Category: Freedom Tour

My friend Jim likes to sing on long bike rides. Jim knows one verse of about a million songs. We’ll be cranking along and he’ll just start singing in his rich, baritone voice, the sort of voice that imprints a chorus on your brain so it pops up weeks later when you’re riding alone and […]

I’m a bit of a Lewis Carroll fan. He’s best remembered as the author of Alice In Wonderland, but he was also a mathematician who incorporated a good deal of logical argument into his writing. I used a lot of his writing in math lessons; Humpty Dumpty, The Mad Hatter, and The Queen Of Hearts always inspired curiosity. […]

I’m not a fan of rules. During the last decade or so of my career as a classroom teacher I discovered that the reasons behind a lot of rules were “it’s just common sense,” “that’s how I like to do it,” “we’ve always done it that way,” or “because I said so.” Those didn’t seem like they […]

On the recent FREEDOM TOUR, our team basically commandeered the patio at the Sonic restaurant in Trinidad–twice. Friday we celebrated our century ride with cold drinks and ice cream. Saturday we returned for lunch following our summit of Raton Pass. Sixteen individual orders shouted over all sorts of laughter and stories of conquest, on a busy day […]

The FREEDOM TOUR is all about stories. Well, it’s really about people, but the people all have cool stories. This thing that isn’t a bike ride attracts all sorts of interesting people who contribute in their own special manner. Greg was one of those folks. I “met” Greg online several years ago in the process […]

You can’t do something like this without a bit of looking back. When Becky and I proposed the FREEDOM TOUR three years ago we were absolutely sure it was a great idea. We thought someone else would grab the vision and run with it. Truthfully, we desperately wanted somebody to tell us what to do. Lesson: […]

One of our FREEDOM TOUR team members commented on an interesting perspective. Before the ride: “Are you crazy?? 500 miles in 8 days? You have to be out of your mind!!? After the ride: “You all really are crazy!! But, by the way, congratulations – and can you tell us more about the Home Of […]

Why are you going to Ordway? As people looked at our route map, that was one of the common questions. Ordway is a small ranching community on Colorado’s eastern plains. It’s the pronounced “lump” in our meandering course along the Front Range. Why Ordway? involved an invitation we couldn’t refuse. It’s a long story, but I’d […]

Nobody planned the tradition of obstacles. In fact, this particular tradition could fade away and we would be happy. However, it has made for interesting stories. In 2013 the team ended up in a snake-infested field. Okay, maybe “infested” is a bit strong, but they carried road bikes across a meadow and over at least one […]

Last Saturday our team climbed Raton Pass. Before the final ride, we reminded ourselves why we were doing this difficult thing. We talked about the kids at the Home of Hope. We remembered the people who helped us along the way. We prayed for all those who are still trapped by the horrors of human trafficking. After […]