Santa Rampage Wisconsin Wrap Up

The most wonderful rides of the year bring hundreds (thousands) of costumed riders together to make not only the holiday season, but biking year round, a little brighter. While Santa Rampage Rides have been popping up across the globe the past few years (Fort Collins, Kansas City, and Boston to name a few) you’ll find the “World’s Largest” in Milwaukee. These rides raise money to support programs like Mobile Bike Repair and Safe Routes to School. The Bike Fed is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that values your financial support enabling us to bring biking joy to all the girls and boys all year round!

MILWAUKEE

Over 1,200 people registered for the ride this year which DOUBLED any past registration numbers. Through your support and so many generous additional donations the event grossed over $45,000!! to support our programs and mission year round! Our hearts grow three sizes each year during this event and we were so happy to be back with you all in person. More than 50 families with children registered and the 10 mile looped route got lots of positive feedback and will be back in 2022 with some minor tweaks and further improvements as we continue to grow the ride and event in general.

MADISON  

Weather threw a little bit of curveball as the ride began, but the day turned to beautiful blue skies not long after riders arrived to Library Mall. About 80 riders joined by feeder routes from to the East, North, West, and South to meet downtown and ride some loops around the Capitol. Thank you to our volunteer route leaders, your help was immensely appreciated!

The ride also doubled as a winter clothing drive to support the schools that Bike Fed Safe Routes to School staff partners with to support Walking School Busses. Earlier this fall Bike Fed was awarded a Traffic Safety grant from AAA to provide winter clothing to Walking School Bus routes and purchase incentive items and signage for the schools to provide a safer and more fun environment to encourage active transportation, even through the winter. Through the generous support of the staff at Trek, the AAA grant, and our Santa Riders donations we are able to collect and distributed hundreds of items to families in need!

Sabrina Buchanan and Steve Novoselac gathered donations from Trek employees (8 big boxes!!) and decorated donation boxes to be placed at our Santa Rampage starting locations. We’ve delivered at least one large box of donations to each MMSD Community School from our donations this season. Staff will be visiting all starting location sites this week to collect the remainder of the Santa Rampage donations.

If you missed out and want to make a child’s trip to school a little warmer donations are still being accepted to the boxes at:

• Dream Bikes
• Lodgic Everyday Community
• Working Draft Beer Company
• Lakeside St Coffee House
• Delta Beer Lab

West Bend

The Santa Season kicked off on November 28th with West Bend’s Santa Ramp Up.  Approximately 125 Santas rode along the Eisenbahn Trail to five local establishments for holiday cheer. Two raffles were held to raise money for GEARS (the Glacial Edge Riding Society), to promote environmentally responsible mountain bike opportunities in the West Bend, Washington County and Northern Kettle Moraine area.

Meet Toby, AKA Kristoff

While checking out all the photos on Instagram from the Milwaukee ride Bike Fed staff noticed some by Jorie Johanson about her son Toby. We asked her to share the story behind the amazing bike and his participation in the ride. Bike Fed enthusiastically supports better biking for all ages and all abilities. Thank you to Jorie for sharing their story and for riding along with us! And thanks to Brent Emery and his continued support to help those in need to find an adaptive bike that works to keep them rolling!

It’s been quite a challenging few years for my 18 year old son Toby.  He developed Epilepsy and an intellectual disability when he was five after surviving Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.  Shortly after moving here 11 years ago and going to Children’s, his seizures were mostly controlled. It was three years ago when they changed and he started having drop seizures.  We previously had a tandem bike but once he started having drop seizures, that was no longer an option.  He had brain surgery last February to take the drop out of his seizures, and it worked.  He was still having seizures, but no drop and they were much less frequent.  In August, he decided to stop eating.  After spending more time in the hospital, he had another surgery for a Gtube.  Interesting enough, his clinical seizures have also stopped…..we traded one worry with another but he is well and we are on this upswing.  We ordered this special bike in April and it didn’t come in until Mid November.  This was the first big ride on it and he loved it!  And to think that he was able to do the whole 10 miles is huge.  He would not have been able to do that a couple months ago. It was well worth the wait. We could not get him in a Santa suite, but instead was dressed as Kristoff from Frozen. He loves Frozen.  

And if you are looking for a last minute holiday gift for the rider in your life, or to treat yourself, we still have some Santa Rampage Merch in our store! Limited supply available ACT FAST! Pick up and shipping options available.

See you on December 3rd, 2022 in Milwaukee and stay tuned for other Santa Rampages across the state-or the world!

(Thinking 90s themed Santa? Fresh Prince of the North Pole?)