ASHLAND — Lesa McGarity has had several opportunities to quit throughout her life.
But the Ashland native and disabled U.S. Navy veteran never has.
Approaching her 60th birthday in September, McGarity has dealt with issues in her right foot since she was 10 years old. What began as pain from an unknown cause was eventually diagnosed as tarsal coalition — an abnormal connection between the bones on the top of the foot, according to Cleveland Clinic.
The first surgery on her foot was performed when McGarity was 14 years old. She’s had five more over the past 45 years, one as recent as two years ago, leaving the middle of her right foot fused.
Despite her condition, the 1983 Ashland High School grad enlisted in the Navy at age 19. She served for a decade as a cryptologic technician operator and completed repair and electronics work on that same equipment near the end of those 10 years.
Due to the nature of her work, traumatic arthritis began to plague McGarity on top of her existing tarsal coalition.
“I was getting very discouraged and frustrated,” she said. “You feel like you’re finally getting going again and then you’re just right back to where you started.”
Everything changed when a friend shared a contact card with McGarity in February 2025.
Now residing in Spartanburg, South Carolina with her husband of 32 years, a married couple who attend the same gym as McGarity traveled to Grumpy’s Bike Shop in Spindale, North Carolina to purchase e-bikes.
Grumpy’s happens to be a vendor of the Asheville, North Carolina Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The card from Grumpy’s led McGarity to contact the person in charge of the adaptive sports program at the Asheville VA.
It’s given me the confidence to just keep going.
LESA McGarity
Grumpy’s builds custom recumbent trikes, after approval from the VA, to fit riders and their specific disabilities. McGarity rode two trikes provided to her by Honor the Warriors — a nonprofit which leases trikes to veterans for $1 per year, prior to receiving her custom trike.
“I started out doing like 10 or 15 miles and I would just do that over and over. I just started adding more miles because it was just such a blessing to me,” she said. “It’s given me the confidence to just keep going.”
McGarity has ridden more than 5,400 miles and is participating in the Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure, a seven-day ride from Sunday to Saturday. This year’s GOBA tour includes stops in several nearby cities, including Shelby, Ashland, Norwalk and Wooster.
GOBA will arrive in Shelby around 9 a.m. Monday and depart Tuesday at 6:30 a.m. for Wooster. Riders will arrive in Ashland around 9 a.m. Thursday and depart Saturday at 6:30 a.m. back to Norwalk.
No plans to stop riding
McGarity will also be riding in the Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa in July. Both GOBA and RAGBRAI total around 400 miles. She participated in Face of America in May, which takes riders from Arlington, Virginia to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
“I can’t even describe what it has done for me mentally and physically,” she said. “It’s been an amazing journey and I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.”
A mega-fan of The Ohio State University, McGarity had her trike custom-painted in the Buckeyes’ signature scarlet — down to the exact hex code of the color.
An unexpected twist in McGarity’s story is she never learned to ride a bike as a child.
“I never rode a bike. I could never ride a bike,” she said. “It’s just kind of ironic now that I finally get to experience it (in this way). It’s just been amazing.”
Honor the Warriors has more than 30 trikes in use by veterans, she said. The impact it’s having would be equally important whether it was one trike or 300.
“It doesn’t seem like a lot, but it is, considering the service that they’re providing for veterans,” McGarity said.
So what’s her ultimate goal? To ride across the country someday, she said.
Now entering her 20th year of teaching, McGarity joked she’d need to retire before she can attempt the challenge — but the route to accomplish the goal does exist, she said.
Riding with other veterans has fostered a strong sense of community and togetherness for McGarity and others, she said.
She also wanted to thank her husband, Wally, and two children, Taylor and Devin, for their years of support on this journey.
“Life is short and you can’t take anything for granted. You’ve got to live life,” she said. “I’ve been able to live life and I’m going to keep on doing what I’m doing.
“What this riding has done, it’s given me a confidence that I didn’t have before. It’s shown me what I’m capable of. I never thought when I started riding that I’d be doing what I’m doing.”
