A great idea can come from anywhere- a casual conversation, a snippet of a song- or, in the case of Joy Riders, from the other side of the globe.  One of our volunteers read an article about an Australian man who welded a wheelchair to a bike so his ailing wife could ride with him.  Our volunteer showed the bike to the coach of her triathlon team who said, “We need to do this!”  A little research found that similar chairs are available for purchase.  These ladies contacted the Veterans Leadership Program of Southwestern Pennsylvania (VLP) who knew the program could benefit some of their participants, and Joy Riders was born.

 

     Now we had the beautiful Great Allegheny Passage trail, VLP as our nonprofit sponsor, and willing volunteers.  Now we just needed our bikes!  With some creative fundraising, our community, friends, and families came through, and we raised $20,000 to purchase two bikes. We plan to launch our program in Summer 2019.   Joy Riders is a caring collaboration among The Mighty Tri Girls/Total Chaos Triathlon Team, Veterans Leadership Program and our community, inspired by a creative Aussie who wasn’t ready for his beloved wife’s bike riding days to be over.

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     Today, Joy Riders has three active sites local to western Pennsylvania for participants to enjoy! The sites are: the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) Trail, the Five Star Trail and the Heritage Trail.