Beautiful Buena Vista

“You call yourself the Rocky Mountains!?!”

Maybe we shouldn’t get too confident just yet, but I must say that our now-experienced and polished biking crew took care of those mountains the way a hungry rider devours a pasta dinner. Not only did we pass our highest elevation of the trip so far at just over 9,000 feet, our group also conquered its first century, biking 102 miles today. (For those not familiar with the cyclist lingo, a “century” means to bike at least 100 miles in one go; it’s not the age of the allegedly gray-haired trip leader.) We finished with some beautiful downhill stretches into the lovely town of Buena Vista, where we obtained three-minute showers for four quarters each.

Tomorrow we will hit Colorado Springs, which I consider a turning point of the trip. From day one I have said that the first three weeks of this marathon ride would be enormously grueling and extremely difficult (one of the rare statements for which the riders keep reminding me how RIGHT I was!), but after tomorrow our trip will only be somewhat grueling and difficult - a big improvement.

We begin the next phase by visiting The Fuller Center’s VP of Programs, David Snell. David travels the world helping The Fuller Center start programs globally, and he is a fascinating man to talk with. If you’re interested, he has his own Fuller Center travel blog here. Check it out. The riders are excited to meet him, and I myself am glad to see someone who is quickly beginning to feel like an old friend. I’ll be sure to ask him when he can return the favor by biking down to see us in Americus, Georgia!

Our enormous gratitude goes out to all of you who continue to pray for our journey, tell others about our adventure, who have played a part in the enormous outpouring of financial support (we are already at about $60,000 towards our $100,000 goal), and who have helped support us along the way. A special thanks today to Bob at the Mirage Trading Post and Coffee Shop in Moffett, CO for providing a wonderful atmosphere (and chairs!) for our first rest stop, and to everyone at Cornerstone Church for their wonderful hospitality and helpfulness in allowing us to use their facilities tonight. With so many places welcoming us with open arms, let me share these words from Jesus, found in Matthew 10:

"He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward."

What a powerful way to tell us that those in the “supporting roles” are just as loved and as vital as those in the limelight! Thank you for everything.

- - Ryan