Sportable Chief Executive Officer Hunter Leemon is cycling 500 miles to raise money for the organization that provides sports and recreation for people with physical disabilities.
The eight-day ride, which kicks off Saturday, is with the heralded Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI), an event started in 1973 by the Des Moines Register. The 500-mile course this year runs from Sioux City in northwestern Iowa to Davenport on the Mississippi River. It’s billed as the largest multi-day bicycling touring event in the world.
But the ride, going into it, isn’t his favorite part — it’s the people he’s going to meet.
“It’s really a series of short rides here and there,” Leemon said. “I think all the towns you stop in really embrace the cycling community.”
Last year, Leemon rode with Sportable’s Dan Schmitt in a 50-mile ride to Boston in the last leg of Schmitt’s cross country trip. That’s where Leemon learned about what happens beyond the race.
He was inspired.
“It was one of the best professional and personal experiences I’ve ever had,” Leemon said. “It was very joyful. We stopped at all these lemonade stands and talked to all these people … That’s what I’m really hoping to get out of this experience too.”
Leemon, along with his childhood best friend, a few mutual friends and a Sportable coach and athlete, will ride to raise money for the organization. Leemon said some of the days will be 70 or 80 mile ride days but he’s happy to do it for Sportable.
“We all made a pact to do it,” Leemon said.
Sportable is an adaptive sports organization and provides sports and recreation opportunities to people from age 3 to 87. Sports that are sponsored include wheelchair basketball, rugby, archery and rowing among others, Leemon said.
Leemon loves the organization because it is “everything good in sports.” He said that’s why it’s so important to give back through the race.
“We have competitive sports that are team focused that compete in national organizations,” Leemon said. “There are lots of ways we look at sports now and sometimes it doesn’t feel great. You know the amount of money, athletes being paid, coaches leaving. Sometimes you get a negative taste in your mouth. It is everything great about sports that our athletes represent.”
Leemon heard about RAGBRAI through other people in the Richmond area that competed in it. For him, the training was about goal setting and riding almost every day.
“Last year, when I turned 44, I said I wanted to do 4400 miles,” Leemon said. “That’s what I did. I kept a spreadsheet. Part of that was to get ready to ride with Dan. I also have a group of friends and we’ll do 60 mile rides every year. Hanging out with [Sportable’s] cycling team has been an inspiration point too.”
“We have a really good friend of the organization, someone who’s passionate about fundraising himself, was generous enough to make a $10,000 matching gift,” Leemon said. “If you want to support, you want to follow along on all the Sportable social media feeds.”
For Leemon, who first heard about Sportable through his grad work at VCU, getting to bike means supporting sports in a positive way and meeting new people. He said he hopes to have the same experiences with his group that he did with Schmidt last year and to take in everything Iowa has to offer.
Even if that means stopping at a lemonade stand or two.
“I feel like the work of Sportable is so important,” Leemon said. “Richmond, it’s a good sports community. I feel like if we’re going to have that reputation, then we have to make that available to everyone. I feel like that’s why our work is so important.”
In addition to the ride, people at home can support Leemon and the Sportable group through logging miles. It can be walking, running or biking. Leemon is hoping to raise $10,000 so that the donation can be matched by an anonymous Sportable donor.
