This is the fourth in a five-part Star series on how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted the lives and livelihoods of Tucsonans with ties to the world of sports.
After she graduated from Catalina High School in 1979, Kate Hiller went on a bike trip to Europe. She and two other young women rode through France, Italy, Germany, Holland, Denmark and Switzerland.
They were supposed to ride with tour guides, but that didnβt work out. So the trio had to improvise.
βWe slept in fields,β Hiller said. βSomeone invited us to sleep in their garage. People were very nice to us.β
Hiller described the experience as a βpivotal momentβ in her life. She fell in love with cycling. She became a bike commuter.
Forty-one years later, Hiller remains an avid cycling enthusiast. Sheβs the executive director of El Grupo, the Tucson non-profit whose motto is βempowering youth through bicycles.β
In some ways, the current climate β the coronavirus crisis β is a boom time for cycling in Southern Arizona. Trails remain open. The weather has been impeccable. Cycling is an ideal activity for individuals or families. Social distancing is easily achievable whether youβre riding around your neighborhood or the Chuck Huckelberry Loop.
In other ways, it isnβt quite the same. Bike clubs have splintered. El Grupoβs clubhouse, located just north of downtown, is closed. Many cyclists are wearing masks. Others are covering their mouths when they shout, βPassing on your left!β
Hiller is trying to grapple with it all. She has a business to run and kids to inspire. Cycling is an integral part of the Tucson community. But the community has to practice social distancing to β if youβll excuse the pun β ride out the pandemic.
βWeβre all trying to figure out how we operate in this new environment,β Hiller said, βwhich is asking us to connect in a new and different way than what has been our normal.β
Had it been a normal Thursday, Hiller wouldnβt have been chatting on the phone from her porch. She would have been with her staff at El Grupo, helping to take care of the bikes and prepare for practice, which typically would start about 3:30 p.m. By 4:30 β after all the chains had been checked, the tires pumped and the water bottles filled β multiple groups of kids would head out to ride.
El Grupo Youth Cycling, which was founded in 2004 by Ignacio Rivera de Rosales and Daniela Diamente, works with more than 100 kids during the school year, ranging in age from 6 to 18. It also offers summer camps. Unsurprisingly, registration for those camps is down as of now.
βPeople are waiting to see what happens,β Hiller said. βItβs like weβre in a holding pattern.β
When the crisis began to intensify in mid-March, Hiller and her staff believed El Grupo could remain open. At least at first. As Hiller noted, βCycling is a natural in that direction. Youβre independent on your bike.β
They wiped down the bikes, many of which are shared. They cleaned the clubhouse. But they wondered if they were doing the right thing, especially if schools were going to close.
Which they did. Gov. Doug Ducey then issued a statewide order to close βnon-essentialβ businesses. Working from home became part of the new normal. El Grupo β which literally means βThe Groupβ β had to break up and set up remote operations.
βItβs really hard because weβre not together,β Hiller said. βThereβs so much synergy when youβre together and can have conversations. But weβre adapting.β
The El Grupo team β which consists of 11 employees, include three who work full time β continues to communicate with families who rely on the club to provide a character-building after-school activity for their children. After suspending its programs, El Grupo encouraged kids to keep riding by loaning bikes to those who didnβt have them. If families are struggling to pay tuition, El Grupo offers scholarships. Community donations also help to cover costs.
Hiller and El Grupoβs board of directors decided not to lay off any of their employees, at least for the time being. The organization has applied for a loan through the federal governmentβs Paycheck Protection Program. The plan it to keep the team engaged for at least the next couple of months, with the hope that restrictions will loosen by June, when El Grupo runs its summer camps.
In the meantime, the older kids are responsible for the upkeep of their bikes. El Grupo is about more than just cycling. The organization offers rΓ©sumΓ©-building workshops, and kids who come up through the program sometimes becomes counselors.
Hillerβs involvement in El Grupo began when her son, Cole Lanning, attended summer bike camp at age 12. Cole spent six years in El Grupo.
βHe learned a lot from this program. Heβs now a coach himself over at Playformance,β Hiller said of her son, whoβs now 20. βThis is what we hope for for all of our kids.β
Hiller served as a parent volunteer for El Grupo, an act consistent with her lifeβs work. She has spent much of it working for non-profits and fundraising for charitable organizations, including the Primavera Foundation, Mobile Meals and the Emerge! Center Against Domestic Abuse. She became El Grupoβs executive director in January 2019.
Hiller lives with her son; her husband, Bob Lanning, a Tucson architect; and their Schnauzer, Cody. She owns three bicycles: a βtool-aroundβ bike, a road bike and a gravel bike. Her typical rides last about an hour and a half, though she rode for 3Β½ hours and 40 miles on a recent Sunday.
Routes and trails Hiller frequents include Starr Pass, A Mountain, the Loop and the Julian Wash. She also has started doing at-home trainer rides with friends using a meetup app.
βWeβre all innovators, some more than others,β Hiller said. βOur job right now is to innovate, figure out what the new normal is going to be and keep doing the things that we do.β
On a recent evening, Hiller went for a ride with her husband and son. Cole placed a speaker in a bike trailer, and they listened to music while riding through downtown and the University of Arizona campus.
βIt made me feel so happy,β Hiller said. βAlmost like I didnβt have a care in the world.β
