Wounded Vets Passing Through Triangle, Winding Up Cross-Country Bike Trip

By Desiree Parker Thursday, July 22, 2010

Army Specialist Andrew Hartzell was having trouble walking and standing after a leg injury he sustained during a training exercise. But he found he could ride a bike for hours.

And now, along with a team of other riders who are mostly wounded vets like himself, he’s been riding cross country for about two months straight and having a fantastic time.

This Friday, the Triangle will be welcoming this group of injured veterans and supporters who are part of a coast-to-coast bike ride called “Sea to Shining Sea,” meant to recognize service men and women across the nation and celebrate being active despite injury or disability.

Hartzell, 31, spent about three years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center after an injury to his right femur. The break occurred while he was at Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Ga., according to a USAPatriotism.com story by Army public affairs officer SSgt. Michel Sauret.

“I could walk with a cane, and it was hard to stand, but I could ride for hours,” Hartzell says of the awakening of his new passion for cycling. As he rode, he found he got stronger and was able to get back in shape, and could even walk without help from the cane. Though his therapist said it was a bad idea to ride at all, Hartzell thought it might be a good idea to ride across the country.

And the idea for the “Sea to Shining Sea” ride was born.

Last year, World T.E.A.M. sports, a non-profit that joins people with and without disabilities through sports, offered to organize Hartzell’s cross-country ride. Not too much later State Farm Insurance offered to sponsor it, and the idea became a reality pretty quickly.

Just fewer than 20 cyclists (including Hartzell) took off from San Francisco on May 22, and they’ll be riding through Williamsburg and Yorktown this Friday on their way to their final destination, Virginia Beach.

The ride has been transformational for Hartzell. “I’ve been blown away by the beauty of the country,” he says. “I’ve driven before across highways, but taking the back roads, seeing the heart of the country, feeling every part of it – the wind, the valleys – it’s an amazing way to experience the country.”

Riding is a much more vivid, sensory way to see the difference in each area they ride through, according to Hartzell. But more than the beauty of the country, the ride has proved to him “how great Americans are. Their response has been phenomenal. Small towns we ride through that are hurt by the recession… they offer amazing hospitality, and share all they have to share with us.”

Aside from chatting with locals who have been cheering them on at every town along the way (thanks to local State Farm agents who have planned lunches and visits during the trip), riders have gotten a chance to meet other veterans.

Some, like the Vietnam vets, didn't get the warm welcome Hartzell and his team enjoy.

“They were abused when they came home – vets from current conflicts don’t experience that,” says Hartzell. One Vietnam vet who took time out to talk with the group really touched Hartzell. “It was hard not to get tears in my eyes when I met [him].”

The riders have become very close over the 60-plus days on the road, he says. They’ve developed a strong sense of camaraderie that has made the ride even more enjoyable.

This Friday, the riders will pedal from Richmond to Yorktown, with a probable pit-stop at Chickahominy Riverfront Park along Route 5. Local State Farm agents David Sisk and Dwight Beamon will be coordinating a lunch in Williamsburg (tentatively), and agent Colin Owens is organizing an afternoon gathering for the group in the Coast Guard area in Yorktown around 3 p.m.

“We just want to have as much presence as we can to welcome them,” Owens says. “We’re glad to be a part of their journey.”