Camaraderie abounds at Wounded Warrior bike ride

For some veterans, the mission never ends.

Those like Ryan Schmidt, who served two tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, are back home now, but still long for a sense of the bond they established with their military brothers.

Schmidt, a motivational speaker and mentor to other veterans, is one of 47 former service members cycling together this weekend through suburban and Chicago streets - an exercise that's as much about being together as it is about biking.

"You're not in uniform anymore when you come back. Now you're back in civilian life and have the misconception that you have to do it alone," Schmidt, 32, of St. Paul, Minnesota, said in Rosemont following a 17-mile trek Friday through the Northwest suburbs. "We're good at missions and following directions. That's what's great about this ride. You have that team. You have that camaraderie."

Participants in Wounded Warrior Project's Soldier Ride came from across the country - including Texas, Missouri and Ohio - and some had been on a waiting list to participate. Most never met each other before they arrived at a Rosemont hotel Wednesday to be fitted for bikes adapted to each rider's physical needs. But a lasting bond develops through the four-day weekend, which also consists of meals together and entertainment.

"They enter strangers and they leave brothers," said Paul Loisel, a spokesman with Wounded Warrior Project, the veterans support group that's organized similar rides across the country for the past decade. "There's a bond military veterans have that no one else understands. By the end of it, they're a unit."

As in their military service, the veterans learn to support each other during the rides, not going any faster than the slowest participant, with the goal of finishing the trek together.

During Friday's ride - which began at the Rosemont fire station on River Road, rolled through Des Plaines, Park Ridge and Schiller Park, and ended at The Ballpark at Rosemont - the veterans provided encouragement to a fellow cyclist who slowed down because of knee pain.

Wearing red, white and blue cycling jerseys, they took their first 17-mile ride Thursday through the near West suburbs to Brookfield Zoo. And they are planning a 25-mile trip from downtown Chicago to Highland Park Saturday.

They're often greeted by people waving American flags along the bike routes.

After Friday's ride, Rosemont's ballpark hosted a softball game between the veterans and members of the village public safety department.

The genesis of the Soldier Ride was a 2004 coast-to-coast bike trip by Chris Carney, a New York bartender that raised more than $1 million for Wounded Warrior Project. The next year, he completed the ride with two veterans who were injured in Iraq.

Today, the organization puts on nearly 30 rides every year.