1,000-mile charity bike ride around Lake Michigan

HOLLAND, Mich. — Ray Masselink had two goals when he got on his bicycle July 1: Complete a 1,000-mile ride around Lake Michigan and raise money to help earthquake victims in Haiti.

The man from Ottawa County’s Port Sheldon Township completed both in 12 days, raising $1,200 for relief efforts, dodging heavy rain storms and hitting only one dog along the way.

Masselink decided about six years ago he wanted to ride around the lake when he turned 55. He turned the double-nickel this year and hit the road, heading north first, crossing into the Upper Peninsula before heading south through Wisconsin to Chicago, then back home.

“It was excellent,” said Masselink, who was joined for part of the trek by his friend, Steve Boeve. “We pushed pretty hard and did some 90-mile days. It went great.”

He trained for the route by taking a four-day trip in 2008 to Lansing, a five-day trip to Sleeping Bear Dunes in 2009 and a nine-day ride to the Mackinac Bridge and back in 2010.

“I feel it will be worth it,” Masselink said before the trip. “It’s a slow pace of life. You see different things you don’t see when driving.”

Boeve joined Masselink for about 800 miles of the journey. He had to catch a ferry in Wisconsin to get back to work before the trip was complete.

“It was a great trip,” Boeve said.

The two riders slept in tents, stopping when they got tired. They ate at a restaurant once a day, otherwise eating as they rode.

“The timing of the rain and storms was perfect,” Masselink said. The first deluge hit when the men already were stopped to grab a snack, so they ducked under an awning to stay dry. Another storm hit after they had set up camp for the night. Masselink sought refuge under an I-80 overpass in Chicago until the rain passed.

Besides a raccoon getting into their gear, the riders did have to handle flat tires (Boeve had about nine; Masselink none) and, for Masselink, a crash with a dog.

The animal ran in front of his bicycle on the third day out.

“I could have gone down on the pavement and been pretty badly scraped up or broken a bone, but the fall only resulted in a sore shoulder and hand,” he said. The dog got up and trotted away.

Most of the $1,200 raised for Haiti came from pledges from friends and fellow members at Calvary Christian Reformed Church, although several bystanders stopped them along the way to donate.

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Information from: The Holland Sentinel