Book Chronicles 'Sea to Sea 2005' Ride

Rev. Peter Slofstra writes about battling heat, bugs, exhaustion and truck traffic in his new book, “In Tandem: A Sea to Sea Odyssey,” the compelling account of the bicycle trip that he and more than 150 other riders took across Canada in 2005.

Slofstra served as a chaplain to the group as he pedaled the distance with his wife, Marja, on a tandem bike. The trip was organized by the Christian Reformed Church in North America to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the CRC in Canada.

The book, available from Essence Publishing, chronicles the highs and lows and in betweens of the 2005 Sea to Sea tour just as another CRC-sponsored bicycle tour will be getting underway, this time mostly across the United States.

Set to begin on June 30, the Sea to Sea Bike Tour 2008 is a nine-week, 3,900-mile (6,200-kilometer) cycling trip from Seattle, Wash., to Jersey City, N.J.

More than 200 riders are participating for at least a two-week section, with 127 signed up to go the full distance. The 2008 tour has set a goal of raising $1.5 million to help fund faith-based programs that fight global poverty.

This week, tour sponsors announced that riders have hit the $1 million mark in fund raising.

To those who will be taking part in the Sea to Sea Bike Tour 2008, Slofstra says: “Expect to be overwhelmed by the daily demands and the challenges of living in community with others.  Expect it and embrace it and give yourself fully to the experience. You will not be alone in feeling overwhelmed.”

Slofstra, pastor of Hope Fellowship Church in Courtice, Ontario, says the book took him two-and-a half years to write.

“First I filled four journals with pen. Then I transcribed everything on my return from the bike trip. Early mornings, my Mondays off, most of my spare hours, were spent writing and rewriting,” he says.

“I tracked down people to seek their permission for anecdotes and stories that might have violated confidentiality.”

The book offers an inside look at the trip and includes the fears and sorrows, the failures and the triumphs, the grand gestures and petty grievances that can occur on a journey of this nature.

The book also recounts lessons learned on the road.

“We learned to see God in everything: the rocks, the ditches, the horizon, the wind, the people we met and the people with whom we lived for ten intense weeks,” he says.

“We also learned that community is hard but worth it, because what we experienced together was ten times more challenging, more memorable and more valuable than anything we might have learned in isolation.”

But above all, he says, he learned the power of prayer and the need to pray constantly to make sure everyone stays safe. Prayer is also essential for the good news of God's love for the poor to get out, he says.

In his book, he says, he wanted “to capture a historical experience in the life of the CRC in Canada… It was entertaining, challenging, inspiring and involving for thousands of people … This book will help us remember that remarkable summer, and hopefully inspire us to keep living out our faith in Christ beyond the walls of our churches.”