The Wounded Warrior Project-NFL partnership is taking to the road this weekend, with a relay route linking Las Vegas, Phoenix and Los Angeles. About 20 veterans set out from Allegiant Stadium toward Arizona; a second group is expected to take over in Phoenix and continue to Los Angeles.
A Ride Built on Connection, Not Speed
According to FOX5 Las Vegas, Wounded Warrior Project and the NFL are teaming up for the multi-day cycling trip from Allegiant Stadium to Phoenix, with the Las Vegas contingent riding in relay teams toward the Arizona border before handing off to the second group bound for Los Angeles. The station reports that participants include veterans with both visible injuries and invisible wounds, and that the nonprofit frames the event as less about speed and more about healing together.
Wounded Warrior Project says its no-cost Soldier Ride program is open to registered warriors and provides hand cycles, recumbent trikes, road bikes and hybrid bicycles for riders with different physical abilities. The organization presents the rides as an opportunity for warriors to take part together, rather than as a race.
Leadership Frames the Mission in Personal Terms
Wounded Warrior Project CEO Lt. Gen. Walt Pyatt described the organization's aim as reaching veterans who need support: “We're committed to finding every warrior everywhere and bringing them home, mind, body and soul,” he said, per FOX5 Las Vegas. Cycling is one part of the nonprofit's broader work.
Any post-9/11 veteran can register through Wounded Warrior Project's website for free programs, including future Soldier Rides, FOX5 Las Vegas reports. The program began with a single rider's mission in 2004 and added virtual programming in 2020, according to InsideNoVa.
A Decade-Plus of NFL Backing
The Las Vegas-to-Phoenix ride is the latest chapter in a partnership between the league and the nonprofit that dates back to 2011, when the NFL began supporting Wounded Warrior Project's programs and services for wounded veterans, according to the organization's own account of the relationship. That support has included tangible equipment investment: in 2019, the NFL donated $500,000 to replace Wounded Warrior Project's entire fleet of adaptive cycling equipment, a gift the nonprofit says enabled more than 1,200 warriors to take part in Soldier Ride events, as reported by Wounded Warrior Project.
Wounded Warrior Project says the NFL's Salute to Service campaign has raised more than $75 million for veterans service organizations, including Wounded Warrior Project, since 2011, according to Wounded Warrior Project.
Part of a Broader National Circuit
This isn't the first time Las Vegas and Phoenix have bookended a Soldier Ride route. U-Haul reported that it hosted a landing ceremony at its Phoenix headquarters for an earlier Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride that traveled the same Las Vegas-to-Phoenix corridor back in December 2010: U-Haul. The event this weekend also fits into a packed national calendar for the program: Soldier Ride 250 was scheduled to carry 80 veterans across four 20-rider segments from Jacksonville, Florida, to New York City over a roughly 1,000-mile route in May, presented by NFL Salute to Service with planned stops at NFL team engagements along the way. Earlier in the year, a Florida Keys edition of Soldier Ride drew 45 participants and supporters for its annual run, according to a report from Military.com.
Other VA Adaptive-Sports Programs
Adaptive cycling and sports programs also operate separately from Soldier Ride. The Washington DC VA Medical Center Recreational Therapy hosted an Adaptive Cycling Clinic for Veterans with disabilities on April 6 and 7, 2023, according to VA Washington DC Health Care. Separately, the VA's Adaptive Sports Grant Program awards grants to qualifying organizations to plan, develop, manage and implement programs serving disabled veterans and disabled members of the Armed Forces, according to VA National Veterans Sports Programs. The 2025 National Veterans Wheelchair Games in Minneapolis brought together 537 veteran athletes for more than 20 adaptive-sports events, including cycling. Unlike Soldier Ride, the games are a multi-sport competition, according to VA News.
For veterans interested in joining a future ride, Wounded Warrior Project says registration for Soldier Ride and its other programs remains free and open to any post-9/11 veteran through the organization's website.
