Sea to Sea Riders Travel Yakima Valley

After two days of steep climbing through the Cascade Mountains, Sea to Sea riders were looking forward to a fairly level ride on the 42-mile trip from Ellensburg to Yakima, Wash.

The trip on Thursday is to take them through vineyards and orchards in the Yakima Valley. 

Jim Holwerda, a rider from Grand Rapids, Mich., says in his blog on the Sea to Sea website, that he looked forward to today's ride in hope that it helps him and other riders to continue getting acclimated to the heat, which has been approaching the 100-degree F. mark.

"Hopefully, we can recover from our aches and pains from the mountains," writes Mark Stehouwer, a rider from Kalamazoo, Mich.

Reflecting on Ellensburg, where riders stayed on Wednesday night, Pete Wiersma, of Zeeland, Mich., writes,"The town of Ellensburg is larger than I thought it might be and is a nice clean town with trees and greenery in this valley. The high school we are using to camp at is very new and nice. We are using their showers and a lot of us have our computers plugged into wall outlets in the school, which is air conditioned by the way." 

Lou Haveman, a rider from Grand Rapids, Mich., says the journey gives him and others a chance to get to know one another, as well as to learn how to live and ride together. 

In his blog, he writes, "I am sitting in the High School corridor of Ellensburg, Washington with my laptop plugged into an outlet. I am sitting next to a lady from Sioux Center, Iowa. Her name is Barb. That is all I know about her except that I set up my tent in the neighborhood of hers' last evening and she wanted to make sure I did not snore. She told me this was a no snoring tent zone. She told me this morning I was cool. She didn't hear me all night."

Claire Elgersmsa, a rider and spokesperson for the cross-country trek, says that "several people are experiencing difficulty on the tour. A couple of them have had to ride in a support vehicle as they were having difficulty getting up the mountains or the heat is affecting them." 

But she adds that, "fellow cyclists are very supportive and encourage each other a great deal. With lots of young people on the tour there is a high level of energy and enthusiasm. At the end of each day's ride they are eager to go for a swim, bike into town to see the sights." 

The tour, which ends on Aug. 30 at the Atlantic Ocean in New Jersey, is to move on to Sunnyside, Wash., on Friday and reach Kennewick on Saturday. On Sunday, a celebration rally is scheduled for a park in Kennewick. Included in the event will be family worship, a ministry fair and a picnic. 

Sponsored by the Christian Reformed Church in North America in partnership with the Reformed Church in America, the Sea to Sea 2008 Tour aims to raise $1.5 million to help fund efforts to break the cycle of poverty in North America and around the world. Money will also be donated to RCA programs that target poverty.