Veterans complete Annual Road Warrior Ride on Can-Am Spyder
Can-Am and the Road Warrior Foundation (RWF) recently came together to host an “Adventure Therapy” ride that covered nearly 2,000 miles aboard the Can-Am Spyder. This year marked the 10th Annual Road Warrior Ride, which allows veterans to disconnect from their day-to-day lives and experience the incredible healing power of riding the open road, all free of charge.
The veterans were selected by RWF from a pool of hundreds of applicants, and as is the focus of every RWF adventure, they were all post-9/11 veterans with various injuries, both physical and mental. Something else they all shared: a craving for adventure and a need to inject some excitement into their lives. Riding is a perfect recipe for a group of like-minded strangers with so much in common.
“Can-Am has been the title sponsor of the Road Warrior Foundation since it was established in 2013, proudly helping to enable its mission to provide Adventure Therapy to U.S. Military veterans,” says Martin Ethier, global marketing director, Can-Am. “We firmly believe that the open road is open to all, and through this sponsorship, we are able to bring that to life for a group of incredibly deserving riders.”
Before hitting the road, the group gathered in Lake George, New York, where they spent time getting to know each other and received a hero’s welcome from more than 300 Can-Am owners at SpyderQuest, an annual Can-Am owners event in upstate New York. Several of the riders had only recently acquired their motorcycle license, and most had very little experience riding in a group, so before the main event, Can-Am and RWF representatives provided closed-course and classroom training on the fleet of vehicles provided by Can-Am. Then it was time to hit the open road.
“Can-Am 3-wheel vehicles are the only vehicles that allow us to do what we do because it’s so easy to learn to ride,” says Stephen Berger, co-founder of the Road Warrior Foundation and U.S. Air Force veteran. “BRP provides us a fleet of vehicles that we keep all over the country, so for this ride and other smaller ones we have throughout the year, we’re able to get veterans of all skill levels out riding quickly by putting them through the Can-Am Rider Education Program.”
As always, once the wheels were rolling, the excitement was undeniable from all. The veterans experienced amazing views, great roads, and landmarks such as the National Baseball Hall of Fame in New York, the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania, and the National Museum of the USAF in Ohio. One of the biggest highlights was a Can-Am off-road experience at Badlands Off-Road Park in Attica, Indiana, where Can-Am dealer Attica Motorsports hosted the group while they enjoyed riding Can-Am Maverick, Defender, and Commander off-road vehicles through the park’s 1,400+ acres.
In addition to providing the fleet of vehicles, Can-Am also gave the riders a full suite of riding gear to cover the various climates they covered on their way from New York, through Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, Illinois, and ultimately concluding at a Can-Am owners’ event called, “Spyders in the Ozarks,” with more than 300 Can-Am riders welcoming them as they rode into Nixa, Missouri.
