2,093 miles to raise awareness of Parkinson’s
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, April 22, 2026
This year, Phoenix is the site of the 7th World Parkinson Congress. This four-day event, from May 25-27, will be attended by delegates from around the world who are involved with all aspects of Parkinson’s-whether researching, treating, living with or providing care.
It’s been 10 years since the 4th World Parkinson Congress was held in the United States when it was held in Portland, Oregon with over 4,500 delegates representing 65 counties in attendance.
In the run-up to the Congress, three Pedal to Phoenix cyclist teams are en route to Phoenix, with their arrival coinciding with the Congress’ start. These Pedal to Phoenix teams are Team Route 66, Team Utah and Team West Coast.
The Team West Coast is comprised of cyclists from around the world, including Australia, Ireland, Canada and Iceland. Norwegian Rune Bjerke is the team captain, and Steve Wesson, who provides support, is from the United Kingdom. Many of the riders, who have Parkinson’s, belong to ZWAP — Zwifters Against Parkinson’s.
“Zwifters Against Parkinson’s is a club to promote cycling as a therapy for Parkinson’s,” Wesson said. “A lot of these guys ride together virtually throughout the year, and when there’s a Congress, each year they do a ride together in the real world.”
This is a new tradition that began for the 6th World Parkinson Congress held in Barcelona in 2023, which was called Bike to Barcelona. On the World Parkinson Blog, in a post titled A Love (of Cycling) Story, Alison Anderson, an ambassador to the Congress shared the motivation for cycling to Barcelona.
Anderson wrote, “The 5th World Parkinson Congress in Kyoto, Japan in 2019, sparked something rather special in my Parkinson’s journey. I met so many wonderful people, many of whom, I now consider to be friends. It was in Kyoto that I met Rune for the first time. We chatted and I learned that he was ambassador for the Congress. We discovered we shared a diagnosis of Parkinson’s, a love of cycling and boxing. It was at the WPC in Kyoto that I also met Geoff. We enjoyed a brief conversation where we discovered a shared love of cycling and a shared sense of adventure.”
From their start in Seattle, which they left on April 16, Team West Coast will pedal 2,093 miles over the course of 37 days to Phoenix. On the second day, the 11 cyclists stopped in Montesano for lunch. There to greet the team was Betsy Seidel and her husband Bob Martin, who founded the Grays Harbor Parkinson’s Support Group.
“I’m so thrilled that you have come through Grays Harbor … I truly admire that you are doing this trip,” said Betsy.
When the team reaches San Francisco, 13 more cyclists will join, with an additional four joining in Los Angeles for the last 10 days of the “Tour de Parkinson.”
For many of these cyclists, they’ve cycled through other countries to raise awareness of Parkinson’s. When stopping for meals, often the locals will ask what they’re doing, which provides the opportunity to discuss Parkinson’s.
“The key thing to take away from this is that we want people to realize that with Parkinson’s you can still do these things,” said one of the cyclists.
