PMC- Day One and Two

Writing this from the comfort of home- it's the first wi-fi I have had since our hotel room in Sturbridge. So here's a concise sum-up of the official PMC ride- day one and day two.

We and 3500 cyclists started out at 5:30 AM (!) from Sturbridge in the wee morning light. The number of cyclists and volunteers is a staggering sight to see. Very different than our day zero ride were the many people lining our route, cheering us on. So motivating! The weather was in the 60's to start and barely broke 70 the entire day- perfect cycling weather especially for a 110 mile day. Below you'll see my friend Paul and I in Franklin at mile 42.3. The terrain was rolling, with some climbs, but nothing like our day zero in the Berkshires.

What's amazing about this ride are the people who come out to cheer us on, and those who volunteer. Many of whom have a direct connection with cancer. One of the favorite streets for PMC riders is Cherry Street in Wrentham. The street is lined with residents cheering, playing musical instruments and thanking us for riding. My favorite is the bag piper troupe, all kids!

We rolled into Bourne feeling great- I felt that under these conditions I could have ridden 150 miles. In stark contrast to last year when it was 97 F on this day and we were absolutley spent by day's end. Cool temperatures can make all the difference between an easy and extremely difficult day on the bike.

This sign in Bourne sums up a lot about this ride. Who do we ride for? This year I'm riding in memory of my friend Jack Mintz, who passed from esophageal cancer in the spring. And I was thinking of my close friends Marilyn and Jeanne who both died of ovarian cancer and I always think of my Step Dad who we lost to pancreatic cancer. Many people literally wear who they are riding for on their sleeve, or in this case back of the jersey. Not only for those who have been lost but for those who are fighting their battles against cancer. My friend John survived his bout with a rare endocrine cancer last summer and he joined us for Saturday's ride. He's one of 500 "Living Proof" riders and volunteers who were honored in an incredibly touching ceremony in Bourne.

There are so many stories you hear during the ride. One was simple and touching. Herbert, an elderly gentleman who was kindly offering to clean riders' glasses with windex, is a prostate cancer survivor who said he was very glad to be there helping others who were raising money for cancer research. I also came upon a young Mom and her husband who were riding their first PMC in honor of their ten year old daughter who is now cancer free after being treated for a rare olfactory tumor last year.

After a great deal of eating, and free beer supplied by the awesome Harpoon Brewery, we camped out in our tents on a lovely breezy evening, and once again woke up super early- 4 am to hit the road by 5:30.

We had great cycling weather again on the Cape- with temps in 70's and the sun made its first apprearance in the afternoon. Biking on the Cape is superb- lovely towns, gorgeous scenic views, and again the ever present residents cheering us on and police waving us through intersections. Our 80 miles rolled by quickly,

And we were done for the day arriving in Provincetown before noon. After ravenously eating, I went for a great swim at a small beach.

The PMC was once again a great experience, powerfully emotional and really bringing one's focus repeatedly on what and who we were cycling for.

Physically this ride was also a powerful experience- I set a new personal record for miles ridden over two days (205 miles) and over three days (285 miles), and doing this together with my friend Linda made it all the more enjoyable. But do have done this ride for this cause makes every mile seem like a small step towards the continual fight against this terrible disease. Let's hope for continued progress. Thanks for your support and for following along! Now back to reality for this boy....

 

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Day Zero- not a smidge of rain!!

So lucky today!! The forecast was pretty glum for today earlier in the week, and slowly it got better and better. And this morning in West Stockbrisge we awoke to dry conditons and it stayed that way the whole day. I'm riding with my cycling buddy Linda Epstein, and we were joined by her nephew Max from North Adam. The logisitics of how we got to West Stockbridge and got our our luggage to Sturbridge I will spare, but they were pretty complex. We started out at our motel this morning and then biked to the NY state border.

We came across other crazies who do this unofficial day zero. I'd estimate about 2% of riders do it. It was 95 miles for the day, which we covered pretty efficiently in 5 hrs 58 minutes riding time- I'll admit that we had a lovely tailwind. It was a fairly hilly day as we cycled through the lovely Berkshires and then through the gorgeous Pioneer Valley. Max and Linda were awesome riding partners, all of us taking turns with various bursts of energy over the varied terrain.

We grabbed lunch in Northampton- always great to be in that town.

This was the fastest Max has done 95 miles, and he took a happy lie down at the end of the ride. We rolled into Sturbridge at 4 pm exactly.

At the "pre-ride" ceremonies, we were entertained with live music (the Adam Ezra band) a great Boston comedian (Lenny Clark), and our host of ceremonies Billy Star, who started the PMC 35 years ago. Billy told us that so far we have raised $25 million so far, on the way to a projected 38 million. There are a near record 5300 riders, and close to 10,000 people with all the volunteers in this amazingly well coordinated event, We heard very inspiring stories of cancer survivors and those currently with cancer who we are riding for. Looking forward to tomorrow's 110 mile day to Bourne and to all the people cheering us on and inspiring us us to ride. We're up at 4:30 and on the road by 5:30 AM. Check out all the bikes lined up for tomorrow, with Kermit, the mascot of Team Kermit in the foreground! And our "Lick Cancer" tatoos!

 

 

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And now for the PMC!

And now for the Pan Mass challenge! Tonight we drive out to West stockbridge, and tomorrow we start "Day Zero" of the PMC, from West Stockbridge to Sturbridge, about 100 miles. The weather will be a little wet to start, but luckily most of the bad rain will be east of us when we start. Here's hoping! I'm very happy with my fundraising so far, thanks to my many generous friends! I've raised $7030 to date. Hoping to get to $7500. So please follow along the blog this weekend. I will try to blog every night, as long as I have internet access! Happy to be helping kick cancer's butt!

If you'd like to see our cycling route in detail, check out this link http://ridewithgps.com/routes/471744. I think you may need to download ridewithgps which is free.

 

 

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Day 7- the finale, Bethlehem PA to Lawrenceville NJ

On the 7th Day (Saturday), the Anchor House riders did not rest, but they were able to take it a little easier. Only 65 miles today, and 10 of those were the traditional parade-like processional through Hopewell and Lawrenceville to get to our finish at Quakerbridge Mall. We still had over 4000 feet of climbing, but we had cloud cover and cooler temps in the morning and we were done with the hard riding by 1 pm. Here we are assembled for some group shots at the start of the ride.

We climbed our way out of Bethlehem and soon were cycling through lovely country roads with names like Peppermint Road, Winding Rd and Creamery Rd. These were primo cycling roads and conditions as we headed steadily southwards. What a change from yesterday!

We quickly made our way to northern Bucks county, one of my favorite places to bike and home of many covered (and some uncovered) bridges.

Our first Sag stop was the picaresque Lake Noxamixon.

Soon after, Jerry "ice cream!" Foster spotted what he wanted and soon we were enjoying ice cream at Owow Cow in Ottsville at a new record early time of day, 10:10 AM! As Jerry said, 1010 wins (a ref for all you NY area folks).

Our dilly- dallying caused us to put pedal to the metal as were supposed to be at the traditional Anchor House picnic by 1 pm. We crossed the Delaware for the last time at New Hope- Lambertville and climbed our way through Hunterdon County to arrive in Hopewell NJ just in time.

 

The picnic is traditonally held at the home of the Dutko's, a very generous family that opens up their home for a picnic of yummy food, ice cream, and swimming! We assemble for a group photo, and awards were given out for outstanding participants and support staff. This year my dear friend Kathy Sonnenfeld- Squires received the award for outstanding veteran support staff. Very well deserved- all the volunteers work so hard during the week!

We then assembled for the traditonal 10 mile processional to the mall, with roads closed to cars and a police escort. We are quite the scene cycling two abreast with people cheering us on through local streets.

 

We arrived at the mall where we assembled for the big finale, where we learned that we had raised over $560,000 to date for the kids at Anchor House.

My friend Jack said a young woman came up to him and thanked him for what he and the riders just accomplished. She said she came to Anchor House when she was 13 years old when her Mom couldn't take care of her anymore. She is now in her 20's, married with a young child and doing well. A very powerful statement as to why we do this ride.

I am home now, relaxing with Barbara on a lovely (and cool!) Sunday morning. Thanks everyone for following along, and thanks to my many sponsors. Stay tuned to this blog in a few weeks as I'll be riding in the Pan Mass Challenge to raise money for another worthy cause- cancer research. Across Massachusetts from the NY state border to the tip of Cape Cod in three days. Looking forward to it! Enjoy this cooler weather all!

 

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Day 6- Matamoras to Bethlehem PA

The motto of the day was, get 'er done!! With temps approaching 100, especially in the afternoon, it was put your head down, dig deep, and get 'er done. It didn't help that it was the longest mileage day, 82, the most climbing, and the highest elevation day (5056 feet). And we traversed through three states.

The morning started super early, wheels on the ground at 6:15. The start was foggy and super humid. The views of the Delaware River crossing back into Port Jervis were eerily beautiful.

The early morning was relatively comfortable as we rolled through scenic northern New Jersey, passing lakes and horse farms.

It starting to become uncomfortably hot by 10 am, as the temps were already in the 90's. One of the more appropros views came from this horsefarm, owned by none other than "The Swets". Say no more!! We also saw a sign that said "Sheep, $100", which led to numerous sheep puns ("at that price they won't be fleecing you", "careful they be pulling the wool over your eyes", "ewe'll be sorry!, and many many more). My constant punning partner and riding companion is my buddy DJ, who I was lucky to have pedaled almost every mile of the ride with.

 

Today DJ and I rode the entire day with two of the aformentioned awesome Plumb-cycles, Gregg Plumb and his girlfriend Inna. They kicked butt today over what was a grueling day, for new riders and experienced riders. We started the day together and finished strong together, joined by our friend Lindsey. We finished the ride with high fives, naming ourselves "Team Bad Ass" for finishing so strong. Below are DJ, Gregg and Inna pedaling away.

By the time we crossed back over to PA from Belvidere NJ, the heat was blazing- clearly the hottest day of the week. It was an oven, and the hills in PA kept coming and coming. These were some of the steepest climbs of the week, and there was little to no shade for most of these climbs. This part of the ride became mind over matter, or mind over melting.

Many, many riders were sagged in by vans. Here is the last sag stop of the day, at the Northampton farm bureau, the sight of many of those sag rides. But the majority completed the day. As I said, we put our heads down, dug deep and powered through, finishing up the day after 82 miles. Tomorrow it's only 65 miles, but it will be very hot and then topped off with severe thunderstorms. Hope we get in before the rain!

 

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