark on another 80 miles tomorrow into Hamilton.

Here are some pictures from the last two days.

Try number two

2009-05-30T19:51:00.002-04:00

I am off tomorrow to begin my finishing of the endeavor I began last year. My wife is dropping me off in Richmond MI. From there I am going to ride into Canada and onto Chatham, following the original Sea to Sea route. I will try and blog a few time next week as I continue across Canada and New York. I am really tired and need to get some rest now so I will try and get some pictures and maps up for you in a day or two.

The speech

2008-08-28T20:16:00.002-04:00

OK, I am fianlly getting around to posting the speech that I gave at the celebration rally in Gr. I appreciate all of your support and nice words about the day. THANKS!

I have heard it said that it is about the journey not the destination. I agree that much can be learned in the journey so let me briefly tell you about my journey and what I have learned.

My journey began in the summer of 2007 when I received a postcard that read Sea to Sea Ending the Cycle of Poverty. Normally, like most junk mail I would have thrown the card in the recycle bin. However, the bicycles on the front caught my eye. I read the card which talked about biking across the country to raise funds in relief of poverty. This sounded interesting to me so I did some research. I soon figured out that this was something I wanted to do. I got my wife’s approval and sent in my paperwork.

When I arrived in Seattle I was ready to begin the ride of a lifetime. I had been spending the last 9 months training and preparing for Sea to Sea. I was feeling good and looking forward to the opportunity to the lifetime.

Once the tour started it was everything I had hoped for and even more. I was making amazing friends, loving riding my bike, and enjoying the beauty of God’s creation. The Journey was going great and my goal of riding every mile of the tour looked like it was going to be attained.

That is when things changed for me. We were almost 4 weeks into the tour and I was looking forward to moving out of the mountains and into the heartland of America. Half an hour into Saturdays ride on the way to Denver I got tangled with another rider, fell, and broke my collarbone.

I was devastated. The physical pain in my shoulder was bad, but the emotional pain from losing something I had worked so hard for was much worse.

The three weeks since have been difficult. I have had much time to think about the tour and the many positives that I was able to take away from the experience. I also have had time to think about why I was riding the tour.

I entered the tour excited about getting to ride across the country, reaching the destination of Liberty Park in Jersey City. It was something that I was going to be able to say that I had achieved. However, as I thought about the tour I realized I had approached it all wrong. This is the Sea to Sea ending the Cycle of Poverty, not sea to sea riding from Seattle to New Jersey.

In this thought I came to the realization that even though I had to leave the riding behind I DID reach my destination. My destination was not Liberty Park, but instead raising funds and awareness to help break the cycle that keeps people in poverty. In my journey I learned that ultimately it was about reaching the destination of ending the Cycle of Poverty not the journey of riding across the country.

It may be true that much can be learned in the journey. However, as God’s children when we talk about “Ending the Cycle of Poverty” it is more about arriving at the destination than the Journey to get there.

On behalf of the all the riders, support staff, and volunteers I welcome you and thank you for joining us today in reaching our final destination of Ending the cycle of poverty.

Life during recovery

2008-08-13T10:08:00.002-04:00

It has been a while since I blogged so I thought that it might be nice if I updated my blog and let everyone know how my life is going.
I have been spending most of my days literally just sitting around and not doing much. I wake up in the morning and make breakfast and coffee, while watching the Olympics on NBC. That usually takes me to about 1:00. At this point I will putz around the house or run small errands for my wife or self. I can do small things right now. Yesterday I took apart my father-in-laws old bicycle so that I can repaint it this winter so I have a Foul weather bike to ride. I have also been known to watch a couple of movies during the day, especially when I was right off my surgery and was a lot less mobile.
Then my wife gets home and we eat dinner and I get to watch more Olympics. I love the Olympics for a couple of reasons. #1 It is great to see these people from countries that politically do not get along talk to each other and have a good time on the playing field. Example: I just saw, as I sit here, footage of a duo from Georgia and a duo from Russia playing in Beach volleyball. They embraced and were able to talk and compete just like normal. #2 I love competition and watching it is fun to me. #3 I am amazed at the athleticism and diversity of the human race.
I have had a few observations about the Olympics this year, especially the Americans. #1 when you watch the different sports you can pretty much tell what country someone is from just from their name. For example if they are polish it is probably ending with a ski or we all recognize a Chinese name and German and dutch names as being names from those countries. I guess I am saying that most countries athletes are very homogeneous. Yes, the Netherlands had a black man for a goalie, but his last name was Vermeer. However, When you watch the US athletes who knows what their last name will be. The American team is made up of ethnic names from around the world. It makes me proud to see how America is a place where people from all over the world come and can be successful. The perfect example was watching the mens gymnastics the other night. It came to the final rotation and the US had three athletes whose parents were immigrants to the US. One from China, One from India, and One from Russia. It makes me proud to be an American when I see this kind of thing.
Observation #2 Often times when great athletes have their back to the wall they rise to the occasion and do something special. The perfect example of this is the Men's 400 meter freestyle relay. The French were heavily favored and were talking smack in the newspaper. The US men never said anything back, they just decided to go out and let their swimming do the talking. They stayed even with the French for the first two legs of the relay, then the French pulled about 1 second ahead after the third leg. The US swimmer went into the fourth leg with 1 full second to make up. Everyone thought that they were going to get the silver, then suddenly, about 40 meters from the finish the American swimmer dug down deep and caught the French swimmer and they ended up winning Gold in World Record time. When you watch the replay in Full speed it is impossible to tell which person won, that is how close it was. To top it all off the Americans celebrated wildly, but never once did they say anything except congrats to the French swimmers. Perfect example of doing something great and also great sportsmanship.
You probably want to know how the collarbone is doing. I have a lot less pain and greater mobility then I thought I would. I even sat on the bike trainer for 25 minutes on Monday. I have to see what the Doc says, but I think there is a chance that I may be able to do some riding the final week of the tour. KEEP PRAYING FOR FAST HEALING BECAUSE I THINK THE PRAYERS HAVE HELPED SO FAR.
Thanks for reading my rants about life and Olympics.

Surgery!

2008-08-02T11:41:00.003-04:00

Surgery yesterday went well. I got there at noon for a 2 o'clock surgery and then they told me that the OR was a bit behind and that my surgery would be at 3. It ended up being at 4:15 that the actual surgery started.
While Anita and I waited fort the surgery to get going we watched a movie on the laptop (Cloverfield) and just hung out. I was starving since I had not eaten or drank anything since 11 PM.
The surgery itself lasted 2 hours and as soon as I woke up from surgery I knew that I had done the right thing. My pain was no more than it was before the surgery; and I had a lot more mobility of my shoulder. Before the surgery my bones would move around and knock into each other when I tried to move. Now they are pinned in such a way that they are not going to rub. I still can not do a lot, but, at least I can feed myself and drink and carry dishes and light stuff with my right hand. I don't feel like I need the sling for pain either. I will still wear it in public so that people are careful around me and I don't get funny looks when I ask people to do things for me.
I am looking forward to seeing the tour role into GR in a couple of weeks.
Thank you for the prayers during surgery, I think they helped with my anxiety and guiding the surgeon.

You can clearly see the rod in this picture.

You can clearly see the screws in this picture. (all 9 of them) One bone down 207 more to go before I am indestructible!! :)

Surgery tomorrow!

2008-07-31T19:39:00.002-04:00

I went to the Ortho doc today and he said he could go either way on surgery. I decided I would rather have surgery, since I have pain in my left shoulder from my last break. So, tomorrow I have surgery at 2 PM in Kalamazoo.
Below are my x-rays. You can see both breaks and the large overlap in the bones, plus the vertical piece sitting in there.

The Crash!!!

2008-07-29T17:19:00.002-04:00

What happened? That is a good question to ask. I myself do not know for sure. I can just tell you what I know from the milliseconds that the accident happened and from talking to those who were around me at the time.
Twelve of us were about 35 minutes into a day that was going to be a long day. We were going to do Mt. Evans and squaw pass besides doing the normal route. I was feeling good and the legs seemed to be working well with the easy day the day before. I had just spent about 5 minutes at the front of the group. I had peeled off and was now in the back of the group. From what I am told they passed a slower rider and in the process slowed down. The person in the front probably just stopped pedaling, but by the time it got to the end of the line it was a hard breaking. No one yelled slowing or braking to let us know that they were slowing. Next thing I knew I was literally riding up on the guy in front of me. I put my left hand on his back so I would not run into him. He later told me that he had a burn on the back of his calf so apparently my wheel hit his leg and that caused it to jack-knife and I went down on my side.
My hip has a good bruise on it so I assume my hip hit and that became a fulcrum and my body a lever. I then whipped down and hit my shoulder and my head. I broke my clavicle in two spots and my helmet broke in a couple spots. If I would have landed on my head instead of my shoulder I would probably be in much worse shape.
After the accident I was apparently laid there for a few seconds and then got up and realized that something was seriously wrong with my arm. Most of the pain was in the shoulder joint so I was hopeful that it was only a separated shoulder. When I got to the med center it took them about 10 minutes to x-ray and look at the film and tell me that my tour was over.
That was a rough twenty minutes. I shed a lot of tears and wondered why God would take this away from me. A dream I had invested the last 9 months into. It took about 2 hours for me to start perking up and be in the mood to talk to anyone. After that it took about 24 hours for me to get to the point where I accepted the fact that my tour was over and I was going home.
I was fortunate enough to hitch a ride with Carpenter family from Illinois. Their son Aaron is a rider and they were visiting the riders in Denver. We left Monday Morning and drove 14 hours straight through. I stayed at their house Monday night and Anita picked me up this morning. I thought I was all over the fact of not being in the tour, then on the way home the finality hit me when we started to get closer to Michigan and I broke down again and could not hold in the emotion. I am sure there are times in the next few weeks that I will feel the wave of emotions again, but I know that God has something for me to do the next 5 weeks that I would not have been able to do on the tour.
I have an appointment to see an Ortho on Thursday. I will find out what is going to be done with the arm at that point.
Pray for Cynthia Aukema, I hear she had a nasty fall yesterday and is worse off then I am. If you are reading this Cynthia, I am sorry and I feel your pain and disappointment.

PS
It is my B-day today and I do not feel that much like celebrating. Thank you for your prayers and support the last few days.

yesterday and today's blog

2008-07-25T15:30:00.003-04:00

Yesterdays blog (no internet)

Tired!!!

It has been a few days since I updated my blog so here is what I remember.

The last two days have been tough on my body. Yesterday I rode slower since I was sore and today was a big day with a big climb.

I felt great this morning and then about 30 minutes from the start I realized that I forgot to take my Adderall. Big mistake. It is like a coffee drinker who drinks coffee all day not drinking all day. I was sluggish all afternoon. I felt like I was riding with a flat tire and pulling a wagon behind me. I made it up the hill after a lot of struggle and finally made it into camp in about 6 hours of riding. The total day was 97 miles. My body is just plain tired from the long week; I am looking forward to the easy day tomorrow. ( 34 miles)

On another note, I have heard a lot of feedback about my video, so I am going to try and take another one On Saturday as we descend off of the high pass. I am told that is all switchbacks, and I recall 4 years ago when I was out here they were totally resurfacing it so it should be fairly smooth.

That is all for today. Thanks for the comments that you have been leaving on my blog I appreciate them.

I am going to go for now. Hopefully I will have more to say this weekend.

Enjoy the pictures that I left.

Today's blog
I slept great and it got down to 47 this morning.
Todays ride was so pretty. We went through a canyon that was amazing. I took it easy since it was only 36 miles. Real easy pace and the legs felt good, so hopefully they are ready for the big climb tomorrow.
We stopped at a little joint in Sulphur Springs (yes that is the correct spelling) and had a coffee. It was an enjoyable time. It overwhelmed the server to have 40 bikers show up and want coffee and rolls. They managed and appreciated the business though. This seems to happen at all the towns that we go to.
Tonight we are staying at Snow Mountain Ranch. It is a YMCA camp and is pretty. It is at 8600 feet. This is the highest we camped to date. Some people are starting to feel the altitude. I have been feeling OK, just really dry and the sun is hotter.
Tomorrow we hit the highest point of the tour when we do Berthoid (SP ?) pass. We then drop 6000 feet into Denver. SO although it is going to be a tough climb, I think it will be a fairly quick 80 miles.
I am planning on staying with a host family once again this weekend so I can get a good nights rest. We will be leaving the mountains behind and losing elevation every day for a while now. It will be interesting to see how strong our bodies are next week at a lower elevation.
Thanks for reading and keep leaving comments, I love them.

This is how you know you are in the west. This was a park we stayed at in Utah the day before Dinosaur, CO.

This is the main attraction in Vernal, UT. I guess we were in dinosaur country.

I saw this and thought Craig and Diane Phelps would appreciate the name of the trailhead.

Sorry so small. Yes we stayed in Dinosaur. (150 people at the most)

The Colorado that I have seen so far is pretty brown, kind of like the brown sign. (Ironic hugh)

another climb

2008-07-21T17:30:00.003-04:00

Today did not have an elevation profile in the route book because Ed could not drive it this winter when he came through. The pass we went oer is closed in the winter.
It was a hard but enjoyable ride. I felt good so I rode hard and averaged just above 17 MPH. We ended up climbing around 500 feet total over 90 miles. I am tired but feel descent.
Tomorrow is another long day with 90 miles and 3500 feet of climbing so we will wee how I do tomorrow. I plan to get an early start so that I can go to Dinosaur NP in the afternoon when I get back, so I may not get to blog again for a few days.

This is a video that I took while descending the pass today. It went up to 9500 feet of elevation and had at least 3 miles of 8% grade.
I got a mini tripod this weekend and attached it to my bike to make Heather happy. Hope you like it, it is a little rough, due to the fact that my bike bounces when it hits bumps.

Weekend at Pat's house

2008-07-20T14:26:00.002-04:00

Yesterday our ride was long and hot and hard. It ended up being 101.4 miles with over 5000 feet of climbing. For those of you who are noncyclists that is a lot of climbing to do in a day. We started the day North of Salt Lake City. The first 60 miles was pretty flat. We just rode into SLC. We were hosted by First CRC for refreshments. As soon as the road left the church it started climbing. The first section was 14 percent for about 300 yards. I was standing up in my easiest section turning over the pedals the speed that I walk. I thought, OH CRAP, if the whole hill is like this I am in trouble. Luckily, that was just a very short section of the climb. Most of it was only 3-4 percent grade with the last 1.5 miles being 5-6 percent. I felt good on that climb and actually enjoyed going up the pass. It was called emigration Pass. It was the last section that Joseph Smith and his trekkers came through before they stopped in the SLC.
When we got to the top of the pass the church was there again with more Gatorade. That was nice. We then descended a small way and began climbing another pass. We actually got onto I-80 and had to climb a 5 mile section that was 6-8 percent. Steeper and harder than the first pass. You know you are going up a steep grade when you talk to the truckers driving next to you. One of the guys actually grabbed onto the Bumper of a big rig and got a .5 mile tow up the hill. The temperature had to be 110 degrees through this section also. It was on brand new black top in a desert that was 90+ degrees to start with.
The decent of the pass was really fast. I hit 47 MPH just coasting down the hill. I thought we were almost there at this point. Oh not true. We had to climb and easy but demoralizing 8 miles to Park city. Then had to go another 4 miles outside of town to Jordanelle State Park. IT is a reservoir outside of town. I would never choose to cam here on My own. It is dry, barren, has no shade and no flat spots to put a tent. Now I know how the Israelites felt after wandering all day and then having to camp in the desert.
Since it is hot and dry I decided to stay with a person from the church that is hosting us. Her name is Pat and me and 3 others are staying here with her. She has AC and a real shower, it is kind of nice to stay here. We are staying tonight also.
This week I am looking forward to Tuesday night. We are staying in a place called Dinosaur, CO. It has Dinosaur National Park just outside of town. The park has a lot of fossills and great sandstone outcroppings. It seems to be right up my alley.
Thanks for your prayers,
Tyler Buitenwerf

long and hot daysl

2008-07-18T20:46:00.008-04:00

Today was long and hot. I was on sweep so we left late and it was hot by 11:00. It was not an extremely long day in mileage but it just seemed to drag on and on. We rode part of the day across what used to be lake Bonneville, so it was flat and boring. Besides that we had a stiff head wind and I wanted to take it easy for the hard day tomorrow, but that is hard to do when you have a head wind. I did ride slower, but I still worked harder than what I wanted to.
We are camping along a lake at the ase of a mountain (Willard lake and peak respectively.) We rode through a town named Brigham right before we got here. I Wonder where it got that name? We are about 50 miles from Salt Lake City and get to go there tomorrow.
I am tired so I must go now so that I can sleep. Goodbye.

Below is what I wrote last night before the server crashed and I was unable to publish.
Today was another hot day. IT was an 85 mile day. We did two climbs. The first one was a fun one with a decent grade. The second one had a shallow grade but was into the wind so it seemed to drag on forever. It was painful and not fun for many people. The biggest issue I had was that the roads are all chip and seal ot in the middle of nowhere her and they are really rough. My butt really is getting sore. Good thing we have a shorter day tomorrow.
I have to be on sweep tomorrow which means we pack up the gear truck and have to be the last to leave and make sure everyone is dong well on the route and make sure no one gets left behind, so it may no give my but a lot of rest.
Wednesday was a long day but we got to see a lot of beautiful terrain. One time we passed the Snake river gorge that was carved out when Lake Bonneville drained 11,000 years ago, It is about 300 feet deep with wall of basalt.(it is the one Evil Knievel tried to jump for those of you old enough to remember)
We then got to see the coolest waterfall that I have seen, Shoshone Falls. It is taller than Niagra and is still running fairly well this time of year because of all the snow that the mountains had this winter. (darn Global Warming) We rode hard that day and had an average of 19.5 MPH for 85 miles. I was tired. That is three days in a row that I pushed pretty hard so my body needs a day of slow riding tomorrow.
I am looking forward to getting to Park City on Saturday. Cooler weather and amazing views in the canyon that we have to ride up at the end of the day.
Here are some amazing pictures of the waterfall and canyon.
Route for Saturday through SLC
&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/ut/willard/692078261891"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Week 3 Day 20&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br/&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/find-ride/united-states/ut/willard"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Find more Bike Rides in Willard, Utah&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
ISaac after his first hair cut (above)
Snake River Gorge and Shoshone falls (Below)

VIdeo of Shoshone falls

long day and Flickr

2008-07-15T18:40:00.003-04:00

Today 9 of us went on an excursion to see some dunes that were supposed to be impressive in size. We got there and I was disappointed by the size of them. I suppose that is because I am from Michigan and I have seen the dunes there. Anyways it was interesting to see them. We ended up riding an extra 22 miles so I had 85 miles when I finished the day. It is another scorcher so the heat just takes it out of you. You get tired and just want to take a nap when you are done. Anyway I have included a picture of the dune and some other things from the last few days.

I have set up a flickr account with all of my pictures so you can all see them now. Go to www.flickr.com and my screen name is Tbuitenwerf can also see the other tour photos by typing in seatosea08

The route for tomorrow. At Twin Fallswe are going to take a short detour to see a large waterfall called shoshone falls.
Week 3 Day 17
Find more Bike Rides in Gooding, Idaho

My tent and part of tent city. That is the gear truck in the background.

Bruneau dunes (tallest dune structure in North America)Fun picture from last Friday

Monday

2008-07-14T18:50:00.002-04:00

The weekend in Boise was nice. Boise is a really nice town. We were right across the street from a little srip mall that had a rite-aid and starbucks. On Saturday I rode and then set up camp and did my laundry. After that I fixed ANOTHER broken spoke and then went and had a beer with a large group of the riders. Local brewery with a really good heffewizen. After that I went to bed.
On Sunday we rode our bikes 4 miles to the celebration service. It was held in a park near Downtown right along the river. It was a pretty park with a lot of green space. Kind of nice to see since you are in a desert and all. I spent some time talking to a local man and he told me about some great attractions that we are going to go near in the next few days so I am excited about some side trips on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Today it was a 55 mile ride that was mostly flat with a few false flats (very slow climbs that seem flat). We did have an excellent tail wind however and I was ale to ride at an aerage of 20.4 MPH. It was fast and fun. We are staying in Mountain Home, a town that has an USAF base just outside. We just saw two f-15s fly overhead a few minutes ago.
When we got in, about 35 of us went to a local bar and watched the tour and had a beer. It was fun to watch a climbing stage.
Tomorrow some of us are going to detour to a state park with the highest sand dunes in N.A. It will only add 15-20 miles to the trip so it will not be like the last detour we took.
Wednesday we are going 5 miles from the largest waterfall in the west. They say it should still be moving pretty good since they had a lot of snow this winter.
SORRY NO PICTURES.

Friday in Ontario

2008-07-11T17:37:00.003-04:00

Today was a really easy ride with a nice tailwind. Only 35 miles of fairly flat land. I needed the rest though, yesterday I went on a bit of an adventure with a few other cyclists. We decided to do a climb of off the route for the day. We thought it would add only about 20 miles to a 45 mile day.
We started by going over a 7 mile climb that went up to 5300 feet. We then came down the other side. It was a beautiful climb and descent with several switchbacks. We got to the bottom and took the road that on the map went where we needed it to. In about 3 miles it turned to gravel. We turned around and found a farmer hauling hay and asked him how to get to the town we needed. He said either take the gravel for 20 miles or go back over the pass. So over the pass we went, another 7 miles up and then back down, then to the town we started the day in. When we got there we already had 65 miles on the day. We then rode the 45 miles that were needed to get the next town of Huntington, OR. When it was all said and done it was a 112 mile day. So, needless to say I needed an easy day today.
Last night we stayed in Huntington. A town of about 500 people. It is a town that is dying. It used to be 5000 people and then the railroad left and it quickly died. It is sad to see the poverty in a place like this. We all did our parts and went out to the bar and distributed the wealth in the way that we could.
Tonight we are in Ontario, OR. It is a town of about 11,000 right on the edge of Idaho and Oregon. It is a nice little place with a homey small town feel. Tomorrow we pedal onto Boise where we will spend the weekend.
SIDENOTE:
The last 4 days we have been traveling on US 30. It parallels the original Oregon Trail. I could not imagine trudging through this land. Completely barren and little water.

First time up the pass

It was a fun decent with lots of curves.
Sylvan getting directions from the farmer. He is the only one that chose to take the gravel road. His day ended up only being 75 miles.

week 2 half way done

2008-07-09T18:01:00.003-04:00

WOW is it HOT!! The temperature is still in the 90s and it will probably get worse. We just went past the 45th parallel today so we are still quite a ways North.

Monday and Tuesday were fairly difficult days. Monday we had a head wind and then had a small climb through a canyon. It was difficult because I sent solo and ended up fighting the wind by myself. I decided to push it fairly had on Monday since I thought Tuesday would be an easy day.

Tuesday I was on sweep, which means that a group of 10 of us serves and cleans up dinner the night before. Does the same for breakfast and then has to pack up the gear truck and then leave camp. We make sure everyone at the tail of the group who is struggling makes it into camp OK. The day had a lot of climbing and this meant a lot of slow people to sweep up. I left about an hour late and did not feel well from the start of the ride, when we hit the mountain I was on the edge of bonking and had goosebumps even though it was 80 degrees. This means I was dehydrated and low of fuels. I ate a lot and drank a lot and finally started to feel better by the end of the day. Two of us went ahead a little bit and helped some people that were tired but did not need sweeping. By the time it was all said and done I was able to average about 16 MPH and was really tired from getting up early and making breakfast.

Today I felt quite a bit better, but not great. We only had a very small climb and then it was flat for the rest of the day. It was pretty. We went into mountain terrain today. Most of it was through a glacial valley at the base of the Elkhorn range in Idaho. I have attached a few pictures for you to enjoy.

route for tomorrow
&amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/or/baker-city/657699620"&amp;gt;week 2 day 11&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;&amp;lt;br/&amp;gt;&amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/find-ride/united-states/or/baker-city"&amp;gt;Find more Bike Rides in Baker City, Oregon&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;

Weekend activities

2008-07-06T22:17:00.002-04:00

July 6, 2008
One week under our belts and ready for week 2. I spent yesterday relaxing and recovering after the ride. We are in a fairly major town so I spent some time waling around and some time napping, and swimming in the Columbia River. It was cold but refreshing. More than half of us went to the bar around the corner from where we are staying to celebrate the first week of riding and they ended up having karaoke so we stayed till about midnight and had a god time drinking some beer and singing songs.

Today we experienced our first Celebration Service. It was put on by a local CRC church here in Kennewick. It was neat. It was pretty much an ordinary service that just took a little longer. At the end during the offering they had a family of refugees from what used to be Burma. They sang two songs in their native language and I was really neat to hear. They were all dressed really beautiful also. Nicely hand woven, brightly colored shirts. After the service they fed us cold cuts and potluck style salads. The whole thing was held at an amphitheater in the park where we are staying.

They did a really good job hosting considering they are a smaller sized church. It was greatly appreciated. They even shuttled us everywhere around town to do things, like go do laundry and things like that.

The mileage for this upcoming week does not increase a ton so it should not be that hard of a week. Tomorrow we pass into Oregon and the first half of the trip in flat and then we have to climb about 1500 feet the last 35 miles. The next couple of days after that also have some climbing but nothing really high. I am doing a good job for my goal of 18mph. Last week it was 17.4 for the week, but that is with one really slow day on Monday that we had to stay together in a group of 10 riders.

Until next time,
Tyler

The route for tomorrow is below

week 2 day 8
Find more Bike Rides in Kennewick, Washington

more pictures from a few days ago, sorry nothing new today.

Two easy days in a row

2008-07-04T18:59:00.003-04:00

I am blogging for two days at once. The truck that is picking up internet has had issues getting a good signal so I am doing two days together.

July 3

Today was an easy ride. It was only 40 miles and a majority of it was downhill. It was nice to get a day to let the muscles rest and recover, Tomorrow should be the same way. Today’s scenery was the most beautiful of the trip so far. We rode through the Yakima River canyon. It is a canyon that is carved out of the basalt that flooded the area 15-25 million years ago. Being the geology nut that I am I loved it. I chose to ride solo today since y head was on a swivel looking at rocks. I thought it would not be a good idea to ride in a group and crash.

The last few days have been really hot here, 95-100 degrees, but in the shade it does not feel nearly like in the Midwest. The humidity is only 10-15 percent. Everything dries out in a matter of minutes when you hang it out to dry. I have a feeling it is going to be warm for a while until we start getting into higher altitudes.

I am struck with the beauty of God’s creation as we ride along these passes and canyons. Check out some of the pictures that I took today and the last few days.

On another note, it sounds like Grand Rapids got a bit of rain over the last day. Hope everything is OK for those that are in the area and reading this.

Friday July 4^th

We woke up to rain this morning. We packed up our wet tents and got on the way, whil it was only sprinkiling. The rain stopped about 30 minutes into the ride and it began to clear off. By the time we got to camp at Sunnyville the sn was starting to come out of the clouds. It is currently ominous looking and nice and comfortably cool. It is nice to have a break from the high heat, it was starting to get exhausting.

Our ride today was an easy ride, much like yesterday. It was only 37 miles, and flat. I was able to average over 19 MPH with no a whole lot of work. We were hosted by a small church on the route today. They had fruit and water for us it was nice. The ride was uneventful for the most part, until I got to town.

When we got into town, I motioned for the guy behind me to turn right into a parking lot. He started to turn, and thought I had said to go onto the sidewalk. I tried to turn into the lot and ran into him, bounced off and put my shoulder into a pole/mailbox. I was unhurt except for a small scrape on my arm.

It is a nice day to lounge around and let the muscles recover, hope all is well with all my readers.

Basalt pillars

Pass from the third day of riding which was hard also.

Hard second day.

2008-07-01T19:43:00.004-04:00

wow! What a beautiful ride today. We wnet up and then up and then up some more, over stevens pass and then down for a long time. It was a really hard day and I am whooped. Tomorrow is more climbing but 20 less miles so it should not be too bad. Here are some pictures from the last two days. I will write more later this week.

wow! What a beautiful ride today. We wnet up and then up and then up some more, over stevens pass and then down for a long time. It was a really hard day and I am whooped. Tomorrow is more climbing but 20 less miles so it should not be too bad. Here are some pictures from the last two days. I will write more later this week.

Travel and Time spent in Seattle

2008-06-29T00:14:00.004-04:00

Yesterday my flights were uneventful. I was lucky enough to have an empty seat next to me on the flight form CHicago to Portland. Made the flight a lot more comfortable. My flight from Portland to Seattle was only 35 minutes and was in a prop plane. I sat right by the engine and it shook the seat so bad that I got a free massage out of it so that was a bonus.

Mt . Baker from the airplane.

Today, I decided to go down to pike place and do the tourist stuff. I went to the original Starbucks and got a cup of coffee. I then went down to an area called pioneer village and went on a tour of the Seattle Underground. Seattle was built up from it's original height in the 1880's and the old city is still below. Really cool to see the old stuff and hear all the history.

Where they throw the fish and catch the fish.self explanatory if you can read
Underground Crapper, Yes the original model invented by Thomas Crapper.
Original plumbing system of seattle was hollowed out logs to make pipes. No wondering they had problems with their %#$@ flowing into the tidal flats.

I then went and ate at a place called Chowder House right by Pikes Place, and it was the BEST clam chowder I have ever had in my life. I am not just saying that either. It was really awesome. I then returned to the UW campus and checked in and put my bike together (it was good to have her back.) Since then we have had a dinner and meet and greet. Just getting to know some people and trying to learn names. Hard to do when you forget your ADDERAL though in the morning.
Tomorrow we have some orientation things and get final prep for the tour. SO far my impressions are good. I look forward to riding on Monday and am anxious to get going.

PS
Pikes place was a sensory explosion. It smelled awesome, so many people, and so much noise. Of course Awesome tastes when I ate my Chowdaa.

PPS
Anita I miss you and Lewis, and I love you.

Mt. Rainier from he UW campus

Iowa city pictures

2008-06-19T16:31:00.003-04:00

Here are some IC pictures.

I visited my sister in Iowa city yesterday and these are a few of the pictures that I took. IC got hit bad but it could have been much worse. THe worst flooding is in Coralville down by the Vine and the baseball complex. Dubuque street and the art area also got hit hard. I could not get over there to take pictures, they would not let me near. But, here are some of the pictures I have.

The picture here to the left is looking down towards the baseball complex (on the left) and The Vine and Wig and Penn (on the right.)

VW hit 100,000 today

2008-05-22T09:34:00.000-04:00

Big milestone for the car. It hit 1ooK on the way to work today. Hopefully I can get another 150K plus out of the car.

I have been sick for the past week. I took my students to Cedar Point las friday and I was fighting something. The stress and sleep deprivation from the trip caused me to get sick. I have a lower repiratory Infection. I am on the upswing now but I hope I continue to improve. I am worried about losing training time while I am sick. They say riding with a resp. infec. is a no/no.
Pray that I get better and can resume training ASAP.

On the brighter side I have 1,500 miles in for the season and I was feeling in great form before I got sick.

Fourth week of training

2008-04-11T12:08:00.001-04:00

I am on spring break and loving it. The weather is starting to break. The spring flowers are definitely starting to pop out of the ground. I am excited for spring and the training that I am doing is going great.

I am in my fourth week of training. My second week of harder training. I am feeling strong considering I have a couple of months left to go. I have done a lot of miles and time in the last few days. My body hurts and that means that I am going to get stronger once I recover.

Only about five weeks of school left. The crazy end of the year is here.

I am over half way to my fundraising goal as of last week and I think the last 4000 is going to be the hardest to raise. SO, if there is anyone reading this that wants to put their tax return/rebate to use helping those less fortunate, it would be welcome for fundraising. Those in poverty would appreciate it also.

Happy New Year!!!!

2008-01-02T10:44:00.000-05:00

Happy 2008! It has been a while since I blogged so I thought it would be appropriate to update while I am enjoying my final day of Christmas break.
Fundraising is going well. As of last week I had raised just over $2000 dollars. I am 20% of the way to my goal and money is still coming in. THANK YOU to those of you who have donated already.
Training is going well. I have been lifting and trying to keep the weight off. I got a good bike fitting for Jordan at Ada bike the other day and hopefully my knee pain will go away now. (Serious prayer concern for the prayer warriors out there.) I think it will also help my shoulder pain.
I got a tiny little laptop that is the size of literally a book. Thank you to Kyle Herrington for lettting me know that Saint Mary's was getting rid of some of their older equipment. The computer will be very helpful in keeping the blog up during the ride. The only downside is that it is really hard to type on since the keyboard is tiny also.
Everything seems to be coming together wonderfully for the trip. Every time something like a cheap laptop falls into place I feel like I am following God's calling by doing this trip.
Until next time, Keep pedaling and donating to those in need.

Thank you for Visiiting my blog

2007-11-13T14:26:00.000-05:00

If you are visiting here because I have told you about my blog or just happened to stumble upon it welcome. I have begun fundraising for the trip next summer. If you would like to donate click on the link above. Thank you, and have a great day.

Welkom to my new blog

2007-10-22T13:11:00.000-04:00

I have created this blog because I was not happy with the look of my other blog and found that this website had more of the look that I desired. I also don't have any advertisements on my blog now either. If you have not yet visited my site welcome and I am glad you came to visit. Below are some links that you might find helpful to find out information on the ride this summer.

http://www.crcna.org/pages/sea_video.cfm (video)

http://www.crcna.org/pages/sea_cause.cfm (the cause)

http://www.crcna.org/pages/sea_profile_buitenwerft.cfm (to donate)

Once again thank you for visiting my site and thank you for your generosity