At 92, Nancy Stepaniak of Hudson still loves to bike. But ever since a stroke in 2018, her sense of balance has made riding a traditional two-wheeled bicycle too dangerous.
When Nancy’s son, Matthew Stepaniak, became her full-time caretaker, he set out on a mission to get her back in the saddle. He started by getting her a side-by-side tandem bike that they could ride together around the neighborhood.
That first ride, they didn’t get very far before people were stopping them to express interest and ask questions. That’s when they knew they were onto something special, Matthew said.
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“I am just a boy who wanted to give his mother a bicycle,” Matthew told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” “And things got way out of control in the most beautiful way.”
The experience led Matthew in 2019 to co-found Limitless Cycling, a nonprofit in the Hudson region that provides adaptive bicycles and other equipment for people of all abilities to enjoy the outdoors. It’s one of the many Wisconsin chapters of Cycling Without Age.
Cycling Without Age was created in 2012, when founder Ole Kassow of Denmark acquired a three-wheeled, pedal-powered vehicle called a trishaw and started giving local seniors rides around the community. The one-man operation evolved into an international nonprofit that aims to give seniors and people with disabilities around the world “the right to wind in their hair.”
In 2016, the first ever Cycling Without Age chapter in the United States formed in Oshkosh. Now, Wisconsin has more than 100 chapters statewide — more than any other U.S. state.
Wisconsin became a hub for the international nonprofit because of long-standing collaborations with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, the Wisconsin Bike Fed and the University of Wisconsin, said Pernille Bussone, executive director of Cycling Without Age.
“We would not be where we are today without Wisconsin,” Bussone said.
Bringing back memories — and creating new ones
Limitless Cycling now has a fleet of six bikes: three electrically assisted trishaws with room for a pilot and two passengers, Nancy’s side-by-side tandem bike and two bikes specially designed for transporting wheelchair users. They also have several track chairs — wheelchairs with tank-like tracks — for outdoor use year-round and on unpaved trails. The bikes cost $10,000 to $20,000 each, which the group purchased through grants and fundraising.
Matthew and his team lend their equipment to people who have difficulty riding a two-wheeled bicycle — especially seniors, veterans and people with disabilities. For most of the bikes, trained volunteer “pilots” pedal and steer while passengers ride in the front.
Nancy, who also volunteers with Limitless Cycling as an administrator and ambassador, said many seniors return from their rides asking if they can go again.
“A lot of seniors were bicycle riders, and this way they’re getting a chance to be out in the fresh air, riding around and seeing different things instead of their rooms,” Nancy said.
Bernadette Russow, cofounder of Cycling Without Age of Walworth County, said the rides often trigger fond memories for seniors. She recalled one person who had biked all the way around Lake Superior when she was young, but could no longer walk or talk and was partially blind.
“She rode (on the trishaw), and when she came back tears were rolling down her cheeks. Her shirt was wet, and she was grinning from ear to ear, because it brought back the memory of when she used to ride,” Russow said.
Bike rides that connect generations
The trishaw rides also create opportunities to connect pilots, riders and their families.
Diane Ludwigsen, vice president of Cycling Without Age of Door County, encourages her pilots to repeatedly volunteer at the same facility to build relationships with passengers.
“One of our pilots was really worried the first time he went out. He said, ‘What are we going to talk about? What do we have in common?’” Ludwigsen said. “And he didn’t get a word in edgewise. It was all the history that these people can give you when you’re riding through the community that they lived in.”
Ludwigsen recounted other moments of family connection. One pilot got to give her mother her last trishaw ride before she passed away. Another family had a reunion at Peninsula State Park in Door County. With the help of Cycling Without Age, they explored the park on bikes, their grandparents riding along in a trishaw.
Russow recalled a 13-year-old girl and her great-grandmother taking a ride together, holding hands and talking the whole time.
“How long do you think (that girl) is going to have that as a memory?” Russow said.
Pilots are often in awe witnessing these connections.
“It’s so much more than a bicycle ride,” Matthew Stepaniak said. “It’s very rewarding — not just the act, but everything that goes along with it. You can’t get that feeling anywhere else.”
Nancy loves the rides not just because she is back on a bike, but because it allows her to nurture her relationship with her favorite pilot, her son Matthew.
“When we ride on the bike that I have, it’s a blast,” Nancy said.
An online map of Cycling Without Age chapters is available online. More information on how to start a chapter is on the nonprofit’s website.
