Geoff Sullivan at his Fairhaven home

Geoff Sullivan of Fairhaven has done ten Watershed Rides since his first one in 2012. He was the top fundraiser last year, which was a tough ride for him as it was the first one since losing his wife, Susan.

Geoff and Susan took up biking in their 40s, when a group of friends renting a cottage in Matunuck, RI decided to bring bikes. “She didn’t know how to ride a bike,” says Geoff. “So I had to teach her.” Living in suburban Boston and working for Channel 5 television at the time, Geoff and Susan went on to join the Charles River Wheelmen. Given their night and weekend television schedules, they had time to bike.

“We met a lot of friends through biking,” he says. When the two retired to Fairhaven in 2007 they joined the Bay Area Senior Cyclists. “Biking around here is exceptional,” he says.

The couple had hybrid bikes when Geoff was contemplating the 75-mile distance option. He had to borrow a road bike in 2012 to do it. “I was so full of joy,” he says. “Yeah, it hurt the next day. But at the finish, I wanted to keep going.” Even a flat tire at some point in the ride didn’t deter his excitement. He raised more than $1000 that year. And bought a Scott Speedster soon after, which he still rides today.

Susan Sullivan on the Cape Cod Canal Trail

Geoff was a member of the Fairhaven Bikeway Committee (now called the Livable Streets Committee). Susan used her graphic design skills to produce local brochures on biking. In 2017, Geoff did the 100-mile ride.

“I talked Susan into doing the [shortest] option,” he says. She participated in a few rides before falling ill. She passed away last April from pancreatic cancer two weeks before they were to travel to Australia.

“We were opposites,” says Geoff. “She was into traveling. I didn’t go anywhere outside of New England.” But Geoff got out of his comfort zone, and they traveled all over the world, from Colombia to Vietnam, often seeing the sights by bike.

But the Buzzards Bay ride is still “the most scenic.”

Geoff has been a Baywatcher for the last five years. “The oil spill had happened a few years before I moved down here,” so he was very appreciative of what the Coalition did. “The ride was something I could do to help, because you can’t fight [the oil companies] by yourself.”

As he does the ride again this year, he knows he will be motivated. “I am riding for me and her,” he says. “She’ll be right there, pushing me.”

To support Geoff or any of the Watershed Riders, or to signup yourself, go here.