TORRINGTON – They’re retired teachers and salespeople, CPAs and on-air radio personalities.
They all share one thing, a love of bicycling, which brought them together this week for the third annual Tour de La Grange, which passed through Torrington on Tuesday.
The first ride was organized by Don Booth and Rich Gifford. The pair were riding with Gifford’s wife, Sandy, heading to La Grange for the town’s annual Ice Crème Social and Fireworks Independence Day celebration.
“Somebody said, ‘We should turn this into a thing,’” Booth said. “We just started organizing it and it came together real quick.”
Some of the riders are members of the Evangelical Free Church in Mitchell, Neb., which was already associated with the La Grange-based Tent Makers Bible Ministries, hosting to missionaries from that group. Booth and Gifford talked to their pastor, Chris Whited, and the ride was organized to raise funds for the La Grange ministry to support its missions work, they said.
“It was just a natural partnership,” Booth said.
The riders gather support for their ride from local businesses and church members. The ride is open to all, regardless of denomination, they said.
Tuesday morning, the day of the ride, a half-dozen riders gathered at the Evangelical Free Church in Mitchell for breakfast before heading out on the first leg of their ride. It took them about 90 minutes or so to reach Torrington, where they stopped briefly at the Torrington Travel Plaza to replenish their water bottles, before heading south on State Hwy. 26/85 for the next leg of their journey.
Additional members of the group planned to make their way to La Grange later in the day, Goddard said. All told, the rides have averaged about a dozen riders the past two years, he said.
Once they reached La Grange, the group would hang out with the folks at Tent Makers, play board games and just enjoy the air conditioning, they said. In the evening, it was ice crème and fireworks courtesy of the La Grange community.
On Wednesday, Frontier School of the Bible hosted the group for breakfast before they set out on their return journey, this time taking back roads east toward the Wildcat Hills, then back into Mitchell. Total round trip: About 114 miles.
“This is a chance for us to be a blessing to someone else,” Rev. Whited said. “It’s a chance to fellowship, with other churches, with people, whomever.”
