‘She misses the wind in her face’: Limitless Cycling brings adaptive cycling to east metro seniors
As soon as Deniece Anderson learned that she might get to go for a bicycle ride this week in Forest Lake, she called her daughter to share the news.
“She said, ‘Put this on your calendar! You have to be here!’ ” said Rhonda Neuberger, who lives in East Bethel. “Mom never learned how to ride a bike — she was never taught as a child, so she’s really been looking forward to this.”
Anderson, 94, is blind and entered hospice for heart failure two months ago at the Birchwood Arbors Senior Living facility in Forest Lake.
On Monday, she strapped on a silver Bell bike helmet and took a seat in an adaptive bicycle operated by Matthew Stepaniak, the co-founder of Limitless Cycling. Next to her was her best friend at Arbors, Nancilee Antisdel, who also is visually impaired.
“Here we go!” Anderson said.
Stepaniak sat behind the women on the Chat transport bike, manufactured by Dutch bicycle company Van Raam, and took them on a 15-minute bike ride to Lakeside Park and back again. Upon their return, the friends, sitting on a seat in front, raised their arms in triumph and waved to family members and staff.
“We went all the way down to the lake,” Anderson said. “The best part was just getting to do it. I’m 94, and I never thought I’d be doing something like that.”
Antisdel, who used to regularly bike from Forest Lake to Linwood and on the Sunrise Prairie Regional Trail, said she hopes she gets the chance to do it again. “It was wonderful,” she said. “It was a little bumpy, but it was really fun.”
LIMITLESS CYCLING’S START
Stepaniak, who lives in Hudson, Wis., and Darren Dobier, of Woodbury, started Limitless Cycling in 2019.
The men were working on separate plans to bring adaptive bicycles to the St. Croix River Valley: Stepaniak was looking for ways his mother, Nancy, 89, could be more physically active and socially engaged, and Dobier was looking for ways his company, DIRO Outdoors, could provide outdoor experiences to people who are facing physical or developmental challenges. A mutual friend introduced the two, and a partnership and the nonprofit organization was born.
“This all started with a boy who wanted to give his mom a bicycle ride,” Stepaniak said.
After Nancy Stepaniak moved in with Matthew and his wife, Tawnya, in 2018, “she wanted us to buy her a bicycle,” he said. “I couldn’t necessarily get her a traditional bicycle, so we got her an adaptive one.”
As the two biked around Hudson and Stillwater on their Fun 2 Go, another Van Raam bike that allows the pilot to operate the bike and their passenger to sit next to them and help pedal if they want, they attracted “quite a bit of attention,” he said. “A lot of questions were asked, and a lot of interest was raised. We recognized the need went well beyond my mom and me.”
Limitless Cycling last year received a $15,000 grant from the Stillwater Area Community Foundation; the grant focused on mental and physical health and the well-being of local communities in the wake of pandemic-related hardships, Stepaniak said.
The organization, which offers free rides to area senior-living facility residents, veterans, and people who are disabled, used the grant to purchase the Van Raam Chat transport bicycle.
Additional donations from individuals, crowdsourcing, local businesses and local service organizations have enabled the organization to also purchase a VeloPlus bicycle, which is specifically designed for someone who uses a wheelchair, Stepaniak said.
“A community is made stronger by meaningful interactions among people,” he said. “These bike allow volunteers and riders –- people of different generations, with different life experiences and abilities -– to connect through a shared, outdoor experience.”
Stillwater Area Community Foundation board member Erica Oesterreich said that when those being assisted to ride are out sharing the trails with “highly active cyclists and families with young children, it demonstrates that this is a caring, compassionate, inclusive community.”
WHAT LED TO MONDAY’S RIDES
Josie Muntifering, an occupational therapist and life manager with Lifespark, helped organize Limitless Cycling’s visit to Birchwood Arbors on Monday. She sent an email to Stepaniak two weeks ago and explained that her job is “to spark lives and get people engaged in purposeful activity and bring joy to their lives.”
“I have some special members who would love to experience a bike ride,” she wrote. “One of the members is blind and has not been able to ride a bike for many years. She states she misses the wind in her face.”
Stepaniak responded within two hours, and a date was set. “It was incredible,” she said. “He said, ‘Let’s do this.’ I can’t believe how fast it all came together. He was just all in.”
Twenty-sevens residents went on bike rides on Monday morning. Among them was Mykky Watters, 72, who brought along the ashes of her younger brother, Mike Mahoney, and her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Bruce.
“When she was younger, her brother used to give her motorcycle rides, and she wanted to give him one last ride as well, so she came out for it,” Muntifering said.
“I thought I was going on a motorcycle ride, but I guess this is better,” Watters said. “At least I can see what goes by.”
After the ride, Watters said it was so much fun, she wanted to go again. “But I know I need to give someone else a turn,” she said.
Joyce Reed, 87, who moved into the assisted-living center in January, said the bike ride to Lakeside Park felt good on a muggy morning.
“The minute you leave here, it is cool all the way to the lake,” she said. “I got to ring the bell and look at everybody.”
Stepaniak, 47, who competes in Ironman triathlons, said the bike’s average speed on Monday was 4 mph. “We want this experience to be safe, memorable and meaningful,” he said.
But he jokes that his mother shares his need for speed.
“She always wants to go faster,” he said. “When we’re going down Houlton Hill, she throws her hands in the air like she just don’t care, and she wants me to let it rip. Safety third.”
