Sylvia Maas, 52, a Point Loma native, is riding hundreds of miles to raise money for the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation. Maas went to school at Point Loma High School, has taught biology there for the past 32 years and is passionate about cycling, teaching, and Point Loma. Maas is currently training to participate in the Race Across the West cycling event on June 14 to raise money to help fight Parkinson’s disease. She’s been training hard by climbing the hills on the Peninsula twice daily and riding in Borrego on the weekends. Last year, Maas participated in the Southern California version of the Race Across America, where the course spans from Oceanside, through Temecula and the desert, and then back up to Oceanside. She became the first woman to complete the race last year and then went on to complete the event a second time this year. When asked about what pushes her, her answer was simple, “I like to challenge myself.”
In June Maas will participate in the Race Across the West, an 860-mile race from Oceanside to Durango, Colo., following the first part of the path its counterpart, the Race Across America, uses. The Race Across the West is high endurance and one of the longest, most challenging qualifiers for the Race Across America. Maas plans to eventually race in the Transcontinental race, an unsupported race across Europe where the goal is to make sure you pass six of the most famous pieces of road in Europe.
Maas decided to begin fundraising for the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation after she lost her dad to the disease. Before the disease confined him to a wheelchair, her father was very athletic just like she is now. “Watching someone go through something like that is pretty difficult,” Maas said. Her father is the main reason she took up racing and she want’s to raise money for other families going through this, because she knows how hard it can be. Maas has raised more than $6,500 on her GoFundMe page (gofundme.com/sylvia-sride), and she plans to donate at least $2,000 to the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation. Her goal is $10,000.
For Maas, it’s about more than racing and fundraising for Parkinson’s. “A big part of this for me, as a science teacher, is just kind of teaching kids how to challenge yourself, do things that you could fail at, and also about a healthy lifestyle and exercise, and the importance of exercise and good nutrition, and just exposing my students to things they have no idea about,” Maas said.