U.S. Marine Corps Veteran Tarra Gundrum recently rode her bicycle from West Bend, Wis., to Washington D.C. The nearly 1,000 mile ride was a two-week trip that she took to support educational outreach efforts at the Wisconsin 9/11 Memorial & Education Center in Kewaskum, Wis. All told, Tarra raise more than $10,000 for the Memorial!

This week, I sit down with Tarra to talk about her ride, what it was like out on the road for two weeks, and some of the other adventures from her travels.

Mentioned in this episode:

• A ride to remember | Washington County News | gmtoday.com
• Bike Fundraiser - Wisconsin 911 Memorial

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And this week she's here to talk about a super amazing feat that she just accomplished. Over the second half of August, Tarra rode her bike, her bicycle, not a motorcycle. She rode her bike from West Bend to Kewaskum. To Washington, D. C. In doing so, she raised 10, 000 for the Wisconsin 9 11 Memorial and Education Center.

And this week, Tarra joins me to talk about her ride. What made her do it and some of the adventures she had along the way. And with that, here's 15 minutes on Tarra Gundrum's Ride to Remember on Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz.

If you haven't heard Tarra Gundrum, wife, mother, Marine Corps veteran, podcaster, author, Washington County employee. And cyclist.

I'm like, I feel great. You know, right now I'm like, I miss my bike.

First of all, let's talk about how did you get the inspiration to ride from West Bend to Washington, D. C.?

And so in looking at the map and kind of logistics and availability. I was like, I'm just going to bike to Pittsburgh, but for anyone who is familiar with the Cycling Realm or the two great national scenic trails, the, uh, Great Allegheny Passage, as well as the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Trail, they start in Pittsburgh.

And if you're in that area, I mean, you just do not like not do that, right? So a two week trip turned into a three week trip, but the realization that it was so big, it was such a great accomplishment. That I was going after, I needed to do it for a cause. And so that's how it all came about.

So congrats to you.

Cause once I crossed the lake and ended up in Michigan, it was like, okay, you're on your own. You're not in Kansas anymore.

And yeah, so there was probably like six other cyclists. We had great conversation about what I was doing, what they had just completed. And then we basically sat together on the ferry and we just shared like stories of cycling and, you know, dreams of things that we wanted to achieve.

And then. You landed in Muskegon, and so did you start biking right away when you got off the ferry?

And literally when I got off the ferry and I was waiting to get my bike, I got a message from a Warm Showers host saying, come on over and stay. So that was phenomenal.

org, and it's basically a group of amazing people who either have had cycling experience, done it themselves, or they have a passion for a cyclist. Uh, maybe there's a child or someone in their family or a friend that they know. But long of the story short is, they will open their homes to you at a level of their comfort, varying from as far as like you can, you know, Camp on my, my lawn and use my water hose or you can have a spare bedroom or I'll cook you dinner.

Sure. And, and just imagine the possibilities. So these lovely folks will do those things for you. And then you basically pay it forward in kindness and sharing that experience with somebody else.

And it was like, they lived 45 minutes from the trail, but they drove to the trail to pick me up, took me to their home to host me. I had the most amazing experience. And then they brought me back to the trail the next day so that I can continue my journey. Phenomenal. I mean, and that right there was the beginning of a lifelong friendship.

Oh, that's awesome.

Uh, and these two gentlemen were both, one in near Jackson, Michigan, and one near Sandusky, Ohio. They were cycling towards me. And it was like almost an instant, like, brake, screech. bobbybeckeal The first one turned out to be a pastor. Turned around, and he was like, I don't want to hold you up, but I want to know your story.

Let's cycle. So he started cycling back with me. He ended up hosting me for lunch. Um, I met his family, and it was just wonderful. They turned out to be an amazing family. Community organization themselves has really given back, so that was a great conversation. And the other gentleman in Sandusky, Ohio, what sparked his interest was my Marine Corps jersey.

Okay. And he's a fellow Marine as well. And so we talked all about Marine Corps and cycling and being outside and all of those things. So those are the two folks that, um, Cycled with me for a distance and it turned out to be just a great connection.

But sometimes you're like, the time goes faster when you're having a conversation with somebody that you don't know, or, or even just talking about anything when you're trying to not listen to your legs. Right. Oh yeah. I mean, that's, that's

And it's about. Two and a half hours to three hours, so, okay. And I need to eat. Yeah. It is just like bottom line. And so I was cycling with that pastor, and, and he's like, so how far are you going today? I was like, well, you know, I need to find something to eat in like 30 minutes, you know, , uh, and that's where the, he was like, let us host you for lunch.

It was amazing. Oh, that's cool. But yeah, you're on this clock that revolves around food and distance. . Yep. Um, so it's like, I gotta make, I, I need to go 20 and then I need to eat. That's the plan.

Yeah,

Uh, what do you call it? We had like a tour guide on a bike, right? And then, so she was taking us all to the great iconic places of Pittsburgh and sharing the history of the area with us. And it was just beautiful to be a part of that group that, A, people don't generally see together in that large of a capacity.

So it was just wonderful. And then, uh, we all had like little, some people had different speakers. So you have like a music rolling through and just the camaraderie and the fellowship and meeting all the other ladies from all across the country. I mean, it was a great event.

Oh, you're the shero? Yes. But guess what, folks? I'm the only person in my group. So, we actually welcome women of all shades. The real intent of this is to get Women together on bikes in a safe space that they can meet other women who are doing the same thing and they don't have to worry about the hustle and bustle of the varying speeds or going fast or breaking records and all of these things.

We just want to create a safe environment to not only teach the discipline of the sport, but give you access to people who can support you along the way and be with you out there, whether it's on the trail or on the road. So that's what we're trying to achieve.

Absolutely. Yeah, they can go to Tarra Gundrum dot com. That's T A R R A Gundrum dot com. And you'll find the link to the Black Girls Do Bike there or easy quick one is Black Girls Do Bike, Washington County, at gmail dot com.

So, what really kind of stuck with me is seeing, like, you start to see less of the trail, um, because the C& O Canal Trail is a bunch of locks that you go by, and then the locks kind of get fewer and far in between, and then that trail, that unimproved portion starts to turn into more urbanized

And then in order to get to Mile Zero, you have to go through this downtown Georgetown district. Okay. And you know that you're about to be there when you hear this yelling of just, like, megaphones on the water, and there are rowing teams everywhere, going crazy. Sure. And so, that, to me, that sound was, I'm getting close.

And then seeing them and seeing the water and then the iconic bridges that you see in D. C., starting to come upon those, it's like, I'm here. Like, and you just got this, like, smell or like big smile on your face. It's amazing.

Yeah, so,

And upon the approach, it was like, I was trying to put my bicycle up on a bike rack so that I can go and like check in. And where they wanted me to put it, I, I just knew that my stuff was going to be gone when I came back, right? So I ended up taking my bike to security, saying, Hey, like, this is what I'm trying to do, like, and they're, they're like, Looking at my bag and is, is that bear spray, ma'am?

And I'm like, uh, yeah, like, and I start trying to tell him my story quickly because I'm like, am I in trouble or what? You're not supposed to have bear spray. You're not supposed to have maize. You're not supposed to have any of those things. And then there, on top of it, there's this dog that starts barking at my gear.

And I'm like, okay, long story short, thank goodness I made it in there safe. It was great. It was wonderful. Uh, there was a lot of grease head that day, but don't ever take bear spray to the beach.

So you got, you were there for a couple of days, right? And then, or was it just one night?

We served together as drill instructors in Parris Island. She's like, Hey, I'm home this weekend. Let's hang out. And so that's what caused me to beat feet to DC Thursday night. And just like. Basically, knock out a day and a half, it's worth the riding in one day. And, you know, it's always good to celebrate with a fellow Marine.

So that was amazing.

So yes, my husband picked me up. And we cycled to, uh, or he picked me up via car. And then we met at this park near the fair park, just to kind of get my legs moving before I met up with the group. And it was my husband and, um, my good Marine Corps mentor, Pete, uh, Colonel Peter Buck, he met us. And we rode from there to the trailhead where we met just a host of lovely people to include you.

And just seeing the crowd of people wearing those beautiful Ride to Remember t shirts, that was just amazing. Amazing. So I just want to take a moment here to say thanks to you, Fuzz, and thanks to Mike Christian from Hometown for the work that they put in behind the scenes. And there were so many other members of the 9 11 Memorial who supported the organization and community members who came together to provide funding to make that whole thing happen.

It was just phenomenal. So I thank everyone who participated.

And I don't know if we can talk about this. Do you know how much you've raised so far or how much you've raised in total?

Like we might be right around that 9, 000 mark. Uh, I'm not sure how, Perfect. That number is, uh, ahead or behind, but somewhere near there. Somewhere

Yeah. Like we're right there. Yeah.

We will have that send off to a place where you can buy them online. I'm sure you'll be out speaking at different places and things and maybe we can work out some ways for people to get their hands on those t shirts.

Right, but as you just kind of alluded to, we're going to have some, a couple of speaking engagements coming up. Like Uh, there's an opportunity to speak at the Boys and Girls Club. There's an opportunity to speak at Big Brothers Big Sisters. And, you know, if there's any other school areas that would like, you know, a presentation, like, I'm super happy to do that.

But if I could take some of those t shirts and share them with the children to just kind of further spread that awareness throughout the community, that would be phenomenal. Yeah.

We, we have lots of amazing things to talk about.

Anyway, I'll talk to myself anyway. I do it all the time, but it's less weird when you're listening. If you ever have an idea for the show, reach out to me at 15withfuzz at gmail. com. That's 15 spelled out with fuzz at gmail. com. You can also find me on social media, pretty much everywhere you do the socials.

My handles are at fifteenwithfuzz, spelled out. New episodes every Monday. Thanks for tuning in to Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz.