“The reason for Warriors on Wheels is to reconnect. One team, one fight,” Gil Esparza said. “It’s about accountability. It’s about connection. It’s about service to others. That’s the whole reason why we exist.”
Established in 2017, Warriors on Wheels provides a bike to a veteran each month. In exchange, the person commits to a year of rides, community service and events, and meetings with the “Warrior Team” of members. Greene County has 62 miles of paved bike trails, marking the area as the largest paved trails network in the United States.
Warriors on Wheels was spun off from a different program Esparza created in 2012 called Wheels of Victory. A probation officer at Greene County Common Pleas Court at the time, Esparza created the nonprofit after seeing the challenges of formerly incarcerated people once they were released from jail or prison.
Often, those individuals were unable to get a driver’s license, had no means of transporting themselves, and would subsequently miss probation appointments, and land themselves back in jail, starting the cycle over again. A number of these incarcerated individuals, Esparza found, were veterans of the U.S. Armed Services.
“They were becoming homeless, addicted to drugs and alcohol, (had) anger issues, and they were being stuck in the jails and overlooked,” Esparza said.
Many soldiers struggle moving from military to civilian life, suffering from depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and drug addiction that can impact their lives and the lives of their families. Veterans are also at a higher risk of suicide.
“Many of us when we got home, we isolated. We shut down. We can’t sleep, so we would turn to alcohol or something else to sleep,” Esparza said. “We lost connection to the brothers and sisters that we served with. And the civilian community didn’t really understand who or what we were.”
Cycling can provide many physical and mental health benefits, including exercise, better sleep, and reduced stress, which are key to combating depression and suicide. Warriors on Wheels also provides veterans with community and camaraderie. The “Warrior Team” is a reflection of the “brotherhood and sisterhood” that veterans had while serving, Esparza said.
Proceeds from all fundraisers go directly to purchasing bicycles, helmets, and other cycling equipment, and the organization partners with Xenia-based K&G Bike Center for repairs.
Zachary Haney of Springfield served in the Marines from 2006 to 2010 in Iraq and Afghanistan. He now serves as a “Warrior Ambassador” for Warriors on Wheels, and has racked up over 1600 miles in four months on his bicycle — and counting.
Haney now dedicates his time on his bike to “being the person that you’d want to run into on the bike path,” and documenting his journeys, as long as 100 miles, on the Warriors on Wheels Facebook page.
“It’s something I’ve discovered that I need to do. I need to do something physically straining, I need to overcome some kind of accomplishment in the morning, and learn something new every day,” he said.
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