Yes…by you! While we do seek support volunteers (whom we love and adore!), the ride is truly carried by each member of the team. We have chore groups to spread the load of cooking, laundry, packing, cleaning, etc. Sometimes we have to rotate riders spending a day helping with the support vehicles. In other words, the ride is fully supported because we support each other. Perhaps a better term would be “community-supported.”

Do note, however, that a support vehicle pulling a small trailer will carry all our individual and group gear to our destination every day. See “How much stuff can I bring with me?” for baggage size limitation information.

Along the route, you need not carry any luggage on your bike, and we will have rest stops with snacks and water every 20 – 25 miles. 

Probably not. As a team-focused ride, sometimes we have to give up personal goals for team goals. For example, when we have less than 4 support volunteers we may each have to take 1-3 turns in the support vehicle. (Those riding for only one segment are off the hook.) Also, riders may need to travel some miles by van due to weather, mechanical issues, safety concerns, speed/time issues, etc. It may help if you think of yourself as joining a team rather than conquering a personal feat.

Glad you asked. We hope to find a volunteer to drive the vehicle along with us for the whole trip, and often the best people to fill that role are friends or family of our cyclists (see “Do you have a need for any non-cyclists on the trip to support the riders?”).  However if we do not find a driver, the riders will need to rotate through driving the vehicle according to an assigned schedule.

Laundry will be one of the tasks of the chore groups. We’ll typically do our laundry in Laundromats after every three riding days.

We will typically stay in churches, church camps or other community centers. We live simply in this way to ensure that as many dollars as possible go toward the mission, and sleeping within the community also is consistent with our ideal of being a grassroots ministry.

The trip will provide camping air/foam mats on which to sleep, or you may bring along your own air mattress. Any air mattress brought must be stored in the manufacturer’s bag.

Our average distance is usually about 70-75 miles with some days shorter and our longest being just over a hundred miles. We do not need to ride as a giant pack all day every day; riders are free to ride alone (but not alone at the back) or to break up into groups as they choose.

Speed Requirements

• 12 mph – moving average
• 10 mph – including stops

In order to keep the group relatively together, and advancing at a reasonable pace, riders joining for a segment or more should be able to maintain a moving average of at least 12 mph and be able to go 20-25 miles without long rests. After accounting for breaks at rest stops, riders should be comfortable with an elapsed time based average of 10 mph, meaning a 60 mile ride should take no more than 6 hours from start to finish. This pace allows for at least 20 minutes of rest for every 20 miles that you ride with the moving average of 12 mph.

Our speed requirements are not intended to be exclusive, but are meant to set transparent expectations in order to best accommodate the needs of the entire team. Maintaining the 10 mph elapsed time average pace affords the support crew the ability to meet the needs of the team as a whole during and after the ride, with rest stops, shuttles to showers, and timely arrival to dinner. Trip leadership may ask riders to start from the first rest stop, or skip a 20 mile segment between rest stops in order to keep the support crew moving at the minimum pace. 

Note for riders gifted with speed: very fast riders may find that you reach the designated rest stop location ahead of our support vehicles, which await the final riders at the previous rest stop before departing. Fast riders should be prepared to wait at rest stop locations or self support towards the end of long ride days.  However, since this is not a race, but a team on a mission to change the world, we hope our ride is an opportunity to bond together as a team for a common purpose!

Meals are prepared by rotating chore teams, or by generous hosts. Breakfast and lunch typically consist of cereals, bagels, bananas and other simple foods. Peanut butter is a real staple of the diet. The cost is covered by the trip.

Our trip commits to ensuring that dinner is provided by churches or chore groups 5-6 nights a week. Riders should anticipate the need to purchase their own dinner once or twice a week.

BONUS: If I’m vegetarian / vegan / gluten free / allergic to peanuts, will I starve? 

We do our best to accommodate riders with varying dietary needs or restrictions. However, since many of our meals are provided by our generous church hosts, and since dietary needs vary widely even within a single trip, there may not always be the exact foods you’d choose for yourself to eat available at every meal. For those who abstain by choice, we would encourage you to eat what is served as much as possible.

If your dietary restrictions are extremely stringent, please let us know so we can discuss the best way to accommodate them, and know that you may have to plan to supplement your meals on your own.

Peanut butter and bread are regular staples of our rest stop food (lunch). We can typically supplement with other foods, but if your allergies are highly sensitive such that any contact or traces of them can cause you to have a severe reaction, please know that we cannot totally control all cross contamination on the road. In such cases, please discuss with us carefully ahead of time so that you can determine if or how you may be able to safely participate.

We do our best to accommodate riders with varying dietary needs or restrictions, but generally have meals specially prepared aimed only for accommodating vegetarians and those with no restrictions. We eat well!

But since many of our meals are provided by our generous church hosts, and since dietary needs vary widely even within a single trip, there may not always be the exact foods you’d choose for yourself to eat available at every meal. For those who abstain by choice, we would encourage you to eat what is served as much as possible.

For those with more restrictive diets-by-necessity (i.e. gluten-free and dairy-free), you will be able to add simple cost-effective items to the shopping list that are found at standard grocery stores that will be purchased for you — guidance and approval will be at the trip leader’s discretion, our goal is to live simply so others can simply live. We are not able to offer special accommodations for diets-by-choice (i.e. paleo, keto, atkins, etc.) and may not be able to meet complex diet requirements, but we hope you will be able to find what you need from among our various food options, or you may supplement our meals with your own purchases.

For those with nut allergies, we confess that peanut butter is a regular staple among our rest stop foods (lunch). While you should be able to find ample other foods to eat, if your allergies are highly sensitive such that any contact or traces of nuts even on packaging can cause you to have a severe reaction, please know that we cannot totally control all cross contamination on the road. In such cases, please discuss with us carefully ahead of time so that you can determine if or how you may be able to safely participate.

Yes. In preparing mentally for an event like this, the team aspect can be easily overlooked. To reach our goal, however, we need to work together; divide and conquer the task before us.

Some riders may be asked to serve as full-time “experts” on a certain area (such as grocery shopping, bike maintenance, etc.), while others will be put into groups that will rotate from chore to chore.

When possible, we try to find hosts that have showers onsite. Other times we will arrange for the team to use showers at a local school or community center, and occasionally participants may have to pay for showers at YMCAs or other public facilities. The types of showers can range from the bathroom in a local church member’s home to the typical gym shower, and when all else fails, we look for a garden hose to let people “hose off.” (That’s why we call this an “adventure”!)

No problem. The support vehicle should be able to pick up you and your bike. We are not going to abandon you! Of course, for logistical reasons, we need our riders to participate expecting to be able to complete the mileage, and if you are frequently unable to do so, we will ask you to plan your start/stops to be at designated rest stops as much as possible instead of at random points of the road where you may have ‘run out of gas.’

Define “free time.” Every day, you will get to spend hours just riding a bike. As for how much time will you have for relaxing, exploring, etc., it will depend on a number of factors. For instance, the length of the day’s ride, the speed at which we completed it, the number and length of rest stops along the way, the amount of tire or mechanical issues that may have slowed down the group, how many pictures we stopped for, where the showers are located, etc.

There will be group activities in the evening, like dinner, a presentation, chores, weekly group meeting, etc., but we do make it a priority to allow folks to just “do their thing.”

We will first start off by saying that there really isn’t a typical day on the Bike Adventure as each day presents new and exciting challenges. Also, with factors like weather, terrain, riding distance, shower logistics, church hosts, etc., it’s always hard to give exact times or details regarding the day so riders need to remain flexible. With all that said, here is an example of a ride day which should give you a general idea of what to expect.

5:30 a.m.: Wake-up, get dressed, and pack your personal gear.
6 a.m.: Breakfast is served. Complete your morning chore tasks (clean church, pack coolers, etc.) and get your bike ready to go.
7 a.m.: Gather outside for route meeting, brief devotion and general overview of the day.
7:15 a.m.: Depart for the day’s adventure! Rest stops will be set up every 20-25 miles for riders to get snacks, refill water bottles and take a quick breather.

Ride your bike!

2:30 p.m.: Arrive in town. Perhaps stop for a milkshake or a burger.
3 p.m.: Arrive at host location. Help unpack trailer, unload coolers and get ready to head to showers.
3:30 p.m.: Head to showers! Generally within walking/biking distance or a short van ride away.
6 p.m.: Supper is served either by church hosts or chore group. If the church is providing supper, they will generally allow us to give a little presentation on our ride and the Fuller Center.
9:30 p.m.: Lights out!

We understand that this is an important and sensitive subject to folks, and we try to be as accommodating as possible within our logistical constraints and desire to be with our hosts.

Typically, all of our riders will be strongly encouraged to attend church with whoever happens to be hosting us. For many, it has proven to be an opportunity to explore branches of the Christian faith to which they have never before been exposed. Depending on the city we are in, we may have riders split up between a couple different churches to allow us to meet more people and spread the word about what we are doing.

As part of the registration fee, riders will receive one Fuller Center jersey. (You are on your own for shorts/spandex.) You also have the option to purchase another one for $40 during registration, and sometimes we will hold fundraising contests offering riders the chance to earn another free jersey.

Riders joining our team for more than a day must wear the Fuller Center jersey. It makes us easily identifiable, helps us spread the word and makes us look like a team.

You may also purchase a Bicycle Adventure jersey from a past ride for lower prices. 

Riders will stay with the group in the host facility to allow for seamless communication among the team and to foster community spirit.

There are a number of ways your friends and family can follow the journey and stay in touch!

• All the trip riders will rotate in posting to a trip blog. All blog posts can be found here.
• They can follow ride updates on Facebook and Instagram
• We will try to set up designated mail stops as the trip nears.