ABOUT TOUR DE YOUTH

A Life Changing Journey across America

WHERE IT ALL STARTED

In celebration of Rite of Passage’s 40th anniversary, we are thrilled to announce a special event: the Tour de Youth, a cross-country bike ride celebrating our agency’s four decades of providing unique opportunities for experiential learning and adventures that connect youth to the natural world and help them thrive.

Led by Greg Townsend, the inspiration behind the Hard Miles film, the Tour de Youth aims to guide students on a transformative journey of mental and physical development. Through hard work, dedication, mental resilience, and perseverance, participants will embark on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure spanning over 3,000 miles, joining fellow kids, staff, and alumni from Rite of Passage programs across the country.

Follow along as we embark on an epic journey filled with camaraderie, personal growth, and positive impact.

PROOF IN EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

Many of us benefit from exercise. But cycling in particular activates more of the physiological parameters which can help individuals who struggle with behavioral and emotional issues. As a team we try to act as a family structure. We try to support the whole person; we look to bring out the best in them, and not allow them to be limited by their past, or what someone else has told them about themselves. Many of our youth have a terminal mindset: they believe “no matter what I do, I am going to fail.” Rite of Passage, support staff and the sport of cycling encourages them to challenge those beliefs.

Hard Miles

Hard Miles—the feature film from Pensé Productions — tells the uplifting true story of the cycling team at Rite of Passage’s Ridge View Academy, a residential treatment program in Colorado. The film follows beleaguered coach Greg Townsend (Matthew Modine) as he rounds up an unlikely crew of students for a seemingly impossible bike ride from Denver to the Grand Canyon. As the beginner bicyclists battle heatstroke and speed wobbles, they must learn to stop fighting and ride together as a peloton. The bicycle serves not just as a means of transportation, but as a test; a way for each of these young men to see what they are truly capable of, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Caring social worker Haddie (Cynthia Kaye McWilliams) attempts to be the voice of reason as coach Greg Townsend pushes the boys to their limit, and cracks begin to form in the peloton. Ultimately, Greg’s words will ring hollow unless he can apply his coaching advice to his own life and make amends with his dying father. In the sweltering desert, the boys reach a crossroads and must decide whether to continue down the path of least resistance, or take agency of their futures and pave the way to better future.

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