The Seattle spoke for the 9th year will have a booth at the 2010 Seattle International Bike Expo which will be March 13th/14th. It will be held at the Smith Cove Cruise Terminal 91. We will be on the 2nd floor which will be carpeted and have a great view of puget sound.  We will be at booth# 521, and will be across from Primal custom, which will be for the 3rd year in a row.  Who says God does not have a plan?  God has been providing the funds for the booth, so stop by and say Hi!  We are awaiting word from Hammer Nutrition to see if they will sponsor us again this year.  Riding for and with HIM,
Mike

The Washington Spoke is looking for all of your miles ridden to date this year.  We are currently participating in the Governor's Health Bowl and the 25 million mile Challenge.  If you have any mileage you have ridden from 1-1-2009 to date if you would send me your mileage via email weekly- attention : Mike Leaman, Seattle Spoke Director at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it If you also have specific mileage ridden from September 18th to November 1st, so that this mileage gets specifically added to the Governor's Health Bowl that would be great.

Now you are probably asking yourself what does the Seattle want my mileage ridden for.  We were in 1st place for a long time and recently the WHF stated that an organization could allow all of its members to enter mileage.  Our 19 riders who had ridden so hard to stay in 1st place have been pushed down a few notches, so with the permission of the head of the WHF I am seeking mileage from all 1,100 plus IC3 members!

Riding for and with HIM,

Mike Leaman

Please keep fellow IC3 ride leader-member Bob Horn in your prayers as he headed out from San Francisco to the east coast for 52 days on his bike.  Pray for safety and his family.

Bob is riding across the United States and is currently (6-19)in Salt Lake City, Utah and has completed 878 miles!  Go Bob go!  You can follow his exploits daily at Bob Horn's Blcycling Blog. Bob has been blessed with a great ride.  Also continue to keep his family in prayer while he is away on this bike ride across the U.S.

NEWS:  This week-Our team; “International Christian Cycling Club” won 1st place in the Washington Health Foundation Spring Training Challenge in the Organizations category!!  We beat out over 1,000 teams and held onto to 1st place for three weeks!!  Praise the Lord and we give HIM all the glory and honor!  In the top Champion team category we finished 3rd place. 

The Washington Health Foundation 25 million mile challenge is still continuing until 12-31-09, and our team, International Christian Cycling Club is in 1st place this week in the top 10 Organizations!! Woo Hoo!!  We pulled away from the leader and are still holding onto 1st place.  I want to thank all of you that are participating in this challenge.  You can still participate by going to Washington Health Foundation (www.whf.org) and signup as a champion and then signup under our team.  Its that easy.

Group Health Cascade Bicycle Club Commute Challenge-We placed 98th place in total miles ridden out of 1,235 teams.  Once again you all pulled through.  You Captain-yours truly, placed 268th place amongst the Captains (1,235) for total miles commuted to work.

The Snohomish County Community Transit Commute Challenge is over and un-officially it appears we tied for 12th place out of 146 teams!! Great job you commuters!!  I will be picking up the socks for the team riders next week that meet the criteria and getting them out to you all.

I want to thank all of you that responded to my last email about whether or not you wanted to see the IC3 spoke at the Seattle Bike Expo for the 8th year.  All of the responses I received were positive and encouraging.  So, now I need to ask all of you to financially support the cost of having the booth at the expo.  The current need is approximately $375.00; so if you would pray that God would provide the funds.  Our chapter is 100% supported by you the members.
 
Membership:  It’s that time of year-to renew your membership.  If you want to donate to our Washington spoke you may do so by sending additional monies when you send in your renewal.

Now for a year-end wrap-up on the Washington Health Foundation team challenge.  As you may recall the International Christian Cycling Club formed a team some time ago, back in 2006.  For the 2008 25 Million Mile Challenge which ran all year we finished in 7th place in the Top 10 Champion Teams.  This is very significant as there were only two riders on the team that accumulated 25,612 miles!  The first place team was the Evergreen State Volkssporting Association; which had 131 riders; 2nd place was the Washington State Department of Transportation which had 124 riders; 3rd place was the COB-Let’s Get Fiscal team which had 47 riders; 4th place was the Employment Security Department UI Tax & Wage Administration team which had 118 riders; 5th place was Mr. T and the Lady Wolverines with 11 riders’ 6th place was the Employment Security Department Benefit OPS team with 55 riders.  So as you can see with only 2 riders we held on to 7th place out of hundreds of teams.

Now for the Governor’s Health Bowl results.  Our team for this event consisted of 17 riders; and we finished in 14th place out of 100’s of teams.  This is also very significant because we had the least amount of riders in the top 14 teams.  Here is the breakdown: 1st place Evergreen State Volkssporting Association with 131riders; 2nd place Inland Northwest Health Services with 76 riders; 3rd place Team Colbert with 79 riders; 4th place Washington Health Foundation with 119 riders; 5th place Lake Chelan Community Hospital with 65 riders, 6th place AARP with 581 riders; 7th place Washington State University with 216 riders; 8th place Group Health Cooperation with 393 riders; 9th place NW Tulip Trekkers Volkssport Club with 33 riders; 10th place Cascade Bicycle Club with 156 riders; 11th place Edmonds Community College with 39 riders; 12th place University of Washington with 243 riders; 13th place American Heart Association with 1,084 riders; 14th place International Christian Cycling Club with 17 riders!! PCC Natural Markets finished behind us in 15th place with 339 riders!!!

I would like to thank each and every rider that participated this year in all of our competitions!!  The Lord watched over all of us and kept us safe out there.  For all who participated in the commute trip challenges; we finished very well in both.  Many, many folks have asked who are these guys/gals on this International Christian Cycling Club team?   This has lead to more folks joining and more people visiting the www.christiancycling.com website. Having these teams just continues to get the word out about the club and our mission. 

I would just like to encourage all of you during these times that GOD is in control and always will be and that HE is our Rock.  As the cycling season gets ready to begin shortly and you see someone along the road with a flat tire or that has crashed.  Stop and take the time to help that person and share with that person.    I am always  amazed on how many people do not stop to help a fellow cyclist that had crashed or been hit by a car or has broken down.  We must set the example and be the light and salt of the world.

And finally;  this is my 9th year as the Spoke Director for the Seattle spoke of the International Christian Cycling Club.  If the Holy Spirit is speaking to you about leadership and you are interested in leading the Seattle spoke of IC3 into the future then pray about it and let me know so that I can pass your name on to the Board of Directors.  There is only one spoke in the State of Washington and I would like to encourage you if so led to consider leadership.

I look forward to seeing you all this year.  God Bless and thanks for your prayers and support.

2007 Christmas Message

As I was sitting in my garage this weekend preparing my rain bike for Monday’s commute I contemplated what if I did not maintain my winter bike?  Basically if I did not look at it daily by recharging my light system, checking my tire pressure, checking my chain for rust, check for tire damage, spoke damage, fenders, etc.  If I did not do these things daily then my bike would slowly fall apart, rust and become useless for transportation.

Currently the Washington IC3 members are in 9th place in the Washington Health Foundation 2007 25 million mile challenge.  There are close to 400 teams participating which include individuals, schools, organizations, companies, bike clubs and the like.  We have continued to remain in the top 10 Champion teams since the beginning.  If you wish to get more information and join our team go to whf.org.