24 Hours of Allamuchy

Allamuchy is the only 24 hour race in NJ, thereby making it a big event in this area. Now in it’s 13th year, it was started two years after the first 24 hour race in West Virginia, the one we know as the 24 Hours of Big Bear. This was the second time that the IC3 has had representation at this race.

Overall, it was an excellent event. Although the weather was less than favorable, for some reason it always rains during this race, the Lord blessed our efforts and kept us safe.

The team consisted of Aaron Redsicker, Dan Seeley, Jim Martin, Mike Mykowski and Seth Ritchie as support. We had a great time of fellowship throughout the weekend.

For our ministry during the event we renewed contacts with people we have met in the past and people remembered the IC3 team from last year, Praise God. We had a very visible spot on the race course where people could see our banner and we could cheer people on. As each rider prepared to go out for their lap we lifted them up to the Lord and asked that God would provide an opportunity for us to help someone out on the course. Here are a few examples of how God answered our prayers:

Jim helped someone fix his chain and then helped a girl (Gail) who fell off of a wooden bridge on the course. After she climbed out of the muddy stream he rode back with her to make sure she was all right. It turns out that she was a believer who was camped directly across from us. Thankfully, she was OK and continued to race. God really protected her because I heard of someone else who fell off the same bridge and got 40+ stitches in his leg.

Both Aaron and Dan were each riding with two sets of lights at night. The plan was for them to have faster laps, however God had something else in mind. Both of them ended up giving away their second set of lights to people on the course. In Dan’s case he traded helmets with the other rider because his helmet light was wire tied to his helmet. The rider realized Dan was from the “Christian” team and he was camped directly across from us and was racing with Gail.

I had the opportunity to help a solo rider fix his small chain ring. The bolts were loose so he couldn’t use that ring. I met him at mile 5 and he had started walking at mile 3 and the course was 9.5 miles long so he would have had a long way to go. Fortunately I had the right tool and we fixed his bike. He told me how much he appreciated it and then as we rode together he thanked me two more times.

On Sunday morning, we planned to have an outdoor worship service overlooking the lake. Since it was raining hard we decided to go the dining hall and have our study time there. Aaron shared from Luke on the parable of the sower and tied it into cycling. It was a good time of worship.

I would like to thank all the riders for participating in this event and especially Seth for being our support “team”. He stayed up all night and helped us with anything we needed.

As hard as it is to get up in the middle of the night go out for a lap, once you help someone on the course you feel renewed which helps you to continue riding. God really blessed us and allowed us to help many people.

Thanks for all your prayers. Ceci sent me an email on Saturday night when she realized we were racing. Saturday night was a good time to pray for us because that’s when it’s the hardest.

Hopefully and prayerfully the IC3 will continue to grow in this area so that we can continue to have representation at this and other events.

Sincerely,
Mike Mykowski

PS. As far as results, we came in 7th out of 21 teams in the Veterans class.

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