View From the Saddle: Revs help hunger through biking
Tue, 07/14/2009
There are six billion people on this ball we call earth, of those six billion, one billion are hungry. That is, they can’t count on the next meal, unlike the rest of us, who can.
That’s a big number, almost overwhelming in scope. There are a lot of organizations and individuals that try to do something to alleviate this hunger. I recently met three such people who are doing something extraordinary to do their part. They call their campaign “Tour de Revs 2009.”
The “Revs” in this title are real reverends from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). All are pastors of churches in West Virginia.
Rev. Dr. Fred Soltow, Jr. has been a competitive runner since high school. He’s completed five marathons including Boston and New York.
Rev. Ron Schlak caught my attention when I noted in his biography a mention of his having been trained in Lombard Mennonite Peace Ministries as a mediator. Rev. David Twedt is a biking animal. In addition to completing several century rides (100 miles), he’s done the Paris-Brest-Paris ride.
This is a true epic ride, to use an over used word, which covers 750 miles. But the competitors do have 68 hours in which to complete it. How bad can that be? His biography lists several other events that would make a lot of us who bike in a serious way feel a bit outdone. One more thing: their average age is 60.
What are these Revs doing? They’re covering 13,000 miles and 65 cities in 100 days. Granted, not all of these miles are spent on the bike, but a lot of them are.
They have a support van with trailer accompanying them. They visit an ELCA church at each of the cities where they talk in a very low key way about what they’re doing and why. The talk is split into three parts: Revelation, Revolution and Revenue. Without getting into religious rhetoric, I’ll just say that they talk about our responsibility to take care of our fellow and to also take care of ourselves.
Why are they doing it? As noted above, they’re attempting to do something about world hunger and wellness. The hunger part is addressed by their goal to collect contributions of $5 million. This will support their church’s goal of collecting $25 million annually to fight world hunger.
The wellness part is to “encourage folks to set personal health and wellness goals.”
What are they doing it on? You may recall that in an earlier column I talked about the materials that bikes are made of nowadays. I mentioned bamboo, as I recall. Yes, they’re riding a bamboo bike. You noted the use of the singular, right? They’re riding one bike.
All three are on one bamboo bike. It’s called a triplet. Calfee made the bike as a one of a kind. When the ride ends, the bike should go to the Smithsonian. They all said that the bike rides well, although it gets a bit twitchy if ridden under 13 miles per hour.
At the end of the evening at their stop at Peace Lutheran in West Seattle several of us joined them in a ride to Alki Point. When we arrived the sun was sinking behind the Olympics. The western sky was pink, the islands were various shades of gray and a couple ferries were silently slipping across a smooth Sound.
I had the pleasure of giving the Revs. a verbal tour of the Sound; they were impressed. We then rode back to the church along Beach Drive. No, it didn’t get any less pot hole scarred for us. By the time we rode up the hills to the church it was dark, time to put the Revs. to bed so they could leave for Alaska early the next day. They were flying and leaving the bike here. It was a great day.
Do you recall Tutu Moke who lives in Congo? I wrote about him a while back. He rides his heavy bike with bad Chinese tires and wearing flip flops on the muddy and dusty roads of Congo. Tutu does his part to bring food to back country people who are victims of war. He puts 60 pounds of dried beans on his bike and rides for days, staying and eating where he can along the way. These Revs. are America’s Tutu Moke.
They may be on a rare bicycle and wear the right stuff, but they’re doing the same work, all similarly motivated. I’m beyond proud to know the Revs. and to know of Tutu Moke.
Check out www.tourderevs.org, and ride safely.