Taos native stopping in J.C. July 16 with Biking for Babies

So many people associate the pro-life movement with just being about the babies. But it’s actually about supporting and loving every single person — the baby, the mom, everyone involved.”

Erin Sprenger

Taos native Erin Sprenger was stuck in the mud in the support-crew vehicle during last year’s Biking for Babies National Ride.

She didn’t get halfway through her first decade of the Rosary before a passing motorist pulled over to help her.

Then, someone else arrived from another direction.

“I had these two complete strangers help to push my car out of the mud, just out of the kindness of their hearts,” she recalled.

“It was a total God moment, a total blessing.”

It later occurred to her that this was the kind of help she and the rest of her team of Biking for Babies missionaries were working to give pregnant women who are in crisis: A blessing. An answer to prayer.

“Our team believes in a world that respects the dignity of every single life, and we are chasing that vision,” she said.

Ms. Sprenger, a graduate of St. Francis Xavier School in Taos, a former teacher at St. Joseph Cathedral School in Jefferson City and currently a third-grade teacher at St. Francis Xavier School in St. Joseph, is part of the support crew for the western leg of this year’s Biking for Babies tour.

Participating college-age and young-adult cyclists raise money and awareness for local Pregnancy Resource Centers (PRCs) by riding and praying together for about 100 miles a day for six or seven days.

The north-, south-, east- and west-traveling groups, each consisting of about a dozen riders, will converge for a Celebration of Life in St. Louis on July 17 after having propelled themselves a combined 2,700 miles.

Ms. Sprenger’s group, beginning in Colorado, will stop in Jefferson City on Friday, July 16, in time for 5 p.m. Mass in the Cathedral of St. Joseph.

A couple of Biking for Babies missionaries will give witness about their experiences and motivation for taking part in the National Ride.

The Pregnancy Help Center of Central Missouri will offer tours of its mobile unit, which allows the organization to give free ultrasounds to women who are pregnant or believe they might be.

All are invited to attend.

Cathedral of St. Joseph Parish also plans to livestream the event on its Facebook page.

Back for more

This is Biking for Babies’ 12th annual National Ride and Ms. Sprenger’s second.

She describes Biking for Babies as “a pro-life nonprofit aiming to rebuild the culture of life by forming young adult missionaries and raising awareness and financial support for pregnancy resource centers.”

By pushing themselves to the limit each day on the road, “our missionaries give witness to the beauty of every human life and to spread the good news of life-affirming pregnancy resource centers who support women and families locally and nationally,” she said.

The group aims to raise $225,000 in donations this year for its PRC partners, including the Jefferson City-based PHC of Central Missouri.

That would bring Biking for Babies’ 12-year total to over $1 million raised to help pregnant women and their babies.

All of the biking and support missionaries take part in spiritual formation as part of their training for the National Ride.

The teams have been meeting monthly online since March, discussing their prayer lives, their fundraising progress, organization and logistics for the support crew, and physical training for the cyclists.

They’ve also learned about the work of pregnancy help centers, including their partner PRCs: to provide free support and resources to the women and families who are experiencing an unplanned, difficult or at-risk pregnancy.

Complete service

As a teacher, Ms. Sprenger makes a point of spending some of her summer down-time serving God on some kind of mission trip and then sharing her experiences with her students and their families.

She signed up to help Biking for Babies last year because she believes in the work of pregnancy resource centers.

She served on the support crew for 2020’s COVID-curtailed event, which took place entirely in Wisconsin.

She decided to return this year because of the compelling witness of the young adults she met last year.

“Just seeing their deep faith lives and their heart for this mission,” she said. “I see them not just as great friends but also role models for how I can grow in my personal relationship with Christ.”

She also sees this as a chance to extend her own witness as a pro-life missionary.

“So many people associate the pro-life movement with just being about the babies,” she stated. “But it’s actually about supporting and loving every single person — the baby, the mom, everyone involved.

“And we’re not just going to get you to say yes to having this baby and then leave you stranded and alone,” she noted. “We’re going to offer you this love and support so that you feel truly capable of being a mother.”

That is the essence of what pregnancy resource centers give, free of charge, to their clients.

“So we as Biking for Babies are out there, making sacrifices to show the world the great help, love and support that these organizations are providing moms who are in crisis,” she said.

Teams for this year’s National Ride are starting in Green Bay, Wisconsin; Columbus, Ohio; Natchez, Mississippi; and Holly, Colorado.

Ms. Sprenger and another support-crew missionary will drive the support and gear vehicle for the Western Group, keeping the riders hydrated, fed, energized and on course while they cycle over 800 miles through Colorado, Kansas and Missouri.

“We kind of leapfrog with the riders, making sure they are staying on course,” said Ms. Sprenger. “Anytime they have to turn on a different road, we’re marking the turn there ahead of them.”

She is also coordinating the stops along the way and helping communities organize nightly events for the missionaries to share their mission.

She sees all of this through a Marian lens.

“My role is to be of complete service to the riders, just as Mary served Jesus throughout her lifetime,” she said.

The support crew also joins the riders in hours of personal prayer.

“The riders offer up a ton of prayers while they’re on the bike and pushing through the pain of all that cycling,” Ms. Sprenger noted.

“As support crew members, we pray for the safety for the riders, but also for our pregnancy resource centers that we’re partnered with, and their prayer intentions, the prayer intentions of our mission partners, those who are donating to the cause and helping us reach our fundraising goals,” she said.

“We also pray for pregnant women in crisis who haven’t found a PRC yet, who haven’t found help, who are seeking an abortion — for them to have a change of heart and find loving support,” she stated.

Joyful Jesus

At the end of last year’s National Ride, Ms. Sprenger was reflecting on the week’s experiences when a vivid image of Jesus entered her mind.

“He was on a bicycle, in His sandals,” she recalled. “He was leading the draft line and was in front and just pulling the team along. He was exuding absolute joy in taking the hardest spot on the team.”

That reinforced for her once again that God is at the center of this mission.

“Together, we serve as Jesus’s hands and feet by offering up the time, the preparation and all of the sacrifices in order to give life to those who are the most vulnerable,” she said.

She asked for prayers for agreeable weather, safety for the riders throughout the National Ride, “and for the success of the mission — a change in the culture for the better, for the one that respects the dignity of human life at every stage.”

Find information about getting involved, donating or helping at bikingforbabies.com, by searching “Biking for Babies” on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, or texting “give” to 636-303-1003.