Fundraising wheels turning as Schmid prepares to hit the trail

Local entertainer John Schmid is well known for serenading the masses with his Johnny Cash sound and his many humorous tunes, but coming soon, he will trade in his trademark guitar for a pair of wheels.

Schmid will head off on a bicycling adventure, performing a fundraiser bike ride of 334 miles on the Great Allegheny Passage and C&O Canal Towpath in Cumberland, bridging the gap between Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.

“I wanted to take a bike ride,” Schmid said of his upcoming journey that will see him take to the Appalachian Country mountains and trails on Aug. 23.

Joining him on his venture will be Mel Eash of Grace Haven Ministries in Indiana.

Each man will raise their own funds, Schmid’s Common Ground Ministries focusing on prison ministry while Grace Haven assists pastors with working through difficult decisions such as physical, emotional and spiritual abuse and dysfunctional marriages.

Schmid’s Common Ground Ministries has been operating for more than three decades, and he said while it is incredibly fulfilling, it has changed drastically since the pandemic changed the way things operate.

“It’s going well, but things have slowed down since COVID because so many of the people I’ve dealt with for many years decided to leave because of the stress,” Schmid said.

That has meant dealing with new prison leadership teams that have no idea who or what Schmid does or represents.

Currently, the prisons in which he is able to share his music and mission include correctional institutes in the cities of London, Grafton and Mansfield, as well as county prisons in Madison, Belmont, Noble, Marion and Lorraine.

“It remains so fulfilling,” Schmid said. “We get to touch lives of people in a very unique way, and I love it. The prison ministry seems to fit my personality and talents well.”

For Schmid, the idea of riding a bike for long periods of time is not foreign. In 2013 he road from the West Coast back to Holmes County, raising $40,000 in the process.

While maybe a decade older, he still hasn’t lost the passion to bicycle, trekking on a daily route from his home in Benton to Fredericksburg, down to Holmesville and back.

He said he wrote a quick sentence on his newsletter that succinctly explains his willingness to attempt this current trek.

“My brain thinks I’m 25. My body thinks I’m an idiot,” Schmid said.

Older and wiser, it isn’t nearly as long of a trip as it was in 2013, but Schmid is an avid cycling enthusiast.

“I actually sold my first bicycle at 16 when I got my driver’s license and never figured I’d need one ever again,” Schmid said. “But later we went on a mission trip to Costa Rica, and I bought one down there out of necessity. One day I biked from coast to coast, across the entire nation of Costa Rica in one day. I’m not sure, but I think I may have been the first person to ever do that.”

Everyone there told him he was crazy for even trying the feat. Costa Rica is a small nation but a very mountainous one.

Schmid proved the naysayers wrong.

Ever since then he has used cycling as a means of staying fit.

The fundraising portion of the trip will see Schmid pouring all proceeds into his ministry, dedicating the funds to supporting the Bible Study Correspondence course he offers to prisoners.

Schmid said he is accepting one-time donations and anyone who would like to sponsor him per mile.

Anyone wishing to donate may do so by calling or texting Schmid at 330-231-1164 or emailing him at johnschmid89@gmail.com. Those wishing to send checks may do so by mailing John Schmid, Box 178, Berlin, OH 44610, with the words Bike Trip in the memo line.