How many bike events have you been to? How many races? Even if the answer is only one, here’s betting you found yourself in a sea of predominantly white males. This is not a diss on white males. But it is undeniably true that the cycling world is not representative of our American melting pot.
There are lots of reasons for this — some tangible and some more amorphous. Hand-wringing regarding diversity has become ubiquitous over the past several years, from corporate boards to environmental orgs and everywhere in between. Actual results of said hand-wringing vary.
Enter Rebecca Rusch’s Be Good Foundation. It is six years old, and grew out of a double-headed desire to spread the gospel of the bike to those not ordinarily in the saddle, and to support international efforts around landmine removal. While the focus on bringing up new cyclists makes sense intuitively — Rusch being a multiple world champion — the seemingly disparate focus on unexploded ordnance may be less obvious.
Rusch’s father was an Air Force pilot shot down over Laos in the Vietnam war. In 2015, she rode the HoChiMin trail in search of his crash site, and the journey was documented in the award-winning film “Blood Road.” It was here that she learned that the bombs her father and her country had dropped those 50+ years ago were haunting the men, women, and children of Southeast Asia to this day.
The Be Good Foundation began its work by supporting the removal of UXO (unexploded ordnance) in Laos and expanded its work to create opportunities for all people to experience the healing power of the bike.
The Be Good Foundation offers scholarships to its premier event, Rebecca’s Private Idaho (RPI). It offers bikepacking scholarships. It has a girls mentorship program that this year paired four girls ages 12 to 17 with a mentor to train for RPI.
Since the scholarship program began in 2022, 32 scholarships have been awarded across these three areas. So while Be Good may not be changing corporate behavior or even reaching thousands upon thousands of people, it is having a resounding impact on a small number of lives.
“It’s not about the breadth of impact you make, it’s about the depth,” Rusch said. “We have four girls in the mentorship program and their lives are being changed by this.
“We are a small organization but we can make a big impact. I’m so happy to take the amazing arc of my career, to take these championships and move that energy into someone else’s finish line.”
Before the 2024 edition of Rebecca’s Private Idaho, I had the chance to interact with several of this year’s RPI scholarship recipients via e-mail, zoom, at the fundraising party, and out on the gravel. The scholarship program focuses on supporting military veterans, para cyclists, BIPOC, and LGTBQ+ cyclists who may not have the resources to participate in cycling events like RPI. The riders chosen are provided transportation, lodging, free entry to the event, and are of course guests of honor at the Be Good Foundation party.
Two of the RPI scholars I spoke to work for cycling nonprofits that get unusual suspects on bikes. Denise Aquino works for El Grupo Cycling in Tucson, Arizona getting kids of all stripes on bikes. In fact, they’re training and taking 100 kids on the Tour de Tucson in late November, and while that sounds like a lot of cat-herding, she’s mostly concerned with potential substance abuse.
“These kids are addicted to pickle juice. They’ll clean out an aid station” she said with a chuckle and obvious pride.
Gabriela Ruiz works for a non-profit in Bentonville, Arkansas that teaches adults to ride, and Armando Luna hails from Portland, Oregon and is actively involved in both local and national bike advocacy, participating early and often in Rides for Racial Justice. All of them reported that they would not have been able to attend RPI were it not for the scholarship program.
And while it may sound cliche, even trite, all reported that the best thing about RPI was the people.
“I’m just a guy who likes to ride bikes,” Luna said on a Zoom call after RPI. “It’s been great to meet like-minded people all across the country at these events.
The camaraderie between Aquino, Ruiz, and Luna is palpable even through a screen on the Zoom call, where Aquino adds “We call Armando the people’s champion. His infectious laugh has fueled many an additional mile.”
This year, four girls were awarded spots in Be Good’s mentorship program, and all four competed at RPI, landing on the the junior’s podium in their categories. But that’s not all. One junior who rode the 56-mile French Fry route placed eighth overall, and another who rode the 102-mile Baked Potato won first in her category and was in the top 20 overall.
Between the four-day, three-stage event known as Rebecca’s Private Idaho and the Be Good Party, fundraising goals to continue and expand this body of work — the mentorships, the scholarships, the removal of landmines — were robustly exceeded. The initial target of $50,000 netted a final result of $72,000.
If you believe in karma, a good healthy dose of it lives in Ketchum, Idaho where Rusch and the foundation are based. The town fairly glows, the routes are gobsmack beautiful, and the gravel itself is predominantly of the champagne variety.
“I got a little sad toward the end of the route. I didn’t want it to be over yet,” Luna said.
Source URL: https://velo.outsideonline.com/gravel/gravel-culture/rebecca-ruschs-be-good-foundation-is-having-an-impact/