Immanuel CRC Team

So this past Sunday (Feb. 3) the Immanuel CRC Team went up in front of the church for our presentation and kick-off for our fundraising there. We are a team of 6 cyclists! Peter Kranenburg and myself are riding the who way and Peter Dehaan, Rick Dejonge, Al Karsten and Dave Van De Woerd are riding the last 2 weeks from Grand Rapids, MI to Jersey City, New Jersey.

Combined together we are raising $36,000. Seems like a lot? Well, maybe, but it can and will be done by God's guidance and blessing! Remember this is all to go for poverty!

We also set up the bulletin board and put up prayer and financial support partner sheets (where you can sign up for a day at $1/km). If all the spots are filled in this would raise about 50% of our goal.

I think everything went great that day and we took a couple of team pictures, sporting this years Sea to Sea shirts (borrowed, thanks to our connection in the office). Already I have had a few calls from those wanting to support us! So exciting! I'll be setting up a similar board at my current church (Hope CRC in Brantford) this Sunday! Dirk (also supported by Hope CRC) and I will be doing a presentation on the 24th of Feb and then Lord willing, a collection will be taken the following Sunday. It's exciting to see things get going now. In the beginning raising $10,000 can be a little overwhelming and mildly stressful if you let it be.

A little side note; so I've taught about 7 spinning classes now. Two Saturdays ago I already ran into a mild dilema! A good dilema I guess in a way... I actually ended up being 2 bikes short! Wow, amazing how the classes just all of a sudden start to fill up! It's so exciting! I've also filled in on a couple of classes when the other instructors were unable to be make it for whichever reason.

I have had a number of new people come to my classes, some who "use" to spin and others who have never spinned before. I really like to make sure that they are set up properly on their bikes (as you can do harm to your knees and other parts of the body if you are not) and have a good first experience overall. I find in some classes the instructor doesn't always take the time for this and that really is unfortunate. Just like making sure that someone coming for the first time realizes they don't have to push it as hard as the others, to just gradually build yourself up. I really recommend to my students to not do alot of tension add-ins the first class or two. Rather just take the time to get use to spinning and especially standing while on the bike. This can really throw new comers and it is definantly something you need to work up too. When this isn't pointed out, they can become discourage quickly and end up not coming back again as they just didn't enjoy it and possibly felt like they just couldn't and wouldn't ever be able to do it.

Anyhow though I'm really enjoying teaching these classes and my goal is to really pass that passion onto those in my class. It's a great time and I encourage you to try it out for a great way of training or just everyday winter exercise!