Bill Larson has loved riding bikes ever since he was a kid. But he never dreamed where they would take him.
For the past 18 years, Larson, 73, a parishioner at St. Maximilian Kolbe Church in Westlake Village, has been riding hundreds of miles on his bicycle, raising money for Habitat for Humanity of Ventura County. Before then, he’d also done bike fundraisers for everything from leukemia to arthritis to lymphoma.
For someone who has helped raise more than a half-million dollars for various charities over the years, Bill Larson speaks about it mostly matter-of-factly.
“It’s just one of those things where, if God gives you gifts that you can use and continue to use, whether it’s raising money or riding a bike, I think we should try to do it,” he said. “Be the best version of ourselves.”
That attitude disguises the profound difference he’s made as part of the parish’s Habitat to the Max partnership with Habitat for Humanity that began more than 20 years ago. In his 18 years doing riding fundraisers, he’s raised nearly $250,000 for Habitat alone.
“He doesn’t like a lot of publicity unless it’s for the effort that he’s volunteering for, and I think that also is what makes him special,” said Darcy Taylor, the CEO of Ventura County’s Habitat for Humanity for the past eight years.
“For him, the things that he’s doing and the rides are something that God has put on his heart to do as his mission and his way of supporting the work. It’s not for personal gain or anything like that. I think he’s really a true example of a servant of the Lord.”
Larson never set out to do bike-ride fundraisers. He simply liked riding, and bike tours seemed like his idea of a good time.
His first long ride was one in Mexico that featured thousands of riders.
“I really just did it for fun, and then I started looking around for other opportunities to do these longer rides,” he said.
From there he started joining organized charity bike rides and helping to raise money. When his parish created the Habitat to the Max partnership, eventually his wife, Joan, suggested he start fundraising for that with his bike rides.
That was 18 years ago.
In those years, he’s ridden all over, both locally and out of state, from the Three Harbors Tour (starting in Ventura), the Tour of Tucson, and the Mammoth Mountain Century.
The rides vary, from doing 20-30 miles per day to some that cover more than 100 miles. His longest ride was San Francisco to Santa Monica, which took six days.
When he does his fundraising rides, he tries to go to a new place every year, if possible. This year’s ride was the San Juan Islands in the Pacific Northwest.
But it hasn’t always been easy.
Before his latest ride, in October, he had his left knee replaced. He’s had his right shoulder replaced and was scheduled to have his left shoulder replaced soon. He’s fallen off his bike and broke his scapula.
“I’m no longer a spring chicken,” Larson said.
Other challenges when he’s riding: He’s seen dead cows in the middle of the road; during COVID, there was no organized ride, so he did one on his own, with his wife as his “SAG” support.
Then there’s elevation — “climbing for every cyclist is always a challenge,” Larson said — and battling strong headwinds.
“It’s like, oh great, now I get to ride as hard as I can, and end up going 10 miles an hour with the wind blowing 30 miles an hour in my face,” he said.
But in the end, he remembers what he’s doing it for: Habitat for Humanity and helping people afford new homes or repair their existing ones.
“The home repair program is actually, in many ways, as good or better charity than building homes because the people in home repair are typically older people who can’t dig themselves out of their situation without help.”
Besides Habitat to the Max, Larson and his wife are quite active, participating in Bible study and in OCIA catechism at both St. Maximilian Kolbe and nearby St. Jude the Apostle Church. He’s been in St. Max’s renowned choir since the 1980s.
Last year, he took an online course on the Shroud of Turin with the Pontifical Institute in Rome and began teaching on it.
Larson said that when he hit $250,000 raised for Habitat for Humanity, he was going to stop. At last check, his latest ride brought him to about $248,000, so he’s thinking he has one more ride.
For all that he’s done and meant for Habitat for Humanity, Taylor said that Larson deserves a well-earned rest.
“I firmly believe that if Bill stops riding, then God’s got another plan for him, and another plan for us,” Taylor said. “He’s earned the right to rest a little bit.”
To donate, visit weblink.donorperfect.com/billsbikeride.
