Meet Team Operation Progress

Kristina Ripatti, 38, Redondo Beach, California

Retired LAPD officer Kristina Ripatti heads up Team Operation Progress. A T2 paraplegic athlete and hand-cyclist, she was injured in the line of duty in 2006. Since then, she’s completed three marathons on her hand-bike, one in Los Angeles and two in Boston, as well as the 2009 CAF “Tour de Cove” Triathlon (swim and hand-bike).

The mother of two, who lives by the simple motto “train for life,” says, “I am riding to show that anything is possible with hard work and dedication.”

Nancy Guth, 60, Stafford, Virginia
Nancy is a very active grandmother of four and mother of three. She and her husband, John, have cycled extensively for the past ten years, racing together in Paris–Brest–Paris (2X), Last Chance Randonnée (2X), Gold Rush and many 24-hour and 12-hour competitions.

Nancy works full time in education and has taught and supervised educational programs in Sao Paulo, Brazil; New Mexico; Michigan; and, for the past 22 years, Virginia. She has coauthored two books on literacy education, and has been an adjunct professor at George Mason University and the University of Mary Washington.

Nancy says, “Life is much like a bike race; one succeeds by planning and hard work. I am riding to help those who want to help plan and work for a better life.”

Franziska Williams, 43, Bakersfield, California
A native of Germany, Franziska is a road and criterium racer who works as a coffee broker. When she found out about the opportunity to ride with Team Operation Progress, she couldn’t pass it up. Her motivation for doing RAAM is simple: to make others’ dreams come true by living her own dream.

“Racing for Team Operation Progress is a great privilege,” she says. “Knowing our efforts are helping these kids get to better places makes me want to train harder.”

Mark Burson, 55, Westlake Village, California
Mark describes himself as “a PR guy and a ‘wanna-be’ endurance cyclist.” And it looks like he’s off to a good start. This husband and father of three won the 2008 California Triple Crown and was a finalist in the 2009 Race Across the West.

But the road to RAAM hasn’t been smooth. After he fell and broke his hip during the Solvang Century in 2007, Mark underwent a total hip replacement surgery. Not one to be deterred, Mark set his sights on RAAM, using it as motivation to get through rehab following his injury.

His other motivation? Helping kids. “Cycling across America is nothing compared to what these kids of Operation Progress go though every day — just to survive,” Mark says. “I am racing to honor them.”