BE GOOD SCHOLARSHIP

Edyn Tietge (he/him)

am a 14 year old that loves to dream big. The Be Good Scholarship would help me make my crazy dream of becoming the youngest person to solo race the Tour Divide come gradually closer.

Cycling has helped me get away from the stresses

of school, work, and social life. It has made me feel free. You can go anywhere on a bike and farther then you could go on foot.

This scholarship will take off the significant stress of not knowing if I have enough money to get the right gear, lodging and food I need to finish the race.

Jen Gadoua (she/her)

I used to trail run, adventure race, kayak, cycle, and be outdoors in every spare moment. In June 2021 I had a spinal cord injury and am now a full-time wheelchair user.

I had a chance to go to an adaptive mountain biking retreat one year ago and fell in love with riding. It allowed me to access the outdoors in a way a wheelchair just can't reach. This summer, I had the great privilege of riding on the All Bodies on Bikes SBT grvl Team. I did the green course riding my adaptive bike. It was the longest event I ever participated in and it felt amazing to test new limits safely.

Riding has been healing to me in many ways. I have always used physical activity to overcome trauma, and most recently becoming an offroad para cyclist is allowing me to reclaim my life following spinal cord injury.

Jackson Long (he/him)

I make a very humble income coaching middle school and high school NICA racers. I have completely fallen in love with ultra racing and bikepacking, and have huge dreams of competing in the biggest events around the world.

Cycling has been a primary proxy of world travel for me, and a vehicle for meaningful outdoor experience. I have been struggling with mental and physical health over the past year and riding my bike, especially long distances off-road and bikepacking, has been a grounding force in my life to keep me feeling confident and worthy even when my mind creates the opposite thoughts. Riding a bike has been the most constant form of movement and therapy, and even when I'm struggling my lofty dreams of doing things like Tour Divide keep me moving forward.

Luis Orozco-Sanchez  (they/them - he/him)

I’m Latinx, queer, community-oriented, currently on a quest, and an avid cyclist. I just recently graduated from university at UC Berkeley, I’m the first in my family to go to University in the US, which is a great feat. My goal with this scholarship is to bike from the home I grew up in (Clearlake, CA) to my grandma and grandpa's house (Jalisco MX).

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My family immigrated to the US when I was born. In the last few years, I’ve fallen in love with bikepacking for its simplistic yet visceral capacity to engage with the land. It's a huge dream of mine to not only explore my homelands but connect my ancestral home to my current home in a way that makes physical sense. Whenever I would fly to Mexico it felt like I teleported. In contrast, biking there will allow me to see the beautiful details and stillness of the in-between.

I'm planning on taking the Baja Divide for the main route, then taking a ferry to the mainland where I’ll continue to my grandma's house in Jalisco.

Jeremy Raeszler (he/him)

I love the outdoors and I love the challenge of pushing myself to accomplish things I have been told that I can't do because of my paralysis. As a T12 paraplegic cycling has been a way for me to get outside, set hard, big, audacious goals, and work towards achieving them. I am paralyzed from about my belly button down and only have feeling in my quads and my knees. Even with this, I have learned that through repetition I can build strength and endurance in muscles where there is no mind-to-muscle connection.

I ride an upright, human-powered bike and I have been able to achieve what some would say is impossible. I want to keep this momentum going and continue to create a pathway for others who might be struggling by showing them that just because it is hard doesn't mean it is not possible.

Megan LaBeth (she/her)

I’ll be honest; I don’t have the right gear or bike, but it hasn’t stopped me from going on adventures. I’ve been a full-time bike commuter since 2017 and haven’t looked back.

When I started cycling at the age of 37, I never knew it would have led me to ride my bike halfway across the country at 42. I had finished reading “To Shake the Sleeping Self ”and knew I wanted something different in my life. So, I took a chance. I had no idea the events that would unfold over those miles that lay ahead of me, but I was eager to find out.

Cycling has pushed me out of my comfort zone and made me more confident in my ability to be solo for months on the road. I have met so many amazing humans and experiences that I would have never been able to experience had I not started cycling. The amount of friendships I have made along the way are stories you tell around a campfire.

Jaime Baeza (she/her)

I have had the itch to start a local women's bikepacking group and "find my people" for a while. The main hurdle I have found is: women do not have the gear to even be willing to TRY it and see if they enjoy it, and while they already ride bikes, they aren't able to invest in the amount of gear they'd need.

Cycling has completely changed my life- in so many ways. Specifically, bikepacking has given me the freedom that I've always wanted but never knew how to attain. Cycling has taught me what I am capable of, and every year that line keeps getting pushed further and further back, as the scales of "can't" fall off my eyes little by little. Cycling has shown me the strength and resiliency in me, and I want other women to see that in themselves too! To me, "be good" means to walk through life with an outlook to help others, lift people up, and serve.