LITTLETON, Colo. – As May marks both Mental Health Awareness Month and National Bike Month, there are reminders all around of how cycling can help boost both physical and mental health.
Discovering the joys of rolling around on two wheels in Colorado can be life-changing and there’s a group of bighearted people in Littleton who are working to be sure no one is left out.
'Freedom that only our bike gives us'
“We are a nonprofit that brings joy and wind in the hair of everybody that wants a ride,” said Barb Lotze, co-founder and executive director of Cycling Without Age in Littleton. “The whole goal is that people that can't get on a bike any longer or never have been able to have the ability to ride a bike and feel that freedom that only our bike gives us.”
Lotze, also an avid cyclist, has a heart to help others and is surrounded by a crew of around 130 volunteers who live to see the smiles of seniors and others who would otherwise not have a chance to experience Colorado’s beautiful outdoors on a bike.
Lotze invited Denver7’s On Two Wheels to take a ride on one of the trishaws with an experienced pilot along the beautiful Mary Carter Greenway Trail to see what it’s all about.
“I have a mirror so I can see who's behind us. I have full vision to see who's in front of us, and electric assist. I'd like to think I'm strong, but I'm not this strong. I think these things weighed like 300 pounds or something,” pilot Carrie Wilner laughed.
A trishaw is basically a rickshaw with an extra wheel where the pilot pedals passengers from behind, giving the front seat passengers a beautiful, unobstructed view.
“People out in this fresh air and the beauty of the Platte River Trail gives people the freedom of being on two wheels. This just happened to be three,” Lotze said.
For Lotze, who works in hospice care, the key is ensuring no one is left out of the mental health benefits of biking.
“We need to include everybody — people with challenges, people with different gifts, people that are older, people who can't ride a bike,” she said.
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One of Wilner’s greatest joys, who is also an avid cyclist, is watching how biking changes the lives of her senior passengers.
“They have so much to share and they have so many experiences, if you would just sit and listen to them,” Wilner said. “You get to share stories with them while we're out riding. Anytime you're riding, you see all these people – you get to stop and talk to people and they want to know about what we're riding on. So, the seniors get to talk to other people. It's just a wonderful sharing experience.”
'A lot of people don't see us'
The great work of Cycling Without Age in Littleton has caught on. During the nonprofit’s first year in 2019, they gave 12 rides with three volunteers. Fast forward through 2024, and the nonprofit gave around 3,600 rides, all free of charge.
“Total donation-based and total volunteer-based,” Lotze said. “We will never ask if you want to donate. Biking just tops it all and just connecting. Whether it's a young person with a challenge that never has been able to be on a bike, or an older adult.”
She shared how riding can make seniors feel more seen.
“I had one that wrote a thank you note that just said, ‘People don't understand when you can't do what you used to do. I feel as an older adult, I get displaced. And you guys at Cycling Without Age Littleton — you get it, and you see us. A lot of people don't see us.’”
Wilner’s expert piloting rolled us into Hudson Gardens off the South Platte River to a special place many cyclists never get to see. We stopped at a peaceful tribute garden with markers and benches that leave a lasting impression on how lives are changed through Cycling Without Age Littleton.
One bench holds a special memory for Lotze.
“Anna, my good, good friend died at 101 years old. I got to know her because what I do in the healthcare profession is hospice. She was on and off hospice five times over another year and a half,” Lotze said. ”She was 99 years old on her first trishaw ride and she became the biggest proponent for the trishaws and she started living again."
Lotze said Anna became isolated and felt her independence was slipping away during the last few years of her life.
“She didn’t leave her apartment, she didn’t go downstairs for dinner and she wasn’t eating well. She was falling every other day,” Lotze said.
Anna didn’t have children but her nieces said they had never seen her “light up like this,” Lotze said. “She became a whole different person. She lived a whole different life for a year-and-a-half. They (Her family) bought a bench for her because Cycling Without Age Littleton became a really important piece to her.”
Alongside the benches are bricks inscribed with names, two of which are close to home for Lotze, including one marked with the name of her mom.
“This is my beautiful mom Audrey and she supported Cycling Without Age every year. When she would come to Colorado, I would take her on the trishaw. She first rode in 2018 when I was volunteering in Lakewood and she loved it,” Lotze said.
She shared a memory of taking her mom and a friend to an ice cream shop in Lakewood.
“I just rode the trishaw into the ice cream shop," she said. "I'm like, ‘Is this OK? Because the ladies can't get out.’ They could – but, you know – and they're like, ‘Oh yeah, come on in.’ So it was just a hoot. It's still fond memories, even on my mom's dying days.”
Lotze’s mom encouraged her to keep up the life-changing mission on three wheels.
“She had two weeks where she knew it was hospice and she wasn't going to make it. She said, ‘I'm good, I'm good with my maker. I'm ready to go.’ And she said, ‘But you just keep doing that trishaw, Barb, you just keep bringing joy,’” Lotze said, choking up.
- Related: To hear how biking has changed the lives of two Boulder cyclists, you can watch the story of Dan and Ryan who shared the life-changing impact as part of this On Two Wheels special report, in the player below.
'Cycling saved my life': How Coloradans discover biking for better mental health
Hopping back onto the trishaw and rolling out of Hudson Gardens, it didn’t take long to meet another life changed through Cycling Without Age Littleton.
Claire Lorenzo runs Abundant Blessings Assisted Living, which has five small group homes. We stopped for a minute to chat about how Cycling Without Age Littleton has helped residents.
“Any little thing to get out of the house and give them that quality of life just fills their cup,” Lorenzo said. “So, when they were able to get out – it was early summer – and they're like, ‘It's so beautiful. We miss nature.’ It is just heartwarming.”
Cycling Without Age Littleton offers individual rides and the nonprofit also shows up at community events.
"If you are in a disease process – Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and you can't walk, you can't get through it — your family or friends do it for you. We bring the trishaw and you get to do it with your family. It makes you part of it. People aren't doing things for you. You are empowered and doing it with them,” Lotze said.
Lotze knows the impact these wheels can have on uplifting mood and mental health.
“I mean, at six o'clock, I'm up and I'm biking, whether it's inside or outside. You don't even want to know me if I can't get on the bike. It’s total mental health as much as physical for me. I just, I need those endorphins,” she added.
A typical ride lasts up to an hour and a half. Cycling Without Age Littleton’s main hub is at RiverPointe Senior Community of Littleton, which houses five trishaws with additional bikes at Libby Bortz and ThriveCare.
“They’re all close to the Platte, so you can meet at any of those or Hudson Gardens. It’s typically a ride down the Platte – everyone wants to come through the gardens. We can go up to the (Chatfield) dam,” said Lotze.
No matter your level of experience on a bike, the volunteers at Cycling Without Age Littleton, like Wilner, are ready to share the joys of connection under the warm feeling of that Colorado sun.
“I like to have fun on bikes. I have a cyclocross, a road bike, a couple of mountain bikes. It's just being out and being in nature and enjoying Colorado,” Wilner said, smiling.
For anyone who would like to schedule a ride, you can visit Cycling Without Age Littleton’s website at this link or contact their scheduler at 720-456-0570.
You can also email at cwalscheduling@gmail.com.
Any discussion about the mental health impact of cycling needs to include the inherent dangers of riding a bike in Denver as bicycle and vulnerable road user deaths continue to climb in Colorado.
Denver7's first On Two Wheels special report dove into the unique hazards when biking in the Mile High City.
The special report below includes real-life video examples shared by Denver cyclists showing what it's like navigating the roads with drivers.Biking dangers in Denver: Close call stories ‘On Two Wheels’Denver7's On Two Wheels is also tracking road user data across the state in the infographics below. You can view the graphs in fullscreen mode at this link.
