Dean Zenoni and his wife are pedaling across the country in support of military veterans. Zenoni, a veteran himself, will ride through Wyoming this holiday weekend. Photo courtesy Dean Zenoni

JACKSON, Wyo. — Dean Zenoni returned home from four tours abroad with some battle scars.

Zenoni is a retired Master Sergeant with the United States Marine Corps. After 24 years of service, he needed a way to manage pain and trauma. He found cycling and found a community ready to embrace him in his journey to healing. After his first bike ride — a seven-day peddle down the coast of California, he was hooked.

Now, he’s biking from Canada to Mexico with his wife, Lori, to raise money and awareness for Semper Fi & America’s Fund, a nonprofit he says was instrumental to his recovery. “The Fund” was founded by military spouses to “care for and love our wounded, ill, and injured military heroes,” according to its website.

Zenoni and his wife will ride through Grand Teton National Park this weekend, then continue south to Pinedale for the Fourth of July. He hopes to arrive at the Mexico border by August 11. His route, the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, crosses five states over 2,495 miles.

Zenoni served in the USMC for 24 years, including for tours in Iraq and deployments to Somalia, Haiti, Cuba, and Liberia.

The Zenonis at the Canada border embarking on their trans-continental journey. Photo courtesy Dean Zenoni

 

Shannon is a Wyoming-raised writer and reporter. She just completed a master's in journalism from Boston University. Jackson shaped her into an outdoorswoman, but a love for language and the human condition compels her to write. She believes there's no story too small to tell nor adventure too small to take.