Tom Schwein
Episode 394
24 AUG 2026
The founder and team captain of Team Samaritan Cycling as part of Ride Across America, a coast-to-coast cycling campaign from San Diego to St. Augustine. As a student athlete he played baseball at what was then called Regis College and later played four years of softball and eventually became a runner, including participating in multiple Boston Marathons. He turned to cycling in 2010 by way of Ride the Rockies, the marquee cycling event in the state of Colorado. And, he has had extensive involvement with Catholic Charities.
Notable guest quotes:
“It takes training and it takes resilience. It takes dedication. And it takes wanting to do something for a cause.”
“When I chose that we would raise money for the Samaritan House – because, it’s non-denominational. And I wanted to encompass not just Catholics, but just Christians, people that wanted to do something for a cause. And the Samaritan House is actually … owned by Catholic Charities, and they support it as they now do five different homeless shelters in Colorado. And we’re raising money on this ride for all of the five Samaritan houses.”
“We have an opportunity on this ride to actually go in and either serve dinner or meet the people that live there and get national awareness for the crisis of homelessness… along the route.”
“We’re launching a program here in Colorado today and it’s called Miles for Hope and it’s to engage all of the Catholic parishes in Colorado, all the Catholic schools in Colorado, to help us raise money for the crisis of homelessness in Colorado.”
“With about 50 yards to go, I hit a divot in the pavement and my wheel turned 90 degrees and I went right over the top of my bike at about 30 miles an hour.”
“When I look at those pictures I just break down in tears because it was really, not just painful but, it was really a day where I didn’t realize what God was calling me to do.”
“I really started to like running and that led to winning a couple of 5Ks in Colorado and … actually I qualified for the Boston Marathon, and I went back and ran two consecutive Boston Marathons.”
“My tagline is, if you are what you’re meant to be, you’ll set the world on fire. And that’s from St. Catherine of Siena.”
“I got rejected from everybody, so I walked on (at Regis College) and by about the third day of practice the (baseball) coach came up and said, ‘I’d like you to be one of our four starters’.”
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