{"id":21238,"date":"2017-11-10T08:42:54","date_gmt":"2017-11-10T16:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=21238"},"modified":"2020-04-27T19:54:07","modified_gmt":"2020-04-28T02:54:07","slug":"how-cycling-is-helping-veterans-find-peace-at-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/cycle\/how-cycling-is-helping-veterans-find-peace-at-home","title":{"rendered":"How Cycling Is Helping Veterans Find Peace at Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

For many members of our armed forces, returning home signifies the beginning of a different type of battle.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The laser focus that allows you to keep your tires tracking on the trail’s narrow tread. The playful challenge of picking your way through the rocks strewn on the trail. The hooting and hollering of buddies behind you. The sounds of nothing but nature. Hurtling downhill or huffing up. Most of the time, there’s\u00a0something\u00a0<\/i>about a bike ride that feels healing, rejuvenating, calming, therapeutic. Rarely do we return home feeling worse than when we left.<\/p>\n

That bike-joy is now being harnessed by some U.S. war veteran support groups. For some vets, the ride is what gets them to leave the house in the first place\u2014and then allows them to put away the bike and carry on afterward.<\/p>\n

“You\u2019re always planning for the worst case scenario\u2014someone getting killed or injured.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here’s the ugly truth: According to a 2012 Veterans Affairs (VA) report (download the PDF here<\/a>), an average of 20 veterans take their lives every day. Needless to say, transitioning from combat to civilian life can be difficult, confusing and isolating for veterans\u2014more so with the added burden of coming home with a debilitating physical or psychological injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a totally different environment over there,\u201d said retired Marine Corps Master\u00a0Sergeant Dean Zenoni. \u201cThere’s constant violence. You\u2019re always planning for the worst case scenario\u2014someone getting killed or injured. So when you come home from that, it\u2019s really hard to readjust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hence the haunting VA statistic. And while traditional medication management and behavioral health treatments can be effective for some veterans, such methods\u00a0only scratch the surface for many others, like Zenoni. The treatment that worked best for him? Time in the saddle.<\/p>\n

“When I got on the bike, it gave me hope.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI had been injured toward the end of my military\u00a0<\/b>career so there were a lot of activities I couldn\u2019t do anymore,\u201d he said. \u201cEveryone knows that when you get injured, you can\u2019t do anything, you put on weight, so that\u2019s a hard road to come back from. When I found out about Ride 2 Recovery, it totally changed my life. My injury took away my career, it took away what I was good at, and when I got on the bike, it gave me hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ride 2 Recovery is one of the tenet programs of Project Hero<\/a>, a national non-profit organization dedicated to helping veterans and first responders affected by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and physical injury achieve rehabilitation, recovery and resilience in their daily lives. Cycling is in Project Hero’s DNA; the organization\u00a0<\/strong>was founded in 2008,\u00a0after a recreational therapist at a VA hospital in California approached John Wordin, an ex-professional cyclist and founder of the Fitness Challenge Foundation, wondering if cycling might be an effective therapy for PTSD and TBI.<\/p>\n

According to Peter Bylsma, marketing director for Project Hero, Wordin knew that it was an idea worth exploring.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the physical activity and discipline that are an integral part of cycling that make it unique in its ability to make it a positive rehabilitation activity,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s something special about riding a bike. It may not have been invented for this purpose, but it\u2019s well suited for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Challenge Rides, multi-day point-to-point rides organized by Project Hero that are solely for injured veterans and active military, are illustrative of the benefits that can come from putting veterans on bikes, together. Feedback from participants almost always includes the following: I can talk to people on the ride about things that no one else understands.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s transcendent,\u201d said Bylsma. \u201cThe combination of being on the bike\u2014the physical\u2014with the mental aspect that the veterans are riding with people they trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ride 2 Recovery at Red Rock Canyon in Las Vegas, Nevada | Photo: Project Hero<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

And most cyclists would likely agree that the healing\u00a0qualities associated with riding extend past the simple act of pushing pedals; the sense of community among riders fosters wellness, too. Christopher Richardson, the acting Marketing Director for Pedal Against PTSD<\/a>, another non-profit seeking to help veterans through cycling, has found that the biking community as a whole has helped lay the groundwork for the organizations\u2019 ability to reach veterans.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether you live in a small town or a big city, there are like-minded people doing rides,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s an additional layer of support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pedal Against PTSD was born after Kevin Campagna, a U.S.\u00a0Marine Corps combat veteran, completed the 2013 Tour Divide (a 2,745-mile, self-supported race that roughly follows the Continental Divide from Canada to Mexico) and felt inspired to share his passion for cycling as a source of relief for his affliction with PTSD. The organization\u2019s mission is threefold: to provide veterans with bicycles, create a strong community outreach program, and contribute to the research and development of PTSD treatment. Richardson feels strongly that the bicycle can be an alternative to medication-driven therapy.<\/p>\n

\u201cExercise is a stress reliever, and too much stress can trigger episodes of PTSD,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to empower vets in a non-medication driven way, and exercise is extremely therapeutic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Increasingly, researchers are linking exercise to better mental health.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Fortunately, the VA seems to be taking note that a different approach to addressing veteran rehabilitation is necessary. In a July\u00a02017 interview<\/a>, VA Secretary David Shulkin pledged to look beyond traditional forms of treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an unacceptable statistic that 20 veterans a day are taking their life to suicide,\u201d said Shulkin. \u201cSo we are going to do everything that we possibly can. We\u2019re reaching out to community groups, to academic groups. We\u2019re doing research in this area. We\u2019re trying new therapies and treatments. And I certainly hope that we can have a big impact on this problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the VA has more to go on than horrifying statistics\u2014increasingly, researchers are linking exercise to better mental health. A 2010 study from the American College of Sports Medicine showed that just one 30-minute exercise session can boost your mood and help tackle depression, both of which are frequent effects of PTSD and TBI. Programs that use bikes as therapy for vets can count on these neurochemical benefits, but the rehabilitative gains don\u2019t stop there.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the power of riding bikes for rehabilitation is that it produces a trifecta of effects: physical stimulation, psychological regulation and a sense of security and solidarity. A veteran may start riding as a way to address a physical injury and find that it\u2019s the invisible injury being treated. Another may pick up a bike to escape and be alone only to learn that pedaling alongside an old friend is what she actually needed.<\/p>\n

“I mean that it\u2019s good for the soul, you know? Just feeling the wind in your face and the rush of pinning a tight corner.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Cheryl Jensen, founder and executive director of Vail Veterans<\/a>, an organization nearing its 15th year of supporting veterans through a variety of programs, has found that some veterans want to experience the therapeutic outdoors with their families and that families of veterans also benefit from meeting each other and sharing their experiences. The Colorado organization works with three military hospitals to bring patients directly from the hospital or outpatient setting to the central Rocky Mountains.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe variety in our programming is to meet their needs, it\u2019s not for us,\u201d said Jensen. \u201cOur family programs have evolved because of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it started, Vail Veterans only offered winter sports to vets and their families. “But one veteran didn\u2019t like the snow and cold,” said Jensen, “so we decided to add summer programs.” When Vail Veterans added mountain biking to its menu of activities in 2012, Jensen found that it married nicely into the existing format. \u201cIt\u2019s like skiing,\u201d she said, \u201cYou give someone a gravity sport, and they don\u2019t feel their injury.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Miller and another participant descend a trail during a Vail Veterans Program. Photo courtesy of Vail Veterans<\/p><\/div>\n

Take retired U.S. Navy SEAL and Vail Veterans participant, Elliott Miller. The scope of his injuries is almost inconceivable: an above-the-knee amputation, an anoxic brain injury that has rendered him unable to speak, heterotrophic ossification (basically, where bone grows in soft tissue where bone should not exist), and burns covering 35% of his body. Miller and his wife April have traveled to Colorado twice to participate in downhill mountain biking with Vail Veterans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m no doctor,\u201d Miller wrote me in an email, \u201cbut if I was I would probably say that any physical activity is good for rehabilitation. Especially when you can combine it with something that is a bit of an adrenaline rush. I mean that it\u2019s good for the soul, you know? Just feeling the wind in your face and the rush of pinning a tight corner\u2014there\u2019s nothing like it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For many members of our armed forces, returning home signifies the beginning of a different type of battle. The laser focus that allows you to keep your tires tracking on the trail’s narrow tread. The playful challenge of picking your way through the rocks strewn on the trail. The hooting and hollering of buddies behind […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":22271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1127,727,110,1421],"internal-tag":[1680],"class_list":["post-21238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cycle","tag-cycling","tag-latest-posts","tag-mountain-biking","tag-veterans","internal-tag-pre-redirect-cycling"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/cycle\/how-cycling-is-helping-veterans-find-peace-at-home","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"How Cycling Is Helping Veterans Find Peace at Home","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/cycle\/how-cycling-is-helping-veterans-find-peace-at-home","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/cycle\/how-cycling-is-helping-veterans-find-peace-at-home"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/11\/vailvets-hero.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/11\/vailvets-hero.jpg?fit=1600%2C1067"},"articleSection":"Cycle","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Flandreau"}],"creator":["Michelle Flandreau"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["cycling","latest posts","mountain biking","veterans"],"dateCreated":"2017-11-10T16:42:54Z","datePublished":"2017-11-10T16:42:54Z","dateModified":"2020-04-28T02:54:07Z"},"rendered":"