Kate Szambecki<\/strong> to provide this news coverage of a sponsored ride that happened over the summer.<\/em> Through paved roads, switchbacks, hail, and snow, EMU alumni Ryan Swartzentruber \u201816<\/strong> and his fianc\u00e9e Rita Cohen<\/strong> biked from Mexico to Canada this past summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\nRyan Swartzendruber on the Continental Divide trail in summer 2019.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nAfter Swartzentruber finished his master\u2019s degree in agricultural and resource economics at Colorado State University and Cohen completed her first year of teaching high school math, the pair wanted to celebrate their accomplishments and have something exciting to look forward to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
EMU\u2019s Bike Club helped make that happen by sponsoring the pair. From May 28 to July 14, they rode approximately 2,900 miles (on a Diamondback Axis Comp and a Surly Karate Monkey, respectively) with 200,000 feet of climbing on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe more or less followed the Adventure Cycling Association route, but there is also a race route called the Tour Divide that diverges a handful of times from our route,\u201d Swartzentruber said, adding that they weren\u2019t alone, but met or saw approximately 150 people riding the same route or a portion of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though incredibly difficult, the journey proved rewarding. The pair formed new relationships, experienced immense beauty, and reflected on life and biking. For example, having Cohen along for the trip made Swartzentruber realize just how male-dominated the biking world is and how important it is to celebrate women who pedal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rita with a furry friend. Interactions with generous humans were also a highlight of the trip for the duo.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nSwartzentruber\u2019s favorite parts of the trip were \u201cthe people, nature, simplicity, and the reward,\u201d he said. \u201cAs with any similar trip, we met such wonderful and kind people while riding on the road that 99.99% of the US population will never see\u2026 Seeing the world on a bicycle is such a different lens than a car or hiking. It\u2019s addicting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the trip was not without its challenges. The Divide trail was often covered in snow, and most of the Tour Divide leaders dropped out due to a snow storm that dropped two feet on the route. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were largely lucky with weather (and everything, really) but did run into snow a handful of times, the worst of which was hiking a bike through Brazos Ridge in northern New Mexico. The drifts were huge and the snow was slushy. It took us five hours to push our bikes through approximately 10 miles of snow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Machinery also played into the challenges they faced. \u201cIt is impossible to ride your bike for any amount of time without feeling vulnerable to some extent,\u201d Swartzentruber said. They were crowded by many drivers who often did not know how to share the road. \u201cAdd to this the challenges of consuming enough calories and staying hydrated, sleeping on the ground, and being subject to every change of weather. Now repeat this every day for six weeks and add some sleep deprivation to it. Feeling vulnerable to this extent led to some of the most meaningful interactions we had. Kind words and actions meant more than you could know.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tAnd they got those in high supply\u2014whether that be important advice from a woman named Grace outside of Salida, Colorado, or strangers stopping to give them Gatorade. \u201cWe got valuable information about road conditions from local strangers and other riders. Riders are extremely vulnerable on the Divide and interactions become much more meaningful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Swartzentruber and Cohen met a memorable woman named Kirsten, who owns and operates Brush Mountain Lodge in Colorado. She simply asks for donations, but turns no one away, feeding all who pass through. Kirsten offered to pick up the two if they couldn\u2019t make it through the hail and sludge on their way to the lodge, and that offer got them through. \u201cWe were at our height of vulnerability of our trip. We wouldn\u2019t have been able to make it over the pass without knowing that Kirsten was there just in case, but taking the road to the Lodge made us become more vulnerable than ever before. Kirsten\u2019s kindness stands in such contrast. She gave us a hug, a warm place to stay, food, more food, and even more food. This kindness would not have been understood in the same way if we were not so vulnerable.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vulnerability was a common theme for the pair. \u201cReflecting on our trip, the most memorable portions result from our vulnerability,\u201d Swartzentruber said. \u201cIt reminds me of the cross cultural program at EMU. However, we can\u2019t always take a semester or summer to take a trip like this nor do we need to. My takeaway from the trip is to find ways to be vulnerable with others in my privileged life and be aware of when others are in vulnerable situations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Swartzentrubers\u2019s advice to others hoping to do a similar trip? Do research, watch the documentary \u201cTour Divide\u201d and lastly, \u201cTake your time and enjoy it. Stop and talk to others on the trail. Make the trip what you want it to be and don\u2019t be afraid to diverge from the mapped route.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The EMU Bike Club supports student-cyclists with local rides, bike rentals, and other events. Co-president Ella Reist worked with sophomore writer Kate Szambecki to provide this news coverage of a ... read more about Bike Club supports alum on Great Divide summer trip<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,5591,17562],"tags":[],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-43915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-business-and-leadership","category-digest"],"yoast_head":"\nBike Club supports alum on Great Divide summer trip - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2019\/bike-club-supports-alum-on-great-divide-summer-trip\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bike Club supports alum on Great Divide summer trip - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The EMU Bike Club supports student-cyclists with local rides, bike rentals, and other events. Co-president Ella Reist worked with sophomore writer Kate Szambecki to provide this news coverage of a\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2019\/bike-club-supports-alum-on-great-divide-summer-trip\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-11-14T14:07:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-11-21T15:02:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2019\/11\/EMU-Grad-Bikes-Across-US.-Feature.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2019\/bike-club-supports-alum-on-great-divide-summer-trip\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2019\/bike-club-supports-alum-on-great-divide-summer-trip\/\",\"name\":\"Bike Club supports alum on Great Divide summer trip - EMU News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2019\/bike-club-supports-alum-on-great-divide-summer-trip\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2019\/bike-club-supports-alum-on-great-divide-summer-trip\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2019\/11\/EMU-Grad-Bikes-Across-US.-Feature.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-14T14:07:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-11-21T15:02:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d6737034219398924e6bd5dedcfa1245\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2019\/bike-club-supports-alum-on-great-divide-summer-trip\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2019\/bike-club-supports-alum-on-great-divide-summer-trip\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2019\/bike-club-supports-alum-on-great-divide-summer-trip\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2019\/11\/EMU-Grad-Bikes-Across-US.-Feature.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2019\/11\/EMU-Grad-Bikes-Across-US.-Feature.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":667},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2019\/bike-club-supports-alum-on-great-divide-summer-trip\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Bike Club supports alum on Great Divide summer trip\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\",\"name\":\"EMU News\",\"description\":\"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d6737034219398924e6bd5dedcfa1245\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bike Club supports alum on Great Divide summer trip - EMU News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2019\/bike-club-supports-alum-on-great-divide-summer-trip\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bike Club supports alum on Great Divide summer trip - EMU News","og_description":"The EMU Bike Club supports student-cyclists with local rides, bike rentals, and other events. Co-president Ella Reist worked with sophomore writer Kate Szambecki to provide this news coverage of a","og_url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2019\/bike-club-supports-alum-on-great-divide-summer-trip\/","og_site_name":"EMU News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite","article_published_time":"2019-11-14T14:07:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-11-21T15:02:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":667,"url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2019\/11\/EMU-Grad-Bikes-Across-US.-Feature.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EMU_News","twitter_site":"@EMU_News","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2019\/bike-club-supports-alum-on-great-divide-summer-trip\/","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2019\/bike-club-supports-alum-on-great-divide-summer-trip\/","name":"Bike Club supports alum on Great Divide summer trip - EMU News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2019\/bike-club-supports-alum-on-great-divide-summer-trip\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2019\/bike-club-supports-alum-on-great-divide-summer-trip\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2019\/11\/EMU-Grad-Bikes-Across-US.-Feature.jpg","datePublished":"2019-11-14T14:07:23+00:00","dateModified":"2019-11-21T15:02:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d6737034219398924e6bd5dedcfa1245"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2019\/bike-club-supports-alum-on-great-divide-summer-trip\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2019\/bike-club-supports-alum-on-great-divide-summer-trip\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2019\/bike-club-supports-alum-on-great-divide-summer-trip\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2019\/11\/EMU-Grad-Bikes-Across-US.-Feature.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2019\/11\/EMU-Grad-Bikes-Across-US.-Feature.jpg","width":1000,"height":667},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2019\/bike-club-supports-alum-on-great-divide-summer-trip\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Bike Club supports alum on Great Divide summer trip"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/","name":"EMU News","description":"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d6737034219398924e6bd5dedcfa1245","name":"admin","sameAs":["http:\/\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43915"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43934,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43915\/revisions\/43934"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43915"},{"taxonomy":"feature","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature?post=43915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2019\/11\/IMG_20190618_132655_1-768x1024.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2019\/11\/IMG_20190703_190731-1024x768.jpg\")