Thursday, April 05, 2012

A Really Long Bike Ride

I met a real biker today. I was returning to the highway from one of the many RV parks I visited today and he and Max were stopping for a drink and a rest. They are trying to ride through every state in one year, David’s 51st year, from his 50th birthday to his 51st.

He is riding a Mountain style bike and pulling a baby trailer modified for Max when he isn’t running. Then he has another trailer attached to that one that has his gear. It is a pretty impressive rig.

They are in Colorado, their 18th state. He will be crossing the US 4 times. There has to be a shorter way to touch all 50 states than that. He will be flying to Alaska and Hawaii to ride.

Here is his website. It is a little behind, but you can see him and Max. http://www.bike50at50.com/go/index.php or just click on the Title of This post.

Tuesday, April 03, 2012

RV Moving Day


Today our temporary home arrived. My plan, to get it set up and begin tomorrow to get water and electricity to it. There were lots of questions that needed answers. Could the RV make the turn through the gate? Yes, no problem. Could it make the second turn so quickly after the first one? Yes, no problem. It was solved. Now just down the old ranch road, between the trees to the spot we had picked for our temporary residence. At ground level there was at least a foot of clearance on all sides. Yea!

Just a word of wisdom from experience. When you are moving a fifth wheel between trees, don’t forget how tall the RV is. It wouldn’t go under the lowest limbs of the tree. Out came the chain saw and a ladder. Long story short; The RV is still 50 feet short of its final resting place. It is lonesome out in the woods alone while I am again at the Econo Lodge in Cortez.

Tomorrow I have appointments with the Water Company, the Electrician, and an excavator anyway. Maybe things will go some smoother.

One of my new neighbors came by, he made me smile.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

On Oscars, Slam Dunks, and Evil

Still reading Bonhoeffer. This morning in the chapter on "Killing Hitler" I read his reflections on the ethics of assassination. Even though Adolf Hitler was the vilest of dictators, Bonhoeffer went through a process of opposition eventually deciding that the evil of one murder was less than the evil of multiple murders on the Nazi's part.

It was not an easy decision and it cost him his life. His concern however, was how active should a Christian be? More than a devotional Christianity, true Christianity contains a level of activism. It was a challenging chapter. It is a challenging book, our 21st century Christianity does not fare well.

Time for breakfast. I turned on Fox News, the source of much of our national and international news and there was an interview with a young Oscar reviewer. Two things he said struck me. One, he said he was proud of the fact he had seen all the movies nominated for best picture before the nominations were made public. Really? That is something to be proud of? Two, he said his role models in life were Regis Philbin and Roger Ebert. I had heard all from him I wished to hear.

So I flipped over to ESPN where the report was the slam dunk contest last night. And the vehemence with which two sides went at it. Did the winner deserve to win? Some thought yes, some thought it a travesty.

I am coming to the conclusion that our culture is the travesty. Bonhoeffer, Niemoller, Bethage, Muller, and others debated Christian living in an sinful world. Perhaps we should be debating Christian living in a sinful world as well. Instead we debate movies and movie stars, sports and athletes, taxes and laws, and never concern ourselves with the deeper theological issues involved.

By we, I mean me included.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

To Blog or Not to Blog

One of the uses of Pastor Rodger’s Neighborhood is to keep in touch. Over the last few years, Facebook has mostly met that need. Since this summer when we returned from Ragbrai I have only posted to the blog one time. I am now at a decision point. Do I return to blogging, or do I take the blog down?

Blogging enough to get an audience takes a commitment to writing; it is not as simple as just allowing the blog to remain. In the heyday of the neighborhood I was receiving over 40 readers per day. I was writing several times a week.

I am not out of ideas. I have written about our adventures, books I have read, church and theological topics, living the Christian life, and other sundry topics. I have mostly avoided politics and Mormonism even though my college major was political science and I am a Baptist pastor/professor living in a neighborhood, city, and state dominated by Mormons.

We are in the beginning stages of our newest and biggest adventure to date. I think you will be interested in knowing about 2012 in the lives of the Russells. If you have questions or issues you might like to see me address, give me a holler. I don't promise to address them all, but I might.

I guess you have guessed, I plan to reinvigorate Pastor Rodger’s Neighborhood. Look for the latest posts.

Happy Trails,
Flint, AKA Rodger

Tuesday, September 06, 2011

The More Things Change

Most of us are so tied up in the present, we forget to look to the past for insights, ideas, warnings, or even mistakes we need to avoid repeating. I am showing my own prejudices, but I love history, and I think there are things we can look at as we dash into the postmodern era. One of the current issues for churches is building community. It isn't really new, we just call it by a new name. Cell groups, small groups, fellowship groups, assimilation groups, now become community groups. The purpose is all the same. How do you help the members of the church develop deeper friendships? While the groups have different names, and a some what different focus, the real reason is to help churches fulfill their mission to make disciples. So why did I feel the need to share this? I was just reading about Baptists in the 18th century, that would be the 1700's. One of the things they felt the need to do to build their churches was to create more fellowship among members and outsiders. They began meeting in fellowship groups in coffeehouses which were popular in England at the time. Before Starbucks, Einsteins, or Beans and Brew, Baptists were already finding places to fellowship in the gathering places of the day. Anybody for meeting for fellowship at Starbucks in the morning?

Monday, August 15, 2011

Great Bicycle Ride Part 9, Analysis

This last Ragbrai* post will attempt to answer several oft asked questions.

1. The first question was usually disguised. Why in heaven’s name did you do this? Who told you riding your bike across Iowa the last week in July was a good thing? Did you really think this through? These are all the same question of course, just asked with differing levels of disbelief.

2. “Did you have a good time?” Friends who asked this question generally disguised it as well.

3. “Are you planning to do it again?” The inquisitor usually asked this with a presumed negative answer.

4. A fourth question I would like to answer is one nobody asked. Nobody asked if I would recommend Ragbrai to a friend. Imagine that!

1. Why? Well, Why not? If 10,000 people do it every summer, and you have to win a lottery to get in, and most do it more than once, it can’t be all bad. I made a list of all the things we enjoyed about the ride, but my friend Robert reminded me you can enjoy almost all those things without riding your bike 470 miles, in high heat and humidity.

So I think it all boils down to this, we were looking for an adventure to rival thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail that we could do with a bum knee. And in that, we didn’t come close. We finish with only the satisfaction that we did it.

2. Yes! and No! The bike riding was fun, but then we already discovered that on the training days when we just rode for 40 or 50 miles, stopping to rest, eat lunch, talk to strangers, etc. Riding with 10,000 friends was awesome. Burning 5000 calories per day, I have no idea how scientific that number is but it left room for lots of carbohydrates. Dealing with the heat and humidity after the ride was no fun.

3. Probably not. We have a list of other adventures we would like to attempt before age catches up to us. For those of you who think our adventures are too taxing, I will share with you a saying one of my college coaches used. “Let’s go boys, you can sit around when you get old.” I don’t want to be old yet.

If we do tackle it another year we plan to change some things. We will take our own support driver and either stay in a motor home or motels along the way. I think I would like to try it on a road bike.

4. If something like this interests you, do it. Because of the late spring we got a late start on training and rode about half as many training miles as we had hoped to. We are not seasoned bike riders. Before the first day of Ragbrai, we had never ridden in one day the distance we had to ride every day, 7 days in succession. We were concerned that we might not be up to the task. You can do it, and you won’t be sorry.

*My friend Mark wanted to know if this was Ragbrai or Bragride. It is not my intent to brag, but to inform. Of course this is the same friend who has taken to calling me Herculegs and the other night presented us with trophies to celebrate the accomplishment.

Final saying of the week: In order to increase our chances in the lottery, Steve suggested we join his bicycle club, The big dogs. Jen decided our trail names, as members of the big dogs would be Runt (her) and Mutt (me). She bought stick on letters and posted them on the back of our helmets.

My suggestion for a motto for the Big Dog Bike Club when we ever get bike Jerseys to post them on: “If you can’t ride with the big dogs stay on the porch.”

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Great Bicycle Ride Part 8, Day 7

Coralville, Iowa to Davenport, Iowa and the Mississippi River; 65.6 Miles; 2,363 feet of uphill.

This is going to be a different day. The charter bus that takes us back to Glenwood and our Tahoe is scheduled to leave Davenport at 1:30. Over the last 6 days, we have not finished the ride before 2:00 and this is not a short day. It is actually the third longest day of the week. I looked at my watch yesterday at 1:30 and we still had over 20 miles to go.

When we signed up for the charter we had an option. Instead of taking the Charter bus back to our truck in Glenwood, we could drive to Davenport, take the Charter bus before Ragbrai week, then end the ride back at our truck. If we had done so, there would be no pressure today to hurry. It didn’t make sense though, because we would have crossed Iowa 4 times instead of just twice.

Jen wanted me to set the alarm for 3am so we could get an early start. I set it for 4. We were on our bikes and on the road about 5:30. The temptations to stop were fewer. Farm Boys, Beekmans, Mr. Pork Chop, and some of the other regular food vendors did not set up on Saturday. Pretty early in the day, we were riding together and Jen said. “You better let me go first, I can’t keep this pace up. You are riding too fast.” So I dropped back and let her go first. Zoom! She took off. She increased the speed I was going by almost 2mph and I had to really work to keep up with her. My salvation is the downhills where I am much faster. Thus, without as many stops, and pedaling harder than we had all week, we made it to Davenport by 12:30.

As we cruised into Davenport and coasted down to the Mississippi River the citizens of Davenport lined the street and cheered our finish. We made it across Iowa. We made it with some of the most unusual companions. For example there was one couple whom we passed every day who rode a banana bike. It was two three wheeled recumbent bikes attached together with a yellow air deflector all around it. Another rider forsook a bike altogether and rode the whole week on a skateboard. I heard about a guy who was going to ride his push scooter and another who added wheels to an elliptical machine so he could elliptical his way across the state, but I didn’t see either of them. On day one we passed a runner, I don’t know how far he went that day, and I didn’t see him again.


When we made it to the river, the carnival atmosphere preceded us. All week long the ride along the way reminded us of the state fair. All the food vendors were there. They talked about blue ribbon pies. There were displays of farm equipment, quilts, town histories, and even animals. Some farmers would try to entice you off the road to buy their water, corn, watermelon, cinnamon rolls, Gatorade, etc., by setting up a small menagerie of baby animals. “Come see our one day old pigs” one sign said. You would be at the state fair all day, go to sleep, and while you were sleeping, the fair moved down the road in front of you again. Jen said it was all here but the rides, then she decided the bikes were the ride.

The state fair had made it to Davenport. We really wanted to dip our front tires in the Mississippi even though we were running short of time. Before we boarded the bus, we really wanted to take a shower and get out of the riding clothes. When we got to the place of the official tire dip there was one last line we would have to stand in. We decided against it or we would miss our bus.

We rode down to the river’s edge at another spot. There was a railing between the sidewalk and the river, which was still close to overflowing its banks. We had a brilliant idea. We could put our bikes over the rail and dip the tire in the Mississippi after all. That is what we did. In the picture you will notice I never let go of Jen’s bike. I could just see her dropping it into the Mississippi. There is no telling how deep the water was even right next to the shore.

Now we had to find our charter. We had to find where they dropped our bags and get our clean clothes out. Our bags go on, and under, the bus with us. We have to check our bikes in and they load them on the baggage trucks to take back to Glenwood. We needed to find the shower and there was always a wait for a shower. Our time grew short.

We began to follow the OOS signs. We rode by campsites, other trucks, other charters, and then we began climbing away from the river. Away from the river is uphill. Away from the river in Davenport is steep uphill. We are riding in traffic with no sheriff to stop cross traffic, and we are getting more disgusted by the minute. Actually, disgusted describes my demeanor, Jen was getting downright livid. Thoughts of a shower were fading as the minutes ticked away.

Since you don’t know where you are going you have to follow the signs. At one point we were one block from our destination, but the signs took us 6 blocks to get there. Grrrrrrr! We finally got to the charter a little after 1 pm. We found our bags and checked our bikes in for loading. Our friend Steve asked me, “Is there anything I can do to help?” I told him, “The best thing for you to do is to avoid Jennifer. She is not a happy camper.”

The girl at the check in said we probably didn’t have time for a shower. The busses were due anytime and our departure was scheduled for 1:30. Steve told us where the showers were, promised to take care of our bikes and get our bags on the bus. We hustled off to try to get the shower. When we returned it was about 1:40, the busses were mostly loaded. Steve, bless his heart, we would have been in trouble without him, had taken care of everything for us and even saved a couple of seats on the bus.

When I think of the ways he helped, I need to pause and give a public thanks to Steve Mattern. Without Steve’s help we would have showed up at Ragbrai without the tent fan that made sleeping bearable if not comfortable. We would not have had our lawn chairs with us. He loaned us an extra bag that gave us the extra room for some comfort items. He loaned Jen a handlebar bag, then at the end of the ride gave it to her. Every day when we got to camp he already knew where the showers were, good places to eat, and other tidbits of information. In addition to those, we stayed at his house in Nebraska the day before and the day after. I am sure I haven’t thought of everything, but thanks Steve, from the bottom of our hearts, for all you did to make the ride more enjoyable. Sadly, Steve broke a wheel early in the ride on Friday. He rides a recumbent and his wheel size is not standard so he was unable to get it repaired. He missed the end of the ride. Jennifer and I both offered to let him ride our bikes on Saturday while we rode in the air conditioned baggage truck, but he said he would suffer.

After all that worry and hurry, there were three people missing. They looked for them everywhere. The finally found them on the other bus. The bus pulled out at 10 minutes to 3. When I was finally able to stretch my legs on the bus I fell asleep, and the nap lasted most of the way back across Iowa. We arrived at the parking lot around 8 pm, just as the truck with our bikes were unloading. We got everything transferred to the Tahoe and Steve’s Jeep and after finding some dinner, we went to Steve’s house in Nebraska.

We did it! We rode across Iowa. People would ask me if I was a Ragbrai Virgin. “How many times have you done Ragbrai?” they would ask. My standard reply was, “Not only is this the first time I have done Ragbrai, this is the first road trip I have ever done. I have only owned a bike for the last two years.” Why did we pick this one for the first ride?

In my next post, I will give you some possible answers to that question, analysis of the overall ride, and try to answer the most asked question we get. “Will you do that again?”

Sign of the day: on the back of a shirt. “No Sniveling”