Grad rides across U.S. to help those with Parkinson’s
Henry Prescott looks more like a body builder than a stereotypically skinny Boulder bicyclist. The 2009 CU-Boulder history graduate is a personal trainer now working at the YMCA of Boulder while studying for his teaching certificate at Metro State University.
On May 16, Prescott and a friend will begin a 43-day, transcontinental cross-country bicycle ride that will start in Seattle and end in Portland, Conn. His aim is to raise money to support people living with Parkinson’s Disease, and the ride is called Cycle Sea to Sea for PD.
He’ll average 87 miles per day for each of the 43 days.
"I have worked with numerous clients since 2010 and have developed a special admiration and appreciation for those battling Parkinson’s disease.”
Prescott has long been interested in physical fitness. But he admits that the idea for the cross-country fund-raiser will push him outside of his comfort zone.
So why cycling? And why for those living with Parkinson’s?
“I have worked with numerous clients since 2010 and have developed a special admiration and appreciation for those battling Parkinson’s disease,” Prescott says.
At the YMCA, Prescott works with people with Parkinson’s. In the beginning, “I didn’t know a lot about how Parkinson’s Disease progressed or how exercise could improve symptoms and delay or retard some of those symptoms.”
After helping to teach fitness classes for people with Parkinson’s at the Y, in 2013 he attended a Parkinson wellness workshop, which reaffirmed the importance of exercise and continual movement for people with Parkinson’s.
While cruising around Cape Cod on rented bikes with his father last fall, Prescott had a “eureka” moment.
“I’ve always been into health and fitness and wellness, and I thought, ‘What better way to combine a physical challenge with a philanthropic cause.’”
To prepare this spring, Prescott has been doing rides of up to 100 miles of and gutting out tough climbs such as Red Rocks, Sunshine Canyon and Magnolia Road.
“Before the last six months, I wasn’t honestly a big cyclist,” Prescott says. “I rode here or there, but I like taking on new challenges.”
He describes himself as a gung-ho person, and he does not express apprehension about the cumulative fatigue of riding long distance day after day. He plans to use a foam roller and stretching to keep his muscles from getting too tight. He plans to sleep as much and as well as possible. And his dad will be following in a “sag wagon.”
At the same time, Prescott acknowledges a major mental component of such a physical undertaking. “You have to really settle in for the grind and realize that it is a grind. A lot of the ride will be more mental than it will be physical.”
Initially, he aimed to raise $10,000. So far, he’s raised $26,000. The money will go to four nonprofits: the Davis Phinney Foundation for Parkinson’s, GZ Sobel’s Parkinson’s Network, the Parkinson’s Association of the Rockies, and the YMCA of Boulder Valley.
Prescott said he appreciates the support he’s gotten so far. CU-Boulder helped reinforce his perseverance and determination, and “all those skills are going to be incorporated on the ride.”
