A few weeks from now, longtime Belmont resident Bob Ryan will board a flight from Boston to Portland, Oregon, where he will begin a roughly 825-mile bike ride to San Francisco—all in the name of Alzheimer’s research.
“My father-in-law, he ended up passing away with Alzheimer’s,” he said. “Now my mother-in-law has Alzheimer’s. The more you talk to people—it’s [an] epidemic.”
Alzheimer’s disease is a type of dementia affecting memory, thinking, and behavior, according to the Alzheimer’s Association, which helps to fund global research for a cure and leads the way in Alzheimer’s care, support, and advocacy. Symptoms eventually grow severe enough to interfere with daily tasks.
In 2019, as he watched as his father-in-law suffered from the disease, Ryan came across Ride to End Alzheimer’s, a fund-raising cycling event. It had been a while since he’d sat on a bike, but he didn’t hesitate.
“I said, ‘I’m going to do that,”’ he said. “I can now .. dovetail two passions of mine: cycling … and maybe I can make a difference.”
That ride, which took place in New Hampshire, would be the first of four—soon to be five— he would do in support of the Alzheimer’s Association. Subsequent Ride to End Alzheimer’s events were completed “virtually,” meaning riders independently completed a set number of miles (typically around 100) while raising money. Due to injury, Ryan missed out on the 2022 and 2023 events, but returned to the saddle in 2024, upping the ante by riding from Buffalo to Albany, New York for a total of 350 miles.
In just a few weeks, on Feb. 20, Ryan will more than double that mileage and embark on a solo, self-supported trip along the West Coast, peddling an average of 65 to 70 miles a day for roughly 825 miles. As a self-supported journey, he won’t have access to a support van or others meeting him with supplies at stops along the way. Everything he needs—a tent, bike parts, food, clean clothes—will be carried on his bike.
Moreover, his upcoming ride will be considerably more challenging than his past participation in the event. The distance will be about double the ride from Buffalo to Albany, and the terrain will be “way more challenging.”
“My first day’s ride from Portland to the coast is going to be up over the coastal range, so that’s going to be … I think it’s like a 2,000-foot climb,” he said.
He’ll experience as much as a 1,200-foot elevation gain a day, he said, and unlike past rides, he’ll be camping a lot more. It will, however, be a less trafficked route compared to other routes he could take.
To get to this point, Ryan has tried to maintain an average of 75 to 100 miles of cycling per week — quite the challenge in the middle of a New England winter, he acknowledged. Ryan, however, is no stranger to long rides.
“My first big ride was 1985,” he said. “I went up to Montreal, Canada, and met a friend up there … rode up to Montreal, Canada from Rhode Island and we rode back together to Rhode Island. On that ride, I said ‘Wow, this is awesome.’ You have all your own stuff, complete freedom … I said, ‘I’m going to ride across the country someday.’”
After that trip, Ryan moved to California for a job. A few years later, in 1988, when he decided to return home to New England, he journeyed via bike. When he married his wife, they spent two months cycling Europe together. That ended up being his last big bicycle trip for several years.
“2019 comes along, and my father-in-law was very affected by Alzheimer’s, to the point where he couldn’t really speak; he was incoherent, couldn’t recognize anybody,” he said. “So I said I wanted to do something to help the cause. So, I signed up for the Alzheimer’s Ride after having not really ridden seriously for a number of years. … I did the ride in June of 2019, and I’ve kept riding ever since.”
When Ryan rides, he does it for his father-in-law, his mother-in-law, and his wife’s uncle, and the parent of a friend in California.
He hopes his rides—which also benefit his physical and mental health—will contribute to finding a cure.
“The way I look at it, I’m riding for everyone who’s affected in any way, because I’d like to do my part in ending this,” Ryan said.
So far, he’s raised $8,000— just $2,000 short of his $10,000 goal for this year’s event.
“I want people to be aware of [Alzheimer’s] and that we can do something about it, but that the research has to be funded and we have to do everything we can to help. I’m trying to [do] my part, I’m trying to do my small bit to make a difference.”
Donations can be made online at tinyurl.com/BobRyanRide.