One Boerum Hill resident who bikes to work every day is leading the largest team in the history of the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Bike Tour on Oct. 15. JOEL POTSCHMAN, a vice president at Credit Suisse, is co-captain of the financial company’s 146-person — and growing — team, which hopes to raise $100,000 for the debilitating neurological disease. (Credit Suisse helps out by contributing $10,000 once the team has 100 riders.)
Potischman is also the vice president of the Boerum Hill Association and has lived in the neighborhood since graduating from college 15 years ago. He participated in his first MS Bike Tour in high school. “Originally I did it because I liked cycling and could make money for a good cause,” said Potischman.
But 10 years ago, when his best friend, Chris, was diagnosed with MS, the ride was no longer about helping someone in “an abstract sense.” Now, the funds he helps to raise “make a real difference, for real people,” he said. “Chris says I should send him the money directly,” he joked.
This year’s Tour is divided into three loops of 30, 60 and 100 miles and kicks off from Pier 94’s Unconvention Center in Manhattan. Cyclists can sign up as late as the day of the Tour. Potischman’s wife, Pamela, will join him on the Credit Suisse team, and their children Nina, 7, and Coby, 4, are sure to cheer them on.
