Brooke Sperbeck

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For veterans who have suffered the brutalities of war, cycling can be a therapeutic experience.

Thanks to Ride 2 Recovery, veterans are participating in bike rides to help them rehabilitate injuries with minimal impact on joints, according to Jim DeCecco, a local program coordinator and an Oceano elementary school teacher.

“Some of them have lost their legs, some of them have lost their arms and some have mental health issues,” DeCecco said.

On Wednesday between approximately 12:00 and 1:15 p.m., 200 veterans and their sponsors will ride through Cal Poly’s campus as part of Ride 2 Recovery’s California Challenge, DeCecco said. The 450-mile, seven-day ride starts in San Francisco and ends in Los Angeles, he said.

“It’s to promote, to help raise funds, and also rehabilitation, so there’s three things that the ride is doing,” DeCecco said.

The ride is free for veterans, made possible by sponsors who donate money and can participate in the ride, DeCecco said. Donations go towards riders’ food, hotels and support vehicles — a cost he estimates is about $100 per day for each rider.

This is the sixth annual California Challenge, but the second year the ride has gone through campus, DeCecco said. Since its first event in 2008, Ride 2 Recovery has expanded and now holds rides throughout the United States.

“When they first started off, there were only 80 riders and it was just one event,” DeCecco said. “Now they’ve climbed up to a max 200 riders, and they do rides all over the country.”

The veterans will come on to campus through Highland Drive and take a right on University Drive. They’ll then go left onto North Perimeter Road and exit on Grand Avenue to have lunch at the San Luis Obispo Veterans Hall.

Because roads are not closed for the ride, ROTC will be out helping to ensure the Cal Poly section goes smoothly. They will likely assist with setting up and tearing down the reception, finishing areas on campus and managing traffic, said Capt. Jeremy Medaris, a ROTC Assistant Professor of Military Science.

“We’d also like to help like we did last year with putting out road guards and preventing any sort of incidents or accidents at intersections,” Medaris said.

Though DeCecco said it was “nice to see” ROTC members supporting the veterans in 2012, he hopes the event will draw more student attendance this year. ROTC would also like to see more people cheering on the veterans as they ride by, Medaris said.

“I realize it’s at kind of an awkward time, being on a Wednesday in the middle of the day, but if it was even if just you happen to be walking to class or something, just knowing that it’s going on or maybe cheering would be a good thing,” Medaris said.

For the veterans, completing the ride is no easy feat.  The program is a “healing process” and can help the veterans discover how they can still live a fulfilling life and overcome obstacles despite their serious injuries, Medaris said.

Many have handicaps from war injuries and are riding with hand cycles or other specialized bikes to accommodate their needs, DeCecco said.

“Some of these vets haven’t been on bikes since they were in sixth grade or something like that,” DeCecco said.

As a former Cal Poly student, DeCecco understands that students are busy, but he hopes they will take a few minutes out of their day to support the veterans. When DeCecco talks with veterans after the race, they always mention how much they appreciate the support they get from members of the community during their journey though the Central Coast.

“I know that anybody who is there to cheer for them as they go through campus, that it’s going to be noticed by the veterans themselves and appreciated by the veterans,” DeCecco said.