The riding schedule

I don't know how to put a calendar in here yet. but I will soon. I have one one on my Google site that you can see where we will be biking to and from each day. For now, here is this till I get a calendar. :) click on the title of the post to get to my Google site page which has a calendar. :)

I think a few of the towns and etc has changed. Ill update it when I find out for sure. :)

7/10 Friday Meet & Greet Benton Harbor, MI -
7/11 Saturday Orientation Day Benton Harbor, MI Benton Harbor, MI -
7/12 Sunday 1* Benton Harbor, MI South Bend, IN 34
7/13 Monday BUILD 1 South Bend, IN South Bend, IN -
7/14 Tuesday 2 South Bend, IN Rochester, IN 48
7/15 Wednesday 3 Rochester, IN Kokomo, IN 43
7/16 Thursday 4 Kokomo, IN Indianapolis, IN 51
7/17 Friday 5 Indianapolis, IN Seymour, IN 66
7/18 Saturday 6* Seymour, IN Louisville, KY 54
7/19 Sunday DAY OFF Louisville, KY Louisville, KY -
7/20 Monday BUILD 2 Louisville, KY Louisville, KY -
7/21 Tuesday 7 Louisville, KY Springfield, KY 56
7/22 Wednesday BUILD 3 Springfield, KY Springfield, KY -
7/23 Thursday 8 Springfield, KY Winchester, KY 77
7/24 Friday BUILD 4 Winchester, KY Winchester, KY -
7/25 Saturday 9 Winchester, KY Berea, KY 35
7/26 Sunday 10 Berea, KY Corbin, KY 59
7/27 Monday 11 Corbin, KY La Follette, TN 56
7/28 Tuesday 12 La Follette, TN Knoxville, TN 44
7/29 Wednesday 13 Knoxville, TN Etowah, TN 60
7/30 Thursday 14 Etowah, TN Chattanooga, TN 56
7/31 Friday 15 Chattanooga, TN Calhoun, GA 53
8/1 Saturday 16 Calhoun, GA Marietta, GA 53
8/2 Sunday 17* Marietta, GA Union City, GA 36
8/3 Monday BUILD 5 Union City, GA Union City, GA -
8/4 Tuesday 18 Union City, GA LaGrange, GA 55
8/5 Wednesday 19 LaGrange, GA Lanett, AL 18
8/6 Thursday BUILD 6 Lanett, AL Lanett, AL -
8/7 Friday 20* Lanett, AL Auburn, AL 30
8/8 Saturday 21* Auburn, AL Americus, GA 100
8/9 Sunday DAY OFF Americus, GA Americus, GA -
8/10 Monday BUILD 7 Americus, GA Americus, GA -
8/11 Tuesday 22 Americus, GA Lake Blackshear 22
8/12 Wednesday 23 Lake Blackshear Moultrie, GA 71
8/13 Thursday 24 Moultrie, GA Tallahassee, FL 61
8/14 Friday BUILD 8 Tallahassee, FL Tallahassee, FL -
8/15 Saturday 25* Tallahassee, FL Panacea Park 30
8/16 Sunday Go Home! Panacea Park -

Total miles = 1268
* Indicates a special local ride in coordination with ours

a neat video from the 2008 bike trip.

2008 FCBA video.

13 days. Cant wait.

Milan News article

Biking for a cause


Silent auctions and raffle fundraising appear to be a thing of the past this month, with the most common form of fundraising coming instead from physical activity sponsorship.

Bikers from Milan and Saline will be putting their skills and athleticism to good use in July, raising money for charities. Various cyclists across the state are choosing a foundation, collecting donations and sponsors, and making treks anywhere from across the state to across the country.

Megan East and Theresa Brosius are two of those participants, raising money for their respective charities. East will be making a cross-country trip for the Fuller Center for Housing. Brosius will bike across the state of Michigan for the Make A Wish Foundation.

East, a 23-year-old college graduate who lives in Milan and works at the Saline Recreation Center, joined the Christian faith-based nonprofit bicycling event to help others find affordable housing. She and 11 others will travel 1,300 miles from Michigan to Florida, stopping along the way to help build houses.

East's trip begins July 10 in Benton Harbor and finishes Aug. 16 at Panacea Park in Florida. East and her teammates estimate doing 50 to 55 miles each day that they bike.

East's event also encourages participants to join on for part-time biking distances. Others interested in helping the cause can bike for shorter legs of the trip and raise money that way, such as the opening 35-mile stretch from Benton Harbor to South Bend, Ind.

"I just decided I wanted to volunteer this summer doing something special, and decided since these are such tough economic times for everyone, that raising money for people's housing is great," East said.

This is the second inaugural year of the trip for the Fuller Center. The trip snakes through seven different states.

East found herself in a position to donate her time after being laid off recently from a police department in Maryland. She returned home to Southeastern Michigan shortly after and returned to her Saline Recreation Center job, which she held for years prior to her time in Maryland.

East lives in Milan, as does her father, and has also coached volleyball in the Milan area. She graduated from Eastern Michigan University.

The Fuller Center is hoping to raise $200,000 for the whole trip, which will be used to improve and build houses for those in need of affordable housing. So far, the group has raised $29,142. East hopes to raise at least $4,500 on her own.

Those interested in helping and donating to the fundraising effort can visit www.fullercenterbiketrip.com.

While Brosius and her biking excursion may be shorter in distance than East's, it's no less important in its goals. The Make A Wish bike tour will be held July 23 through 26. It's a three-day event aiming to raise money to complete special wishes for children with life-threatening illnesses.

The bike tour covers 300 miles from Traverse City to Chelsea. The money raised goes directly to purchase wishes, which, on average, cost $8,000 per wish. Often times those wishes include trips and airfare, such as trips for the family to see Disneyland.

Brosius hopes to raise $750 on her own, and recently hit the $300 mark. For her, participating was the easiest choice in the world. She has been a pediatric nurse at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital for the past 19 years.

But she's also in great shape now that her three daughters -- Laura, Michelle and Emily -- are out of the nest and graduated. She has spent much of her time improving her level of physical fitness at the local gym.

"I have a real interest in doing things that are good for sick children, and I really decided to do it because I'm in the best I've ever been in," Brosius said. "I just ran the Dexter-Ann Arbor marathon and ran the best race of my life. So why don't I try to do something to benefit others? What's the point of being in shape if you can't do something good with it?"

Ever since the end of October, Brosius has been doing strength training three times a week and cardiovascular exercise every day. She also bikes to and from work every day, a roundtrip that adds up to 24 miles long.

"I really love to ride, and I've always wanted to bike ride across the country. I think this is a good chance to see what it's like," she said.

Leaving from Traverse City July 23, Brosius and 900 other participants will bike 100 miles for three days until they reach Chelsea. The 900 participants have already raised a cumulative sum of $680,000 to spend on wishes.

To further her own fundraising efforts, Brosius plans to hold a bake sale at her work, and will be holding a raffle at the Snap fitness center where she trains. She will be offering up a free massage from In Touch Therapeutic Massage, as well as other items. The raffle is July 15.

SAG Wagon driver needed.

With the bike trip being 18 days away. Were still in desperate need of a SAG wagon driver and a SAG wagon sponsor. Come on, volunteer for 5 weeks, drive to Florida with us as we bike. I'll get sweaty for you. Or donate $950 so we can get a sweet trailer design, and don't worry we can advertise your company on there for you.

I keep getting asked. What is a Sag Wagon. A Sag wagon is a support vehicle for cyclist on a tour. If you are a cyclist on a race, you generally call the support vehicle a broom wagon.

So what exactly does SAG stand for? Its kind of up in the question. Some people thing its a acronym for support and gear and some things its for support aid group. Basically its both. :)

A support vehicle is essentially the back bone of the bike trip. Generally you are very close to the SAG wagon and its driver. Its a sense of comfort, a sense of home on a long trip, and it can carry your gear (making our bikes lighter...always a plus). The SAG wagon's duty can be different for different trips. For our trip, it will carry equipment, water, food, our one bag of luggage, tires, tubes, spare parts, guitar, cd player and a place to kinda call home for 5 weeks. :) Oh yeah, if your bike breaks its kinda nice knowing you may not have to walk the whole 100 miles ahead of you for the day. :)

So now that you know how lovely a SAG wagon is. Please consider donating your time with us riders and the Fuller Center for Housing.

Less than 20 days. scary. exciting.

I did some upgrades this week. I decided to get new pedals. I have both road and mtb. I decided to get new mtb ones. I figured the weight is not that much more, they are more comfy for me, and make time off the saddle in them more enjoyable. we will see if that is a good more bad decision in the weeks ahead.

I also decided to get new mtb shoes. My curret ones bug the hell out of my right foot. After searching a good 21 plus stores. I found a pair at the place where I bought my bike a good 3 years ago, and where I received bad bike work 3 weeks ago. However, I was assisted by the person who sold me my bike, a female named Jessica. I really did not have many shoe options. My right foot arc seems to be pretty high, while my left foot arch seems to be falling slightly. So. I needed wide shoes with a very high arch. Shoes after shoes, brand after brand I was having no luck. I either was falling out of the mens heel cup, not fitting into a female heel cup, not able to ratchet any shoe shut except the 400 dollar models that have more advance adjustments. i narrowed it down to two different shoes, at two different bike shops, 46 miles away from each other. Female shoes (basicaly so they looked cool), ratchet, and not black were the qualities I wanted to find in a shoe. Belive it or not, im okay with the ones I got. They are black, mens and have no ratchet.

I orginally set out for road pedals, road shoes, and a giro atmos helmet. came home with not road shoes, and not road pedals. So of course I did not come home with a atomos helmet either. I had saved soo much money already on the pedals and shoes that fit. That I came across the specialized S works helmet that is lighter than the atomos and at 70% off. Now. Helmets were all 30% off in the store and Specialized were on a one day sale of 40%, so combined it was 70% off! Now, that's what im talking about. Granted, when i used to pedal a bike 10 hrs at work, I hated the S-works I was handed and chose to wear my bell slant. reasoning. it had a better pony tail whole. I guess i can make a sacrifice for 70% off. I also had to get a ugly color. So my helmet is not the color I wanted, nor the shoes, nor the pedals. but life goes on. :)
I saved alot of Cash by making comprises.

20 days. dont forget to donate now :)

www.fullercenterbiketrip.com rider Megan East

29 days

less than one month till I meet all the riders and we head on a adventure of 1,300 miles of pedaling, spreading endless love and promoting the Fuller Center for housing.

Im honored to be doing one of the fastest growing Charity bike rides. I initially just knew I wanted to do one. I compared Bike and Bulid and Fuller Center for housing. One of main factors I chose Fuller Center Bike Trip was 100% of the money we raise goes directly into low income housing. `100%. That is amazing to me.

So many people ask what we are doing about sleeping, eating and showering. Most of the time we will stay at churches and they will cook us dinner. We will share our information with them as they eagerly invite us in.

However, as excited as I may be. How thankful and enlightening it is to have every ones support. Im also nervous. I still have a big chunk of money to raise, and this is where I need your help. Thank you to those who have been so generous and donated. To those have not, I understand the difficult economic times. Im facing them as well. and so is Everyone in America. But can you give up one Starbucks coffee, a night out at the bar, and our a extra pair of shoes and donate to this wonderful organization.

I aslo need help spreading the word. so please feel free to invite your friends. send a email to them. tell them about it.

:)

Less than 30 days. and I can NOT wait. :)

People keep asking for TFC principles. you asked. you shall receive
We at the Fuller Center for Housing believe that:

* We are part of a God movement, and movements don’t just stop
* We have been called to this housing ministry; we didn’t just stumble into it
* We are unashamedly Christian, and enthusiastically ecumenical
* We aren’t a church but we are a servant of the Church
* We are faith driven, knowing that after we’ve done all we can do the Lord will help finish the job—something that requires us to stretch beyond our rational reach
* We are a grassroots ministry, recognizing that the real work happens on the ground in communities around the world through our covenant partners, so a large, overseeing bureaucracy isn’t needed
* We try to follow the teachings of the Bible and believe that it says that we shouldn’t charge interest of the poor, so we don’t
* Government has a role in our work in helping set the stage, but that we shouldn’t look to it as a means to fund the building of home


One lasting thought..

the demand for safe, affordable housing is enormous. The United Nations estimates that over one billion people around the world live in substandard housing. In the United States alone, almost two million people live with a hole in their roof, 3.7 million live with broken windows and 2.5 million live in a house where the foundation is crumbling beneath them. Just over one million people live without complete plumbing facilities. (Source: American Housing Survey, U.S. Census Bureau, 2005)

Oh yeah and
The team is also interested in speaking to anyone who might like to come along as a volunteer support person and full-time SAG wagon driver. Those interested can email: bike@fullercenter.org.

& Ryan just posted on facebook that.

We have an opportunity to make our trailer for our bike ride look really awesome if we can find a sponsor for it. Cost is $950. We'll add a company's logo and give them some good publicity. Anyone know someone who might be interested?

A article about rider Erika Amburgey McLemore

A article about Erika McLemore. Erika will be taking leave from the Navy to join us for the whole trip, her husband will biking most of the trip. BIKING, BUILDING IS NEXT HURDLE

Sunday, May 24, 2009

BY CATHY DYSON When Erika McLemore makes up her mind to do something, watch out. "She'll find a way to do it, whether it's running a marathon, learning how to make a quilt or biking across the country and building houses," said Katie Lee, her friend since middle school. "She always goes after things 100 percent." McLemore, whose maiden name is Amburgey, grew up in King George County, the daughter of the late Guy and Betty Amburgey, both of whom retired from the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren. McLemore served in the Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps at King George High School, then graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2006. The 24-year-old tends to accomplish whatever she sets her mind to, her friend said, even if she knows absolutely nothing about it. Take the marathon and making a quilt. McLemore thought it would be cool to run 26 miles, and planned to train, but when the day of the Country Music Marathon in Nashville dawned, she'd barely done any extra running. (She's no couch potato; she regularly runs about 25 miles a week.) She and her husband, Tim, finished the marathon, but didn't set any records. McLemore took the same approach when she decided to make a quilt for Lee's birthday. McLemore knew nothing about sewing, but bought a machine and figured out how to arrange images of the Care Bears that Lee loves so much. "That's just who she is," Lee said. McLemore's next feat will be to bike 1,268 miles, from Michigan to Florida, during the heat of summer. As part of the Fuller Center for Housing's Bicycle Adventure 2009, she'll stop eight times along the way to help build houses. So what if she just started biking last month and knows little about construction? McLemore heard about the group, which focuses on affordable housing and offering riders a spiritual journey, and thought it sounded cool. "I thought it combined the best of both worlds: vacationing and doing something to help other people," she said. Her JROTC teacher at King George High isn't surprised. When McLemore led the program before she graduated in 2002, she "brought everybody along," said Cmdr. Fred Duckworth. "Where a lot of teenagers were more self-centered, she was always more focused on other people." She ran on the track team in high school and says running gives her a lot of endurance--and the appearance of being in shape. "I fake it well," she laughed." Amburgey and her husband met at the Naval Academy and married a year after graduation. During their honeymoon in Jamaica, they took a bicycle tour of the island and loved it. They'll ride through the middle of America together, starting July 10. She's a surface warfare officer who worked on Tomahawk missiles last year and now monitors radar systems on the USS Leyte Gulf, a guided-missile cruiser. She just completed a deployment to West Africa, doing counter-piracy and drug operations. He deals with computers and communication. The two have to raise $4,000 each to meet the team's goal of raising $200,000 to build homes. But because Erika Amburgey is not the kind of person to accept the average, the couple have set their goal at $50,000. "This is enough to build AN ENTIRE HOME in the United States," she wrote in an e-mail. She knows the goal may be lofty, given the economic times and the reluctance of corporate sponsors. But she'll still aim for it. "It's completely consuming me right now," she said. "It's all I want to do. I can't wait."