FOREST CITY — Over breakfast at the Forest Plaza Assisted Living Center, Torie Giffin reminisced about the 2023 Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa.
She quickly swiped through the images on her cellphone until she landed on a short video that showed an endless road stretching before her, her teenage son Daniel and their loved ones. Their smiles were as big and bright as the sun rose behind them.
That was Daniel’s last RAGBRAI, his teary-eyed mother said — the last time the teen, who was battling pediatric brain cancer, was healthy enough to tackle the world’s oldest and largest annual bike tour.
Daniel died June 22 at his Colorado home surrounded by family and close friends. Born on June 26, 2007, he was just four days away from his 18th birthday.
“It’s still a little challenging,” said Giffin, whose team of riders stayed with residents at the assisted living center during the event’s overnight stop Tuesday, July 22, in Forest City.
Son’s cancer battle was part of Register’s RAGBRAI documentary
She and Daniel were featured in the 2023 film “SHIFT: The RAGBRAI Documentary,” co-directed by Des Moines Register Iowa columnist Courtney Crowder and then-photo editor Kelsey Kremer. It follows the course of three riders, one of them Daniel, and a pair of community volunteers celebrating their victories and challenges over the course of the weeklong event.
The Giffins’ portion traced how a rider had called Daniel a “cheater” for riding RAGBRAI on an electric power-assisted bike in 2021, prompting what became a viral Facebook posting from his mother admonishing the unnamed bully: “Know that this amazing young man who once at 11 years-old rode up Pikes Peak on a Unicycle is now in a 3 year battle with an incurable brain cancer and he is twice the man you’ll ever be.”
On RAGBRAI 2025, she’s riding his e-bike, which still bears his nametag. And she said she’s riding the same way he did: weaving between the dashed centerline while shaking her butt.
“It just made sense that after he passed that it would be good, healing, to come back to Iowa (and) absolutely lose myself and find myself,” she said.
On Wednesday morning, the start of RAGBRAI’s I Ride 4 Day for riders supporting a cause, she and her team set out in colorful T-shirts, custom stickers and bracelets bearing Daniel’s name.
Torie Giffin pointed to a Bible verse on the tie-dyed, blue bracelets she said sums up her son’s long battle with cancer. From the First Epistle to Timothy, it reads: “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.”
In the last few days, Giffin said, she has been met with hugs and kind words from people who came across Daniel’s story and were touched by his journey.
Daniel planned to come along on RAGBRAI 2025
Giffin said she registered for this year’s RAGBRAI in December. Daniel, of course, planned to come along as a nonrider.
His condition, however, worsened. He already had lost use of his feet and was experiencing unbearable pain.
Still, the Giffins hoped to once again be part of the Iowa tradition. They hoped to find a way for him to ride in one of RAGBRAI’s support-and-gear, or SAG, vans.
But in the intervening months, the family learned that Daniel’s tumors had doubled in size and spread to his bones, spine and hips. Daily tasks became difficult for him to complete on his own.
“It was getting bad really fast,” said his mother, who runs the Buffalo Lodge Bicycle Resort in Colorado Springs. “So, I was a full-time caregiver for him and took a step back from my business. And, I wasn’t riding or training, because I never wanted to leave his side.”
In the assisted living center’s parking lot early Wednesday in Forest City, she and her team gathered to prepare themselves for the grueling ride ahead, beset by heat and headwinds. In between chatter, some doused themselves in sunscreen while others doublechecked their belongings.
Giffin opened a small bag tied to the back of her bike. She pulled out an EpiPen that contained Daniel’s ashes, her way of carrying him with her — literally.
This ride is for him, she said.
Departing from the lot, she hopped on her bike and yelled: “Yeehaw!”
Iowa columnist Courtney Crowder contributed to this article.
F. Amanda Tugade covers community and faith for the Des Moines Register. Email her at ftugade@dmreg.com or follow her on X @writefelissa.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: I Ride 4 Daniel: Mother makes journey for late son on RAGBRAI, the event they both loved
Reporting by F. Amanda Tugade, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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