Angie Austin sits down with Michelle Rahn to discuss their shared passion for experiencing life’s pleasures at any age. They delve into the heartwarming initiative ‘Cycling Without Age,’ which provides elderly and differently-abled individuals the freedom to enjoy cycling. Michelle recounts the adventures she has shared with Bob post-retirement, from historical tours to infamous field trips. This episode encourages listeners to value intergenerational connections and the continuous pursuit of knowledge and joy through nature’s wonders.
00:00:01 Introduction to The Good News with Angie Austin
Welcome to The Good News with Angie Austin. Now, with The Good News, here’s Angie.
SPEAKER 06 :
Hello there, it’s Angie Austin with The Good News, along with my good friend, Michelle Rahn. Welcome back, my good friend, Michelle Rahn.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yay, it’s so wonderful to hear your voice. You just are full of joy, my dear, even in the morning and afternoon and evening. Love you.
SPEAKER 06 :
I just get such a kick out of our text thread. You and me and Beatrice every day, we kind of share big events, and she shares a prayer with us, and we see what’s going on. And I always ask about your field trips. So today we’re talking about two things. Michelle is a retired teacher. And she has a love of learning. And she and her husband, Bob, go on. They’re retired many years, but they go on these field trips. And I follow them. And I took one, which I’ll explain in a minute. And then also, I want to talk to Michelle about her love of having friendships with people who are younger, different generational friendships. And she and I have been friends since around, I think, the time my kids were born and now two will be heading off to college and one in high school. And so you’ve really been along with me friend wise since I’ve been, you know, all along with me raising my kids.
SPEAKER 04 :
Absolutely. And it’s been a privilege every single minute.
SPEAKER 06 :
It’s been a blast. Okay. Tell everyone about this recent field trip you took that allows people who can’t ride their bikes anymore, like my mother, who’s in a wheelchair many times. I mean, she can use a walker and a cane, but not from long distances. So explain this program to everyone because I’m actually going to have them on the show as well.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, I’m so glad. It’s a program that allows people, no matter if you ever rode a bike or loved to ride a bike, but to sit in a literally like a chair in front of a bicycle that’s being driven by a volunteer for this organization. And it’s just a wonderful opportunity. Bob and I used to ride our bikes every day when we lived in Florida together. And we miss it terribly. We’re just not able to do that. Maybe if I worked harder at doing it, I could possibly do. But this is such a wonderful, wonderful experience. And it’s like our vision of a rickshaw.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 04 :
I believe it’s called a tri-shaw with three people, the driver of the bicycle in the back and two people can sit in front. Yes. Oh, the scenery is beautiful. They take you through Hudson Gardens and down along the Platte River. It’s just a wonderful, wonderful field trip. And I would suggest even people do it in the fall. As we were riding along, I thought how pretty that would be. And along the way, there is… A coffee shop that they stop, and if you want to get something to drink, you can do it there. And I didn’t know this, but bicycles are not allowed in Hudson Gardens, but the Trishaw is. So you go through and you can see the Rose Gardens and you can see where the concerts are. It’s just excellent. So you must make a reservation because of the volunteers, obviously. Yes.
SPEAKER 06 :
It’s called Cycling Without Age Littleton. And I got Richard, nicknamed Dick, as my driver. He’s retired. And it was an engineer and he was fabulous. I think he’s one of their best. And Barb started the organization. And I guess she runs this organization. Her sister does the scheduling and her sister’s out of like the Midwest. And Barb is the executive director of Cycling Without Age Listen. But Dick told me that if my mom and I wanted to do a longer ride, they also have one now that is Waterton Canyon. And he loves that area. So I think it’s. It’s multiple hours because you’ve got to catch a bus. You take the Trishaw up. Again, it’s like a backwards rickshaw. And then they take you up to Waterton Canyon. And they’ve got the Bighorn Sheep up there, the Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep. And there’s a lot of history there. There’s a Barron’s family homestead up there. You’ll see a lot of wildlife. He sent me kind of a screen, like a big picture show. And he had a lot of wildlife in there. And then there’s some bees that they have in like logs. It’s interesting. They have holes in logs with bees. And then it’s called Denver’s Famous Ditch. I don’t know quite why they call it that, but then you can go all the way up to the falls up there. There’s like falls over the dam, I believe. I’ve never even been all the way up there, so I’m really looking forward to it. I’m going to try to do it in the fall, like you mentioned.
SPEAKER 04 :
So there’s no cost to what we did down off of Santa Fe with that group. Is there a cost for the one you’re talking about? No. No?
SPEAKER 06 :
No, they accept donations. So I did what he called a generous donation. I just thought it was well worth it because I can’t imagine what that service would cost if you were paying someone. But because they want seniors on a limited budget to be able to do it, You know, they do not have a cost. You told me that they accept donations. I thought it was for the driver, but he said, oh, no, it’s for the organization. The driver doesn’t get any tip. He put it right in the envelope and then you get something from Barb regarding your donation.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right. And we met on our ride. We met Barb along the way. She was helping with a painting class that they had in the Trishaw. And you get out right along the riverbank there, and it was such a beautiful day. But we were talking about the cost and how… It is free to those of us that take it. But if we wanted to make a donation, like you said, it goes every penny to the organization. She was telling us that one of those tri-shaws is $15,000. Oh, I believe it. Right, exactly. It would have to be very strong. And so that’s great. a huge part of their cost. But both I can tell you and I would recommend it to anyone. And special needs children, special needs adults, they are more than welcome to be one of the guests that goes along on one of these rides. So please check into it for those of you that are listening.
SPEAKER 06 :
Now, along with this, again, that one is Cycling Without Age Littleton. And, again, you have to make a reservation. Sometimes they have cancellations, so you might not have to wait as long as you would think. And besides that field trip, I know you’ve taken, you know, Celestial Seasonings. You went to some kind of a cool puzzle place where they make puzzles. You’ve been to the Mother Cabrini Shrine. Tell me about some of the other places that you and Bob have been in your retirement that have been fun.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, my gosh. We’ve been doing this, it’ll be a year in August now, and there is so much to see around Colorado and so much to see and visit and learn from around the Denver area. One of my very favorites was the castle. I’ve got to think of the name of it. Just a second here. Cherokee Castle and Ranch. Oh, that’s where I got married. Yes, you said that, and I am just thrilled. I had never heard of it, Angie. I know. Isn’t it a beautiful, beautiful place?
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, it’s stunning, and it’s so neat because the ranch had cattle there, and I think they still do. They’re from Texas, like bighorn cattle, and everybody said, oh, you’ll never be able to raise those cattle in Colorado. They’re from a warm climate, and the wealthy woman that lived on the ranch from Texas, she was very successful raising them here.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, here’s the fun story of that. We took a tour, a 90-minute tour, with a fabulous docent. And she shared that a woman ahead of her time, in my opinion, came from Texas to purchase this land and this castle. And she was told that she could not bring her cattle with her. And because in the state of Colorado, they did not have this particular brand of cattle. However, she insisted, and she just started out and brought her cattle to the ranch, and she, therefore, was associated with the stockyards, and she was the first woman to be on the board for that position. So much history. There were two owners there. originally when this castle was built. And the location on it says Sedalia, but I would say it’s almost Castle Rock because it’s off of Santa Fe. But for those of you that want a bit of history of Colorado, it is phenomenal. And it was out way all by itself for years and years and years. And now it is just this beautiful, beautiful place with art everywhere. Masterpieces, in fact, if I remember correctly, there were two masterpieces of art on the lower level of the castle that are the originals. You can have tea there. They have different events. Like you said, weddings are popular, of course, but it is a wonderful tour. I would definitely recommend taking the tour because the history comes out.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, I would also recommend it. And just I was thinking, too, it might be fun. I would love to go with you and Bob, maybe my mom if she’s up to it. But it would be fun in the fall. You know, the elk rut, the mating season is in, I think, late August into September. And it’d be fun to just drive up to Estes for the day, get some pizza. They have a great pizza place up there that’s been there since I went as a teenager there. And it’s still there on the main drag. And then we could drive through the YMCA, the Rockies. Last year they had the most enormous elk that had its herd of women’s harem. And it’s so fun to kind of search them out. And you can get into the Rocky Mountain National Park. We can make a reservation and drive up in there. And what’s neat is that a lot of the photographers are up there, and they’re kind of stalking this one particular giant elk. They’re all trying to get him. And I’ve seen several videos. And one guy said, I can’t wait to see how big he is this year.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, my gosh. That sounds great. Sounds great. We would have a blast. I want to give a shout-out to one of the places we went because you were talking about Estes, and the place I’m talking about is the Legacy Pie Company. It’s up by the old Elitches, and it’s on, oh, gosh, 38th or 32nd, I don’t remember. But the young man that owns it, he and his wife, are fabulous and it’s just this little tiny place but if you google it you can get a little coupon for one of their small cherry pies and I believe all their cherries come from Michigan I’d have to check my history on that but his grandmother is the one who has the um, pie company going into Estes and I’ve not been there, but again, the history is passed on and it was just a great place. And the young man is phenomenal. So a shout out to the legacy pie company. And you mentioned the puzzle place up in Boulder Liberty puzzles is where we went. They make their own wooden, their wooden pieces and they’re extremely beautiful.
SPEAKER 06 :
I love that. I love that. Okay, so we don’t have much time, but you can see by just our discussion that this, you know, different generations, you know, friendship that I’ve had for, you know, a few decades now, how wonderful it’s been. Michelle’s around the age of my mom. I’m probably close to the age of her kids. Yeah.
SPEAKER 04 :
I would think so. I’m happy to share that I’m 81 and thankful for every single moment God allows me to be on this earth. He’s not done for me yet, and I believe that.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes, so Michelle and I, this friendship that we’ve had has been very beneficial for both of us. And I just highly recommend it. And she had told me many years ago that it’s so important to have friends of different generations. And most of us just think of having friends our age. You start in school and then you continue with friends that are parents of the kids that are going to school together and on from there. But boy… It’s so fun, and you learn so much. I have from you, Michelle, and just the depth of your faith and the way that you conduct your life, the way that you treat people, your speaking engagements, how you really get out there and live your life to the fullest. Michelle had a heart attack in her 50s. It was very serious, and here she is over three decades later living her best life. So you can change the course of destiny with the health changes you made.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, again, I’m the first to tell you that getting older is hard. It is hard. And there are challenges that you face that you never thought in the world you’d have to face. But the important thing, I do believe, is so much of our attitude. And sure, I know that sounds like a Pollyanna, but there’s something about an attitude of I’m going to try rather than I can’t do it. And I think that’s just vital to have. And I do believe it’s imperative that we have friendships with all ages. If I am completely surrounded by people in my 80s, as I am, I have a different outlook. And yet, just like when I was teaching, my students were the ones that kept me in tune with what’s happening, the music of what’s happening, the books. And no, I don’t have to agree with all of it, but I do need to know what’s going on around me. Just like you had mentioned, your age, Angie, I’m so grateful for that. You have inspired me tremendously with the challenges that you have faced, and that is just vital. You and I need each other, and I believe that with all my heart. It’s fun. This past year, I volunteered in my daughter’s fourth-grade class once a week, and many of those kids didn’t have grandmas, or the grandmas were living far away. In our neighborhood. In our neighborhood. We have my age. We have young newlywedding people. We have new mommies. Those are important to get to know. And we take care of them and they take care of us.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, MichelleARon.com if you want to find my friend. I can’t wait to have you come back. Thank you, Michelle.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thank you, Angie. I love you. Bye. Make a great choice today.
SPEAKER 02 :
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SPEAKER 04 :
Georgetown is tuned to the mighty 670 KLT.
SPEAKER 06 :
Hey there, it’s Angie Austin with the good news. You know, Michelle Rahn is a good friend of mine, and she had told me about this wonderful organization. And she said, Angie, you’ve got to take your mother on this cycling trip. And it is Cycling Without Late Age Littleton. And Barb Lote is joining us. And she is the founder of this Cycling Without Age. And my understanding, Barb, is that you pretty much have two full-time jobs, running Cycling Without Age with some help from volunteers and then a career. So I understand you’re quite busy. And then will you introduce your volunteer, Dick, and tell me a little about him as well?
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely. I am Barb Lotz, and I am privileged to be the executive director and co-founder of Cycling Without Age Little Tenant. And Dick Frazzi is one of our amazing volunteers. And, gosh, he’s been at it at least a couple years. And just is a fabulous pilot. And he orchestrated his championing the rides to Waterton Canyon this year. And we just have a whole lot of programs going on because of creative adults like Dick who are willing to give their time, love, and passion to making a difference.
SPEAKER 06 :
All right, we’re going to explain a little bit more about how Cycling Without Age works and about Waters and Canyon. But, Dick, just before we get into all the specifics, you’re a volunteer, so you were a cyclist before, and this interested you?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, very much so. I’ve always been into cycling.
SPEAKER 06 :
And you took me and my mom.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, that was such a pleasure.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, she got such a kick out of it because she hadn’t been on a bike. She didn’t get a bike until all of her children already had bikes. And then she used to, she told Dick, I used to ride my bike downtown to pay to Sears to pay for my washer and dryer. I had to do like a weekly check. And, yeah, it’s pretty funny. And she hasn’t been on a bike for 50 years, and she’s mid-80s, so it’s been a really long time. So we’re going to get more into Dick and how he retired from his engineering career and started doing this with Barb. Barb, how did you come up with this and explain this tri-shaw and how it works and how Cycling Without Age came about?
SPEAKER 05 :
Cycling Without Age, Littleton is a chapter of a much larger international chapter called Cycling Without Age. It started in Copenhagen. Ten years ago, they just celebrated their 10th anniversary. So I cannot take credit for the idea. So that your listeners can understand, we’re talking about a tri-shot is a bike with a passenger seat in the front. It’s a three-wheeled bike, and it’s a passenger seat that sits about two people, nice cushions. And we, the pilots, that’s what we’re called, peddle, people, and we are so fortunate that we get to go down the Platte River through Hudson Gardens, and we just have such a scenic, beautiful route that we get to take every day. So the chapter that started in Copenhagen, Ollie had this vision that We just need to get people that used to cycle, people that can’t cycle. We need to get them on bikes, getting wind in their hair. Everybody deserves the opportunity to have that feeling. I feel the only feeling of freedom really that a bike gives you. And many people can remember from childhood riding a bike. Your mom was later, it sounds like. coming on, but we want everybody, people that never could ride a bike, that are challenged, individuals that are on the spectrum, older adults. And so the paradigm started that Ali went to a facility, an older adult facility, and started giving rides. And so That’s how the thousands of chapters are around the world. But I volunteered for the first chapter in Lakewood in 2018, and I did it for about a year, and I thought, this is crazy. The only people that get to do this are people that live in this facility. So I and Bill Nagel and Phil Cernanak set out to say, we need to do this different. The paradigm could be everybody is welcome. Everybody can have wind in their hair at no cost. So we’re going to be a volunteer organization that gives joy, wind in the hair, and freedom. And so alas, we took off in 2019 with 12 rides and four of us volunteering. And fast forward today, we gave 30, almost 3,800 rides last year, 10 trishaws we now have, and we have 148 volunteers. So it has gone a little wild.
SPEAKER 06 :
Wow. And people, they donate money for the rides if they can afford to, if they choose to. Right. And so you survive pretty much on fundraising and donations. Is that right?
SPEAKER 05 :
Total donations. I really don’t have time to do fundraising. I actually have two career jobs and then cycling at that age is my third job. But they all feed in each other. They’re all with older adults and people with challenges. And so we have gracious donors, people that are passengers. They want a tip, and we say we don’t take tips, but we take donations. And then we have, like, the Friedman Foundation, and we ride for, and Comfort Keepers, who $15,000 is a tri-show. That’s the cost for a tri-show. So we’ve had some big donors that have donated $15,000 for a tri-show or more. Wow, wow. Very blessed. We are very, very blessed.
SPEAKER 06 :
And give us the website where people go if they would like to arrange for a ride, if they’d like to make a reservation.
SPEAKER 05 :
Sure, cwalittleton.com.
SPEAKER 06 :
CWALittleton.com. And then, Dick, how did you find out about this organization and start volunteering with Barb?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, as you said, I’m an avid cyclist. I’ve been cycling my whole life and live, you know, way south, down south of Chatfield State Park. And there’s a great ride you can do starting in Chatfield, going down the Mary Carter Greenway Path all the way to downtown Denver. But I started seeing these tri-shaws. I didn’t know what they were right around Hudson Gardens and along the South Platte there, Carson Nature Center. I remember seeing one. And finally, somebody was stopped. So I came over and talked to them and said, what is this? I’ve got to learn more about this. And the smiles on the riders faces just told the whole story. There was such joy. And the pilots I talked to also said, this is such a blessing to be able to do this and to, you know, reintroduce cycling to some of our customers. And just special, you know, greatest generation members that can no longer shackle themselves. So they handed me one of the little brochure, one of the brochures that’s always right there on the Trishaw. And I called the number on there. And within a few days, I got a call back from Barb. and we set up a time to talk have kind of a phone interview and i i guess i made muster and she passed me on and i was accepted to go into the training program which is fabulous because you get to learn everything about the trishaws how to be safe how to protect these precious people when they’re you know under your charge and then to become a certified pilot. And that all happened, you know, with a matter of maybe two months once I actually decided to make the call.
SPEAKER 06 :
My understanding is that you’re one of the favorites. You’re one of the top guys. And I can see why, because, you know, you give such great information on the ride and you enjoy it so much. And I couldn’t believe that you could do it because, you know, we’re my mom and I aren’t very big people, but I know you have much bigger people than we are. But then you explained to me that there you get a little help. Is that right from the bike?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes. Yes. I don’t think we would be nearly as successful if we didn’t have the, you know, it’s a pedal assist e-bike, which means, you know, there’s multiple levels of. assistance that we can basically shift into if we’re going up a hill, add a little more power from the motor, and then it has a regular gear shift for the cassette gearing in the rear. So that allows us to go a lot further, allows us to climb bigger hills than we normally would be able to with two people on the front of the bike.
SPEAKER 06 :
Now, go ahead, honey.
SPEAKER 05 :
I was just going to say the bike is 150 pounds, then it’s the pilot’s weight, and then it’s the weight in the front. But down the plow, it’s pretty flat. And Dick would probably agree we could do it without pedal assist. But the whole goal is that we bring joy, we be in relationship, and we give a comfortable ride. So we tell pilots, even if you’re strong enough, Put the assist on because we want it to be the best ride ever for our passengers. Our whole goal is to break the isolation barrier so that that’s why we don’t have a rickshaw with the passenger in the back. We don’t want to have to look at our back and our butt. We intentionally get these rigs that cost a lot more because it’s really about sharing that relationship, welcoming the community around. It’s really getting people out and socializing and being good human beings together. I mean, that’s just what we’re called to do, especially in our world today. How do we just be good people, good stewards of each other and our earth and be together promoting good, positive energy?
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes, and I love it that wind is in your hair, like you talk about, and that you are facing forward, and it’s like riding a bike to see pilots behind you. And we don’t have a lot of time left, but Dick, would you give us a little lowdown? Not only is there Hudson Gardens, but I’m hoping to schedule my mom before you stop doing the Waterton Canyon rides for the season. So tell us a little bit about that new ride.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay, well, I just live two and a half miles from the entrance to Waterton Canyon. I’ve been going there for over 10, 12 years. It’s one of my favorite places to ride. It’s amazing. You all of a sudden are just taken out of a busy city into the most beautiful scenic nature place you can think of with surrounding mountains, with the beautiful South Platte River flowing beside you. And, you know, it’s such an asset. It’s provided by Denver Water, where a lot, you know, I would say millions of people in Denver get their drinking water. But they’ve made this a recreation area. You see people jogging, moms pushing strollers, little kids on bikes, fishermen, you know, many, many different areas. And just the through hikers, you know, that is the official thing. start or beginning of the wonderful Colorado Trail, which goes all the way to Durango. And I just met some folks yesterday who were here. She’s from Cortez. So she’s like, oh, I’m just riding home. But he was from Virginia. And he was like, wow, this is amazing. We don’t have anything like this. And, of course, with the state, the Colorado state mammal, the bighorn sheep is protected species in there. And it’s I’d say 75 percent of the time that I’m in there, I will see bighorn. you know, some of the rams or the ewes or even the lambs. This is kind of the birthing season. So we see those on occasion. Usually they’re pretty far away, but sometimes they’re right down on the road. And it’s just an amazing encounter with nature as well as, you know, hundreds of different types of birds. There are also amazing species from the local area as well. Deer, as well as just beautiful plants and butterflies. I mean, I can go on and on.
SPEAKER 06 :
You’re really great at the history, too. We’re almost out of time. So, Barb, give us the website one more time in case people want to schedule a ride.
SPEAKER 05 :
DWA Littleton, all one word dot com. And I might mention really quickly that we also go to Dinosaur Ridge. That’s new this year. We actually have openings for the Dinosaur Ridge. Yes, we’ve been partnered with them and we do bird safaris. And so check out our website because there’s all that information on there and you can reach out to our scheduler or if you’re interested in volunteering, you just reach out and we’ll get back with you. And it’s just a beautiful organization and, We are privileged to give our passengers rides and just, like I said, bring wind in the hair together.
SPEAKER 06 :
I love it. Well, thank you so much, Barb. Thank you so much, Dick. Again, at Cycling Without Age Littleton, what a blessing you are to the people that you give these rides to. Can’t wait to see you again. Thank you. Thank you.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you for listening to The Good News with Angie Austin on AM670 KLTT.
