Julia Williams
Julia Williams
Editor-in-Chief
New Mexico native Teddy Bloom starts his day at 5:45 a.m., eats breakfast, packs up his bag, applies sunscreen and prepares to bike 40 to 50 miles through city limits and across state lines.
Bloom’s journey began on April 20 as he flew to San Francisco, CA., to begin a cross country trek on what he refers to as a “Ride4Rights” from coast to coast on a Kona Libra bicycle. He plans to conclude his trip on Aug. 16 in Washington D.C. On Thursday, July 3, this freedom ride crossed over into Kansas City, Mo., as Bloom rode a total of five miles from Rosedale Park in Kansas City, Kan., to City Hall, 414 E. 12th St.
“The ride has been a really good experience,” Bloom said in an interview, Thursday. “I’ve had positive feedback, tried to talk to as many people as I can and been to places I never would’ve gone through.”
Bloom’s mission behind Ride4Rights, he shared, operates on four main pillars — freedom of speech, justice, education and unity. He elaborated to include the reasoning behind why he selected each of these elements as a driving force for this project:
- Speech: focuses on the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and while it includes fighting for continued expression of free speech for all, it also touches on freedom of assembly and the right to protest without fear or intimidation.
- Justice: all people on American soil have the right to the U.S. justice system, regardless of citizenship status. This section additionally highlights “due process” in that no person shall be arrested on American soil — or outside the country — without proper cause under federal and state codes.
- Education: to teach the American people along the way, including the history and purpose of U.S. and State institutions and their operations.
- Unity: to switch the mentality, helping people across the U.S. to find common ground amongst each other and help build community.
“I wanted to start something,” Bloom said in an interview, Thursday. “I wanted to do something similar to a protest but something that was different, that would stand out.”
While Bloom shared he does not consider himself to be a very political person, he said the idea of this bike tour sparked in mid-March, from several different events, which contributed to each of the four aspects to his mission.
“Justice,” he said, came from when the U.S. Government and ICE ordered mass deportations under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 of individuals residing in Texas to an imprisonment in El Salvador, Central America; “speech,” he wanted to incorporate, following arrests that occurred at various universities across the country of students protesting on campus regarding the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict; “education,” he said, arose from a nuclear waste disposal team, which was cut in New Mexico by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and then was reinstated a few days later; while “unity,” he shared, that he wanted to add something heartwarming to his mission.
This project, Bloom said, is entirely self-funded. And while he has camped a small portion of this ride, he said mostly, he has stayed in inexpensive motels.
“I saved up to buy my first house, but I decided this was more important,” Bloom said in an interview.
Although he is from New Mexico originally, he shared he chose San Francisco and California as his starting place as he thought that it would be more valuable to start in a specific location and that a coast to coast trip would get more attention.
Throughout this four-month trip, Bloom is working with four different charities to raise money for the causes he is biking for. These charities include the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), Southern Law Poverty Center, American Immigration Council and the American Library Association.
“The goal is to raise money and to get people to care about this stuff and to get them involved,” he said in reference to speech, justice, education and unity.
While his trip started out strong in California, with a lot of people passionate about activism, he said was not the case in some of the other western states he traveled through. However, he shared the public interest in his mission does seem to have grown — particularly as he crossed through Colorado.
Bloom has been blogging his travels both on various social media platforms including Instagram @Ride4_Rights and Youtube as well as on his website: ride4rights.com, where he posts drone footage as well as updates followers of his next arrival location — encouraging them to join him on the ride.
Thursday, July 3 marked his 13th consecutive day. While he set out to bike everyday, this goal did not pan out entirely as he anticipated.
Before this expedition, Bloom did not consider himself an avid biker. A full-time engineering technician, he said he had very little training for this coast to coast adventure. In fact, he shared he had only ridden the Kona two or three times before April 20, and it wasn’t until he had started biking through California, when he said he worked himself into shape.
His longest break was in Fallon, Nev., right after he strained his hamstring making his way through the California side of the Sierra Nevadas, which led him to take four days off. Through Nevada, Bloom said, he was averaging around 70 to 80 miles per day on a hamstring that was less than 100%.
However, the hardest day he’s had so far, he said, was from Goodland to Oakley, Kan., where temperatures reached 103 degrees. The most miles Bloom has traveled in one day so far, he shared, totaled at 98 miles while making his way through the western half of the U.S.
Though this initially began as just a one time voyage, Bloom said he will see how the rest of the trip goes, and if Ride4Rights gains popularity, he shared he can see himself doing something like this again.
From Kansas City, Bloom will continue to make his way east on the Katy Trail — a 240-mile Missouri trail, which stretches from Clinton to Machens, Mo. — to St. Louis, hitting stops in Chicago, Ill, Cleveland, Ohio and Pittsburgh, Pa., before concluding his trip in Washington D.C.
To follow along the rest of Bloom’s trek, visit his website: https://www.ride4rights.com/ or @ride4_rights on social media.
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