We talk a lot on Dream Team about how over the course of the season, we become one big family.  And that affects how we care for each other, how we help each other and how we treat and support each other.   Our first two guests on today’s episode really are family. 

They are brothers.  Ryan just completed his first RAGBRAI and he tells us that his first season of Dream Team taught him that, “I can do a lot more that I thought I could and I can push myself a lot harder than I thought I could.”    And then we’re joined by Nolan who shares his very emotional story about how his RAGBRAI got cut a couple of days short.  You’ll quickly learn why all of us are so motivated and inspired by Nolan.     

Nolan tells us, “I thought I would never have so much care and so much love from Dream Team.  This is like a second family to me.”   “The second you walk through that door at the beginning of the season, you know exactly that this is going to be your new family.”   You’re going to enjoy getting to know Ryan and Nolan and understand why we’re so excited that both of the will be returning to the Dream Team family for another season in 2025.

 On this post-RAGBRAI episode, we feature first-year Dream Team members Michaela, Joe and Heaven and hear them tell us how they found the confidence and determination to accomplish a big-life goal:  Riding across the state of Iowa to complete their first RAGBRAI.    Fifteen-year-old Michaela tells us that she was terrified when she joined Dream Team.  But she quickly made a lot of friends on the team and then worked incredibly hard to improve every time we got together to train.    And then we’re joined by Joe, who at 13 is the youngest member of the Dream Team.  But Joe brought a lot of cycling experience to the team.  Everyone knows that Joe is fast.  But one of the things that sets him apart is his willingness and enthusiasm to help the team’s less experienced riders.  Finally, we talk with 16-year-old Heaven.  Heaven tells us that she believes that people sometimes doubt her and she talks about how that only helps motivate and propel her to work harder and become one of the strongest members of the team.    Each of these first-year members of the team share the emotions they were feeling as they rode the final mile of RAGBRAI to the Mississippi River.  You are going to enjoy hearing from Michaela, Joe and Heaven on this special, post-RAGBRAI episode.

On this episode of Moving Forward, we hear from Wyatt, a junior at Roosevelt High School. 

Wyatt did not miss a single training ride during his first two years on the team.   Scott talks with Wyatt about why he pushes himself so hard and about his goals and priorities for the 2024 season.

And we talk Jill Dykstra.  Jill leads the Des Moines Public Schools Dream to Teach program and she is starting her 10th year as a Dream Team Mentor.

We talk with Jill about why she has dedicated her life to teaching and mentoring  youth.  And Jill will give us an update on the Dream Team season.

Dream Team: ⁠⁠https://www.dreamteamdesmoines.org/⁠⁠ 

Bike World: ⁠⁠https://www.bikeworldiowa.com/⁠⁠ 

RAGBRAI: ⁠⁠https://ragbrai.com/

On Episode Five of Moving Forward, we introduce the Warner Brothers.

Devin is 18 and a senior at Des Moines East.  Today, Devin is one of the most outgoing and most-liked members of the team.  But when he joined the team three years ago, Devin was shy and introverted.  He shares with us how Dream Team, in his words, changed his life.

Devin’s brother, Tayvin is 16 years old and also a student at Des Moines East.  Tayvin shares with us how Dream Team brought him and Devin closer together.  And Tayvin talks with us about how he is already working towards his dream of being a pilot in the U.S. Marines.

We also welcome a special guest, Mark Pollock.  Mark traveled from his home in Oklahoma City to join the podcast and he tells us about his good friend and RAGBRAI buddy, Harlan Nagel.

Harlan was a farmer in southern Minnesota who passed away in 2022.  Mark and sone of his cycling friends decided to start an annual scholarship in Harlan’s name that benefits the Dream Team youth.

Dream Team: ⁠⁠https://www.dreamteamdesmoines.org/⁠⁠

Bike World: ⁠⁠https://www.bikeworldiowa.com/⁠⁠

RAGBRAI: ⁠⁠https://ragbrai.com/

On this episode of Moving forward, Shay talks with us about how the mental and physical benefits of cycling.  A junior at Dallas Center Grimes High School, Shay shares her goals for the 2024 season and beyond.

And we speak with Dream Team Mentor David Jameson.  David takes the lead in designing the routes the team used during our five-month training season and he’ll tell us about how the Dream Team’s training schedule has changed in 2024 to make sure the team is ready for the hilliest RAGBRAI in the ride’s 51-year history.

Dream Team: ⁠⁠https://www.dreamteamdesmoines.org/⁠⁠ Bike World: ⁠⁠https://www.bikeworldiowa.com/⁠⁠ RAGBRAI: ⁠⁠https://ragbrai.com/

On this episode of Moving forward, first-year team member Adriana talks with us about what motivated her to surprise her parents and decide to join Dream Team.  Adriana talks with us about her first month of training and about her goals for the 2024 season.   We also talk with first-year mentors Lizzie and Adam.  The couple rode their first RAGBRAI in 2023.  They’ll share how their interactions with the Dream Team during RAGBRAI’s 50th Anniversary ride inspired them to join the team as mentors. Dream Team: ⁠⁠https://www.dreamteamdesmoines.org/⁠⁠ Bike World: ⁠⁠https://www.bikeworldiowa.com/⁠⁠ RAGBRAI: ⁠⁠https://ragbrai.com/

On Episode Two of Moving Forward, Aaron tells us why he was reluctant to join Dream Team when his eighth grade guidance counselor first approached him about the team.  Now in his senior year at Dowling, Aaron is one of the hardest workers and one of the most competitive members of the team. He'll talk with him about how Dream Team has prepared him for other big life challenges.

We also get an update on the 2024 season from Dream Team mentor Randy Wahl.  Randy oversees bike maintenance for youth on this year’s team and he talks with us about how he and his team of volunteers keep the 47 youth rolling for all of our training rides.

Dream Team: ⁠https://www.dreamteamdesmoines.org/⁠

Bike World: ⁠https://www.bikeworldiowa.com/⁠

RAGBRAI: ⁠https://ragbrai.com/

On Moving Forward’s premier episode, Rachael tells us that she was “terrified” when she joined Dream Team two years ago, in part because she did not know how to ride a bicycle.  She will talk about how she overcame those fears and quickly became a leader on the team. 

We also get an update on the 2024 season from Executive Director Jeff Van Genderen and discuss some of the new initiatives the team is implementing to better support our youth.

Dream Team: https://www.dreamteamdesmoines.org/

Bike World: https://www.bikeworldiowa.com/

RAGBRAI: https://ragbrai.com/

Introduction to the Dream Team Moving Forward podcast

Featuring Corbin, Savannaha and Jeremiah   Episode Description: On a very special Inspiration Episode, we feature Corbin, Savannaha and Jeremiah.  You are going to enjoy getting to know each of them and understand why we asked them to join us for our special Inspiration Episode.  

Corbin is 15 and is days away from doing his second RAGBRAI with the Dream Team. Corbin is incredibly passionate about cycling and Dream Team.  Even though he is just 15, he’s emerged as one of the leaders of this year’s team.  He leads by example and he’s one of the kindest members of the team.

And then we talk with Savannaha. She’s 16, a student at Ankeny High School and this is her third year on Dream Team.  Savannaha has a big personality, and she is strong.  She powers through every challenge that life throws at her.  Savannaha talks about how after struggling at the beginning of the year, she rapidly improved over the past several weeks and excited about completing her second RAGBRAI.  Savannaha personifies the word inspiration.  

And then we’ll be joined by Jeremiah.  He’s 14 and will be a freshman next year at Bondurant High School.  Jeremiah’s start to the season was a little rocky.  He’ll tell us that he was prone to riding off the trail and crashing during his first month on the team.  But every time he took a spill, he picked himself up, dusted himself off and then has a big smile on his face.    He's got a great sense of humor and is just a lot of fun to be around.  And he’s also become a pretty skilled cyclist over the past five months.  You’re going to enjoy meeting Jeremiah and understand why we selected him to join us on “the inspiration episode.”

Episode 13 of Moving Forward we feature 13-year-old Issa, who prefers to go by Blue.    We met Blue two years ago at the Des Moines Police Department’s week-long bike camp when Blue had an opportunity to be inspired by some leaders from the 2022 Dream Team.  After five months of challenging training, Blue tells us, “I feel like I’m somebody who belongs on this team.”    And with RAGBRAI just days away, Blue tells us, “I’m ready and I feel confident.”    We also speak with mentor James Hart, who has been volunteering with Dream Team for 20 years.  James talks with us about how the team has evolved over those years.  He also talks about some of the bedrock principles that have enabled the organization to be so successful in make a positive impact in the lives of so many central Iowa teens.

On this episode of Moving Forward, we speak with Nicholas and mentor Rachel Stephenson.   Nicholas will be a senior this fall at Roosevelt High School here in Des Moines and has been on the team for four years.   Things were not easy for Nicholas when he joined the team back in 2021, but he battled through multiple challenges in that first year.   Today, Nicholas is one of the team’s top riders.  And he tells us that being a member of the Dream Team “makes me feel powerful.  It makes me feel strong.  It makes me feel like I can do hard things.”      Nicholas is an inspiration and is living proof that you can accomplish big things if you have a plan, work hard and persevere.    And we speak with Rachel Stephenson, who joined the Dream Team as a mentor in 2023.  This year, Rachel has become an integral part of the Dream Team’s support team.  She’s great with our youth and we’re going to speak with her about why she mentors with Dream Team.

On this episode of Moving Forward, we speak with Jacob, a junior at ADM High School in Adel.   Jacob is driven.  At 15, his days start at 5 am with lifting for football, he’s working two summer jobs in addition to Dream Team and daily football practices.  Now in his second year with the team, Jacob has established himself as a Dream Team lleader and one of our top riders.   And we speak with Chelsea Abrahamson.  Chelsea is one of the leaders of the team’s amazing support crew.  Chelsea talks with us about what that entails and how the support crew keeps the team rolling during our training season and RAGBRAI.

On this episode of the Moving Forward podcast we talk with Marcus, who will be starting his junior year this fall at Ankeny High School.   Marcus has been a member of the Dream Team for three years.  He has this special ability to make everyone around him feel comfortable and at ease.  He can hold his own with any member of the team when it comes to speed, but he’s also one of the best members of the team at encouraging and helping members of the team who are struggling.   And we speak with mentor Mark Amann.  Mark, aka Gunny, is a former Marine and EMT who just recently retired from the Ankeny Fire Department.  Mark served as a mentor several years ago and then returned in 2023 and is part of our leadership group.  We’ll talk with Mark about how Dream Team has changed over the years and get an update on the 2024 season.

On this episode of Moving Forward, we speak with Inez who just completed eighth grade and will be a freshman in August at Des Moines Dowling High School.  Inez joined the team a year ago when she was just 12 years old.  She takes a lot of pride in that she has never walked a hill in her two years on the team.   We also talk with Darla Schaben who joined the team with her husband Jon as mentors in March.  Darla talks with us about how her first year as a Dream Team mentor is going and provides an update on the team’s season.

On this episode of Moving Forward, we speak with Kamari, an eighth grader at Brody Middle School in Des Moines. who completed her first RAGBRAI with Dream Team in 2023.   We also talk with Karen Sage, a lifelong cyclist who joined the Dream Team as a mentor in 2024 after a career of teaching Special Ed.  Karen talks with us about how her first year as a Dream Team mentor is going and get an update on the team’s season

On this episode of Moving Forward, we speak with MJ, a sophomore at Des Moines North High School in Des Moines.

MJ is just 16, but she’s already completed two RAGBRAIs.  We’ll talk with her about how she is always able to have such a positive attitude and about how her experience on Dream Team has already helped her successfully complete another big, life goal.

We also speak with Julie Green Fugenschuh.  Julie is President of the Dream Team’s Board of Directors and she’ll talk with us about why the success of the Dream Team is extremely personal and important to her.

Dream Team: ⁠⁠https://www.dreamteamdesmoines.org/⁠⁠ 

Bike World: ⁠⁠https://www.bikeworldiowa.com/⁠⁠ 

RAGBRAI: ⁠⁠https://ragbrai.com/

Team Lanning’s Tammy Skinner and the Tall Dog Bike Club’s Karen and Kevin Knape join us for this special ‘It Takes a Village’ episode of Moving Forward, the official podcast of Dream Team podcast.   The Dream Team wouldn’t be able to be one of central Iowa’s top mentoring organizations without the support of the Iowa cycling community.    In this special episode of Moving Forward, Tammy, Karen, and Kevin tell us why their teams were among the first support to accept the  Dream Team’s ‘It Takes a Village’ challenge.   Please visit our website at www.dreamteamdesmoines.org if you or your cycling team would like to support Dream Team in 2025.

On this episode of the Moving Forward podcast, we hear about the Dream Team from a parent’s perspective.  Perla and Shelly join us in this special Parents Edition of the Moving Forward speak to two moms who have each been involved with Dream Team for the past several years.   Shelly is mom to Christopher and MacKenzie, who were both on the team over the past few years.  And Perla, is mom to three youth – Aaron, Kimmie and Inez – who also were members of the team over the past few years.   We hope you enjoy this special episode of Moving Forward.  

Caleb, Nora and Kiley joined us this evening to record a special episode of Moving Forward.
 
Caleb tells us how his participation with Dream Team improved his social skills and helped bring him happiness.
 
Nora and Kiley recapped the 2025 season and each shared stories about some of the most inspirational moments during RAGBRAII.
 
We also said goodbye to Sid, a member of our IT crew, who is moving to Cedar Falls for college in just a few days.

First year Dream Team members Jose and AJ joined us for Episode 31 of the Moving Forward Podcast.  Jose will be a sophomore next year at Abraham Lincoln High School and AJ will be a junior at Joshua Christian Academy.
 
And Mentor Lizzie Shipman joined us to discuss the team’s readiness for RAGBRAI.
 
The 2025 Dream Team is scheduled to depart for Orange City on July 19th with our largest-ever team of 58 youth.
 
Several members of the team will be joining us on the next episode of Moving Forward to talk about their  week of biking across the state of Iowa.

On Episode 22 of Moving Forward we talk with Lizzie Shipman, who is one the team’s Associate Executive Directors.  We’re already about a third of the way through out 2025 training season and Lizzie talks with us about some of the things that set this year’s team apart.
 
And we speak with Nolan, a senior at Waukee High School who is starting her second year with Dream team.  Nolan also recently started a new job with Bike World.  Nolan talks us with about how he is looking to develop his leadership skills over the months ahead as a Junior Mentor.

On Episode 21 of Moving Forward we talk with Bryan Cushman, who is starting his first year as a mentor.  Bryan talks with us about why his is so motivated to help our youth and how Dream Team also changed his life.
 
And we speak with Addy, a sophomore at Ankeny High School who is starting her third year with Dream team.  In addition to Dream Team, Addy is one of the top rowers in the Midwest and just returned from a weekend competition in Illinois where she and her teammates brought home the gold. 
 
Addy will talk with us about why she decided to step forward to be a Junior Mentor this year and about her goal of becoming one of the leaders on the 2025 team.

Mentors Erin Gill and Jill Dykstra join us on this episode of Moving Forward to talk about some of the new and innovative programs they are putting in place to help our provide our mentors with more tools to help our youth around mental health.
 
And Jeremiah talks with us about his trip to New York City and appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show.
 
Jeremiah also speaks about why he stepped forward this season to be a Junior Mentor and about how hopes to develop leadership skills during his second year on the Team.

Marko and Meles are seventh graders at Callanan Middle School and in this episode of Moving Forward, they talk about how they found the courage to join Dream Team and about their goals for the upcoming season.
 
And we talk with Shay, a senior at Dallas Center Grimes High School.  Shay talks with us about her personal transformation over the past four years with Dream Team.  Today, Shay is not only one of the leadres of the 2025 team.  She is also always one of the first members of the team to help and lift up our newest members.

Nicholas and mentor Chris Higdon joined us for Episode 30 of the Moving Forward podcast.
Nicholas is a senior and just graduated from Des Moines Roosevelt. Over the past five years, Nicholas has stepped forward to be a Junior Mentor and has become one of the best cyclists on the entire team.
 
Chris is part of our leadership group and is a major contributor to everything we do.

Chozin and Katherine joined us for Episode 29 of the Moving Forward podcast.
 
Chozin just finished seventh grade at Hiatt Middle School and is just 12 years old. But over the past few months, she’s demonstrated that she’s one of the strongest riders on the 2025 team.
 
Chozin talked with us about the hill work she’s been doing on her off days to make herself better and about why she is so excited for RAGBRAI.
 
And we talked with Katherine, who we met Katherine through our partnership with Des Moines Refugee Support.  Katherine talks with us about her unwavering commitment to helping youth at both organizations.

Fourteen year-old Ashton joined on Episode 28 of Moving Forward to talk about all the hard work and the tremendous progress he’s made over the past several months on Dream Team.
 
And Ashton shares how proud and inspired he is by his 13 year-old younger brother , Donnavan, who also is a member of the 2025 team.
 
And mentor Jon Schaben joins us to talk about his passion for helping our youth and shares why he and his wife, Darla, serve as Dream Team mentors.

JT and Remy join us on Episode 27 of Moving Forward, the official podcast of Dream Team Des Moines.
 
JT talks with us about his work to create and grown his sneaker business that he started two years ago when he was just 12 years-old.  And he talks with us about how he’s grown and a leader in this, his second year on the team.  A recent 8th grade graduate, JT will be a freshman this fall at Dowling Catholic High School.
 
Remy has become a bit of a legend on Dream Team.  He tells us about his first year on the t

On Episode 26, we talk with two rock stars on the 2025 Dream Team.
 
Fourteen year-old Miles talks with us about how he found the courage to be the first member of the team to volunteer to share his personal story as part of the team’s speaker series during Mental Health Awareness Month.  A very skilled and passionate cyclist, Miles tells us about some of the things he’s most looking forward to in July when he will complete his first RAGBRAI.
 
And Dave Foell tells us why he mentors and shares some of his takeaways so far from this season.  A father of three boys from Waukee, Dave also shares some of the key messages from his appearance before the team last June during Pride Month when he spoke about diversity and inclusion.

On Episode 25 of Moving Forward we speak with Nathan and Christian.  Nathan is starting his third year on the team.  At 16, this is Nathan’s third year on the team.  Nathan tells us how Dream Team has helped him come out of his shell and about how he is now focused on developing his leadership skills. 
 
Christian joined the team this year and it is already clear that he’s pretty passionate about cycling. 
 
In a touching moment, Nathan and Christian share the traits they see in their brother that inspire them the most.
 
Raichel is the team’s youth coordinator.  She talks about the 2025 class that she took the lead in recruiting and she tell us why mentoring is so important to her, even during this incredibly busy time in her life.

On Episode 24 of Moving Forward we speak with Corbin.  Now in his third year on Dream Team, Corbin has firmly established himself as a leader on the 2025 team.  He always finds time to help our younger mentors of the team.  Corbin talks with us about his motivation to be one of the best cyclists on RAGBRAI this summer and about his work as a bike mechanic at Bike World.
 
And we talk with one of the elite-level Dream Team mentors, Brad Lichter.  Brad shares some inspiring stories from his past several years of volunteering with Dream Team and about some of his personal interests when he’s not riding with the team.

On Episode 23 of Moving Forward, we speak with Inez.  She’s just 14 years-old and a freshman at Dowling, but Inez has already firmly established herself as a leader on the 2025 team.  Inez has already completed the longest-ever and the hilliest-ever RAGBRAIs.  On this episode of Moving Forward, Inez talks with us about her goals for this season and about the work she is doing as a Junior Mentor to develop her leadership skills.
 
But first, we talk with new mentors Katie Baird and Caleb Smith.  Katie and Caleb are amazing with our youth and we talk with them about how their decision to find a way to give back led them to Dream Team.