Rockville Man Trains for 300-Mile Charity Bike Ride

By his own description, Seth Pollack is over 40, overweight and way out of shape.

“It’s a mindset I need to work on,” Pollack tells Patch. “When I was younger, I was more fit. I was in shape.”

But in a few months Pollack will be biking hundreds of miles for charity.

Pollack, 42, of Rockville is participating in the NYC-DC Climate Ride, a five-day, 300-mile charity ride from Manhattan to the nation’s capital Sept. 21-25.

Climate Ride is a nonprofit group that advocates for sustainability, bike advocacy and environmental causes. Funds raised through the organization’s two races—the NYC-DC race and a California race—will go to the organization’s designated beneficiaries, which include the Washington Area Bicyclists Association, Rails to Trails Conservatory and The Nature Conservatory, according to the organization’s website.

Given the option of simply cutting a check—he’s hoping to raise $2,400—or biking 300 hundred miles across several states, Pollack said that somehow the biking option seemed more desirable.

“It’s the perfect social cause,” Pollack said.

Pollack said he was drawn to the bike ride because he’s concerned about sustainability and the environment. He’s gotten more into biking culture since he moved to Rockville from Ariozna last year. He’s biked to the Metro and has even ridden to work.

As far as this charity ride goes, he said the bonus was getting a chance to prove that he’s still got it physically and supporting a good cause at the same time.

Pollack is the NBA League Manager for the indie sports site SBNation.com. So he’s spent a good deal of time around professional athletes—really, really physically fit professional athletes.

And not that anyone wouldn’t feel a little body conscious as a mortal among pros, but Pollack says the experience had a way of making him feel like an old man.

He offered plenty of self-deprecation on a recent blog entry, Old Man Rides to Save the Earth…or something like that:

"I'm pushing 43. I'm at least 15 pounds overweight. I'm a novice cyclist with a total of 173 road miles on my legs. So why did I sign up for the 300-mile New York to D.C., five-day Climate Ride in September?

I imagine I will reach a point around the second or third day of the ride with the legs burning and the ass sore when I'm seriously asking myself that exact question." 

But he’s been making some headway in his training. 

As of Wednesday afternoon, Pollack had logged a total of 80 miles in his preparation for the Climate Ride—breaking his 40-mile record of when he biked from his home to his job in DuPont Circle, a trek he’s done six times.