We’re on the front page of the Mennonite Weekly Review, which should have arrived in mailboxes today.

Also, another article was published in Virginia’s Daily News Record, which can be viewed online at http://www.dnronline.com/news_details.php?AID=5137&CHID=2

Last Sunday, Dave visited Philadelphia Praise Center (PPC), which has recently joined the Franconia Mennonite Conference. Bikemovement will be hosted by PPC on Thursday, August 24, the final stop on the tour before finishing in Ocean City the following day.

For a list of conversations being hosted by church congregations, click to view the large map on the route page.

The article from EMS about Bikemovement and Alicia was reprinted online on Mennonite Weekly Review’s website: http://www.mennoweekly.org/JULY/07-03-06/BIKE07-03.html

by Laura Lehman Amstutz

HARRISONBURG, Va. - When Alicia R. Horst began her studies at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, she was certain that she didn’t want to do an internship in a congregation, aware that some aspects of this task wouldn’t “fit” with her personality.

This summer, Horst’s desire for a different kind of internship will be fulfilled in a way she never imagined.

(more…)

We made it into The Mennonite with a short news brief in the June 1, 2006 issue. See the online version at http://www.themennonite.org/php/news.digest.php?news_digest_id=559.

Feel free to send the text from the vision page as a press release to other magazines, newspapers or organizations that might give us some more publicity.

Here’s a photo of Drew with our support truck in Texas. Check out the blog of their cross country road trip at http://www.movingjourney.blogspot.com/. Drew and Nathan will meet us to begin cycling in Oregon at the beginning of July.

We will also be having a second support vehicle, a Jetta, joining us to help transport peope and gear. Teresa Lehman has recently joined the bikemovement participants to help with driving and support.

Participants:

Please note that there is a fundraising flier available in PDF form at this address: http://bikemovement.org/documents/bikemovement_fundraising_flier.pdf

This flier describes what we are doing and indicates how to contribute with a tear-off strip at the bottom that can be sent in to Mennonite World Conference with donations. Please print, copy and distribute this form widely to help in fundraising efforts.

Yesterday, our press release went out to Mennonite news and media channels and most church conferences in MCUSA. The text of the release is available on the vision page.

A discussion forum as has been added to the website. All participants should register a user name and begin posting your thoughts and questions that relate to this project. I put up two starter threads: one to gather different people’s perspectives and another to discuss gear needs for the trip.

It would be cool to get many people involved in the forum beyond the immediate participants of the trip. To register, click on “Register” at the top of the forum page and follow the instructions.

Don’t forget to keep putting miles on your bikes. By the training schedule, this upcoming week should total 35-40 miles. On Wednesday, Drew and I had a nice ride through the rolling hills of Lancaster county to Elizabethtown, PA, tracing out our Lancaster-Souderton route in reverse that we will ride on August 23.

Thanks to Brett Lehman of western PA who has donated a pickup truck cap for our use this summer. We’re still looking for a trailer to be either donated or bought at a good price in or around Portland, OR.

We are beginning this week to contact churches across the country to set up our connections as we ride. If you know persons who would be good for us to contact (or are one yourself) in specific locations on or near our route, send an email to Alicia at alicia@bikemovement.org.

I keep hearing that there are more people planning to ride than are listed as participants. If you are planning to join even for a short section, send your bio and photo to info@bikemovement.org we’ll add you to the array.

It’s now less than two months until we begin riding in Oregon. Keep training everyone… and it would be a good idea to get your flight tickets soon before prices rise at the last minute. Also, I posted a page on the site about flying with bikes.

Tim Showalter designed and posted a fine training schedule to get in shape for the ride this summer. It’s reasonably presented and everyone is strongly encouraged to get some miles in before we start in July.

Also, note the planning needs tab added highlighting some of the support needs we are still looking to fill.

We need to build a diverse group of riders. At the moment, most are from the east coast of the USA and have a connection to EMU. Email us if you are interested in riding or might know persons who would have interest in being a part of this project, even for a short time.

As you can see, the website is coming along very nicely thanks to a lot of hard work by Denver Steiner. Keep checking back as we hope to add more information continually.

Fairly soon we will want to begin the fundraising initiative for AMIGOs. I hope to have a press release out as soon as possible and also an avenue listed on the website to direct funds. Begin talking to your churches and friends to let them know what we are doing.

Tim Showalter will be overseeing the bike technician role and will be available via email (tim@bikemovement.org) to answer questions regarding what kind of bike to bring and will help with repairs en route. We will also be posting a sort of training schedule on the site to encourage everyone to get out riding and prepare for the journey.

Dave will be in Harrisonburg, VA this weekend for EMU’s graduation. If anyone wants to get a hold of him, just call his cell: 215-285-4253.