Laura has done several different charity rides over the years and feels they were all important, but it wasn’t until she found Climate Ride that she felt like she connected with the community behind the ride. She loves that Climate Ride creates beautiful trips to somewhere amazing, but still lets her support local causes.
Though Boston, where Laura lives, hasn’t seen the same extreme struggles that other parts of the world have this year, she sees the effects of climate change in the extreme switches between oppressive heat to fall-like cold and back that came in July and August, which should have been a consistently warm time of year.
She’s supporting CommonWheels, a DIY bike collective based in the Allston/Brighton neighborhood of Boston, where she volunteers and is on the board. Their mission is to help the community and teach people to be more self-sufficient and empowered through the use of the bicycle. Laura finds that most the people she brings on community rides are surprised how close a beach or an apple picking location can be from where they live if they just ride to it.
Her motivation to join Red White and Blue Ridge is like that of many other riders – the future worries her. So, she’s taking responsibility and trying to live responsibly and sustainably so that her two adorable nephews (2 and 5 years old) can have full lives playing outside and riding bikes.