CRC Stages Largest North American Bike Tour Ever

Nov. 28, 2007 - GRAND RAPIDS, MICH—The Sea to Sea 2008 Bike Tour passed a significant milestone Wednesday when organizers registered their 97th full distance cyclist, making this tour the largest of its kind to ever cross North America.

Presented by the Christian Reformed Church (CRC), the Sea to Sea tour begins June 28 in Seattle, Wash., and ends nine weeks later in Jersey City, NJ on Aug. 30. It follows the shape and format of a similar cycling project hosted by the CRC in Canada in 2005. That tour included 165 riders, 96 of whom completed the entire distance from Vancouver, B.C. to Halifax, Nova Scotia and it was touted as the largest cross-country bike tour.

Until now.

Application No. 97, sent in by Grand Rapids, Mich-native Kevin Bouws, makes the Sea to Sea 2008 Bike Tour the largest in terms of total cyclists riding from coast to coast.

Bouws, a 36-year old mechanical engineer who attends Beckwith Hills CRC, is looking forward to the  “immense challenge” of riding sea to sea. “I’m riding to make a lasting impact in the fight against poverty,” Bouws wrote on his application form, “to enjoy God's creation and to glorify God through the use of the physical gifts He has given me.”

Registration for next summer’s tour began August 1, 2007 and remains open until January 31, 2008. In place of a registration fee, cyclists commit to raising $10,000 each (or $4,000 for one leg of the route) toward the cause of alleviating poverty locally and globally. The CRC hopes to raise $1.5 million through the tour to support this effort.

Riders can sign up for one, two or all three legs of the 3,750-mile (6,000-km) route. To date, 131 cyclists are participating for at least two weeks next summer. While the list of registered riders includes mostly those affiliated with the CRC, it includes a wide range of cyclists:
-    from novice to very experienced;
-    from 18 to 71 years old;
-    from Portland, Oregon to Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Port au Prince, Haiti;
-    from student, to professor, to corrections officer, to truck driver, to minister to retiree.

The male-female ratio is about 2:1 and of the 131 signed up so far, 77 are Canadian.

For more information about the tour and how to make a donation to support this project, call 1-888-272-2453 or visit www.SeatoSea.org.