Tom Ritchey (born 1956) is an American bicycle frame builder, Category 1 racer, fabricator, designer, and founder of Ritchey Design. Ritchey was an early US pioneer in the craft of modern frame building and the first production mountain bike builder/manufacturer in the history of the sport. He is an innovator of bicycle components that have been raced to victory in some of the biggest cycling competitions in the world including the UCI World Championships, the Tour de France and the Olympics. In 1988, Ritchey was inducted into the inaugural Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in Crested Butte, CO (now located in Fairfax, CA): and 2012, inducted to the United States Bicycle Hall of Fame in Davis, California.
In December 2005, Ritchey was challenged by a friend to experience Rwanda. Ritchey decided to do it by bicycle. He found the landscape to be a beautiful one, but the people and their journey of reconciliation even more compelling. Ritchey rode through the hilly countryside, (Rwanda is called, Land of a Thousand Hills) and witnessed the incredible cycling talent that existed there, without any of the modern cycling technology available to the average cyclist here in the USA. Ritchey believed that a national cycling team could bring a sense of hope and national pride. Within the next few months, Ritchey began to formalize a 501c3 called, Project Rwanda. Ritchey then asked his friend, Jared Miller, if he would go to Rwanda to explore possibilities of putting on a cycling event. On September 16, 2006, Ritchey sponsored the first annual Rwandan Wooden Bike Classic, held in Karongi Stadium. More than 3,000 Rwandans filled the stadium and lined the streets to watch the country's first mountain bike, wooden bike, and single speed colonial bike race. Ritchey would ask North American Tour de France Stage winner, Alex Stieda, and cycling pioneer, Jock Boyer, to race alongside him at the event held to celebrate the wooden bike innovation and what it meant to Ritchey. After the event, Ritchey asked Boyer to help him in finding and cultivating cycling talent, which would become Team Rwanda. It was also at this event that Ritchey decided there was more he could do for the once war torn country, devastated by their genocide. Ritchey designed a geared cargo/Coffee bike, capable of carrying heavy loads, to help the Rwandans, especially the coffee farmers in the rural areas of Rwanda, get their crops more efficiently to washing stations. He worked with other NGO's like World Vision and Bikes for Rwanda, to help distribute approximately 4,000 bikes, through micro finance programs and grants.

Q: what does rwanda mean
A: In December 2005, Ritchey was challenged by a friend to experience Rwanda. Ritchey decided to do it by bicycle.

Q: how did this name come about
A: unknown

Q: and what was this
A: Ritchey was challenged by a friend to experience Rwanda. Ritchey decided to do it by bicycle.
did this do well
More than 3,000 Rwandans filled the stadium and lined the streets to watch the country's first mountain bike, wooden bike, and single speed colonial bike race. More than 3,000 Rwandans filled the stadium and lined the streets to watch the country's first mountain bike, wooden bike, and single speed colonial bike race. More than 3,000 Rwandans filled the stadium and lined the streets More than 3,000 Rwandans filled the stadium and lined the streets to watch the country's first mountain bike, wooden bike, and single speed colonial bike race. More than 3,000 Rwandans filled the stadium and lined the streets to watch the country's first mountain bike, wooden bike, and single speed colonial bike race.
More than 3,000 Rwandans filled the stadium and lined the streets to watch the country's first mountain bike, wooden bike, and single speed colonial bike race.