DAILY BLOG

We started out the day with the challenge of trying to get four damaged bikes repaired and obtain a new bike rack—all within the day so we could continue on to the west coast to begin our cross-country journey. God is good. If a disaster like we had yesterday was going to happen, He could not have put us in a better location than in Orem, Utah and connected us with two great companies, Fezzari and Rack-n-Road.

Fezzari team working on our bikes

At 10am, we headed over to Fezzari, our bicycle sponsors. Originally, we planned this brief stopover in Orem to meet with them and to get some publicity pictures, etc.. However, when we arrived with our broken bikes, they turned into a bicycle SWAT team, fully assessing each of the four bikes and repairing the broken parts. Jared’s bike came through essentially unscathed. The bikes of Jordan and Justy received moderate damage, though fully repairable. Unfortunately, my bike was a major loss—particularly the carbon fiber frame which was fully cracked and had to be scraped. (Rich is trying to hold back tears as he writes that!) However, they were able to salvage many parts from my old bike as they equipped me with a new replacement frame. In all, while the cost for the parts was significant and is a budget bender, Fezzari tried did their best to minimize the cost for us.

I can’t begin to express my appreciation to Chris Washburn, Fezzari’s president and his entire team for their efforts today, essentially putting their normal work on hold for several hours to help us out. If you need a road or mountain bike, check them out at Fezzari.com. They will take care of you!

At 2:30pm, we headed up to Salt Lake City to go the nearest Rack-n-Road store. Rack-n-Road sponsored us with the original bike rack. We called them and told them of our accident. Ryan Lower, the manager, ended up squeezing us into his already filled schedule and replaced the old one with a new hitch-mounted rack (instead of a roof mounted). We are so thankful to Rack-n-Road for their speedy resolution to the problem (thanks Jennifer and Ryan!!!). Please check them out online at racknroad.com if you need a sports rack on your vehicle.

Bikes on the new bike rack

At 4:15pm, we headed back to the hotel—with the four bikes now fully repaired and a new bike rack on the back of the vehicle. As we did so, we realized just 24 hours earlier, we were picking up the bike carnage on Rt. 6 in southern Utah. What a difference a day makes. God is amazing, answering our prayers, engineering the circumstances, and putting us in contact and proximity with some great, unbelievably helpful people. We definitely see God’s hand on this tour already—before we begin the first mile!

Each of our bikes have now various scratches and dings from the accident, which should be a major bummer since we’ve been caring for the new bikes so meticulously since we got them back in January. However, I loved the way the boys described these flaws—calling them “battle scars”. It is a great real life reminder that as we go through life’s battles, we’re all going to get dinged, dented, and scratched up in this imperfect, fallen world. However, as we rely on and trust in Jesus Christ in the midst of trials, he’s gives us the strength to persevere. Then, when we look at our battle scars after the trial is all over, they serve as visible reminders of God’s constant presence with us through those difficult times. That said, during the bike tour, each time I look at my dented & dinged brake lever, it will remind me of how God was with us today. Praise Him.