Cycling at Concordia Seminary

An informal group of students, friends, and faculty cycle for fitness and fellowship. Group rides are typically on Saturdays in warm weather (and once when it was 17 degrees). Group rides are posted on the Cycling@Concordia Seminary blog.

New this Spring is the formation of an official collegiate cycling team. Four students will be participating in collegiate races in the Midwest Collegiate Cycling Conference. Team info is available here.

Do healthy pastors make healthy congregations? We're trying to find out. But we’re pretty sure that pastors who work together to achieve challenging goals will serve the church well.

The 2007 Concordia Century was held on Saturday, Oct. 20. The ride started on campus, went through Forest Park down to the arch, then up along the river. At the Chain of Rocks bridge (old Route 66) the ride crossed over into Illinois, then followed the river up to Grafton. There, it turned back and down to Holy Cross Lutheran in South city. This was a congregation founded by C. F. W. Walther and the site of Concordia Seminary from the 1850s until the 1920s.

The members there provided a great pancake and sausage meal, and tours of the sites. The whole ride was 100 miles, but it was a flat ride, making it excellent for new cyclists. The ride was followed by a time of fellowship and prizes at Holy Cross Lutheran Church. More information can be found on the Cycling Blog.

Tour de Sem 2008

On Saturday, May 3, an enthusiastic group of 11 cyclists from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, including students, faculty members, spouses and friends of the Seminary community, took part in the fourth annual Tour de Sem. Participants bicycled from St. Paul Lutheran Church, Columbia, Ill., to Trinity Lutheran Church, Altenberg, Mo. Of the 11 participants, seven completed the entire 95-mile ride.

The ride ended with dinner and tours of the original Seminary site and other historical points of interest related to The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. The tour was provided by the Perry County Lutheran Historical Society.

“The ride itself is beautiful, along the Mississippi bluffs and through the quiet rolling hills of Perry County,” said Dr. Jeffrey Kloha, associate professor of exegetical theology at Concordia Seminary and an avid cyclist. “Even better is the camaraderie of students, faculty, spouses and friends of the Seminary riding and working together, sharing conversation and completing a challenge.”

“I enjoyed the challenge and beauty of the course, as well as the time and fellowship with some of my brothers in Christ,” commented fourth-year Seminarian Russel Troester. “Cycling keeps me in great shape and allows for getting to know people over long rides,” added Marc Engelhardt, a second-year Seminary student, “and the Tour de Sem is a very long ride. It is easy to bond with someone when you are riding a bike next to them for five hours.”

Dr. Jeffrey Kloha and a group of students organize the Tour de Sem. The event is sponsored by Touring Cyclist, a business close to the Seminary campus, and the Seminary Guild.

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." 1 Cor. 9:24-27 (ESV)