Registration Opens This Week For Bike Tour

July 30, 2007—Cyclists are signing up for the ride of their lives next summer, taking God’s message of hope to the streets.

The “Sea to Sea 2008 Bike Tour,” hosted by the Christian Reformed Church, is a nine-week, 3,700-mile cycling trek across North America designed to raise awareness and funds in support of those living in poverty around the world.

Registration opens this week for what organizers expect will be the largest bicycle tour to ever cross the United States and Canada, and applications are already coming in.

“This is an important stage in the process for us,” said Ed Witvoet, Operations and Logistics Manager. “In order to send a message that impacts the Church and society in a significant way, we’ll obviously need to have a lot of riders to take up this challenge.”

That challenge includes nine weeks on the road, cycling an average of 68 miles per day from June 30 to August 30, resting only on Sundays. Each rider is also required to raise at least $10,000 toward the cause.

“Some days, the $10,000 seems like a totally achievable sum of money,” said Joshua Krabbe, of Calgary, Alberta, who is considering riding on the tour, “and some days, when I think how much I might guess any of my peers would give as a best case scenario, about $50, I'd need to find 200 of them, now that is totally crazy.”

Funds raised through the tour will go toward poverty-alleviation projects, many of them initiated by the CRC and its partners. These projects focus on ending the cycle of poverty in families and communities by improving health, creating jobs, training leaders and more.

To find out more or make a donation, visit www.SeatoSea.org or call 1-888-CRC-BIKE.