Riding for a Cause

Raising money for charity, Glenn Hirsch ’72 finished a 17-year, 10,000-mile, bicycling journey on Dec. 29, as he rode the last 512 miles of his quest to cycle the perimeter of the continental United States.

Hirsch, who earned his Lehigh degree in biology and is a family physician, rode from Phoenix, Arizona, to the Santa Monica Pier in California to honor his nephew, Ian Besner, and raise research funds for the I Care I Cure Childhood Cancer Foundation created in 2007 by Ian’s parents, Beth and Brad. The foundation is dedicated to finding gentler ways to treat childhood cancer without the side effects associated with traditional adult treatments.

Hirsch and his wife, Lynn, created I Care I Cure I Cycle in 2009 to raise money for the foundation and raise awareness about childhood cancer treatments. With Lynn as his support and gear assistant accompanying him in their car, they have raised about $100,000 for the foundation. The treks for I Care I Cure include bicycling from Key West, Florida, to the Canadian border; from Seattle, Washington, to San Francisco; from New Orleans to Augustine, Florida; and from Phoenix to New Orleans.

Some of the challenges Hirsch faced riding—sometimes 100 miles a day—were eating every 20 miles to keep his body fueled, drinking enough to avoid dehydration, facing adverse weather conditions, losing cell phone communication with Lynn, being injured, getting lost, having flat tires, and keeping a motivated and positive attitude.

“When you have a difficult task, you can be overwhelmed,” Hirsch said, and shared that his most demanding ride was in Wyoming where it was 104 degrees, a steady uphill climb, and 30 mph winds that gusted to 50 mph. “During my difficult days, I would think about Ian’s journey and know that I could not hold a candle to that.”

Two months after his first fundraising ride in 2000 from Seattle, Washington, to Washington, D.C., Hirsch had to take a brief break from cycling when he had a stress-related heart attack. After taking time to recover from double bypass surgery, he was back on his bike to train and rode the 75-mile Silver Comet Trail near Atlanta that leads to Alabama.

Hirsch estimates that he has biked 130,000 miles. Many of these miles were done to raise funds for charities including the American Lung Association and Arthritis Foundation, among others. Some of the most beautiful vistas that he has seen were the Pacific Northwest, the Badlands and the Rocky Mountains.

During the last 2.8 miles to the Santa Monica Pier, Hirsch was joined on bikes by his wife and other members of his family.

“As the Pacific Ocean came into sight, I felt a tremendous sense of pride and accomplishment,” he said.

Story by Dawn Thren ’21P