October 2, 2025 • 65 mins
Tom Butler kicks off this episode with an recap of the Tour de Victoria—an experience that ranks among Kelly's all-time favorite rides. Hear what made this event so memorable and why it left such a lasting impression.
Then, Tom sits down with Eric Mahnerd from Sequim Wheelers, a remarkable program that's changing lives through adaptive cycling. Using a diverse fleet of specialized bikes, Sequim Wheelers provides riding opportunities to people who would otherwise be unable to experience the outdoors on two wheels.
Eric talks about the logistics and heart behind running such an extensive program, sharing moving stories from the road and his observations about the profound impact these rides have on participants and the wider community. It's an inspiring conversation about accessibility, inclusion, and how bicycles can bring pure joy to those who need a little extra help getting outside.
Whether you're curious about adaptive cycling programs or simply love stories about the transformative power of riding, this episode offers both practical insights and plenty of heart.
Links
Sequim Wheelers Website: sequimwheelers.com
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Show music is "Come On Out" by Dan Lebowitz. Find him here : lebomusic.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
TomButler (00:35):
I think if you have an opportunity to experience the
Turkish Victoria, you shoulddefinitely take it.
First of all, Victoria, BritishColumbia is just a terrific
place.
In addition to the ride, wealso visited the Mallahat
Skywalk about 40 minutes outsideof Victoria.
It was rainy and cloudy on theday we visited Malahat, so we
didn't get the full beauty ofthe view.
(00:57):
But it was still spectacular.
And the rain made for fewercrowds, which was nice.
Walking on the trail to theSkywalk and spending time
outdoors in such a remote placefelt like we were recharging our
bodies in a way.
Our trip started out with adrive to Port Angeles where we
jumped on the Black Ball Ferryto Victoria.
I think anytime I get on aferry, I see it as leaving the
(01:19):
world behind.
It is very rare that we get ona ferry for anything other than
recreation.
So, a ferry ride is linked tomy brain with fun and
relaxation.
The trip was also part ofKelly's 60th birthday
celebration, so we splurged onthe hotel.
Of course, that added to thespecial nature of the trip.
Our hotel was very close to thestarting line on Saturday
(01:40):
morning, and we headed out fromthe hotel in light rain.
We were a little too relaxedabout it.
As we got to the starting area,we found out that almost
everybody had already left.
I felt bad about that because Iwanted Kelly to experience the
fun of a big group start.
So that's something that isstill on the list of things to
do with her.
I managed to make a fairlysilly mistake before the ride.
(02:03):
The weather had been showingrain for the whole week, so on
Friday I went and picked up somenew fenders.
But on Saturday morning, itlooked like the rain wasn't
going to be an issue.
So I made the decision to leavethe new fenders off.
That decision, I think, ensuredthat we would have rain, which
we did for about half of theride.
I kept thinking about the newfenders sitting in the hotel as
(02:24):
water sprayed out my back.
More about the fenders later.
About midway through the ride,the skies cleared and it was
absolutely stunning weather.
Tour de Victoria is one of themost inclusive rides I've seen.
There were options to do 160k,140k, 100k, 80k, 60k, 40k, 30k,
(02:44):
15k, and even a kid's ride.
We originally planned on doing100k, but at pretty much the
last minute we switched to the80k.
I think it was the rightdecision for us.
I like the thought of doing ametrics entry, but I'm glad we
didn't have the extra distance.
Twitter Victoria gets differentsponsors for the different ride
distances.
I think that adds to theability to have all the routes
(03:06):
well managed.
It was definitely an excellentexperience from a ride support
perspective.
The only criticism I would havewas that some of the brake
stops were just right on theside of the road.
And it made it difficult whenthere were a lot of bikes at the
stop trying to get off theroad.
Here's the biggest question Ihad about the ride.
And actually I still have thisquestion.
The 80k route was actually 77kilometers, so that means 47
(03:29):
miles.
It was posted at 770 meters ofclimbing.
That would be around 2,526feet.
However, my computer registered3,642 feet.
I was immediately disappointedwith that because I thought it
meant that my computer was notmeasuring elevation
appropriately.
3,642 feet is a pretty bigdifference from 2,526 feet.
(03:53):
And if my computer was that faroff, it meant that my elevation
for the year was way off.
However, looking at Strava datafor other people that did the
80k route, I've come to believethat my computer was correct,
and that Tor de Victoria didn'taccurately report the elevation
gain on the ride.
I'm actually glad that theelevation was that much, because
(04:14):
I was feeling it.
There were several climbs thatgot up around 15%, and that's
pretty hard for me.
The ride with GPS for the routedidn't show that steep of
grades, but my computer and mylegs registered them.
I also didn't manage my feelingand electrolytes very well, and
that led me to have to step offthe bike at the top of a hill
(04:36):
because I was cramping.
Cramping just hasn't been aproblem for me these days.
So I regretted not being morecareful with how I was feeding
myself.
Once again, we experienced howawesome e-assist is for Kelly.
I was able to push myself whileshe was able to pedal at her
own level.
There were several fantasticaspects to the ride, including
how many roads had been blockedoff to cars, and the lack of
(04:58):
interaction with traffic helpedmake this one of Kelly's
favorite experiences on a bikeso far.
So for me that was awesome.
My legs were pretty tracked bythe end of the ride, but we
hadn't had an opportunity towalk around Victoria, so after
the ride we toured the shops onfoot for hours.
I thought that was going tomean that I would be extra sore
from all the walking, but itseemed to have the opposite
(05:20):
effect.
It seemed to provide a reallythorough cooldown or something.
I'm not positive about this,but maybe doing a lot of walking
after hard ride is good, evenif I feel like doing nothing.
After doing the Tour deVictoria and seeing how
beautiful the city is and seeingall the great bike
infrastructure there, I for surewant to spend more time
exploring Vancouver Island bybike.
(05:42):
There are several bike touringcompanies that offer trips by
bike around Vancouver Island.
I hope to get back there soon,and I hope to do a metrics entry
at the Tour de Victoria in thefuture.
I mentioned I got new fenders.
I went to a bike shop inVictoria, but I didn't have my
Roubaix with me at the time.
The fenders that caught my eyeare from Speedrocker.
Like I said, I didn't put themon before the Tour de Victoria.
(06:06):
The bike shop thought that theywould fit the Roubet.
However, they don't out of thebox.
They needed some modification.
I really like these fenders, soI decided to make some
modifications to the rear fenderso that it fits.
I will let you know if I getthat figured out.
I'm not the most skilled atmodifying things, so we'll see
what happens.
We are wrapping up the CyclingWithout Age program that Cycling
(06:38):
Over 60 is doing incollaboration with the Tacoma
Washington Bicycle Club.
Earlier this year, I drove toSquim Washington to observe the
Squim Wheelers program.
Squim Wheelers have a verydeveloped program, and I wanted
to learn from them as much aspossible.
I see cycling without age trialrides as one of those things
(06:59):
that can bring an element ofservice to local cycling over 60
communities.
On my ride with them, I askedEric Maynard to come on the
podcast and share more aboutSquim Wheelers.
He agreed, and here's ourdiscussion.
I'm so happy to be joined todayby Eric Maynard.
(07:22):
Thank you, Eric, for beinghere.
EricMahnerd (07:24):
Well, I'm glad I could join you as well, Tom.
TomButler (07:28):
The reason that Eric's here is that I went out
to Squim and did a ride with theSquim Wheelers, an organization
that's doing just a it's agreat program out there, um
taking older people for rides.
I've talked about cyclingwithout age here on the podcast
before and got to see a a reallyjust quality program.
(07:51):
And so I was wanted Eric tocome on and and talk a little
more about it.
I see these cycling withoutage-like programs, these
programs where you take peoplewith limited mobility out and
let them experience the joy ofbeing on a bicycle without the
physical demands of being on abicycle.
(08:11):
I see that as a as somethingthat brings real heart to
cycling over 60.
And so my bias is that cyclingover 60 communities would have a
program like this so they cangive back to people and trying
to do what I can to have thatgoing into coma, Washington as
(08:34):
we build out our first cyclingover 60 community.
Eric, I'm just reallyappreciating you giving your
perspective on this.
And I want to start out byasking you what is your earliest
memory of the bicycle?
EricMahnerd (08:49):
Well, that's a good one.
I can remember my grandpa, hewas a uh bricklayer, and I grew
up in Minneapolis.
I can remember when he boughtme this little tiny bicycle and
it had those training wheels onthe back.
And God, I was so thrilled.
And he bought one bike, and mysister and I uh were would share
it.
And then how uh the day camewhen we took the training wheels
(09:13):
off.
That was really big time fun,you know.
Yeah.
Maybe what second grade, Iguess, you know?
TomButler (09:21):
Long time ago.
Was this an older sister or ayounger sister?
EricMahnerd (09:25):
Uh I I always teach her.
She's much older, she's um 18months older.
And so, and she she wasn't asactive physically.
She was more of a book readerthan uh go out and do
adventurous kind of stuff, youknow.
TomButler (09:41):
Yeah, so that's quite the day when the uh training
wheels come off.
You're out there just going.
That's cool.
I do it a lot different today,it seems like, where they uh the
strider bikes or whatever theycall them.
EricMahnerd (09:54):
You know, on the trail, we see these really young
kids just going crazy on thesebikes.
And I I think, God, was I thatlittle?
You know?
And then we always tease themit's fun when we see a family
and they got a couple, two,three kids on those little
bikes.
We go, biker gang, watch out,biker gang.
TomButler (10:15):
Now, did you keep cycling throughout your life?
EricMahnerd (10:18):
Oh, yeah.
You know, and that you talkabout other memories.
I can remember, gosh, I musthave been about third grade,
fourth grade, and uh my motherbought me a Schwin bicycle, and
it came where the handlebars hadthose little streamers hanging
down from the handlebars.
And God, I just love that bike.
(10:39):
And you know, that was ourbasic uh mode of transportation
all over the neighborhood.
You know, we went on ourbicycle, and then I can remember
going down a hill that was toosteep and it rounded out the
bottom, and I bent the tire, youknow.
But yeah, I I loved bicyclesfor the longest time.
And then as I got into highschool and got a car and
(11:03):
college, the bikes kind of wentaway until much later in life
when my wife convinced me to doa charity ride.
It was the MS 150, 150 milesthrough the gentle rolling hills
in Texas.
So I bought a really nicediamondback bike and my wife as
(11:25):
well.
And we got back into biking andreally enjoyed it for years.
Yeah, and we still bike now,very active bicyclists.
TomButler (11:33):
That's cool.
Had your wife been doing somecycling before that?
What's the impetus for likelaunching off at 150 miles?
Because she's crazy.
EricMahnerd (11:48):
She came home with this poster.
Look, this looks like fun.
And I'm going, that's a longway.
No, it'll be okay.
It was a long way.
But we both had bikes at thatpoint, and we weren't using them
a lot, and they were kind ofolder bikes.
And then when we got the new umuh bikes, a diamond sky, they
(12:10):
were so nice and light, andreally uh we got clip-on shoes
and padded pants.
You know, it was fun.
Yeah, yeah.
It was a different thing, andwe were in an area where there
wasn't much traffic and it was anew development, so it's great
places to ride without worryingabout getting run over.
TomButler (12:31):
That makes a huge difference as far as I'm
concerned.
Yeah.
EricMahnerd (12:34):
Yeah.
TomButler (12:35):
I can't remember where I initially saw Squim
Wheelers.
I I I think that it might havebeen on the Cycling Without Age
website, but since then, youknow, there's I've seen all
kinds of things about the SquimWheelers, including uh I think
King Five uh report on a reallynice report on what your group
(13:00):
is doing.
How would you describe SquimWheelers as someone who's never
seen it in action?
EricMahnerd (13:06):
Well, that yeah, that's a good question.
You know, Squim Wheelers is avoluntary group.
We're a 5013, and we rely ondonations to keep us going.
And we have an adaptive bikeprogram.
So for your listeners, it'sbasically a bicycle in the back
that is electrically assifted,and then on the front, they've
(13:28):
attached a wheelchair.
And so we have two like that,and this enables us to take
people, whether they're elderlypeople, whether they're
physically challenged orintellectually challenged,
people that can no longer ride abike by themselves.
We can transfer them to thewheelchair portion of the bike,
(13:50):
we get them all strapped insafely, put a helmet on them,
and then we give them the joy ofriding a bicycle again.
We take them out into thebeautiful countryside out here
on the Olympic Discovery Trail.
We also uh kind of have twoother bikes.
Uh, one is a tri-shaw, or theycan sit side by side.
(14:10):
So we have two people side byside, and that's a very popular
bike because we do a lot ofprivate rides as well as
facilities, and so we get likegrand grandmother and grandson
or daughter, father.
And then it's also really neat.
We have some married couples,and we have couples that are
(14:34):
romantically attached in thefacilities here in town, so they
get to ride side by side,holding hands, and and so that's
a cool bike.
And then our last bike that wehave is called a fun to go, and
the person, the our passenger,sits side by side with the
(14:55):
pilot.
So just quick terms here (14:55):
the person driving the bicycle is a
pilot, the person riding in thebicycle is the passenger, we
call them the wheeler, and thenwe always have at least one,
two, or three safety riders thatare going along, making sure
that the ride stays safe,looking out for traffic, for
(15:18):
obstacles like that.
So in the fun to go, the personsits right next door, right
side by side with the pilot, andthey have the opportunity to
pedal.
So they can assist in the bike.
If they don't want to pedal,that's fine.
We can put a platform down forthem as well.
That's really popular with someof our younger senior citizens.
(15:41):
Uh, they get exercise, sothat's a real popular bike as
well.
TomButler (15:46):
Yeah, and it looks pretty cool too, I think.
EricMahnerd (15:49):
Yeah, yeah, it really is.
TomButler (15:51):
How did Squim Wheelers get started?
EricMahnerd (15:53):
Our founder is uh Nicole Leping, and she was
watching a PBS show out ofHealing, Illinois, and it was a
PBS show about a program upthere.
And she thought, wow, with ourelderly population and the
number of retirement facilitieswe have, that might be a good
(16:14):
fit.
So she called them, got a lotof information.
They referred her to PortlandWheelers, and Portland Wheelers
is one of the largest programsin the country, and they're out
of Portland, Maine.
So she and another friend,Lilani Sunt, they flew out to
Maine and got all theinformation they could get from
(16:37):
those folks, and they werereally generous with their help.
And they came back here, puttogether a group of about 15
volunteers, and started raisingmoney.
At that time, the duet bicyclethat they bought cost about
$7,000.
So she came to our rotary cluband was making a presentation of
(16:59):
what they wanted to do.
And one of our generous uhRotarians, Bryce Fish, he gave
them $5,000.
And with that other money theyhad, they were able to go ahead
and buy that first bike.
That was in 2018.
As you can imagine, here in theNorthwest, our season for
(17:22):
giving the rides is limited bythe weather.
And so that summer they had theone duet, they went on 61
rides, and they took 91 peopleout on the Olympic Discovery
Trail.
TomButler (17:38):
That's an incredible beginning, I think.
EricMahnerd (17:41):
That's also it really is, and they just
continued to uh expand theprogram.
They bought a second bike,continuing to raise money.
First Federal gave them a grantthat helped buy a bike, and
then like I say, we're at 50 and3C, and people were giving
individual donations, so theycontinued to grow.
(18:03):
And uh this past year we wereup to four bicycles.
We had 73 volunteers helping,20 were new that we trained
during that time frame.
We took out 408 wheelers onrides, over a thousand hours of
volunteer time, and we wereworking with 13 different
(18:28):
facilities or groups here in theswim area.
And so our facilities, one is arehab, you know, for physical
injuries, people recovering fromthat, or a stroke, that kind of
type of things.
Then we have, I think, threememory issue facilities.
Then we have uh the rest are uhquite a few of them are elderly
(18:52):
folks, retirement facilities.
Then we do deal with uh twodifferent organizations that are
working with intellectuallychallenged individuals, uh, so
it's a widespread.
Then in addition to that, wegive out a large number of
private rights.
The program has expanded uh uhquite a bit since its origin in
(19:18):
uh 2018.
TomButler (19:20):
I'm thinking that those numbers that you're
talking about, uh Squim Wheelersmust be one of the larger
programs in out there, is thatright?
EricMahnerd (19:29):
You know, to be perfectly honest, I I I would
venture to guess we're right upthere at the top.
The the only other one that Iknow that's really large is the
Portland uh wheelers out therein Portland, Maine.
And they're quite large andthey have paid staff.
Our program, for the most part,our wheelers and the
(19:51):
facilities, they bring thepeople to us and then we go on
the trail.
We do go to a couple offacilities where we actually
will drive the bikes over, pickthem up, and then take them back
to the trail.
Up in Portland, Maine, theyhave a fleet of trucks and they
load the bikes on the trucks andgo to the facilities.
(20:13):
Every year they have a bigfundraiser, and I think last
year they raised $150,000 fortheir program.
So it's it's a big program.
Yeah.
TomButler (20:24):
Talk about what the typical ride experience looks
like for guests.
EricMahnerd (20:30):
Okay.
What we will do is I'll do afour-bike ride.
That's what we do most of thetime.
We'll take out four bikes.
So we'll have the tri-shaw, thefun to go, and then two
wheelchair bikes.
The volunteers will meet at ourstorage facility.
We'll get all the bikes ready,and then we have a safety
briefing as to what theorganization we're going to work
(20:52):
with and what our plan is forthe ride.
And then about oh, maybe atwo-minute ride away is the
Dungeness River Nature Center.
And the facilities will come tous and we'll unload the people
there.
Then we we get them into thechairs, get them all strapped in
(21:13):
and comfortable, and then wegive them a helmet.
And depending on the theweather, we may bundle them up
in a blanket because it is coolout here.
This has been a particularlycool summer, and uh, like
personally, I've had six ridescanceled because of weather,
because if it's cold, we justdon't go, it's no fun.
(21:36):
And so once we get them allbundled in, and we we have a
very open dialogue with ourwheelers, and we've seen a lot
of them, we know them from otherrides, and it's like a big
happy family.
We get them all loaded up, andthen we head west on Olympic
Discovery Trail.
And for your listeners, OlympicDiscovery Trail, and when it's
(21:59):
completed, it'll go from Seattleall the way out to the ocean on
an Olympic peninsula.
And each year they're addingmore and more to the route.
And part of it is where the uhold railroad went.
So it's a perfect uhright-of-way, and they've where
the tracks were, they put inpaving, and so it's just a
(22:22):
beautiful um uh trail to go on.
And the best part is there's nocars, so it's nice and quiet,
you're surrounded by nature,surrounded by trees, occasional
deer or two.
I have not seen, but one onerider, they didn't even see a
bear, and that's all right.
I don't care to see the bear.
(22:42):
Uh so then we we we get them onthe bikes, we head west, and
our first stop is maybe a couplehundred yards away, and that's
the old Trussell bridge acrossthe Dungeness River.
So we'll stop there and we takephotos, and then we continue
west.
And the ride is in total is anhour.
(23:05):
So we go for about an hour, anduh we'll cross uh three
streets, but the rest of thetime you're in uh in nature's
glory out there on the trail.
We turn around, we we stop atthe airport, it's a private
airport, hopefully see in aplane or two, make sure they
need water or if they're warmenough.
(23:26):
We come back the otherdirection, we go to the
Dungeness River Nature Center inthe back, take some more
photos, and then we take them toback to their van and say
goodbye.
All in all, it takes about anhour on the ride.
TomButler (23:42):
I'm thinking of people that are doing it for the
first time.
Can they be hesitant sometimes?
EricMahnerd (23:48):
Well, you know, it's interesting.
I I'll tell you a brick'sstory.
The lady, uh, her name wasBeth, and she was really
nervous.
And she was she she didn't wantto get in the wheelchair, she
was afraid it wasn't going to besafe.
But the people at the facilitythey convinced her to be safe.
We got her all strapped in andwe started going, and she said,
(24:10):
I don't want you to go too fast.
I said, Nope, I won't go toofast.
And as we were going across thebridge, I could hear her, and I
said, Beth, are you singing?
And she said, Well, yes, I amsinging.
And I said, And why are yousinging?
Well, then I won't be scared.
So for the next hour, Beth andI sang the whole route, and then
(24:35):
I kept trying to come up withsongs, and Beth was probably in
her 80s, so I'm reaching back tosongs in the 50s, and you know,
and I would know the beginning,but then I wouldn't know the
rest of the words, so I'd makethem up.
And we had the best time, andwhen we got done, we helped her
(24:57):
back into the band, and then wegave them a little souvenir pin,
and I pinned the pin on her,and she said, I want to thank
you very much.
And I I said, Well, I'm glad.
I'm glad you weren't scared.
No, the singing really helped.
So when I come next time, couldyou have a songbook?
Because you don't seem to knowthe words.
(25:17):
So that's the kind of stuffthat we get.
You know, it's it's it is, youknow, I do a lot of volunteer
work.
I'm in the rotary, I'm boys andgirls club, the food bank, but
this is by far the one of themost rewarding things I've ever
done, or the rest of our 70volunteers.
It's it's such a meaningfulthing to see the joy and that
(25:41):
we're bringing to these umelderly citizens or even uh the
younger ones, yeah.
TomButler (25:47):
When I came and rode with you, there was a gentleman,
and you know, it was obvious itwasn't his first time, but he
was raring to go.
He kept going like, okay, let'sedit, let's go, you know.
So uh I'm sure it doesn't takemany times before they're really
comfortable with theexperience.
EricMahnerd (26:06):
You know, they talk about um there's a memory um uh
the cottages, and then thepeople there are having memory
issues, and some uh very thesevere memory issues, some not
quite as much.
And so there's a couple,they're not married, but they're
a couple, and it's Misty andJim, and they always ride in the
(26:28):
tri-shaw together, and theyhold hands, and when Chic Misty
comes down, she'll say, Hi,Eric, how are you?
And I'll say, then I'll say,Play Misty for me.
It was a song in a movie, yeah.
And and so we laugh and wejoke.
So we get to the end of theroad, and we're gonna turn
(26:48):
around and come back.
And I had the tri-shaw, so Igot to do a three-point turn to
get it in the oppositedirection.
And every time I'm pullingbackwards, the two of them go
beep, beep, beep, beep.
You know, I mean, these peoplelove this stuff.
And that's incredible.
Uh I'll tell you, let me tellyou another real quick one here.
(27:08):
I had um uh there's anotherone, uh, Dungeness Memory
Center, and there was thedaughter and her father, and his
father has Alzheimer's.
And so we took him on his firstride with the daughter.
And when we got done, the ladyis almost in tears.
She says, I can't thank youenough.
(27:29):
I haven't seen my father bethis responsive and this
community in the longest time.
And as we were driving along,he's remembering stuff and he's
talking about stuff.
And you know, if you thinkabout these facilities, they
serve a wonderful purpose, butto be alone in those facilities
(27:53):
and never getting out much,especially the people with the
memory issue.
I mean, this is just uh such areward, rewarding experience for
us, such an adventure for them.
So, yeah, it's a great program.
TomButler (28:08):
There's a PBS uh series called Joyride, which
focuses on cycling without age,and and it captures some really
good stories there.
Yeah.
I would encourage anybody to goto look look that up.
I want to talk a little moreabout uh how the bikes work.
You you talked about I thinkfour different types.
(28:30):
Uh there's a three, I think,that you mentioned, and there's
a fourth.
The fourth one is a bike thatwill receive a wheelchair, and
then you have the fun to gobike, which is a side-by-side
bike, and the tri-shaw, uh thebrand I think is called Trio
(28:51):
Bike.
And then the other one that youhave it has uh like a
wheelchair on on the front of itor a wheelchair-like.
I mean it's a a wheelchairthat's kind of specially made to
go in the front of a bicycle,but someone gets into that.
And so I'm interested in uhkind of looking at those as a
(29:15):
way for people who can't ride atraditional bicycle to be able
to get out and about.
Let's start with the fun to go.
I guess the thing I would firstask is are you able to kind of
tailor the bikes that you'reusing to who's gonna show up?
Or is it is that basically amystery of who's gonna be there?
EricMahnerd (29:38):
Yeah, it's a mystery.
Now, like the cottages, theycome every Friday, they bring
five people, sometimes four.
She will give me when I I'mgonna call her what day is
today, Tuesday?
So I call her tomorrow.
I call her a couple days aheadof it time, and she'll say, I'll
have Beth and Jim and Misty andGreg.
(29:58):
And so So I'll need thefundigo, the trishaw, and the
the two wheelchair bikes.
And then she'll say, Yeah,we're gonna put Greg and Misty
in the in the trishaw.
Jim wants to do the fundigobecause he likes the pedal, and
the other two will be in thewheelchair bikes.
So some of the people do knowwho wants which bike.
(30:21):
So we try to adapt it to them.
We do have some people thathave are physically challenged
besides being elderly, not invery good shape.
So we would never put them onthe fundigo to pedal.
But we can put them on thefundigo and the pedals are out
of the way and there's aplatform to put their feet on
(30:41):
it.
So most of the time, if peopleare physically challenged, then
we put them in one of thewheelchair bikes because it's
more comfortable for them tosit.
The fundigo is much better foran active person the way the
bike is designed.
And then the most comfortableone is the Trin Shaw.
(31:03):
It's got a really nice paddedseat.
And we can also, it has a coverthat we can bring up.
So if it's a little cool, webring the cover up.
It's got a beautiful fleeceblanket that keeps them nice and
warm.
That's our most comfortableone.
And so people that are have themost challenges, we'll put them
(31:24):
in there.
TomButler (31:25):
On the fun to go, it looks like there's two
handlebars, but actually onlyone of the handlebars is there
for control.
How easy is that to maneuver?
EricMahnerd (31:38):
Well, you know, it's good because we can only
have one person deciding whichdirection we're gonna go, you
know.
And it it is a verymaneuverable bike, and it can
turn on a dime.
We get to where we have to turnaround and head back to the
nature center, boom, and it'salready pointed the other
direction while I'm doing thethree-point turn with the big
(32:01):
old tri-shaw.
Yeah, it's a nice bike.
That bike new, oh gosh, that'sprobably $15,000.
You know, the the bikes arevery expensive.
They're made in theNetherlands.
And the new one we just bought,uh it's called an Au Pair, and
it's a wheelchair bike.
It has what looks to be like auh comfortable padded chair in
(32:25):
the front, and that's overeleven thousand dollars.
That bike.
Uh the trishod's close tofifteen thousand.
And the other part is is thatbecause they're made in Leverett
Net Netherlands, uh you starttalking about the shipping.
That's a good hunk.
Also, the import duties, andthey actually they're not too
(32:47):
bad.
It's 300 bucks.
So that's not too bad foreleven thousand dollars.
But they're quite expensivebikes.
TomButler (32:54):
Uh, one thing is for sure, they need to be quality
bikes.
If there's one thing you're notgonna skip on, it's gonna be
this activity for sure.
EricMahnerd (33:04):
Yeah, and the each one of the bikes is electrically
assisted, which is definitelyneeded.
So that helps a great deal.
When you figure, I think themaximum uh a wheeler can weigh
is 235, 240, and then you havethe pilot on it, you got a lot
of weight on that bicycle.
(33:25):
So being electrically uhassisted really helps.
And as you mentioned, they arequality bikes.
As much as we use them, we havethree different uh volunteers
that keep them maintained, theytake a lot of use.
I'm trying to think, I just sawit someplace last year.
Where is it?
(33:45):
They went 850 miles, so theyget a lot of use and a lot of
wear and tear on them.
TomButler (33:52):
You're getting bikes, the au pair, that have this
seat on the front, and you havetwo of those currently.
Those aren't au-pairs, though,right?
Are they a different brand?
EricMahnerd (34:04):
Currently, we have one au pair and one duet.
And when we get these four newbikes, we're gonna actually
retire the duet and keep it as aspare.
And the duet's a nice bike,except for one problem.
The handlebars are low.
And if you're more than aboutfive five, when you're pedaling,
(34:28):
your knees hit the handlebars.
I'm 6'5, and I can't.
If I try to ride that bike, myknees are way out to the side,
and um it's not a good fit forme.
So I I never ride that bike.
So the O'Pairs, the handlebarsare real high, and so it's not a
leg issue at all.
Yeah.
TomButler (34:48):
On the OPERs, does it feel very stable as a pilot?
Is it do you have to kind ofget used to a feel for it, or or
are they well balanced andeverything where it feels really
easy?
EricMahnerd (35:01):
It's you know, it's a that's a really good question
because when we ride from thestorage shed over to where we're
gonna pick up our wheelers, uhoh, it's about three or four
blocks.
And on that short ride, we havethree sets of concrete weights
in that seat to simulate apassenger sitting there because
(35:26):
without it, the the front end'sreally squirrely.
And then once you get thepassenger in there, now it's
well balanced between the frontand the back, and the bike
handles really well.
TomButler (35:39):
Interesting.
You're going to be getting abike that accepts a wheelchair.
And I'm wondering, was that inresponse to a demand for a bike
like that, or how did it thedecision come about to buy that
bike?
EricMahnerd (35:57):
Well, we're dealing right now with 13 facilities.
Several of those facilitieshave people that it's very
difficult to transfer out of thewheelchair.
They're basically wheelchairbottom.
They get out of bed in themorning, they put them in the
wheelchair, and they stay there.
And so this new bike, what'llhappen is it has a platform on
(36:22):
it.
We hook a little cable onto theback of the wheelchair, and
then we can winch it onto theplatform.
And once it's on the platform,you lock the winch cable, and
then there's two sets oftie-down devices, one for each
wheel, that secures thewheelchair bike to the platform.
(36:46):
Now that passenger or thewheeler does not have to be
transferred, and so it's a realboon.
When we were made aware of thattype of bike, one of our
volunteers contacted all of thefacilities.
Hey, we're thinking about this.
Do you uh have a need for abike like that?
(37:08):
And we had 16 uh responses ofyes.
TomButler (37:13):
Wow.
EricMahnerd (37:14):
So we're excited to get that bike.
It's going to open up ourorganization to a whole new line
of uh passengers or wheelers.
Yeah, it's gonna be reallygreat.
TomButler (37:27):
Now you do have rides that the public can request or
sign up for.
How's that process work?
EricMahnerd (37:34):
It's really simple.
I would encourage yourlisteners to go to our website
and it's just really easysquimwheelers.com, S-E-Q-U-I-M
dot com.
And on there, there's a link,request a ride, and you hit
(37:56):
that, and it'll be theinformation that they need will
be right there.
You fill it out, and it'ssimple.
You you put in the date, time,and then you do have to sign a
waiver, an insurance waiver, andyou can sign that
electronically, and you send itin, and then our schedule will
reach out to you and get you alltaken care of.
(38:18):
We're a 501c.
There is no charge for this.
If you want to make a donation,fine.
If you don't, that's fine too.
We do at least one ride a daywith the facilities.
On some days, we're doing ridesin the morning and in the
afternoon.
For the most part, our privaterides are on the weekends.
(38:39):
They can be in the week basedon availability of bikes.
TomButler (38:44):
It's really fun when I was on my way out of town.
I stopped for lunch after I'dridden with you.
And the person behind thecounter we got talking while I
was there.
Oh, that's that's really cool.
You know, he was picturing hismom, being able to get out.
(39:28):
And I I think the truth is atypical person that doesn't get
out a lot, which can happen.
And being able to send him overto the website was fantastic.
EricMahnerd (39:39):
I was looking, I thought I saw how many.
Yeah, we've had 13 privaterides this summer.
And this summer, as Imentioned, the weather just
wasn't cooperating, and we weredelayed and delayed and delayed.
So this summer, unfortunately,we won't have as many rides as
we did last year.
(40:00):
Unless, of course, the fallcooperates.
And if it gets below the 50degrees, it it's not fun.
And we're heading west, andusually out here in Squim, the
wind is out of thewest-northwest, so it's right
into their face going out.
Coming back, it's not so bad.
(40:21):
And then obviously, if there'sany rain, we don't operate in
the rain.
TomButler (40:26):
Talk about the interaction you have with the
facilities you partner with.
I'm thinking they must justlove this.
EricMahnerd (40:34):
They absolutely do.
They are so appreciative ofwhat we do.
Most of them, in fact, I I cansay all of them have contributed
to our program uh in supporteach year.
And when you think about thewhat we're doing, the advantage
that we're giving them to takesome of their people out and get
(40:58):
to do something, it's really areally neat program.
And especially, and we'vementioned this already, is that
when you start getting into theelderly patients, you know, I've
had patients uh into their 90sjust last week, and one was 97,
and she was a tiny little ladyfrom England originally, sharp
(41:23):
at the tack.
She said, Well, my body'swearing out.
The first time I met her, herdaughter, who is 67 years old,
was there with her, and that itwas her first ride.
So she said to her uh thedaughter said to the mother, she
said, So mom, tell them aboutwhat you did in World War II.
(41:48):
And she said, Well, I wasworking in a factory in London,
and she said, And tell them whatyou did when you heard the war
had ended in Germany.
Well, I had gotten out of schooland I heard they were
celebrating in London, but Icouldn't get anybody to go with
(42:10):
me, so I got on a train and wentby myself.
And tell them what you did inLondon, and she kind of grinned
and she's blushing a little bit.
She said, Well, I kissed someof the vultures.
That's the kind of stuff thatwe run it.
Right.
So neat, you know.
TomButler (42:32):
That's so fun.
Yeah.
You mentioned the rotary whenyou guys were starting out.
Are you guys known by the Squimcommunity, like different
organizations by the communityas a whole?
EricMahnerd (42:45):
The Rotary Club, it's a Squim Sunrise Rotary
Club.
And I might mention that youare talking to its current
president.
Okay.
Show more respect.
We have about 75 members in ourclub.
We're very, very active in thecommunity.
We have several ways that weraise money, and almost every
(43:10):
penny we raise goes back to thecommunity.
And just recently, we we did afundraiser for the Squin
Wheelers and raised almost$1,000 for them.
Plus, we do scholarships, wehelp the Boys and Girls Club, we
help the food bank, we help allkinds of projects.
Very um generously, as Imentioned, Bryce Fish, he
(43:34):
donated $5,000 for the originalbike.
And then later, as the programwas building, he bought him a
second bike and paid for thewhole thing outright.
So yeah, the the rotary hasbeen an integral part of the uh
of the squim wheelers.
Yeah.
TomButler (43:52):
And the city, is the city aware of squim wheelers and
support?
EricMahnerd (43:55):
Oh, yeah.
We get a lot of support fromthem, not financially, but
they're very appreciative ofwhat we do and they help promote
us.
We set up booths during thevarious farmers markets, the
irrigation festival, thelavender festival.
They are invited to be in theannual parade that we have.
(44:16):
So yeah, the city enjoys whatwe do.
You know, I think that's theone thing that people each year
more and more people arebecoming aware of the squim
wheelers and the service it'sproviding to the community.
And that's why people said,Well, you're buying four more
bikes.
And I said, Well, we reallythink the need is there, and uh,
(44:39):
we're just going to keep onexpanding.
TomButler (44:41):
So that's wonderful.
And I know, you know,experiencing firsthand that the
people that you meet on thetrail, you know, either you've
met them before and they knowwhat's going on, or they are uh
yeah, it seems like everybodyhas a good response to it.
EricMahnerd (44:57):
Yeah, you would get a lot of positive response from
the people on the trail.
And then we do, as I mentioned,have two groups that are uh
intellectually challenged, andthey really get excited when
they're on the trail and theywant to wave at everybody and
talk, and and they love the thedogs and the animals, and uh the
(45:19):
people on the trail with thesefolks, they are so generous with
their time and theirunderstanding of what the kids
are all about, and it's really aneat, neat, neat experience.
TomButler (45:31):
What does it take to become a volunteer pilot?
There's a process there, Iknow.
EricMahnerd (45:37):
You have to sign up each each spring.
We have an open house and uhit's in the parking lot at the
nature center.
We set up our little tent anduh we have pre-cookies and we
have all the bikes there, and weas people are going by the
trail, they stop and see us.
Plus, before the open house, wewill um do a promo on our KSQM
(46:03):
radio station.
Susan Sorensen and I will do acouple promos on there.
We get a really nice article inthe paper so people know about
the open house, and so we have agood turnout.
Last year we had 21 newvolunteers.
This year we had 16.
What the process is you sign upto join, you have to do a
(46:24):
background check, which isrelatively easy, and then we
bring them to an orientationmeeting and we give them a
history of the organization anduh what our goals are, and then
if they decide to join us, thenwe have a formal training
(46:45):
program.
And the training program arethree sessions and they take two
and a half hours each, andthey're with our experienced
riders that train the new guys.
If they need more training,fine.
If they don't, then we we sendthem out on the trail.
Sometimes what we'll find isthat people will not feel
(47:08):
comfortable with riding thebikes, the because they are
they're good-sized bikes withthat chair in front or the or
side by side, and they end upbeing safety, so we have a whole
set of rules and regulationsfor our safeties and knock on
wood.
We've never had an accident, sothat's great because we're very
(47:29):
safety conscious.
When it's time to startactually scheduling the new
trainees into the program, we'llmake sure that they are with
seasoned veterans, and we informthe ride leader.
Every ride that goes out hasone ride leader that, hey, Bob
(47:49):
is coming, and this is going tobe his first ride.
Okay, great.
And so they keep an eye on himand make sure that he's
comfortable with what we'redoing.
And then we also always havedebriefings after every ride,
and with the new guys uh makingsure that they have any
questions, they can get theanswers.
TomButler (48:10):
For people that like bike riding, would you say that
being on one of these bikes isgoing for a bike ride?
It's just like uh bike rideplus.
EricMahnerd (48:19):
Well, I'm gonna say uh it's going for a rewarding
bike ride because you're doingsomething really neat.
And in most cases, not allcases, most cases you have an
opportunity to talk with thepeople.
Sometimes they don't.
The memory issue peoplesometimes are not commutative,
so they don't have that.
But for the most part, yeah,you have an opportunity to share
(48:43):
stories, to sing along, even ifyou don't know the words.
TomButler (48:49):
Right, right.
An opportunity to compose wordson the on the fly.
Yeah.
What would you say is maybesome of the harder logistical
challenges with organizing uhadaptive cycling rides?
EricMahnerd (49:05):
You know, at this point, if you'd asked that
question in 2018, they'd have apretty good answer for you.
This point, we are uh reallywell managed.
So uh what we do at the end ofthe season, we have a postseason
meeting where we try to get asmany of the pilots and safeties
(49:25):
together.
Hey, here's the problem, here'swhat we did, should we be
concerned about this?
We do a season review.
And as we're going through theseason, if something comes up
that we think everybody shouldknow, we do blast emails to
everybody in the in theorganization.
And then as we start gettinginto the new year, the new
(49:48):
season, all the bikes are tunedup and ready to go.
Then we go through ourrecurrent training.
So every new or excuse me,veteran, we have a two-hour
training session with them tore-familiarize them with the
bikes.
And we have all the bikesavailable so they can you know
(50:10):
ride them.
The electronics and thecontrols on the bikes are
different, and so how to operatethose, what the boost is, uh,
so we get them spooled up.
And then again, as I mentionedto you uh and shared with you
last season, we did a reallynice job on the formal training
syllabus, and then we have thatall set to go for our new hires.
(50:35):
So yeah, I major challenges wedon't have them.
Now, I would say we are gonnahave a little bit of a challenge
because we've got two new typesof bikes coming.
The old pairs will be the same,but we've got the tri-shaw and
um the new platform bike, sothat'll we'll have to introduce
those and build a syllabus forthem.
TomButler (50:57):
There is a logistical element of keeping the bikes
going, is parts, uh maintenanceand parts.
Is that something that has tobe managed?
EricMahnerd (51:09):
Yeah, an example is we have another duet that is in
storage because the battery hasdied, but the battery, because
it's a large battery, is soexpensive and the bike is old.
We've decided not to replace.
And it's so it's sort of aspare part locker now.
(51:31):
The wear and tear on the bikesbecause of the amount of weight
on them.
We have spoke damage, we havewheel damage, the tires
obviously are wearing out.
So, yeah, it is quite a bit ofmaintenance to keep them up
because, like I said, that we'vealready gone 800 miles or
something this year, and itwears them out.
TomButler (51:50):
Well, you guys are so well managed and and so
experienced at this point.
I'm wondering what kind ofinteraction you have with
cycling without age at thispoint.
EricMahnerd (52:00):
We don't do a lot with them.
Uh, we are members of cyclingwithout age.
You know, they're um a hugeorganization.
I think they're in what 41countries.
But God, I've read, I think,3,500 chapters.
And we have used them as aresource for insurance, for
purchasing bikes.
(52:21):
We've gotten valuableinformation off of their blogs,
safety information and ideas.
So, yeah, it's it's a sourcethat we use, but our program's
sort of self-contained and notquite like theirs.
So, not a really, really activeassociation with uh cycling
(52:42):
without age.
TomButler (52:43):
You mentioned the Olympic Discovery Trail.
Uh what an awesome resourcethat is.
When I was there, I experiencedthe Nature Center, which is a
cool place.
It it's like uh it feels almostideal as a location to be able
to make the rides easy.
EricMahnerd (53:04):
It really is.
It's a super place uh in thatthere's a great starting point
to head west on the trail.
Two years ago, they were doingrepair work on the bridge.
So we couldn't go west on thetrail, we had to go east, and
the trail to the east isn'tnearly as desirable because one
(53:28):
section there's all these treesand the roots are growing
through the trail and it'sbumpier than the heck through
there.
Then we get up by HendricksonAvenue and the traffic is there,
so it's loud.
And then the trail ends upbeing in a residential
(53:48):
neighborhood.
So you're on streets where carsare also part of it.
Sadly, the old railroad trestlebridge, it's wood, has been
determined to be unsafe.
They used to have activities onthe bridge fundraisers for the
Nature Center, and this yearthey had an engineering group
(54:11):
said, come on and say, No, youcan't do that anymore.
It's okay for people to walkby, but you can't have large
groups on that bridge.
And we just found out thatthey're gonna tear the bridge
down, they're gonna build a newone, but it's gonna be identical
to the old one.
So that'll you know, be an old,it'll be a wooden structure
(54:33):
like uh the old one.
But that means that we will notbe able to go west on the trail
and we'll have to be going eastagain, which is less desirable.
TomButler (54:44):
There is a pretty active group of people that are
focused on the Olympic DiscoveryTrail.
Do swim wheelers get involvedwith those efforts?
Are you advocating for thetrail?
EricMahnerd (54:56):
Oh, absolutely.
The Olympic Trail Coalition,it's a large organization.
They keep uh the maintenance onthe trail, they're uh raising
funds for improving the trail,they're lobbying to get the
trail standed constantly.
Uh, and it it's amazing whatthey've done.
(55:17):
Like I said, they'll go fromSeattle all the way out to the
Pacific Ocean, and there aresections on that trail that are
just gorgeous.
Unfortunately for us, they'renot accessible to us because
we're time limited as to howlong we can be on the bikes with
our wheelers, and we don't havethe facilities or the resources
(55:41):
to be able to take people tosome of the other areas, but
they're certainly beautifulareas for individuals to ride.
TomButler (55:49):
You are getting these four bikes, including one
that's different than whatyou've had before.
Do you have any question thatthe program's going to expand
and utilize all those resources?
EricMahnerd (56:03):
No, we are quite confident that we can utilize
those resources.
We like we said it's gonna be anet three because one more bike
is gonna be retired unless wereally need it.
We have demand for more thanwhat we have now.
We have enough volunteers toexpand the program.
We were disappointed because ofthe delay, but in another on
(56:28):
the other side of the coin,it'll probably work out well in
that we will have all winterlong to get the bikes assembled
and get become familiar withthem, and then we can also
expand our program during thosemonths, reaching out to the
facility saying, okay, insteadof being able to bring four
(56:50):
riders, you're going to be ableto bring seven.
TomButler (56:54):
That's fantastic.
EricMahnerd (56:56):
That'll that'll work out nicely.
TomButler (56:58):
So, what do you see the future bringing for Squim
Wheelers?
EricMahnerd (57:03):
Well, it as I mentioned, we are a 501c, and so
we rely on donations uh to keepitself going.
And uh when I say donations,we've been very fortunate in
that uh we've had corporatesponsors, uh, First Federal, the
as I mentioned, the TRIBE isvery supportive of our program.
(57:26):
The Benjamin PhillipsFoundation, they've given us
close to $30,000 in grants.
We have several individuals,two off the top of my head that
have given us $10,000 plus each.
Bryce has given us $10,000.
We have other organizationsthat, boom, once a year they
send us a check for $2,300 insupport of our program.
(57:49):
I think all total we've raisedover $100,000 since 2018.
And so we need to keep ongenerating the funds going
forward to pay for our program.
And I think as long as we cando that, we certainly are
confident that we're gonna haveenough volunteers.
And with the expanding of theelderly population in Squim, uh,
(58:16):
we certainly feel that we'regonna have more than enough
demand for our product from thelocal community.
And one of the other thingsthat we're doing, we're also
reaching out to younger people.
So the two groups, Mosaic andTim's Place, the deal with the
uh intellectually developedchildren and adults, more
(58:38):
children that way.
Plus, we're going, we've doneroad trips over to poor towns
and into other schools where wehave uh physically challenged
people that we've introduced usto.
TomButler (58:50):
What do you think people would find to be the most
surprising aspect of theprogram?
EricMahnerd (58:56):
I would think probably the most surprising
aspect is the joy that ourwheelers receive by getting out
of the facility and out into thefresh air and out into nature.
I went to um her name is Mary.
She was 90 years old, she's notwith us anymore, and her
(59:18):
birthday was coming up, and Ihad her on a ride.
She graduated from Squim HighSchool in 1949.
There were 49 kids in herclass, and she couldn't wait to
get out of this hick town.
And she went over to Seattleand became a nurse and stayed
over there until uh she retired.
(59:40):
Then she and her husband cameback and he passed away and she
ended up in a uh retirementfacility.
So I had her for a ride, herfirst ride, and she's just
thrilled with being out on thebike.
And we're driving along, shesays, See that house up there?
I said, Yeah.
She said, My best girlfriend inhigh school is in that house.
(01:00:04):
And I said, Really?
And then she said, But youknow, maybe she wasn't my best
girlfriend.
And I said, Why's that, Mary?
She said, Well, she stole myboyfriend.
And I said, Oh, well, are theystill married?
She said, No, they're bothdead.
And so they were going aroundand she's pointing out the
(01:00:24):
history of squim.
So her birthday was the nextnext week, and my wife used to
be a floor, so she made a reallypretty bouquet.
And she also makes homemadechocolates and a card.
And so I went to her nursinghome.
And uh I said, Hi, I'm here tosee Mary.
Come on, I'll take you down.
(01:00:45):
We knocked on the door, and sheher nursing home consisted of a
small bathroom and one room.
And there was a bed over in thecorner, there was a chair, a
TV, and a little tinykitchenette with a coffee pot
and that.
And she was so thrilled to seeme and that I had brought that.
(01:01:07):
And then she started telling meabout what it meant to her to
be able to come on that ride.
And she said, I just love it.
I just can't wait to do itagain.
And I had her two more timesthat summer, and it was just a
joy for her to come out.
(01:01:28):
Sadly, she she's not with usanymore.
Yeah, I think that's the mostsurprising part.
If people could see the smileon our wheelers' faces when they
get done with the ride, or ifthey've been on the ride before,
if you could see their smilewhen they're about to start the
(01:01:48):
ride, it's just reallywonderful.
And hand in hand with that, thethe workers at the facilities
that bring them to the ride orthere when we pick them up,
they're so happy too becausethey know they're bringing joy
to their clients, to theirresidents.
So yeah, that's that'sdefinitely it, yeah.
TomButler (01:02:11):
I think that's a perfect note to end on, and you
know, and and I've experiencedthat, you that the impact that
it has, and it's wonderful.
Eric, thank you so much forcoming on and talking more about
Squim Wheelers.
I I just love the the work thatyou guys are doing there, that
(01:02:32):
what you're building, um, whatyou continue to expand, and so
happy that you came on andtalked about it.
EricMahnerd (01:02:38):
Well, I th I really want to thank you, Tom, for
giving me this opportunity.
Uh, you know, I I willencourage your listeners again,
just go to squimwheelers.com.
You can find out more about usand volunteer or sign up for a
ride, or if you like, make adonation.
TomButler (01:02:57):
Yes, yes, fantastic.
You know, and I also just wantto compliment you.
You know, you're a leader withthis organization, you're a
leader in your community, andand good job.
You know, I think it'swonderful that you're taking
time uh to make your communitybetter.
EricMahnerd (01:03:14):
Well, thank you very much.
You know, I I worked a lot ofyears.
Uh I used to be uh an airlinepilot and I worked in aviation
for a long, long time.
And when we moved up here, itit just gives me an opportunity
to give back to the people inour community, and there are so
many wonderful people in thistown.
Little town, 8,000 people, andvolunteerism makes it work, and
(01:03:36):
I'm really glad that I'm capableof being able to do that.
TomButler (01:03:39):
Fantastic.
Well, thanks again, and andmaybe I'll make it out again and
do another private guys.
It was fun.
EricMahnerd (01:03:47):
Come on, ride with us, and we'll we'll do it again.
TomButler (01:03:50):
That'd be fun.
EricMahnerd (01:03:51):
All right, good luck on your program.
I hope it works out.
And if you do need any morestuff, holler at me.
I'd be glad to help you out.
TomButler (01:03:58):
Well, I appreciate that, and and I'll probably take
you up on that.
EricMahnerd (01:04:00):
So okay, buddy.
Take care.
Bye bye now.
Bye.
TomButler (01:04:12):
I believe that there's an aspect of vibrant
living that is only possiblewhen we give to others without
expectation of getting somethingin return.
And I believe that aspect isamplified when we give to others
as a team.
I'm grateful that there areleaders like Eric out there
working behind the scenes tobring service opportunities to
life.
When we do a cycling withoutage ride, there are three
(01:04:37):
responses we get.
One response comes from thepassengers, or wheelers as Eric
called them.
Almost without exception, theyrespond by being very thankful
that we took them for a ride.
Second is the response fromstaff at our facility who love
our rides.
They're the ones that get tohear how much the residents
enjoy the rides we do.
And finally, whoever sees usout on a ride responds with
(01:05:00):
smiles and waves, and usually astatement like, That's so cool.
I think that the last responsereally says something.
People immediately understandthe value of getting outside at
the speed of biking,experiencing the sun and the
fresh air.
And they can see that we'regiving an opportunity for people
who aren't mobile to have thatexperience.
(01:05:22):
Hopefully, we can expand ourprogram here to do even more
rides next summer.
I hope all of you have ways togive something to your
community.
Maybe you have also foundsomething that combines cycling
and service.
And remember, it's just a geartest.
I think if you have an opportunity to experience the
Turkish Victoria, you shoulddefinitely take it.
First of all, Victoria, BritishColumbia is just a terrific
place.
In addition to the ride, wealso visited the Mallahat
Skywalk about 40 minutes outsideof Victoria.
It was rainy and cloudy on theday we visited Malahat, so we
didn't get the full beauty ofthe view.
(00:57):
But it was still spectacular.
And the rain made for fewercrowds, which was nice.
Walking on the trail to theSkywalk and spending time
outdoors in such a remote placefelt like we were recharging our
bodies in a way.
Our trip started out with adrive to Port Angeles where we
jumped on the Black Ball Ferryto Victoria.
I think anytime I get on aferry, I see it as leaving the
(01:19):
world behind.
It is very rare that we get ona ferry for anything other than
recreation.
So, a ferry ride is linked tomy brain with fun and
relaxation.
The trip was also part ofKelly's 60th birthday
celebration, so we splurged onthe hotel.
Of course, that added to thespecial nature of the trip.
Our hotel was very close to thestarting line on Saturday
(01:40):
morning, and we headed out fromthe hotel in light rain.
We were a little too relaxedabout it.
As we got to the starting area,we found out that almost
everybody had already left.
I felt bad about that because Iwanted Kelly to experience the
fun of a big group start.
So that's something that isstill on the list of things to
do with her.
I managed to make a fairlysilly mistake before the ride.
(02:03):
The weather had been showingrain for the whole week, so on
Friday I went and picked up somenew fenders.
But on Saturday morning, itlooked like the rain wasn't
going to be an issue.
So I made the decision to leavethe new fenders off.
That decision, I think, ensuredthat we would have rain, which
we did for about half of theride.
I kept thinking about the newfenders sitting in the hotel as
(02:24):
water sprayed out my back.
More about the fenders later.
About midway through the ride,the skies cleared and it was
absolutely stunning weather.
Tour de Victoria is one of themost inclusive rides I've seen.
There were options to do 160k,140k, 100k, 80k, 60k, 40k, 30k,
(02:44):
15k, and even a kid's ride.
We originally planned on doing100k, but at pretty much the
last minute we switched to the80k.
I think it was the rightdecision for us.
I like the thought of doing ametrics entry, but I'm glad we
didn't have the extra distance.
Twitter Victoria gets differentsponsors for the different ride
distances.
I think that adds to theability to have all the routes
(03:06):
well managed.
It was definitely an excellentexperience from a ride support
perspective.
The only criticism I would havewas that some of the brake
stops were just right on theside of the road.
And it made it difficult whenthere were a lot of bikes at the
stop trying to get off theroad.
Here's the biggest question Ihad about the ride.
And actually I still have thisquestion.
The 80k route was actually 77kilometers, so that means 47
(03:29):
miles.
It was posted at 770 meters ofclimbing.
That would be around 2,526feet.
However, my computer registered3,642 feet.
I was immediately disappointedwith that because I thought it
meant that my computer was notmeasuring elevation
appropriately.
3,642 feet is a pretty bigdifference from 2,526 feet.
(03:53):
And if my computer was that faroff, it meant that my elevation
for the year was way off.
However, looking at Strava datafor other people that did the
80k route, I've come to believethat my computer was correct,
and that Tor de Victoria didn'taccurately report the elevation
gain on the ride.
I'm actually glad that theelevation was that much, because
(04:14):
I was feeling it.
There were several climbs thatgot up around 15%, and that's
pretty hard for me.
The ride with GPS for the routedidn't show that steep of
grades, but my computer and mylegs registered them.
I also didn't manage my feelingand electrolytes very well, and
that led me to have to step offthe bike at the top of a hill
(04:36):
because I was cramping.
Cramping just hasn't been aproblem for me these days.
So I regretted not being morecareful with how I was feeding
myself.
Once again, we experienced howawesome e-assist is for Kelly.
I was able to push myself whileshe was able to pedal at her
own level.
There were several fantasticaspects to the ride, including
how many roads had been blockedoff to cars, and the lack of
(04:58):
interaction with traffic helpedmake this one of Kelly's
favorite experiences on a bikeso far.
So for me that was awesome.
My legs were pretty tracked bythe end of the ride, but we
hadn't had an opportunity towalk around Victoria, so after
the ride we toured the shops onfoot for hours.
I thought that was going tomean that I would be extra sore
from all the walking, but itseemed to have the opposite
(05:20):
effect.
It seemed to provide a reallythorough cooldown or something.
I'm not positive about this,but maybe doing a lot of walking
after hard ride is good, evenif I feel like doing nothing.
After doing the Tour deVictoria and seeing how
beautiful the city is and seeingall the great bike
infrastructure there, I for surewant to spend more time
exploring Vancouver Island bybike.
(05:42):
There are several bike touringcompanies that offer trips by
bike around Vancouver Island.
I hope to get back there soon,and I hope to do a metrics entry
at the Tour de Victoria in thefuture.
I mentioned I got new fenders.
I went to a bike shop inVictoria, but I didn't have my
Roubaix with me at the time.
The fenders that caught my eyeare from Speedrocker.
Like I said, I didn't put themon before the Tour de Victoria.
(06:06):
The bike shop thought that theywould fit the Roubet.
However, they don't out of thebox.
They needed some modification.
I really like these fenders, soI decided to make some
modifications to the rear fenderso that it fits.
I will let you know if I getthat figured out.
I'm not the most skilled atmodifying things, so we'll see
what happens.
We are wrapping up the CyclingWithout Age program that Cycling
(06:38):
Over 60 is doing incollaboration with the Tacoma
Washington Bicycle Club.
Earlier this year, I drove toSquim Washington to observe the
Squim Wheelers program.
Squim Wheelers have a verydeveloped program, and I wanted
to learn from them as much aspossible.
I see cycling without age trialrides as one of those things
(06:59):
that can bring an element ofservice to local cycling over 60
communities.
On my ride with them, I askedEric Maynard to come on the
podcast and share more aboutSquim Wheelers.
He agreed, and here's ourdiscussion.
I'm so happy to be joined todayby Eric Maynard.
(07:22):
Thank you, Eric, for beinghere.
EricMahnerd (07:24):
Well, I'm glad I could join you as well, Tom.
TomButler (07:28):
The reason that Eric's here is that I went out
to Squim and did a ride with theSquim Wheelers, an organization
that's doing just a it's agreat program out there, um
taking older people for rides.
I've talked about cyclingwithout age here on the podcast
before and got to see a a reallyjust quality program.
(07:51):
And so I was wanted Eric tocome on and and talk a little
more about it.
I see these cycling withoutage-like programs, these
programs where you take peoplewith limited mobility out and
let them experience the joy ofbeing on a bicycle without the
physical demands of being on abicycle.
(08:11):
I see that as a as somethingthat brings real heart to
cycling over 60.
And so my bias is that cyclingover 60 communities would have a
program like this so they cangive back to people and trying
to do what I can to have thatgoing into coma, Washington as
(08:34):
we build out our first cyclingover 60 community.
Eric, I'm just reallyappreciating you giving your
perspective on this.
And I want to start out byasking you what is your earliest
memory of the bicycle?
EricMahnerd (08:49):
Well, that's a good one.
I can remember my grandpa, hewas a uh bricklayer, and I grew
up in Minneapolis.
I can remember when he boughtme this little tiny bicycle and
it had those training wheels onthe back.
And God, I was so thrilled.
And he bought one bike, and mysister and I uh were would share
it.
And then how uh the day camewhen we took the training wheels
(09:13):
off.
That was really big time fun,you know.
Yeah.
Maybe what second grade, Iguess, you know?
TomButler (09:21):
Long time ago.
Was this an older sister or ayounger sister?
EricMahnerd (09:25):
Uh I I always teach her.
She's much older, she's um 18months older.
And so, and she she wasn't asactive physically.
She was more of a book readerthan uh go out and do
adventurous kind of stuff, youknow.
TomButler (09:41):
Yeah, so that's quite the day when the uh training
wheels come off.
You're out there just going.
That's cool.
I do it a lot different today,it seems like, where they uh the
strider bikes or whatever theycall them.
EricMahnerd (09:54):
You know, on the trail, we see these really young
kids just going crazy on thesebikes.
And I I think, God, was I thatlittle?
You know?
And then we always tease themit's fun when we see a family
and they got a couple, two,three kids on those little
bikes.
We go, biker gang, watch out,biker gang.
TomButler (10:15):
Now, did you keep cycling throughout your life?
EricMahnerd (10:18):
Oh, yeah.
You know, and that you talkabout other memories.
I can remember, gosh, I musthave been about third grade,
fourth grade, and uh my motherbought me a Schwin bicycle, and
it came where the handlebars hadthose little streamers hanging
down from the handlebars.
And God, I just love that bike.
(10:39):
And you know, that was ourbasic uh mode of transportation
all over the neighborhood.
You know, we went on ourbicycle, and then I can remember
going down a hill that was toosteep and it rounded out the
bottom, and I bent the tire, youknow.
But yeah, I I loved bicyclesfor the longest time.
And then as I got into highschool and got a car and
(11:03):
college, the bikes kind of wentaway until much later in life
when my wife convinced me to doa charity ride.
It was the MS 150, 150 milesthrough the gentle rolling hills
in Texas.
So I bought a really nicediamondback bike and my wife as
(11:25):
well.
And we got back into biking andreally enjoyed it for years.
Yeah, and we still bike now,very active bicyclists.
TomButler (11:33):
That's cool.
Had your wife been doing somecycling before that?
What's the impetus for likelaunching off at 150 miles?
Because she's crazy.
EricMahnerd (11:48):
She came home with this poster.
Look, this looks like fun.
And I'm going, that's a longway.
No, it'll be okay.
It was a long way.
But we both had bikes at thatpoint, and we weren't using them
a lot, and they were kind ofolder bikes.
And then when we got the new umuh bikes, a diamond sky, they
(12:10):
were so nice and light, andreally uh we got clip-on shoes
and padded pants.
You know, it was fun.
Yeah, yeah.
It was a different thing, andwe were in an area where there
wasn't much traffic and it was anew development, so it's great
places to ride without worryingabout getting run over.
TomButler (12:31):
That makes a huge difference as far as I'm
concerned.
Yeah.
EricMahnerd (12:34):
Yeah.
TomButler (12:35):
I can't remember where I initially saw Squim
Wheelers.
I I I think that it might havebeen on the Cycling Without Age
website, but since then, youknow, there's I've seen all
kinds of things about the SquimWheelers, including uh I think
King Five uh report on a reallynice report on what your group
(13:00):
is doing.
How would you describe SquimWheelers as someone who's never
seen it in action?
EricMahnerd (13:06):
Well, that yeah, that's a good question.
You know, Squim Wheelers is avoluntary group.
We're a 5013, and we rely ondonations to keep us going.
And we have an adaptive bikeprogram.
So for your listeners, it'sbasically a bicycle in the back
that is electrically assifted,and then on the front, they've
(13:28):
attached a wheelchair.
And so we have two like that,and this enables us to take
people, whether they're elderlypeople, whether they're
physically challenged orintellectually challenged,
people that can no longer ride abike by themselves.
We can transfer them to thewheelchair portion of the bike,
(13:50):
we get them all strapped insafely, put a helmet on them,
and then we give them the joy ofriding a bicycle again.
We take them out into thebeautiful countryside out here
on the Olympic Discovery Trail.
We also uh kind of have twoother bikes.
Uh, one is a tri-shaw, or theycan sit side by side.
(14:10):
So we have two people side byside, and that's a very popular
bike because we do a lot ofprivate rides as well as
facilities, and so we get likegrand grandmother and grandson
or daughter, father.
And then it's also really neat.
We have some married couples,and we have couples that are
(14:34):
romantically attached in thefacilities here in town, so they
get to ride side by side,holding hands, and and so that's
a cool bike.
And then our last bike that wehave is called a fun to go, and
the person, the our passenger,sits side by side with the
(14:55):
pilot.
So just quick terms here (14:55):
the person driving the bicycle is a
pilot, the person riding in thebicycle is the passenger, we
call them the wheeler, and thenwe always have at least one,
two, or three safety riders thatare going along, making sure
that the ride stays safe,looking out for traffic, for
(15:18):
obstacles like that.
So in the fun to go, the personsits right next door, right
side by side with the pilot, andthey have the opportunity to
pedal.
So they can assist in the bike.
If they don't want to pedal,that's fine.
We can put a platform down forthem as well.
That's really popular with someof our younger senior citizens.
(15:41):
Uh, they get exercise, sothat's a real popular bike as
well.
TomButler (15:46):
Yeah, and it looks pretty cool too, I think.
EricMahnerd (15:49):
Yeah, yeah, it really is.
TomButler (15:51):
How did Squim Wheelers get started?
EricMahnerd (15:53):
Our founder is uh Nicole Leping, and she was
watching a PBS show out ofHealing, Illinois, and it was a
PBS show about a program upthere.
And she thought, wow, with ourelderly population and the
number of retirement facilitieswe have, that might be a good
(16:14):
fit.
So she called them, got a lotof information.
They referred her to PortlandWheelers, and Portland Wheelers
is one of the largest programsin the country, and they're out
of Portland, Maine.
So she and another friend,Lilani Sunt, they flew out to
Maine and got all theinformation they could get from
(16:37):
those folks, and they werereally generous with their help.
And they came back here, puttogether a group of about 15
volunteers, and started raisingmoney.
At that time, the duet bicyclethat they bought cost about
$7,000.
So she came to our rotary cluband was making a presentation of
(16:59):
what they wanted to do.
And one of our generous uhRotarians, Bryce Fish, he gave
them $5,000.
And with that other money theyhad, they were able to go ahead
and buy that first bike.
That was in 2018.
As you can imagine, here in theNorthwest, our season for
(17:22):
giving the rides is limited bythe weather.
And so that summer they had theone duet, they went on 61
rides, and they took 91 peopleout on the Olympic Discovery
Trail.
TomButler (17:38):
That's an incredible beginning, I think.
EricMahnerd (17:41):
That's also it really is, and they just
continued to uh expand theprogram.
They bought a second bike,continuing to raise money.
First Federal gave them a grantthat helped buy a bike, and
then like I say, we're at 50 and3C, and people were giving
individual donations, so theycontinued to grow.
(18:03):
And uh this past year we wereup to four bicycles.
We had 73 volunteers helping,20 were new that we trained
during that time frame.
We took out 408 wheelers onrides, over a thousand hours of
volunteer time, and we wereworking with 13 different
(18:28):
facilities or groups here in theswim area.
And so our facilities, one is arehab, you know, for physical
injuries, people recovering fromthat, or a stroke, that kind of
type of things.
Then we have, I think, threememory issue facilities.
Then we have uh the rest are uhquite a few of them are elderly
(18:52):
folks, retirement facilities.
Then we do deal with uh twodifferent organizations that are
working with intellectuallychallenged individuals, uh, so
it's a widespread.
Then in addition to that, wegive out a large number of
private rights.
The program has expanded uh uhquite a bit since its origin in
(19:18):
uh 2018.
TomButler (19:20):
I'm thinking that those numbers that you're
talking about, uh Squim Wheelersmust be one of the larger
programs in out there, is thatright?
EricMahnerd (19:29):
You know, to be perfectly honest, I I I would
venture to guess we're right upthere at the top.
The the only other one that Iknow that's really large is the
Portland uh wheelers out therein Portland, Maine.
And they're quite large andthey have paid staff.
Our program, for the most part,our wheelers and the
(19:51):
facilities, they bring thepeople to us and then we go on
the trail.
We do go to a couple offacilities where we actually
will drive the bikes over, pickthem up, and then take them back
to the trail.
Up in Portland, Maine, theyhave a fleet of trucks and they
load the bikes on the trucks andgo to the facilities.
(20:13):
Every year they have a bigfundraiser, and I think last
year they raised $150,000 fortheir program.
So it's it's a big program.
Yeah.
TomButler (20:24):
Talk about what the typical ride experience looks
like for guests.
EricMahnerd (20:30):
Okay.
What we will do is I'll do afour-bike ride.
That's what we do most of thetime.
We'll take out four bikes.
So we'll have the tri-shaw, thefun to go, and then two
wheelchair bikes.
The volunteers will meet at ourstorage facility.
We'll get all the bikes ready,and then we have a safety
briefing as to what theorganization we're going to work
(20:52):
with and what our plan is forthe ride.
And then about oh, maybe atwo-minute ride away is the
Dungeness River Nature Center.
And the facilities will come tous and we'll unload the people
there.
Then we we get them into thechairs, get them all strapped in
(21:13):
and comfortable, and then wegive them a helmet.
And depending on the theweather, we may bundle them up
in a blanket because it is coolout here.
This has been a particularlycool summer, and uh, like
personally, I've had six ridescanceled because of weather,
because if it's cold, we justdon't go, it's no fun.
(21:36):
And so once we get them allbundled in, and we we have a
very open dialogue with ourwheelers, and we've seen a lot
of them, we know them from otherrides, and it's like a big
happy family.
We get them all loaded up, andthen we head west on Olympic
Discovery Trail.
And for your listeners, OlympicDiscovery Trail, and when it's
(21:59):
completed, it'll go from Seattleall the way out to the ocean on
an Olympic peninsula.
And each year they're addingmore and more to the route.
And part of it is where the uhold railroad went.
So it's a perfect uhright-of-way, and they've where
the tracks were, they put inpaving, and so it's just a
(22:22):
beautiful um uh trail to go on.
And the best part is there's nocars, so it's nice and quiet,
you're surrounded by nature,surrounded by trees, occasional
deer or two.
I have not seen, but one onerider, they didn't even see a
bear, and that's all right.
I don't care to see the bear.
(22:42):
Uh so then we we we get them onthe bikes, we head west, and
our first stop is maybe a couplehundred yards away, and that's
the old Trussell bridge acrossthe Dungeness River.
So we'll stop there and we takephotos, and then we continue
west.
And the ride is in total is anhour.
(23:05):
So we go for about an hour, anduh we'll cross uh three
streets, but the rest of thetime you're in uh in nature's
glory out there on the trail.
We turn around, we we stop atthe airport, it's a private
airport, hopefully see in aplane or two, make sure they
need water or if they're warmenough.
(23:26):
We come back the otherdirection, we go to the
Dungeness River Nature Center inthe back, take some more
photos, and then we take them toback to their van and say
goodbye.
All in all, it takes about anhour on the ride.
TomButler (23:42):
I'm thinking of people that are doing it for the
first time.
Can they be hesitant sometimes?
EricMahnerd (23:48):
Well, you know, it's interesting.
I I'll tell you a brick'sstory.
The lady, uh, her name wasBeth, and she was really
nervous.
And she was she she didn't wantto get in the wheelchair, she
was afraid it wasn't going to besafe.
But the people at the facilitythey convinced her to be safe.
We got her all strapped in andwe started going, and she said,
(24:10):
I don't want you to go too fast.
I said, Nope, I won't go toofast.
And as we were going across thebridge, I could hear her, and I
said, Beth, are you singing?
And she said, Well, yes, I amsinging.
And I said, And why are yousinging?
Well, then I won't be scared.
So for the next hour, Beth andI sang the whole route, and then
(24:35):
I kept trying to come up withsongs, and Beth was probably in
her 80s, so I'm reaching back tosongs in the 50s, and you know,
and I would know the beginning,but then I wouldn't know the
rest of the words, so I'd makethem up.
And we had the best time, andwhen we got done, we helped her
(24:57):
back into the band, and then wegave them a little souvenir pin,
and I pinned the pin on her,and she said, I want to thank
you very much.
And I I said, Well, I'm glad.
I'm glad you weren't scared.
No, the singing really helped.
So when I come next time, couldyou have a songbook?
Because you don't seem to knowthe words.
(25:17):
So that's the kind of stuffthat we get.
You know, it's it's it is, youknow, I do a lot of volunteer
work.
I'm in the rotary, I'm boys andgirls club, the food bank, but
this is by far the one of themost rewarding things I've ever
done, or the rest of our 70volunteers.
It's it's such a meaningfulthing to see the joy and that
(25:41):
we're bringing to these umelderly citizens or even uh the
younger ones, yeah.
TomButler (25:47):
When I came and rode with you, there was a gentleman,
and you know, it was obvious itwasn't his first time, but he
was raring to go.
He kept going like, okay, let'sedit, let's go, you know.
So uh I'm sure it doesn't takemany times before they're really
comfortable with theexperience.
EricMahnerd (26:06):
You know, they talk about um there's a memory um uh
the cottages, and then thepeople there are having memory
issues, and some uh very thesevere memory issues, some not
quite as much.
And so there's a couple,they're not married, but they're
a couple, and it's Misty andJim, and they always ride in the
(26:28):
tri-shaw together, and theyhold hands, and when Chic Misty
comes down, she'll say, Hi,Eric, how are you?
And I'll say, then I'll say,Play Misty for me.
It was a song in a movie, yeah.
And and so we laugh and wejoke.
So we get to the end of theroad, and we're gonna turn
(26:48):
around and come back.
And I had the tri-shaw, so Igot to do a three-point turn to
get it in the oppositedirection.
And every time I'm pullingbackwards, the two of them go
beep, beep, beep, beep.
You know, I mean, these peoplelove this stuff.
And that's incredible.
Uh I'll tell you, let me tellyou another real quick one here.
(27:08):
I had um uh there's anotherone, uh, Dungeness Memory
Center, and there was thedaughter and her father, and his
father has Alzheimer's.
And so we took him on his firstride with the daughter.
And when we got done, the ladyis almost in tears.
She says, I can't thank youenough.
(27:29):
I haven't seen my father bethis responsive and this
community in the longest time.
And as we were driving along,he's remembering stuff and he's
talking about stuff.
And you know, if you thinkabout these facilities, they
serve a wonderful purpose, butto be alone in those facilities
(27:53):
and never getting out much,especially the people with the
memory issue.
I mean, this is just uh such areward, rewarding experience for
us, such an adventure for them.
So, yeah, it's a great program.
TomButler (28:08):
There's a PBS uh series called Joyride, which
focuses on cycling without age,and and it captures some really
good stories there.
Yeah.
I would encourage anybody to goto look look that up.
I want to talk a little moreabout uh how the bikes work.
You you talked about I thinkfour different types.
(28:30):
Uh there's a three, I think,that you mentioned, and there's
a fourth.
The fourth one is a bike thatwill receive a wheelchair, and
then you have the fun to gobike, which is a side-by-side
bike, and the tri-shaw, uh thebrand I think is called Trio
(28:51):
Bike.
And then the other one that youhave it has uh like a
wheelchair on on the front of itor a wheelchair-like.
I mean it's a a wheelchairthat's kind of specially made to
go in the front of a bicycle,but someone gets into that.
And so I'm interested in uhkind of looking at those as a
(29:15):
way for people who can't ride atraditional bicycle to be able
to get out and about.
Let's start with the fun to go.
I guess the thing I would firstask is are you able to kind of
tailor the bikes that you'reusing to who's gonna show up?
Or is it is that basically amystery of who's gonna be there?
EricMahnerd (29:38):
Yeah, it's a mystery.
Now, like the cottages, theycome every Friday, they bring
five people, sometimes four.
She will give me when I I'mgonna call her what day is
today, Tuesday?
So I call her tomorrow.
I call her a couple days aheadof it time, and she'll say, I'll
have Beth and Jim and Misty andGreg.
(29:58):
And so So I'll need thefundigo, the trishaw, and the
the two wheelchair bikes.
And then she'll say, Yeah,we're gonna put Greg and Misty
in the in the trishaw.
Jim wants to do the fundigobecause he likes the pedal, and
the other two will be in thewheelchair bikes.
So some of the people do knowwho wants which bike.
(30:21):
So we try to adapt it to them.
We do have some people thathave are physically challenged
besides being elderly, not invery good shape.
So we would never put them onthe fundigo to pedal.
But we can put them on thefundigo and the pedals are out
of the way and there's aplatform to put their feet on
(30:41):
it.
So most of the time, if peopleare physically challenged, then
we put them in one of thewheelchair bikes because it's
more comfortable for them tosit.
The fundigo is much better foran active person the way the
bike is designed.
And then the most comfortableone is the Trin Shaw.
(31:03):
It's got a really nice paddedseat.
And we can also, it has a coverthat we can bring up.
So if it's a little cool, webring the cover up.
It's got a beautiful fleeceblanket that keeps them nice and
warm.
That's our most comfortableone.
And so people that are have themost challenges, we'll put them
(31:24):
in there.
TomButler (31:25):
On the fun to go, it looks like there's two
handlebars, but actually onlyone of the handlebars is there
for control.
How easy is that to maneuver?
EricMahnerd (31:38):
Well, you know, it's good because we can only
have one person deciding whichdirection we're gonna go, you
know.
And it it is a verymaneuverable bike, and it can
turn on a dime.
We get to where we have to turnaround and head back to the
nature center, boom, and it'salready pointed the other
direction while I'm doing thethree-point turn with the big
(32:01):
old tri-shaw.
Yeah, it's a nice bike.
That bike new, oh gosh, that'sprobably $15,000.
You know, the the bikes arevery expensive.
They're made in theNetherlands.
And the new one we just bought,uh it's called an Au Pair, and
it's a wheelchair bike.
It has what looks to be like auh comfortable padded chair in
(32:25):
the front, and that's overeleven thousand dollars.
That bike.
Uh the trishod's close tofifteen thousand.
And the other part is is thatbecause they're made in Leverett
Net Netherlands, uh you starttalking about the shipping.
That's a good hunk.
Also, the import duties, andthey actually they're not too
(32:47):
bad.
It's 300 bucks.
So that's not too bad foreleven thousand dollars.
But they're quite expensivebikes.
TomButler (32:54):
Uh, one thing is for sure, they need to be quality
bikes.
If there's one thing you're notgonna skip on, it's gonna be
this activity for sure.
EricMahnerd (33:04):
Yeah, and the each one of the bikes is electrically
assisted, which is definitelyneeded.
So that helps a great deal.
When you figure, I think themaximum uh a wheeler can weigh
is 235, 240, and then you havethe pilot on it, you got a lot
of weight on that bicycle.
(33:25):
So being electrically uhassisted really helps.
And as you mentioned, they arequality bikes.
As much as we use them, we havethree different uh volunteers
that keep them maintained, theytake a lot of use.
I'm trying to think, I just sawit someplace last year.
Where is it?
(33:45):
They went 850 miles, so theyget a lot of use and a lot of
wear and tear on them.
TomButler (33:52):
You're getting bikes, the au pair, that have this
seat on the front, and you havetwo of those currently.
Those aren't au-pairs, though,right?
Are they a different brand?
EricMahnerd (34:04):
Currently, we have one au pair and one duet.
And when we get these four newbikes, we're gonna actually
retire the duet and keep it as aspare.
And the duet's a nice bike,except for one problem.
The handlebars are low.
And if you're more than aboutfive five, when you're pedaling,
(34:28):
your knees hit the handlebars.
I'm 6'5, and I can't.
If I try to ride that bike, myknees are way out to the side,
and um it's not a good fit forme.
So I I never ride that bike.
So the O'Pairs, the handlebarsare real high, and so it's not a
leg issue at all.
Yeah.
TomButler (34:48):
On the OPERs, does it feel very stable as a pilot?
Is it do you have to kind ofget used to a feel for it, or or
are they well balanced andeverything where it feels really
easy?
EricMahnerd (35:01):
It's you know, it's a that's a really good question
because when we ride from thestorage shed over to where we're
gonna pick up our wheelers, uhoh, it's about three or four
blocks.
And on that short ride, we havethree sets of concrete weights
in that seat to simulate apassenger sitting there because
(35:26):
without it, the the front end'sreally squirrely.
And then once you get thepassenger in there, now it's
well balanced between the frontand the back, and the bike
handles really well.
TomButler (35:39):
Interesting.
You're going to be getting abike that accepts a wheelchair.
And I'm wondering, was that inresponse to a demand for a bike
like that, or how did it thedecision come about to buy that
bike?
EricMahnerd (35:57):
Well, we're dealing right now with 13 facilities.
Several of those facilitieshave people that it's very
difficult to transfer out of thewheelchair.
They're basically wheelchairbottom.
They get out of bed in themorning, they put them in the
wheelchair, and they stay there.
And so this new bike, what'llhappen is it has a platform on
(36:22):
it.
We hook a little cable onto theback of the wheelchair, and
then we can winch it onto theplatform.
And once it's on the platform,you lock the winch cable, and
then there's two sets oftie-down devices, one for each
wheel, that secures thewheelchair bike to the platform.
(36:46):
Now that passenger or thewheeler does not have to be
transferred, and so it's a realboon.
When we were made aware of thattype of bike, one of our
volunteers contacted all of thefacilities.
Hey, we're thinking about this.
Do you uh have a need for abike like that?
(37:08):
And we had 16 uh responses ofyes.
TomButler (37:13):
Wow.
EricMahnerd (37:14):
So we're excited to get that bike.
It's going to open up ourorganization to a whole new line
of uh passengers or wheelers.
Yeah, it's gonna be reallygreat.
TomButler (37:27):
Now you do have rides that the public can request or
sign up for.
How's that process work?
EricMahnerd (37:34):
It's really simple.
I would encourage yourlisteners to go to our website
and it's just really easysquimwheelers.com, S-E-Q-U-I-M
dot com.
And on there, there's a link,request a ride, and you hit
(37:56):
that, and it'll be theinformation that they need will
be right there.
You fill it out, and it'ssimple.
You you put in the date, time,and then you do have to sign a
waiver, an insurance waiver, andyou can sign that
electronically, and you send itin, and then our schedule will
reach out to you and get you alltaken care of.
(38:18):
We're a 501c.
There is no charge for this.
If you want to make a donation,fine.
If you don't, that's fine too.
We do at least one ride a daywith the facilities.
On some days, we're doing ridesin the morning and in the
afternoon.
For the most part, our privaterides are on the weekends.
(38:39):
They can be in the week basedon availability of bikes.
TomButler (38:44):
It's really fun when I was on my way out of town.
I stopped for lunch after I'dridden with you.
And the person behind thecounter we got talking while I
was there.
Oh, that's that's really cool.
You know, he was picturing hismom, being able to get out.
(39:28):
And I I think the truth is atypical person that doesn't get
out a lot, which can happen.
And being able to send him overto the website was fantastic.
EricMahnerd (39:39):
I was looking, I thought I saw how many.
Yeah, we've had 13 privaterides this summer.
And this summer, as Imentioned, the weather just
wasn't cooperating, and we weredelayed and delayed and delayed.
So this summer, unfortunately,we won't have as many rides as
we did last year.
(40:00):
Unless, of course, the fallcooperates.
And if it gets below the 50degrees, it it's not fun.
And we're heading west, andusually out here in Squim, the
wind is out of thewest-northwest, so it's right
into their face going out.
Coming back, it's not so bad.
(40:21):
And then obviously, if there'sany rain, we don't operate in
the rain.
TomButler (40:26):
Talk about the interaction you have with the
facilities you partner with.
I'm thinking they must justlove this.
EricMahnerd (40:34):
They absolutely do.
They are so appreciative ofwhat we do.
Most of them, in fact, I I cansay all of them have contributed
to our program uh in supporteach year.
And when you think about thewhat we're doing, the advantage
that we're giving them to takesome of their people out and get
(40:58):
to do something, it's really areally neat program.
And especially, and we'vementioned this already, is that
when you start getting into theelderly patients, you know, I've
had patients uh into their 90sjust last week, and one was 97,
and she was a tiny little ladyfrom England originally, sharp
(41:23):
at the tack.
She said, Well, my body'swearing out.
The first time I met her, herdaughter, who is 67 years old,
was there with her, and that itwas her first ride.
So she said to her uh thedaughter said to the mother, she
said, So mom, tell them aboutwhat you did in World War II.
(41:48):
And she said, Well, I wasworking in a factory in London,
and she said, And tell them whatyou did when you heard the war
had ended in Germany.
Well, I had gotten out of schooland I heard they were
celebrating in London, but Icouldn't get anybody to go with
(42:10):
me, so I got on a train and wentby myself.
And tell them what you did inLondon, and she kind of grinned
and she's blushing a little bit.
She said, Well, I kissed someof the vultures.
That's the kind of stuff thatwe run it.
Right.
So neat, you know.
TomButler (42:32):
That's so fun.
Yeah.
You mentioned the rotary whenyou guys were starting out.
Are you guys known by the Squimcommunity, like different
organizations by the communityas a whole?
EricMahnerd (42:45):
The Rotary Club, it's a Squim Sunrise Rotary
Club.
And I might mention that youare talking to its current
president.
Okay.
Show more respect.
We have about 75 members in ourclub.
We're very, very active in thecommunity.
We have several ways that weraise money, and almost every
(43:10):
penny we raise goes back to thecommunity.
And just recently, we we did afundraiser for the Squin
Wheelers and raised almost$1,000 for them.
Plus, we do scholarships, wehelp the Boys and Girls Club, we
help the food bank, we help allkinds of projects.
Very um generously, as Imentioned, Bryce Fish, he
(43:34):
donated $5,000 for the originalbike.
And then later, as the programwas building, he bought him a
second bike and paid for thewhole thing outright.
So yeah, the the rotary hasbeen an integral part of the uh
of the squim wheelers.
Yeah.
TomButler (43:52):
And the city, is the city aware of squim wheelers and
support?
EricMahnerd (43:55):
Oh, yeah.
We get a lot of support fromthem, not financially, but
they're very appreciative ofwhat we do and they help promote
us.
We set up booths during thevarious farmers markets, the
irrigation festival, thelavender festival.
They are invited to be in theannual parade that we have.
(44:16):
So yeah, the city enjoys whatwe do.
You know, I think that's theone thing that people each year
more and more people arebecoming aware of the squim
wheelers and the service it'sproviding to the community.
And that's why people said,Well, you're buying four more
bikes.
And I said, Well, we reallythink the need is there, and uh,
(44:39):
we're just going to keep onexpanding.
TomButler (44:41):
So that's wonderful.
And I know, you know,experiencing firsthand that the
people that you meet on thetrail, you know, either you've
met them before and they knowwhat's going on, or they are uh
yeah, it seems like everybodyhas a good response to it.
EricMahnerd (44:57):
Yeah, you would get a lot of positive response from
the people on the trail.
And then we do, as I mentioned,have two groups that are uh
intellectually challenged, andthey really get excited when
they're on the trail and theywant to wave at everybody and
talk, and and they love the thedogs and the animals, and uh the
(45:19):
people on the trail with thesefolks, they are so generous with
their time and theirunderstanding of what the kids
are all about, and it's really aneat, neat, neat experience.
TomButler (45:31):
What does it take to become a volunteer pilot?
There's a process there, Iknow.
EricMahnerd (45:37):
You have to sign up each each spring.
We have an open house and uhit's in the parking lot at the
nature center.
We set up our little tent anduh we have pre-cookies and we
have all the bikes there, and weas people are going by the
trail, they stop and see us.
Plus, before the open house, wewill um do a promo on our KSQM
(46:03):
radio station.
Susan Sorensen and I will do acouple promos on there.
We get a really nice article inthe paper so people know about
the open house, and so we have agood turnout.
Last year we had 21 newvolunteers.
This year we had 16.
What the process is you sign upto join, you have to do a
(46:24):
background check, which isrelatively easy, and then we
bring them to an orientationmeeting and we give them a
history of the organization anduh what our goals are, and then
if they decide to join us, thenwe have a formal training
(46:45):
program.
And the training program arethree sessions and they take two
and a half hours each, andthey're with our experienced
riders that train the new guys.
If they need more training,fine.
If they don't, then we we sendthem out on the trail.
Sometimes what we'll find isthat people will not feel
(47:08):
comfortable with riding thebikes, the because they are
they're good-sized bikes withthat chair in front or the or
side by side, and they end upbeing safety, so we have a whole
set of rules and regulationsfor our safeties and knock on
wood.
We've never had an accident, sothat's great because we're very
(47:29):
safety conscious.
When it's time to startactually scheduling the new
trainees into the program, we'llmake sure that they are with
seasoned veterans, and we informthe ride leader.
Every ride that goes out hasone ride leader that, hey, Bob
(47:49):
is coming, and this is going tobe his first ride.
Okay, great.
And so they keep an eye on himand make sure that he's
comfortable with what we'redoing.
And then we also always havedebriefings after every ride,
and with the new guys uh makingsure that they have any
questions, they can get theanswers.
TomButler (48:10):
For people that like bike riding, would you say that
being on one of these bikes isgoing for a bike ride?
It's just like uh bike rideplus.
EricMahnerd (48:19):
Well, I'm gonna say uh it's going for a rewarding
bike ride because you're doingsomething really neat.
And in most cases, not allcases, most cases you have an
opportunity to talk with thepeople.
Sometimes they don't.
The memory issue peoplesometimes are not commutative,
so they don't have that.
But for the most part, yeah,you have an opportunity to share
(48:43):
stories, to sing along, even ifyou don't know the words.
TomButler (48:49):
Right, right.
An opportunity to compose wordson the on the fly.
Yeah.
What would you say is maybesome of the harder logistical
challenges with organizing uhadaptive cycling rides?
EricMahnerd (49:05):
You know, at this point, if you'd asked that
question in 2018, they'd have apretty good answer for you.
This point, we are uh reallywell managed.
So uh what we do at the end ofthe season, we have a postseason
meeting where we try to get asmany of the pilots and safeties
(49:25):
together.
Hey, here's the problem, here'swhat we did, should we be
concerned about this?
We do a season review.
And as we're going through theseason, if something comes up
that we think everybody shouldknow, we do blast emails to
everybody in the in theorganization.
And then as we start gettinginto the new year, the new
(49:48):
season, all the bikes are tunedup and ready to go.
Then we go through ourrecurrent training.
So every new or excuse me,veteran, we have a two-hour
training session with them tore-familiarize them with the
bikes.
And we have all the bikesavailable so they can you know
(50:10):
ride them.
The electronics and thecontrols on the bikes are
different, and so how to operatethose, what the boost is, uh,
so we get them spooled up.
And then again, as I mentionedto you uh and shared with you
last season, we did a reallynice job on the formal training
syllabus, and then we have thatall set to go for our new hires.
(50:35):
So yeah, I major challenges wedon't have them.
Now, I would say we are gonnahave a little bit of a challenge
because we've got two new typesof bikes coming.
The old pairs will be the same,but we've got the tri-shaw and
um the new platform bike, sothat'll we'll have to introduce
those and build a syllabus forthem.
TomButler (50:57):
There is a logistical element of keeping the bikes
going, is parts, uh maintenanceand parts.
Is that something that has tobe managed?
EricMahnerd (51:09):
Yeah, an example is we have another duet that is in
storage because the battery hasdied, but the battery, because
it's a large battery, is soexpensive and the bike is old.
We've decided not to replace.
And it's so it's sort of aspare part locker now.
(51:31):
The wear and tear on the bikesbecause of the amount of weight
on them.
We have spoke damage, we havewheel damage, the tires
obviously are wearing out.
So, yeah, it is quite a bit ofmaintenance to keep them up
because, like I said, that we'vealready gone 800 miles or
something this year, and itwears them out.
TomButler (51:50):
Well, you guys are so well managed and and so
experienced at this point.
I'm wondering what kind ofinteraction you have with
cycling without age at thispoint.
EricMahnerd (52:00):
We don't do a lot with them.
Uh, we are members of cyclingwithout age.
You know, they're um a hugeorganization.
I think they're in what 41countries.
But God, I've read, I think,3,500 chapters.
And we have used them as aresource for insurance, for
purchasing bikes.
(52:21):
We've gotten valuableinformation off of their blogs,
safety information and ideas.
So, yeah, it's it's a sourcethat we use, but our program's
sort of self-contained and notquite like theirs.
So, not a really, really activeassociation with uh cycling
(52:42):
without age.
TomButler (52:43):
You mentioned the Olympic Discovery Trail.
Uh what an awesome resourcethat is.
When I was there, I experiencedthe Nature Center, which is a
cool place.
It it's like uh it feels almostideal as a location to be able
to make the rides easy.
EricMahnerd (53:04):
It really is.
It's a super place uh in thatthere's a great starting point
to head west on the trail.
Two years ago, they were doingrepair work on the bridge.
So we couldn't go west on thetrail, we had to go east, and
the trail to the east isn'tnearly as desirable because one
(53:28):
section there's all these treesand the roots are growing
through the trail and it'sbumpier than the heck through
there.
Then we get up by HendricksonAvenue and the traffic is there,
so it's loud.
And then the trail ends upbeing in a residential
(53:48):
neighborhood.
So you're on streets where carsare also part of it.
Sadly, the old railroad trestlebridge, it's wood, has been
determined to be unsafe.
They used to have activities onthe bridge fundraisers for the
Nature Center, and this yearthey had an engineering group
(54:11):
said, come on and say, No, youcan't do that anymore.
It's okay for people to walkby, but you can't have large
groups on that bridge.
And we just found out thatthey're gonna tear the bridge
down, they're gonna build a newone, but it's gonna be identical
to the old one.
So that'll you know, be an old,it'll be a wooden structure
(54:33):
like uh the old one.
But that means that we will notbe able to go west on the trail
and we'll have to be going eastagain, which is less desirable.
TomButler (54:44):
There is a pretty active group of people that are
focused on the Olympic DiscoveryTrail.
Do swim wheelers get involvedwith those efforts?
Are you advocating for thetrail?
EricMahnerd (54:56):
Oh, absolutely.
The Olympic Trail Coalition,it's a large organization.
They keep uh the maintenance onthe trail, they're uh raising
funds for improving the trail,they're lobbying to get the
trail standed constantly.
Uh, and it it's amazing whatthey've done.
(55:17):
Like I said, they'll go fromSeattle all the way out to the
Pacific Ocean, and there aresections on that trail that are
just gorgeous.
Unfortunately for us, they'renot accessible to us because
we're time limited as to howlong we can be on the bikes with
our wheelers, and we don't havethe facilities or the resources
(55:41):
to be able to take people tosome of the other areas, but
they're certainly beautifulareas for individuals to ride.
TomButler (55:49):
You are getting these four bikes, including one
that's different than whatyou've had before.
Do you have any question thatthe program's going to expand
and utilize all those resources?
EricMahnerd (56:03):
No, we are quite confident that we can utilize
those resources.
We like we said it's gonna be anet three because one more bike
is gonna be retired unless wereally need it.
We have demand for more thanwhat we have now.
We have enough volunteers toexpand the program.
We were disappointed because ofthe delay, but in another on
(56:28):
the other side of the coin,it'll probably work out well in
that we will have all winterlong to get the bikes assembled
and get become familiar withthem, and then we can also
expand our program during thosemonths, reaching out to the
facility saying, okay, insteadof being able to bring four
(56:50):
riders, you're going to be ableto bring seven.
TomButler (56:54):
That's fantastic.
EricMahnerd (56:56):
That'll that'll work out nicely.
TomButler (56:58):
So, what do you see the future bringing for Squim
Wheelers?
EricMahnerd (57:03):
Well, it as I mentioned, we are a 501c, and so
we rely on donations uh to keepitself going.
And uh when I say donations,we've been very fortunate in
that uh we've had corporatesponsors, uh, First Federal, the
as I mentioned, the TRIBE isvery supportive of our program.
(57:26):
The Benjamin PhillipsFoundation, they've given us
close to $30,000 in grants.
We have several individuals,two off the top of my head that
have given us $10,000 plus each.
Bryce has given us $10,000.
We have other organizationsthat, boom, once a year they
send us a check for $2,300 insupport of our program.
(57:49):
I think all total we've raisedover $100,000 since 2018.
And so we need to keep ongenerating the funds going
forward to pay for our program.
And I think as long as we cando that, we certainly are
confident that we're gonna haveenough volunteers.
And with the expanding of theelderly population in Squim, uh,
(58:16):
we certainly feel that we'regonna have more than enough
demand for our product from thelocal community.
And one of the other thingsthat we're doing, we're also
reaching out to younger people.
So the two groups, Mosaic andTim's Place, the deal with the
uh intellectually developedchildren and adults, more
(58:38):
children that way.
Plus, we're going, we've doneroad trips over to poor towns
and into other schools where wehave uh physically challenged
people that we've introduced usto.
TomButler (58:50):
What do you think people would find to be the most
surprising aspect of theprogram?
EricMahnerd (58:56):
I would think probably the most surprising
aspect is the joy that ourwheelers receive by getting out
of the facility and out into thefresh air and out into nature.
I went to um her name is Mary.
She was 90 years old, she's notwith us anymore, and her
(59:18):
birthday was coming up, and Ihad her on a ride.
She graduated from Squim HighSchool in 1949.
There were 49 kids in herclass, and she couldn't wait to
get out of this hick town.
And she went over to Seattleand became a nurse and stayed
over there until uh she retired.
(59:40):
Then she and her husband cameback and he passed away and she
ended up in a uh retirementfacility.
So I had her for a ride, herfirst ride, and she's just
thrilled with being out on thebike.
And we're driving along, shesays, See that house up there?
I said, Yeah.
She said, My best girlfriend inhigh school is in that house.
(01:00:04):
And I said, Really?
And then she said, But youknow, maybe she wasn't my best
girlfriend.
And I said, Why's that, Mary?
She said, Well, she stole myboyfriend.
And I said, Oh, well, are theystill married?
She said, No, they're bothdead.
And so they were going aroundand she's pointing out the
(01:00:24):
history of squim.
So her birthday was the nextnext week, and my wife used to
be a floor, so she made a reallypretty bouquet.
And she also makes homemadechocolates and a card.
And so I went to her nursinghome.
And uh I said, Hi, I'm here tosee Mary.
Come on, I'll take you down.
(01:00:45):
We knocked on the door, and sheher nursing home consisted of a
small bathroom and one room.
And there was a bed over in thecorner, there was a chair, a
TV, and a little tinykitchenette with a coffee pot
and that.
And she was so thrilled to seeme and that I had brought that.
(01:01:07):
And then she started telling meabout what it meant to her to
be able to come on that ride.
And she said, I just love it.
I just can't wait to do itagain.
And I had her two more timesthat summer, and it was just a
joy for her to come out.
(01:01:28):
Sadly, she she's not with usanymore.
Yeah, I think that's the mostsurprising part.
If people could see the smileon our wheelers' faces when they
get done with the ride, or ifthey've been on the ride before,
if you could see their smilewhen they're about to start the
(01:01:48):
ride, it's just reallywonderful.
And hand in hand with that, thethe workers at the facilities
that bring them to the ride orthere when we pick them up,
they're so happy too becausethey know they're bringing joy
to their clients, to theirresidents.
So yeah, that's that'sdefinitely it, yeah.
TomButler (01:02:11):
I think that's a perfect note to end on, and you
know, and and I've experiencedthat, you that the impact that
it has, and it's wonderful.
Eric, thank you so much forcoming on and talking more about
Squim Wheelers.
I I just love the the work thatyou guys are doing there, that
(01:02:32):
what you're building, um, whatyou continue to expand, and so
happy that you came on andtalked about it.
EricMahnerd (01:02:38):
Well, I th I really want to thank you, Tom, for
giving me this opportunity.
Uh, you know, I I willencourage your listeners again,
just go to squimwheelers.com.
You can find out more about usand volunteer or sign up for a
ride, or if you like, make adonation.
TomButler (01:02:57):
Yes, yes, fantastic.
You know, and I also just wantto compliment you.
You know, you're a leader withthis organization, you're a
leader in your community, andand good job.
You know, I think it'swonderful that you're taking
time uh to make your communitybetter.
EricMahnerd (01:03:14):
Well, thank you very much.
You know, I I worked a lot ofyears.
Uh I used to be uh an airlinepilot and I worked in aviation
for a long, long time.
And when we moved up here, itit just gives me an opportunity
to give back to the people inour community, and there are so
many wonderful people in thistown.
Little town, 8,000 people, andvolunteerism makes it work, and
(01:03:36):
I'm really glad that I'm capableof being able to do that.
TomButler (01:03:39):
Fantastic.
Well, thanks again, and andmaybe I'll make it out again and
do another private guys.
It was fun.
EricMahnerd (01:03:47):
Come on, ride with us, and we'll we'll do it again.
TomButler (01:03:50):
That'd be fun.
EricMahnerd (01:03:51):
All right, good luck on your program.
I hope it works out.
And if you do need any morestuff, holler at me.
I'd be glad to help you out.
TomButler (01:03:58):
Well, I appreciate that, and and I'll probably take
you up on that.
EricMahnerd (01:04:00):
So okay, buddy.
Take care.
Bye bye now.
Bye.
TomButler (01:04:12):
I believe that there's an aspect of vibrant
living that is only possiblewhen we give to others without
expectation of getting somethingin return.
And I believe that aspect isamplified when we give to others
as a team.
I'm grateful that there areleaders like Eric out there
working behind the scenes tobring service opportunities to
life.
When we do a cycling withoutage ride, there are three
(01:04:37):
responses we get.
One response comes from thepassengers, or wheelers as Eric
called them.
Almost without exception, theyrespond by being very thankful
that we took them for a ride.
Second is the response fromstaff at our facility who love
our rides.
They're the ones that get tohear how much the residents
enjoy the rides we do.
And finally, whoever sees usout on a ride responds with
(01:05:00):
smiles and waves, and usually astatement like, That's so cool.
I think that the last responsereally says something.
People immediately understandthe value of getting outside at
the speed of biking,experiencing the sun and the
fresh air.
And they can see that we'regiving an opportunity for people
who aren't mobile to have thatexperience.
(01:05:22):
Hopefully, we can expand ourprogram here to do even more
rides next summer.
I hope all of you have ways togive something to your
community.
Maybe you have also foundsomething that combines cycling
and service.
And remember, it's just a geartest.
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