The Bikeless Bike Tour
The plan was to put clothes, tent, sleeping bag and instruments on my bike and do a 5 day tour culminating in a CD release concert for Becoming Liturgy. But that plan didn’t work out.
The catch with touring on a bike is that you greatly limit the distance between tour stops. If I was in a car and couldn’t get a show in Madison I could drive on to Chicago. If you’re on a bike and your show in North Branch falls through you call every other church within 10 miles of North Branch and try to make it happen. Trust me, I did. Then you have an opening on Friday night that you can’t fill. Again, you call everyone between Mora and Waconia and hope for the best. But truth be told I simply ran out of time to fill in the date. There wouldn’t have been enough time to promote the shows. That’s just the way it goes.
So do you bike anyways? Spend Wednesday a.m through Sunday p.m. pedaling your little heart out for two out of town shows and one back at home?
That’s when you hold your career up to the light and see that biking isn’t really part of the calling – it would add a little vacation to the vocation and there’s nothing wrong with that. But when it comes down to it I can’t justify being gone five days without those two other shows. I’m also called to be a Dad and support my wife’s calling by being home with the kids on her work days.
I’m thankful that though this tour didn’t work out the way I planned, it’s still working out. And even though I don’t get to ride my bike I still had the opportunity to bike to almost 100 percent of my gigs this summer in the Twin Cities area hitting churches in St. Paul (where I live) Edina, Minneapolis, and White Bear Lake. And last week I biked to Humble walk with Elsa, Focaccia, a lap steel and a lap dulcimer all on the back of my xtracycle. I’m stinkin’ proud of that!
So folks, if you’re in the vicinity of Mora, Waconia, or St. Paul next week come check out my revolutionary new tour: The Bikeless Bike Tour. Now with less bike!
Nate Houge – Concert at Calvary Lutheran Mora MN
Thursday September 16 2010 7pm
Nate Houge – Concert at Faith Lutheran Waconia MN
Saturday September 18 2010 7pm
Sunday September 19 2010 11am Worship
Nate Houge – Worship at Humble Walk St. Paul MN
Sunday September 19 2010 4:30pm – potluck to follow
Nate Houge – CD Release Concert at Christ Lutheran Church on Capitol Hill St. Paul MN
Sunday September 19 2010 7pm
Full band concert with Jason & Erin DeBoer-Moran, Micah Taylor, and Jonathan Rundman. This will be Becoming Liturgy’s official release concert.
And if you’re wondering what the bike tour would’ve looked like here’s a picture of my bike fully loaded for church camp. I rode this 55 miles north to Wild River Sate Park as part of a training ride. It worked! Clothes, Tent, Sleeping Bag, Guitar and Mandolin. The only thing missing from the picture is how great I smelled by the end. Really great.
