My Worship Revolution

Two days officially down for the ride down the California coast.
And right now I’m chillin in our super sweet room at the Big Sur River Inn.
2 rooms.
Sweet front deck.
Looking right out at the river.

Here’s a really quick recap of the 2 days.

Day 1

Pescadero Beach to Watsonville
57.1 miles.  Average pace: 15.3 mph.

Here’s a rough view of the route:

Mapped Route

The group actually started in San Francisco that morning.  Since I’m taking the next 2 Sundays off, I needed to be at church, so I met them at the lunch spot instead.

It only took about 6 miles for me to almost die.
A jeep got cut off on a passing lane, it’s brakes locked up and it skid into the shoulder.  I just heard the squeal, smelled the rubber, and I swear felt the jeep pass right by my leg.
Other than that it was nice and uneventful.

I rode a good 17mph pace all the way into Santa Cruz.  For the most part, I already knew most of this route from riding it before.

The ride for that day ends in Santa Cruz at Upper Crust Pizza and everyone gets shuttled down to Watsonville.  I stopped for a quick slice, and since I missed the morning, figured I’d ride down to the hotel.  One guy, Paul, did that part with me.  He’s flew out from Virginia for the ride and has severe factor 9 hemophilia.

Had a nice ride down enjoying the coast.  Maybe some video and pics to come later.

Day 2

Watsonville to Big Sur
59.3 miles.  Average pace: 13.7 mph

Mapped Route

It was pretty chilly starting out in Watsonville this morning, so I had on the knickers I borrowed from Dan along with a base layer and my arm warmers.

I had ridden a version of this route the week before with Ryan, so I had a pretty good idea where it went, and it’s a nice scenic pretty easy route with some small rolling hills…until we head into lunch.  You’ll notice I added the elevation chart on the pic above.  See that big spike in grade right around mile 25?  Yeah, that’s to get us up and into Veterans Memorial Park.  It was a freaking beast!

And then of course there was some more climbing to get out of there after lunch.  One of the guys has a GPS computer on his bike that estimates the grade.  It had that at about a 15% grade.  So on the way into lunch, I was climbing with not much left in the tank and really needing some calories.  Then I got to climb after lunch with a bunch of pulled pork weighing me down.

Highway 1 from there down to Big Sur is pretty much amazing!  One of the things I’ve been looking forward to all along has been riding across the Bixby Bridge.

There’s one more solid hill that’s a real butt kicker on the way in, and then a few small ones to finish out the day.  Apparently it’s just prep for tomorrow which I understand it”s LOTS of climbing.

Rachel was able to grab a couple of pics of me on the way into Big Sur.
Here’s a nice shot of my behind.

And then of course coming the other direction.

So that’s it for now.
Just chillin at the hotel as a fam waitin to do dinner.
There’s some pretty cool chairs just sittin in the river to chill in.  A nice relaxing finish to a long day.  And the next 2 are even longer!

A quick thanks to all of you.
It's late.  So no fancy editing.
It is what it is.
Travis and Zach wanted to thank y'all personally.
So check it out…

Thanks again everybody.
Here we go!

Thanks a ton to everyone who’s helped get the word out about the Hemophilia California Coastal Race for Hemophilia!  As of our goal date last week, we surpassed the $3500 mark!

So, that being the case, it’s time to give away an iPhone!

Ed, Brandon, and I went to Woodstock’s for lunch today and Brandon pulled the name live via Livestream.  Here it is, and please forgive the horrible quality.  It was a bit jumpy broadcasting, but here is our winner…

Found out a few weeks ago that Zach has been granted a wish by the Make A Wish foundation!  So stoked to hear about that!  (And maybe slightly jealous.)  He met with them this past week to make his wish, and will find out for sure if it will work out in the next week.  I’d tell you what he wished for, but maybe I’ll keep you in suspense and after it’s confirmed he can share via iChat or somethin.

In other news, we are SUPER close to hitting our goal for the ride.
That being said, no need to stop there.  It still goes to the great cause so please feel free to give and encourage people to give toward the ride.  Every bit still helps!
So here’s the latest!

Only $100 to go!
And today’s the last day to meet that goal for the iPhone giveaway!
But I may add a couple days to keep Twittering before we give it away.
Either way, chances are looking good to give it away!

Help put it over the top over here.

Cycling shorts

Jerseys

Riding jacket

Leg/knee warmers

Tune-up

Full finger gloves

Bicycle Saddle

Body Glide

Rear bike light

Heart rate monitor

Spare tubes

Chain repair kit

Tire irons

Maintenance Kit

Patch kit

Chain lube/degreaser

Camelback

A new bike…(Hey, it’s a wish list…can’t hurt, right?)

Alright y’all…2 more days to reach my goal for the Hemophilia California Coastal Race 09.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then this is your first time looking at my blog for a while and you have totally ignored my Twitter and Facebook, cause it’s been all over my stuff.

I’m stoked to say that we’re almost there!  Here’s where it’s at…

So…tomorrow is the deadline for the iPhone Giveaway.
We have till tomorrow at midnight to make up less than $500.00 if we’re gonna give that gift card away.

You may also notice that there is now a list to your right of all of you who have partnered with me along with a link to the blog or Facebook of everyone I had a link for.  Almost 50 of you on there and it’s still growing!

Also there’s a list for ride sponsors.  Oakley is now sponsoring the ride, so I’m stoked to be getting hooked up with a killer price on a new pair of glasses.  I’m hoping to get 1 or 2 personal sponsors on there to publicize too.  Maybe a local bike shop to help with some gear or a tune up or something.  We’ll see.

So there ya have it!
For the several friends who said you were all waiting til the end to see how much extra I would need to push it over the edge…ummm…it’s pretty much the end.
And one of you is gonna have to go first. 

Thanks again everyone!
More fun news coming tomorrow about Zach!

A few months back I got this message at my You Tube account…

Just the other day I got a donation from ANCA school in South Korea.
How cool is that?

Check out Krissy's blog here and go say thanks.

If a bunch of 3rd graders in South Korea can partner with me on this ride, surely you can too!
Click here to support and see update.

While on my silent retreat in the mountains I read a list of resolves from The Soul of Fredrick W. Robertson, the Brighton Preacher by James R. Blackwood.
It's in another book I have, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants.

This particular reading for reflection was exactly that.  A list of resolves.  This was one of them.

Last week I was tweeting about some randomness I was doing and had a moment of nostalgia.  I remembered back to a time when I didn't assume that everyone wanted to know everything I was doing and thinking.  Crazy thought, eh?

I'm one of the last guys you'll hear decrying social networking and proclaiming the evil of it.  But there is a challenging thought there about how we choose to use blogs, Twitter, and Facebook.

Are the things you talk about simply focused on you, trying to create your own little rock star world where you are the center of the universe?
Or are you saying things to encourage, challenge, highlight, and better the people around you?

I want to try to do more of that.
Our culture already has enough consumers.
Let's create a culture that inspires people to become producers.

We all have something worthwhile to say.
Now figure out what it is, and go say that.

It’s less than a month before I leave for my ride.
Just over 2 weeks til the money needs to be raised.
Here’s where we’re at so far…

Actually, I’m about $75.00 under that.
Long story.  Just trust me on that one.

So time to kick it into high gear.
One of the goals is not just to raise money, but to raise awareness of the ride and the disorder as well.
Whatever it takes to do it, I’m in.  Well, almost, but I digress.
So I came up with this idea, or a social experiment, to see what we could do using Twitter.

Thus, we’re giving away an iPhone here.
Let me explain via video…

So there ya have it.
2 weeks.
Let’s flood Twitter, raise some money, and share about this ride and this opportunity.
Here’s the home page with the explanation of the whole thing: http://www.myworshiprevolution.com/bobbym/iphone.html.
And here’s a tiny URL to make it easier for Tweeting – http://tinyurl.com/my3qfz.

Thanks for continuing to follow along.
Some more fun news to come this week about the ride.

And hopefully, any other riders who Twitter can start using that hashtag as well and you can easily follow all the info as we ride in August.
Now…go and tweet, tweeps!

Here’s the deal…

On August 24th, 2009, a group of around 15 other riders and I will leave San Francisco on our bicycles to make the 670 mile journey to San Diego over the course of a week.

It is a ride to benefit the CA chapters for Hemophilia.
I am riding for my seven-year-old cousin Zach who suffers from this blood disorder.
For more info check out the home page for the ride here, or just check out this video first:

The goal is to raise both money and awareness, so I need get the word out.
And I want your help to do it.

Between now and August 12th, each day you twitter with the hashtag: #coastalrace09 and a link back to this post, you will be entered into a drawing for a free iPhone.
A few important details:

• The iPhone will actually come in the form of a $200.00 gift card for Apple (the cost of an iPhone along with a plan for new customers at Apple.com).  This way, if you already have an iPhone, you still have a great prize!
• The iPhone/gift card will ONLY be given away if I meet my goal of $3500 by August 12th.  So it would help you to give $10 and encourage others to do the same.  Check out the fundraising page here.
• Provided the goal is reached on or by August 12th, I will pull a winner via video or Livestream here at my blog within a week of that date.
• The more days you post, the better your chance of winning.  Every day that you tweet, your name goes in again.  And remember, encourage people to give too, or else there may not be any giveaway!

So go start Twittering away!
Be sure to join the Twub for this hashtag and follow along on the ride once we get out there as well!
Follow news about the ride and hemophilia at the blog here.
Also follow me on Twitter for updates on the giveaway.

Important Links

Coastal Race home page
Donation Page
#coastalrace09 Twub
Follow me on Twitter
Hemophilia & ride related posts
Bobby’s Coastal Race Facebook group

Video explaining giveaway for those who don’t like to read much