The Pan Mass Challenge

A great photo taken in Bourne of part of my riding crew (Veronica, Michael, Paul, John, me)

This past weekend was the 39th Pan Mass Challenge. The PMC is an annual bicycle charity ride across Massachusetts that is the biggest charity event in the world. This year 6,300 bicyclists and more than 4,000 volunteers are working together to raise more than $52 million dollars for cancer research and treatment at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. The PMC has raised over $500 million since its inception and the money raised has made a huge contribution to the battle against cancer.

This was my sixth Pan Mass Challenge.  I took last year off for my son's wedding- tough choice actually but I think I did the right thing :). The PMC is always a deeply emotional experience, and even more so for me this year. This Why I Ride poster captures many of the reasons why many of us ride. Doing this ride, I am overwhelmed by how cancer affects so many people- everyone knows 

A large poster at the Mass Maritime Academy in Bourne

someone who has or has had cancer. This year, over 900 riders and volunteers are cancer survivors- my good friend and riding buddy John is one of the Living Proof members. And lining the course  are people thanking the riders for helping to save their lives.

With the help of many generous friends and family, I have raised over $14,000 this year. I'd like to say a big thank you to all who have contributed to me or to other riders, and a huge thanks to the thousands who rode or volunteered. In the following paragraphs, I'll share some of my memories and thoughts from the ride.

A fundraising poster outside of my office at Ironwood

Day Zero 

Day Zero is an unofficial day of the PMC where a few hundred people of questionable judgement tack on an extra 96 miles onto the standard 2 day, 192 mile version of the PMC which starts in Sturbridge. We started as per normal with our back wheels on the NY State border in West Stockbridge, MA and this year our normal crew was supplemented by three friends- Michael, Jim and Mike doing Day Zero for their first time.

The forecast looked ominous with 70% chance of rain and thunderstorms, but the weather gods were favorable as the storms hit the Berkshires and slid to the north and west as we pedaled east. 

This Day Zero ride is made possible by the help of the family of one of our bike crew members, Paul. Paul's wife Lisa and her Dad Lyle drove their van in SAG support of our trek, stopping periodically to refresh our water bottles and feed us and cheer us on. They were amazing and we are so thankful as always for their support. 

Lyle!!

Lisa 

The Day Zero ride was as beautiful as ever, as we climbed and descended through the Berkshires. There is one final descent out of the Berkshires that we love that goes on for about ten minutes as you head into the Pioneer Valley. Once in the Valley, our route takes us through Northampton and eventually to our favorite lunch stop at Atkins Farm in Amherst. 

Jason stopping at the monument to the building of the Jacob's Ladder Trail

Mike stopping for a re-charge

Michael and Ken

Michael and Jim- Don't want to work at Atkins Farm no more...

At Atkins Farm, we met a woman who came up and with tears in her eyes thanked us for riding to raise money for cancer. She had two bone marrow transplants at Dana Farber and has been cancer free for seven years. 

Cancer free for seven years

From Atkins Farm we rolled south towards Palmer and then east towards Sturbridge.  The end of the day includes a long 5 mile climb into Sturbridge- alway s a tough way to end a long day in the saddle. But luckily the day never really got too hot as intermittent cloud cover mostly shielded us from the sun. That didn't mean our swim in the lake wasn't amazing- it was! 96 miles and 4700 feet of climbing done, Day Zero was now in the books. 

Relaxing at the Host Hotel in Sturbridge

Ken sporting a PMC (temporary) tat

Paul and Michael relaxing by the lake in Sturbridge

Day One

Sleep is not a high priority on the PMC, especially with 4:30 AM wake-up times. Thousands of bleary-eyed cyclists assembled for the send-off, which included opera singer and long-time PMC rider Andrew Garland singing God Bless America to send us off.

Bright eyed and lycra-clad

Andrew Garland

Jim listening to Mr. Garland

About 4,000 cyclists left Sturbridge en masse (or more correctly in Mass), and started the long 110 mile ride to Bourne under cloudy skies. Local police waved us through intersections and many locals lined the route cheering us on and thanking us for riding.

There are many teams on the PMC, and one of my favorites is team Kermit (named in honor of a child with cancer who loved Kermit the Frog). The rider below rode the whole day with quite the busy scene on his helmet...

This Team Kermit rider takes the cake!

A fun spectator along the route

There are inspiring people all around you on this ride. Mark is a cancer survivor and rider I met on Day One. He had testicular cancer that spread to his lymph nodes, brain and lungs. Mark had 10 procedures/treatments in 4 years and has been cancer free for four years. He has been riding the PMC for four years since. Really inspiring. Just outside the Lakeville rest stop, there are numerous poster- 

Mark, a very inspiring rider

sized photographs of children with cancer- these are the PMC pedal partners whom various teams bike in honor of. It's heartbreaking and tear-inducing to see so many children with cancer but gratifying to know that many will be cured. When you feel tired or sore on this ride, it's easy to think of these children and others to quickly put everything right into perspective.

The rain held off for the first 40 miles, but then during lunch it started with a vengeance and didn't let up for the next 70 miles. It turns out there was a tornado east of Sturbridge in Webster, about ten miles south of our route a few hours after we left the start. It was at least a warm rain, and if you kept on moving you stayed warm even though we were soaking wet. We put our heads down and pedaled through the deep puddles and made it into Sturbridge around 3:30 PM. Happy to get off our bikes!

A wet rat...

Happiness is a cold beer and dry clothes

Day Two

After a fitful night's sleep in the Mass Maritime dorms and a 4 AM wake-up, we were up and pedaling by 5:30 AM, crossing over the Bourne bridge onto the Cape Cod Canal. We are always randomly greeted by Fred Flintstone as we come onto the canal. We always take him for granite.

The 80 mile Day 2 always flies by. After riding 206 miles in two days, 80 miles seems like a ride around the block. It's a lovely day biking on the Cape, and the crowds and local towns always make for a great time. Especially riding with my buddies, John, Paul and Veronica- we rode together the whole day.

One inspiring person from the day was Sunder (one of my room mates at Mass Maritime). Sunder is a multi-year PMC rider in his late 60's who was wearing a jersey honoring a friend he rode with two years ago who has since passed from cancer. After Day 1, Sunder's knee blew up like a balloon, but there he was on day two, essentially riding with mostly one leg for 80 miles. 

Let no man stop a Sunder...

The views of the ocean along the Cape are spectacular, and I always love stopping at the beach in Wellfleet.

Paul at Wellfleet

Artsy shot by Veronica

It's always sobering to see the shark warnings at Wellfleet. As always though, Ken didn't listen and got a little too close to one. Thanks Veronica for helping me out!

Curiosity and Ken- always a dangerous mix

The end of the ride is a blast as we ride through the hilly moonscape of the P'town dunes. We rolled into Provincetown around noon, just as the day was getting hot.

Ken and John at the finish

Once again, the PMC was an inspiring event. I am thankful for the friends who rode with me, for Lyle and Lisa for supporting us on Day Zero, for the thousands of volunteers who made this ride possible, and for everyone who supported me and helped me reach my goal of raising much needed funding in the war against cancer. And I am hopeful for all those fighting cancer and for those finding new treatments and cures. F%ck cancer!!

If you're inspired to make a donation, here's a link: http://profile.pmc.org/KC0258

This just in- here's the official video from PMC weekend: