Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
Surnames: Kingsbury, Miller, Rodman, Van Gorden
----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 4/17/2019
Clark County Man to Honor Veterans (Tom Kingsbury - 2019)
Clark County Man to Honor Veterans 1,700-Mile Bike Ride
By Valorie Brecht
On man plans to travel 1,700 miles this summer to honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.
Tom Kingsbury of Loyal will be riding one mile for each of the 1,698 Wisconsinites killed in action or missing in action in Vietnam and all other conflicts since. The roughly 1,700-mile route will go through 21 communities in the state of Wisconsin to bring awareness to the fact that in the U.S., 21 veterans commit suicide every day. It will include five 21-mile bike rides that community members can join in to show their support.
All of the proceeds from the Heroes Ride, as it is called, will go towards The Highground Veterans Memorial Park in Neillsville and its mission to honor, educate and heal – to honor veterans and their families, educate the public on their service and to help veterans and their families in the healing process.
The cause is a personal one for Kingsbury. Kingsbury is a veteran himself, having served in the U.S. Army from 1972 to 1975. He has a brother that was in the Air Force for 30 years, another brother that was in the National Guard and many friends who are veterans.
While Kingsbury served in the military, he was attached to a funeral detail and performed numerous military funerals, most for those who had served in Vietnam.
“This experience changed Tom’s life and has been a part of him since,” Kingsbury’s biography on the Heroes Ride website reads. “He has been part of military funerals and has seen the effects that the loss of a loved one serving their country has had on the families. The sounds of the 21-gun salutes can still be heard and the emotions of handing the flag to a loved one in honor of the sacrifice bring memory after memory that cannot be forgotten … Tom will be riding throughout the state in the memory of Wisconsin KIAs and MIAs to remind us all of the Commitment and sacrifice it take to serve and be free.”
Doing a bike ride as a way to honor those who have served in the military is in keeping with the legacy of The Highground. The Highground’s founder, Tom Miller, went on a 1,244-mile bike tour in 1985 to raise money to support veterans. It was out of that effort that The Highground came to be. Every year since then, the Highground has hosted an annul bicycle tour the first weekend of August where riders from five starting locations across Wisconsin follow five different routes that all converge at The Highground. Kingsbury has been participating in the northern route of the bicycle tour, which starts at hayward, for the past 20 years. After finishing the 2008 bicycle tour, Kingsbury had an idea.
“I can remember coming off the event knowing that the next year was the 25th anniversary of the Highground’s bicycle tours,” he said. “And so, I had this idea … I came back to The Highground, it was like on a Monday or Tuesday after the event, and at that time Kurt Rodman [the executive director] was talking with ‘Pink’ Van Gorden on the steps of the timber lodge there. And I said to Kurt, I got this idea – why don’t we ride around the state of Wisconsin promoting The Highground and the 25th anniversary? And that’s how it was born.”
Kingsbury went on to complete his first Heroes Ride in 2009, going one mile for every Wisconsin KIA or MIA since Vietnam. That ride was focused on raising money for the Persian Gulf Tribute. Last year, Highground staff contacted him about doing a similar ride this year. He agreed and planning has been underway since then. This year will be the 35th bicycle tour and the final leg of Kingsbury’s journey will coincide with the northern route of the tour.
Kingsbury’s ride will take from July 20 through Aug. 4. The ride will start and end at The Highground, with stops in Wausau, Appleton, Green Bay, Manitowoc, Sheboygan, Madison, Waterford, Beloit Riverside Park, New Glarus, Richland Center, Viroqua, La Crosse, Chippewa Falls, Loyal, Phillips, Hayward, Ladysmith and Thorp. There will be one stop in Minnesota, in Wabasha.
“The route isn’t the most direct route from one stop to the next; it’s not ‘as the crow flies’ – it’s all over because of the fact that I needed to accomplish a mileage point,” Kingsbury explained.
The ride will involve a lot of teamwork. Safety is paramount, Kingsbury said. Kingsbury’s sister Carol and her family will follow him in a support vehicle, another vehicle will be hauling gear and another vehicle will have a couple of representatives from The Highground that will speak and share about its work at the places they stop. They also plan to inform the public about veteran suicide and share resources to help veterans that may be dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Some of the stops on the tour will include special events; for example, in Richland Center Kingsbury and his team will take part in the 100th-year celebration of the Legion there and in Manitowoc they will visit the Maritime Museum to pay tribute to those who have served in the Navy. They will also spend some time at two veterans’ homes, in King and Union Grove. The stops in Green Bay, New Glarus, Madison, Richland Center, La Crosse and Chippewa Falls will include the 21-mile community rides into those cities.
During the Heroes Ride, Kingsbury will be putting on about 100 miles per day. He will be on the road about 10 hours a day, including stops, with six-and-one-half to seven hours of pedaling.
Although it’s a lot for one person to take on, Kingsbury is up for the challenge. He already has a lot of long-distance bike riding experience. In the 80s and 90s, he went on a number of weeklong tours with Cycle America across Wisconsin. He completed two trans-continental Pacific Atlantic Cycling tours in 1993 and 1994. In 2006, he notably competed in the Race Across America from Oceanside, California to Atlantic City, New Jersey for over 3,050 miles in 7 days and 15 hours as part of a two-man recumbent bike team, the first ever to do so.
Since his Heroes Ride in 2009, he has continued to ride regularly, putting on about five to six thousand miles a year.
“I will need to be doing a lot of serious riding between now and then [the Heroes Ride],” said Kingsbury. He has been a training plan in place and has been averaging between 300 to 500 miles per week but will be upping the ante as the tour gets closer. His training is mainly cycling, although he does some weight lifting on the side.
Tom Kingsbury will be traveling all across the state in his Quest mobile this summer for his Heroes ride. The ride will bring awareness to the 21 suicides by veterans each day as well the over 1,700 lives from Wisconsin lost in war since the start of the Vietnam War. The ride is a project of The Highground Veterans Memorial Park. Submitted photo.
Kingsbury’s bike, a Quest velomobile, is unique in that it’s recumbent, three-wheeled machine with a carbon fiber body around it that has images of the monuments at The Highground. For certain levels of sponsorship, businesses and organizations have the opportunity to have their logo affixed to the Quest.
Kingsbury’s said that being out on the road for that long is quitter an experience.
“Basically, I just take it all in,” he said. “I do a lot of math in my head I look at where I’m at and how far I have to go and just do the calculations in my head and figure out okay, either I slow it up or pick up the pace – but a lot of it is just taking in the scenery. A lot of it too you just have to be constantly aware of what’s around you – the situation. I have rearview mirrors, so I look back as much as I look forward. A lot of it is just being aware of where I’m at and just enjoying it.”
Kingsbury is looking forward to having this opportunity to further the work of The Highground and everything it stands for – one mile at a time.
Kingsbury’s ride will be live-tracked so people will be able to see online where he is along his route.
Although the Heroes Ride is still a few months away, there are ways to get involved now, including sponsorship and donation.
Visit: www.thehighgroundheroesride.com to learn more about each of the stops on Kingsbury’s route, sign up to join one of the 32-mile rides or donate to support the ride. More information is also available by calling The Highground at 715.743.4224. To learn more or register for The Highground’s annual bicycle tour, go to www.thehighgroundbiketour.com or go to www.thehighground.us and select “Events”.
