Southport Magazine

The Warrior Ride encourages combat-injured service members to rehabilitate their minds, bodies and spirits through adaptive cycling, while joining together war heroes with their civilian neighbors. Courtesy photo

What: Warrior Ride Tour de Carolina
When: Wednesday, October 15th through Saturday, October 18th
Where: Across southeastern NC
Cost: $50
Info: www.thewarriorride.org

Founded in North Carolina by husband-and-wife team Bob and Debra Racine of Oak Island, The Warrior Ride is a non-profit organization with a mission to facilitate the rehabilitation of mind, body and spirit for combat-injured service members through adaptive cycling.

This year, October 15th through 18th, a three-and-a-half-day event is free to all combat-injured veterans, going back as far as WWII. Warrior Ride Tour de Carolina will bring together civilian neighbors and war heroes alike.

“With totally adaptive cycling, we can make you mobile,” founder Bob Racine remarks. “With one wheel or 10 wheels, if you have the desire to move, whatever your needs are—quadriplegic, or traumatic brain injury—we can do it.”

The Warrior Ride provides it all for the wounded veterans. “We have the bikes and we issue the equipment: the helmets, gloves, jerseys, T-shirts,” Racine explains. “We feed them, we lodge them,  and we ride with them.”

Wednesday, October 15th marks day one and the bike fitting at Golden Sands Beach Resort in Carolina Beach, NC (1211 S. Lake Park Blvd.). The Warrior Ride has hand-crank bikes; recumbent bikes; two-wheel and three-wheel; a tandem recumbent nicknamed “The Beast”; three-wheel dual bikes; road bikes; and hybrids. Plus, the Warrior Ride is totally equipped to modify any bicycle to meet an individual’s needs.

Day two, October 16th, is  the first day of riding beginning in Carolina Beach and ending at Virginia Williamson Elementary School (1020 Zion Hill Rd. SE, Bolivia). The group will ride about  30 miles. “We are as fast as the slowest rider,” Racine assures. “We ride in a group—if one stops, we all stop. We eat together and ride together.”

There are motivational challenges in the ride to help inspire, and road mentors are en route for extra guidance and encouragement.

Day three includes riding from Shallotte to Calabash, ending at Brunswick Plantation (330 S. Middleton Dr. SW), about 30 to 40 miles. The group will stop at schools and sponsor facilities. “This allows the community to see the riders and be aware of the sacrifices the service members have made,” Racine notes. “And also, the soldiers are aware of the appreciation and support from the community.”

Day four, Saturday, October 18th, is the community fundraiser. Held at the Oak Island soccer fields (46th Street SE), this is the day the public is invited to meet and greet the service members and ride with the group. Donations will be accepted and registration to ride with the group opens at 7 a.m. The Registration fee is $50, (which includes a T-shirt), for  either the Medio Fundo, which is 30 miles, or the Gran Fundo, which is 62 miles.

The Ceremony will begin at 9 a.m. One of the opening highlights includes paratrooper Jamie Lynn jumping out of a plane with an American flag that measures 64 feet long and 34 feet high.

“Wheels on the ground at 9:30,” Racine muses, spoken as if he’s done this more than once—which he has. He’s been involved with cycling as a beacon of rehabilitation and camaraderie for combat-injured service men with Step Up for Soldiers and Hope for Warriors since the mid-2000s, before creating the Warrior Ride in 2007.

Racine served three tours in Vietnam as a Marine. “I was hit by shrapnel, and this place [pointing to his lower leg] is still sensitive and can break open with the slightest touch,” he shares. “When [we] came home, [we] were not treated as heroes—I was attacked in an airport. I had to prove to stay in the military after my injuries. There was little help for returning service members.”

After Desert Storm and the Gulf War, the opportunity was there for Racine to help returning service members with cycling for a change. “The riding is a form of rehab, an honor and rewarding,” he divulges. “We’re a big family for three-and-a-half days. It’s self sustaining—the ride is as good for me as it is for them.”

Sadly, Debra Racine passed away two weeks before this interview. As her husband, Bob, expressed to me, “She was the on-ground coordinator, she will be greatly missed. Half my team is missing—we will be doing the ride in her honor.”