The New England Parkinson’s ride was created by the Woods family in the Summer of 2008 after Chris Woods, an avid cyclist, was diagnosed with PD at the age of 41. He was a regular at the annual Diabetes and MS rides, but his family found that there was no benefit ride for Parkinson’s research in the US, so they started their own. The first year only drew only 35 riders but as of last year, it grew to 800+ cyclists (from 19 states & 3 Canadian provinces) and 200+ volunteers. In 2015 alone, it raised $547,000 and the cumulative total since the rides inception has now surpassed $2 million. For two years in a row it has been the largest independent single-day fundraising member event for Team Fox in the history of the Michael J Fox Foundation.
