{"id":23921,"date":"2019-05-18T17:36:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-18T23:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/after-bike-accident-with-mountain-goat-repaired-dillon-local-rides-cross-country-to-raise-funds-to-fight-pediatric-cancer\/"},"modified":"2019-05-18T17:36:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-18T23:36:00","slug":"after-bike-accident-with-mountain-goat-repaired-dillon-local-rides-cross-country-to-raise-funds-to-fight-pediatric-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/local-news\/after-bike-accident-with-mountain-goat-repaired-dillon-local-rides-cross-country-to-raise-funds-to-fight-pediatric-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"After bike accident with mountain goat, repaired Dillon local rides cross-country to raise funds to fight pediatric cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"
Dillon local Len Szmurlo, far right, pedals somewhere between Shamrock, Texas, and Clinton, Oklahoma, on Friday as part of his 2,500-mile cross-country bike tour, W.A.R. On Wheels, to raise money for the Cal’s Angel foundation, which helps children with pediatric cancer.<\/strong>
Mitchel Hurst \/ Special to The Daily<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On his 2,500-mile bike journey across the majority of the United States, there are two things that have taken Dillon resident Len Szmurlo aback, in a good way.<\/p>\n

The first is that humbling feeling when cresting, say, a hill along the grasslands of Texas\u2019 panhandle. When atop a hill, with large swathes of America\u2019s flatland in view all around, Szmurlo said you can\u2019t help but be impressed by the ability to see for 40 to 50 miles in each direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can really see beyond what\u2019s in front of you,\u201d Szmurlo said. \u201cYou\u2019re in awe as to how vast the United States really is, how much land there really is. It\u2019s interesting to notice just how big the country can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second is what \u2014 or, rather, who \u2014 has helped Szmurlo to continue pedaling no matter what kind of conditions have been thrown his way since he embarked on his cross-country ride along the Route-66 corridor on April 27. Whether it be the pushing through the heat in the deserts of Arizona, the snow in the mountains of New Mexico or the blitzing winds in Oklahoma, Szmurlo has been inspired each morning by the shared stories of the very people he\u2019s doing this ride for. The lifelong, avid long-distance cyclist Szmurlo is in the middle of a month-plus, cross-country bike tour from Santa Monica, California, to St. Charles, Illinois, known as \u201cW.A.R On Wheels.\u201d The event is an annual fundraiser for Cal\u2019s Angels, a St. Charles-based pediatric cancer foundation.<\/p>\n

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Some of the young children who Cal\u2019s Angels has helped \u2014 and some of the same children the riding group have been told about in their morning prayer sessions \u2014 will join for the final 50 miles of the ride.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cW.A.R.,\u201d Szmurlo said, stands for \u201cwishes, awareness and research.\u201d With that, each morning of the ride, Szmurlo and the 10 other cross-country cyclists are told the stories of two to four of the pediatric cancer patients Cal\u2019s Angels has helped. Szmurlo said it\u2019s those stories, no matter how sore his body is or how tired his mental state is, that inspire him to push through whatever conditions he\u2019s encountering at whatever stretch of this country he\u2019s cycling.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very moving,\u201d said Szmurlo, who\u2019s worn a red, white and blue American flag-themed bike top during the tour. \u201cIt\u2019s very touching to hear these kids who can be anywhere between several months old to young adults. And some have just recently been diagnosed with a certain form of cancer, and some of them have lost their battle and passed away. It really gives some meaning to the day\u2019s ride. No matter how tough the day ride might be, whether riding in the rain or snow, or like last three days, some really tough winds, it\u2019s nothing compared to what these kids and these families have gone through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Szmurlo has his own inspiring Summit County story behind why he chose to take part in the W.A.R. On Wheels. A retired police officer who served 30 years in Omaha, Nebraska, and who also led a Boy Scout troop for 25 years, Szmurlo found his way to Summit County nearly five years ago. Since living here, Szmurlo has continued his hobby of long-distance cycling, taking part in such events as last summer\u2019s Ride The Rockies. As part of his routine training to take part in events like that, Szmurlo said he often rides around the county\u2019s recpath, including one of his favorite portions, past Officers Gulch and Copper Mountain Resort, up toward Vail Pass.<\/p>\n

It was during one trip back up Vail Pass last July when Szmurlo realized it\u2019d been a couple of months since he noticed the mountain goats who often are in view from the bike path near Officers Gulch. On the way back down from Vail Pass, Szmurlo suffered a broken collarbone, two broken ribs and a punctured lung after a mountain goat stepped into his bike\u2019s path while riding at about 24 miles per hour.<\/p>\n

Too sudden to stop, Szmurlo crashed hard to the pavement and was rushed to St. Anthony Summit Medical Center. In the wake of his treatment at the local hospital, Szmurlo worked with the local Axis Sports Medicine to ultimately get back on the bike.<\/p>\n

It was during that recovery period through the remainder of the summer of 2018, before Szmurlo was able to get back in the saddle in September 2018, when his brother mentioned that one of his friends was doing the W.A.R. On Wheels ride. Previously, Szmurlo had done many cross-state bike tours in places like Colorado, Nebraska and Iowa, but a cross-country ride of some sort was still on his bucket list. With that, Szmurlo thought the ride to benefit Cal\u2019s Angels would be the perfect way to accomplish this life goal while also giving back to young children, a group of the community he always worked closely with during his time giving back in law enforcement and with the Boy Scouts.<\/p>\n

After the frame of his Trek bike cracked in the Officers Gulch mountain goat accident, Szmurlo bought a new all-carbon Cannondale Synapse bike for the cross-country tour. He\u2019s riding on it now, as of Saturday taking a day-long break in Clinton, Oklahoma, a town shy of 10,000 residents and located about two-thirds of the way between Amarillo, Texas, and Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n

Szmurlo and the rest of the W.A.R. On Wheels tour group will approach their destination near suburban Chicago on the final day of the tour, June 2. Once there, some of the young children whom Cal\u2019s Angels has helped \u2014 and some of the same children the riding group have been told about in their morning prayer sessions \u2014 will join for the final 50 miles of the ride. At that point, after Szmurlo has biked through the stop-and-go traffic of southern California, the dry heat of Arizona, the snow of New Mexico, and the driving winds and increased humidity of north Texas and Oklahoma \u2014 the true effect of his first ride across the country he loves dearly will set in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be emotional,\u201d Szmurlo said, \u201cand satisfying at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dillon local Len Szmurlo, far right, pedals somewhere between Shamrock, Texas, and Clinton, Oklahoma, on Friday as part of his 2,500-mile cross-country bike tour, W.A.R. On Wheels, to raise money for the Cal’s Angel foundation, which helps children with pediatric cancer.Mitchel Hurst \/ Special to The Daily On his 2,500-mile bike journey across the majority […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-23921","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-11 01:44:00","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KIFT - The LIFT FM","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23921\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}