The Dutch half of Suzette Wanninkhof, inherited from her father, doesn’t remember a time when bikes weren’t a big deal in her family. It’s easier to embrace your wheels early in life when you grow up in the flat tropics of southern Florida, but she’s managed to (mostly) adapt enough to live car-free in Ann Arbor for the last eight years.

This pedigree also helps explain how quickly she took to long-distance adventure cycling, and how important these rides have become as a way to turn strangers into friends, to develop a more immediate, unfiltered view of the world, and to grieve her older brother, Patrick, who was killed on his bike by a distracted driver in 2015.

After Patrick died, Suzette found strength in group therapy and the friends who showed up when she needed them. She also organized Patrick Rides On, a seven-month, 8,000-mile ride from Deadhorse, Alaska, to Key West. Her multiple mega-rides have taught her that distance cycling provides a sense of linear, tangible progress that working through grief can never be, and the best way to prepare for a long bike trip is to go on a long bike trip.

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We also talk about the joy of teaching kids how to ride, why long-distance cycling is an act of rebellion (and a lot more affordable than you might think), and how losing her brother never made her lose faith in “Wanninkhof Luck.”

Other links:

* How lucky do you feel?

* A Heart That Works, by Rob Delaney

* Ghost Rider, by former Rush drummer Neil Peart

* The late, lamented Bike & Build

* Warm Showers is a non-profit hospitality exchange service for touring cyclists

* Adventure Cycling Association helps cyclists become travelers

* Ann Arbor Bike Party resumes on April 25

* If you’re interested in biking to all of Ann Arbor’s 162 parks in one day

* This year’s Ride of Silence is on May 21

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