PMC Presents Check for $41M to the Jimmy Fund for 2014

Yesterday at Fenway Park,  we announced the final numbers for PMC 2014 and presented the check to the Jimmy Fund for $41 million -- exceeding our 2014 goal by $1 million.   

First of all, I want to thank everyone who has supported me or any other PMC rider this year, enabling us to make such a great contribution to cancer research and treatment.   I just cannot say that enough: Thank you.  You can see a very nice video online here: http://vimeo.com/111229373.  It's about 4 minutes long, but worth watching.

I didn't attend the check presentation, but I did read the press release, and even saw it on the TV news.  Each year I'm still impressed by the numbers that get thrown out there:  5,500 cyclists, 3000+ volunteers, more than a million miles pedaled that weekend -- all to raise money to fight cancer.   

The problem is big.

The more I read the press releases and news about PMC, one thing hits me:  The numbers I keep seeing are just so big. This disease we call cancer is so diverse, pernicious and multi-headed.   Every once and a while the magnitude of the whole thing swells up in front of me -- and honestly,  I experience a bit of a (for lack of a better phrase) crisis of faith.  ("How much more can we do?  How much longer?  Are we really helping?").

But the answer lies in the small numbers.

Mercifully, when those 'big number worries' begin forming that cloud of self-doubt, it's the tiny number, one, that dissipates it for me every time: One.  Of all the thousands of riders and volunteers, each one has his or her own very personal reason for being part of the PMC's mission against cancer. By the same token, each one of you that's supported a PMC rider with your donations has your own very personal reasons for joining in the fight. So even though the numbers in this fight against cancer look so big,  I believe that we will find the solution in the one.   

Have you ever seen one of those computer-generated photo mosaics? It's one of those things where the main image (usually something singular and immediately-recognizable) is actually composed by piecing together thousands of other uniqe online images as its constituent pixels (or "metapixels")?

That is the way I envision the fight against cancer, the PMC's mission, my role in it -- and yours.   Every single one of us, taken individually, has been touched by this disease in some way.  Each person's passion to fight is fired differently -- but it still burns.   And when we unify each of our unique passions, we can achieve things far greater than we might otherwise imagine.

Getting ready for Round 36...

So even though the numbers and the problems before us are big -- I choose to believe that it's a relatively small, simple thing that will ultimately get us to a win against cancer.   So, whatever your reasons are for supporting the PMC -- as a sponsor, a rider or a volunteer -- I cannot thank you enough.   It's a fight, but when we unite and fight together we will win. This will probably be my last PMC post for 2014, but you will all be hearing from me again next year. 

/doug

My PMC 2014 Ride Report

2014 has been a record-setting PMC year for me.   2014 was my most successful fundraising year for the PMC to date.  This year also sets the record for the longest amount of time I've managed to procrastinate writing up my "trip report" for the ride...  I wish I knew why I'm such a procrastinator. But even if I knew why, I'm pretty sure I still lack the self-discipline to do anything about it at this point...   So, as usual, I will lead off with an apology, then get to the business at hand: finishing my PMC 2014 trip report.    I apologize for my tardiness.   Now, Let's get to it...

Dan's PMC list,
on my bike just before the ride

This year's ride was different in quite a few ways from all my previous 10 rides.  We lost Dan Field to brain cancer in July.   Dan was a brain cancer survivor who also rode for the PMC for many years.  In the last couple of years, however, his tumors returned and side-lined him from riding a bike any more. 

Dan had his own list of people that he rode the PMC for. For the previous 2 years that he was unable to ride, I carried it in his stead along with mine.  This year I had planned on carrying his list for him again since I knew he wouldn't be able to ride. However, when I'd told Dan that, I sincerely believed that he'd still be be around to see the ride. That was not to be.  This year I wrote his name at the top of his list and carried it on my bike, along with a picture of him. I also carried my own personal list, tucked away in a zip-loc. 

My PMC list, post-ride
winkles and all..

This year I decided to start my route at Babson College in Wellesley instead of my "traditional" start in Sturbridge.   The Wellesley start was added 10 or 11 years ago to the PMC to allow them to accommodate more riders  Logistically, it was easier for us to deal with starting at Wellesley, since it's about 20 miles closer to my home and dealing with getting to/from there was just simpler that Sturbridge.   The Wellesley and Sturbridge routes converge just before the "lunch stop" at Dighton-Rehoboth High School in Dighton, MA.  From that point all, there's just one route to complete Saturday: Mass Maritime Academy in Buzzard's Bay.

Saturday Start

The Wellesley start was rather "sedate", compared to Sturbridge.

Wellesley Start.  Where is everybody ?

There are probably several factors in play there: the start is 1 hour later than the Sturbridge start; people seemed to assemble more or less at the last minute;  the Wellesley route is shorter and less-hilly than the Sturbridge route and I think for that reason it attracts a higher median age demographic (ahem).   That said, the start was uneventful and the route was gorgeous.   I just wish that the weather had cooperated...

This year rain was predicted for the entire weekend, with little hope of reprieve.  But the PMC goes on, rain or shine.   The start from Wellesley went off without a hitch -- just muted (for me anyway) with a heavy "it's gonna rain any minute" gloom in the sky.   The rain managed to hold off until about 30 minutes into the ride. Then it continued pretty much the rest of the day, with the temperature steadily dropping as the day went on.    By the time we hit the water stop in Wrentham, anyone who had rain gear either already had it on or was putting it on.   Personally, I usually don't mind getting wet when I'm riding, since I'm typically drenched with sweat anyway on a ride like the PMC.  For me, rain gear tends to just "seal in my juices" more than keep rain off me.  So some cool fresh water from the sky would normally be a 'net improvement', right?   Well, sort of.  

This is the Wrentham Water Stop.
Everyone put on their rain gear here.  Except me.

The main reasons cyclists wear gloves is because their hands are always either resting on or gripping the handlebars of the bike.   The gloves provide a little relief for the skin, but also provide padding to help isolate some of the constant road vibration that's always being transmitted from the road to the bike and ultimately into your skeleton.   On the other hand (no pun intended) recumbent cyclists like me are immune to that vibration problem since we're leaning back without that pressure on our handlebars.  Consequently, I don't wear gloves for summer riding, since it's just another thing for me to lose.  (I do wear them in the winter to keep my fingers from freezing.)

However, on this year's PMC I found a compelling reason to wear gloves:  By 9AM  my hands were so wet and prune-y from the constant rain that I could no longer shift the gears on my bike!   My shifters are "twist grip" style, meaning that shifting requires me to twist part of my handlebar grip one way or the other to shift up or down.   The operable word in this case was "grip" -- none of which I had any longer;  I couldn't squeeze the shifters tight enough with my pruney soaked hands to generate enough friction to move it.      Had I had gloves on this would not have been a problem.

Faced with the prospect of riding the rest of the day on (essentially) a single-speed bike, I knew I had to take some action.   I ended up tearing off a couple of inch-wide strips from my bandanna.  Then I wrapped one around each grip shifter and tied them off.   The fabric was soaked, but still provided enough friction that I was able to change gears.  Problem solved, and I continued on the wet journey to Dighton.   I will buy a pair of riding gloves for next season.

We merged with the Sturbridge start riders just a bit before the lunch stop at Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School.   This year was different: there was no dust storm there -- just mud.   Also, this year I had the bright idea to not ride my bike around the back like everyone else.

Dighton-Rehoboth Lunch Stop: In Through the Out Door

This year I rode past the school and dropped my bike at the exit; then I walked in for lunch through the exit, bypassing a lot of human/bicycle craziness.  (D-R is always a little crazy because it's major meet-up point for teams and riders. There are so many people trying to park their bikes, refill water, get food, potty etc that it gets pretty congested.   It only took me 10 years to figure out how to NOT contribute to that problem...)

After a quick lunch it was back on the road and into the rain.   As the day wore on, it got progressively cooler and cooler.   By the time I got to the Lakeville water stop (around 11AM) , I noticed that I'd actually started to shiver a little.

Lakeville Water Stop.  (Pedal Partners Tent)

That told me I needed to get moving NOW.  The faster I rode, the warmer I'd feel and the faster I'd get to Mass Maritime for a hot shower and some dry clothes.

The rest of the ride from Lakeville to Mass Maritime was a blur.  A wet, cold blur.  There is actually a water stop in between Lakeville and MMA, but I haven't bothered to stop there since my very first PMC.   By the time you're within about 10 miles of MMA, you really don't want to stop -- you just want to get to the end as quickly as you can.  (At least I always do.)     And the weather this year just made me want to get to MMA that much faster.

Last leg of the Saturday ride, to MMA. Some salty signage.

I didn't keep a GPS track log this year, so I don't know exactly when I rolled into MMA on Saturday. I think it was around 1PM.  I do recall that I was early enough that I was actually able to make a reservation for a massage, instead of waiting standby.   This year, Sandy (my wife), Kevin (son) and Elise (Kevin's girlfriend) were volunteering at MMA.   It's always special when your family is there to meet you, especially after a miserable wet ride.

Twin recumbents, in repose, nose-to-nose at MMA.

They were hard at work, smiling.  And I was smiling, too.  And shivering.  Sandy was in charge of directing folks around the bike parking area at MMA.  The weather really raised the level of difficulty for that job this year; the continuous rain caused the plywood supports for many of the bike stands to collapse, leaving a pile of bikes knotted together sort of like that "barrel of monkeys" game I remember as a kid...   However, in spite of all that, Sandy managed to find the time to direct someone riding my bike's "twin" to park on the fence next to mine. I really got a kick out of it when I walked back out to the bike paddock later to find two mango yellow Bacchetta Corsas parked nose-to-nose.

After I found my gear, showered and got a massage, I reconnected with Sandy, Kevin and Elise and had some food.  They were tired, wet and cold by that time so we said our goodbyes early and they headed off to warmth and dry clothes.   I hung out a little while, but soon just headed off to my room for some ibuprofen, warmth and sleep. I put in earplugs and I'm sure I was asleep by 7:30.

The Sunday Ride

The day started as usual at about 3:40 and I did my "slow roll" of packing up and enjoying a couple of cups of nice hot coffee and some breakfast ahead of the "sleep-in" crowd.  
There's really no point in hurrying out too soon, since we're not allowed to cross the Bourne Bridge until 5AM. (They mark off a section of the southbound lane for bike traffic from 05:00 to 08:00.  You can cross earlier if you feel you must, but you have to dismount and walk your bike over the bridge on the sidewalk.  It's just as easy to wait.)   As it is, I also have to wait for the trucks and luggage crews to arrive/assemble so I can give them my luggage, so it'll meet up with me at P-Town.  (There's a rhythm to everything and after 11 years, I've finally learned it.)  

Like I said, I'm a slow-starter in the mornings, so it made me laugh when I saw how "fired up" those volunteers can manage to be at 5AM.   Check out this video below:

I realize that the video is dark and indistinct (but at 4:30 AM, everything is dark and indistinct), so I'll explain. This video is of a  group of volunteers loading up rider luggage onto one of the trucks. There are several different luggage trucks, headed to different destinations (Two finishes at P-Town and one back to Wellesley).  The audio portion of this clip is actually more to the point than the video.  The level of energy these guys had at that time of day was pretty impressive and it made me laugh.   I guess they figured if they were going to be up and working, there was no reason that ANYONE else should be sleeping...   And this was just one of the trucks. ;-)

I got across the Bourne Bridge and down the canal before the Sun really started to come up.  The day was gray and overcast, but mercifully there was no rain.

Brewster Water Stop -- Lots of TV coverage this year.

By 6:25 I rolled into Barnstable, followed by Brewster about an hour later.  Although we were well into daylight it was extremely hazy since the cloud cover was still pretty solid.  But the important thing is that there was NO RAIN.  And that was good, because I'd lost my "make do" shifter grips from Saturday and didn't feel like shredding my bandanna again.

My Private Water Stop

There's a spot in Wellfleet that I like to stop at every year.  It's not a water stop -- but it is a stop on the water, for sure.  It's at the top of a decent climb that's a parking lot for a walk-down to the beach.   Although I've never taken the time to walk all the way down to the water, it's nice to just dismount for a few minutes, stand there and watch the waves break on the beach.

My "private water stop" near Wellfleet.

Now that I think about it, that time on the beach is about the only time on the entire PMC weekend that I can actually be alone with my thoughts for more than a couple of minutes. (It's a little dangerous to get "up in your own head" while you're out on the road.)   Here, there aren't any riders or volunteers rushing around -- it's just the ocean and me with my thoughts and my "passengers".   We all get to share a few minutes of quality quiet time there, just to take it all in. Then I saddle back up for the last stop before P-Town.

The final stretches into P-Town were pretty uneventful: still no rain, and the headwinds around Truro were mercifully weak this year.  I rolled into the "Family Finish" at P-Town around 10:20 AM.   I decided to try and capture the last couple of minutes on video.

One of the downsides (if you want to call it that) of arriving that early is there's not yet that many people at the finish to greet you.  On the other hand, there is no wait at the showers and there's plenty of hot water!   Oh! And this year was the first time ever that beer was available at the Family Finish.  The P-Town Inn Finish is on private property, so there's no restriction on their ability to serve beer.  However, the P-Town Family Finish is on public property (the school and ball fields), so alcohol is verboten.  However, this year some diligent PMC organizers negotiated a "beer garden" location on some adjacent private property.  And thus, in 2014 the first ever Family Finish beer was enjoyed, virtually in the shadow of the Pilgrim's Monument.  Hopefully it will be back next year. And hopefully with a little more seating.

A PMC Miracle: Beer at the Family Finish. ;-)

The boat ride back to Boston was uneventful. Within about 5 minutes of getting off the boat in Boston, I met up with Sandy and Alyssa, got the bike on the car and we were on our way westbound in record time.   Another PMC was in the bag.  All I had to do was write it up...

The Big Finish

I said at the start that this was a record year.  Thanks to the generous support of my sponsors this, this year I was able to raise a grand total of $8,356.12.   That exceeded my fund-raising goal this year of $8,000 and is also the most I've ever been able to raise for the Jimmy Fund.

To my sponsors, I cannot thank you enough for being so generous this year.   Every penny of that money is going directly to the Jimmy Fund for cancer research and treatment. Every penny is needed, and every penny is appreciated.   We'll know soon whether or not we met our overall goal for 2014 this year.  I'll let you know.

I will be riding in the 2015 PMC next year, so you'll be hearing from me again in 2015. (As always, if you'd prefer not to get my PMC emails, just jot me a quick 'please stop' email and I'll promptly remove you from my email list.)

Thanks again, and bye for now.

How to Be a #PMC2014 Stalker!

Back despite popular demand: You can be a #PMC2014 Stalker! 

Here's how.

Just like last year, I have decided to err on the side of "over-sharing".

I'll be using an app on my Android phone, called Glympse, that will allow me to broadcast my location, so that you (yes you!) can follow my progress on a map from the comfort of your web browser (or SmartPhone). 

All you need to do to track me is point your browser at this link: http://glympse.com/!pmc2014      If you go there right now it might say I'm "Expired", but don't despair: I'm alive and well -- just not actively updating my location...   Be patient. ;-)

And yet there's more...

Not only will you be able to track my progress, you'll also be able to see the progress of any other riders who've 1) installed the glympse app on their phones and 2) joined public glympse group !pmc2014.

Actually, I'm hoping that a lot of other riders and PMC volunteers/well-wishers will use Glympse on their phones and join the !pmc2014 group!  It'll ve cool to check where folks are when you're resting at a water stop, or when you've arrived at Bourne or P-Town.   (And it makes it easier for families and riders to find each other on the route, too.)

Effective tomorrow (Friday) afternoon, I'll have Glympse active on my phone.  You should be able to track me while I'm milling around at Babson taking care of registration and watching the opening ceremonies.  Please start checking out  http://glympse.com/!pmc2014 to see where I am -- and hopefully other riders are.   And please watch my Facebook page for updates at https://www.facebook.com/doug.mcpherson as I'll be uploading pictures there as I take them over the weekend.

So... Bye for now.  Gotta start getting my stuff ready!

/doug

#PMC2014 Routes Viewable Online!

The 35th Pan Mass Challenge for the Jimmy Fund is happening this weekend.   If you are the least bit curious as to where in the Great Commonwealth of Massachusetts  you're likely to find more more than 5,300 cyclists on the road this weekend: please do read on...

The intrepid PMC support staff has updated the PMC website with interactive maps detailing ALL of the various #PMC2014 routes.  These maps are view-able in your browser using zoom-able Google maps features... AND you can even download the .gpx tracks for any of the routes, suitable for loading into your favorite GPS or GPS app (if you are really that much of a geek).

The #PMC2014 routes are here: at http://pmc.org/ride/routes

Please feel free to use the route information to figure out

• where you could hang out this weekend and cheer on all the riders helping to fund a cure for cancer, or
• what roads you might want to avoid if you're out running time-critical errands this weekend
  or
• how the heck to get to Provincetown.

So... if someone you know is riding this year you can locate their route from the above link, then ogle their path -- all from the comfort of your own web browser.  It's nowhere near as much fun as actually riding the route (trust me).  But on the other hand, your butt won't hurt when you get to the end.

Big thanks to the PMC for making all this logistical data available to all!

And finally: please support a rider this year.  It doesn't have to be me -- but please support the good work at Dana-Farber with your donations to the PMC Jimmy fund.

That's all for tonight.
/doug

So long, Dan.

Dan Field passed away last Saturday afternoon, July 17.

For the last 2 years, Dan had been fighting a recurrence of the brain cancer that he, his family and the folks at Dana-Farber had beaten back into remission almost 12 years ago.   This time around, it was just not to be.

Dan (among so many other things) was a rider for the PMC, but became unable to ride when his cancer returned in 2012.  That year Sandy, who worked with Dan, suggested that I should carry his "passengers" (the names of the people he rides for) along with me in his stead.  I've carried it ever since -- and will continue to do so.

So that was how I came to meet Dan.   And now I so wish that I had known Dan better.

Sandy and I attended Dan's memorial service in Southborough yesterday.  While I had quickly grown to admire Dan, his wife Donna and their handsome boys, I don't think I was fully prepared to experience just how broad an impact Dan had on the people around him -- for the entirety of his brief time here...

• Dan's older son, a freshly-minted high school graduate, astounded me with his grace, composure and articulate sense of humor as he recalled for everyone how Dan would read Dr. Seuss stories to him and his brother every night.  Dan clearly loved the silliness and wordplay, but the messages of love, steadfastness and sense-of-self clearly took root in his sons through those silly bed-story times.  
• A friend, co-worker and fellow PMC rider delivered what must have been the most difficult, but beautiful remembrances of Dan's humor, intellect and strength of will.  I can't imagine how tough it was to write that, let alone deliver it. I laughed and cried. We should all be so lucky to have a friend like that.
• There were also a few other remembrances of Dan over the years from his neighbors, college buddies and scouting friends that revealed even more of the depth and breadth of Dan's humor, strength and love for his family. 

So really, what does one take away from all this?   I mean, how do I properly honor and remember someone like Dan? That question has been rolling around in my mind since we left that ceremony yesterday. It just rings false to me that mourning a "Dan-shaped hole in the world" is something that Dan would really get behind.  So after a lot of thought (and re-writes of this post), I've come to this conclusion:  Just as Dan was a part of all those people's lives, Dan is still part of their lives -- and part of my life, too -- and I should build on that.  So maybe the best way for me to honor Dan's life is by simply recognizing the things that made him special, and then growing those things within my own life -- and with others: Tenacity.  Love for Family.  Respect for others. Laughter.  Strength.

So Dan, thanks for all you've ever done or said.  I wish I'd known you better, but I'm grateful you came into our lives. I'll try to remember to "..make every day my Masterpiece".   And I'll think of you and smile every time I watch "Young Frankenstein" or "Seinfeld". And I'll try to be "DanStrong".
Yes, I think that might help.

Don't Look Away

I just watched Bill and Melinda Gates' combined commencement address to the Stanford University Class of 2014 on YouTube.  URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=p1ek9s7IUdc#t=4020 . It's about 23 minutes out of the entire video. (If you click on the links above, it'll skip right to where their speeches begin.)

The things that reached out and grabbed me from this speech were quotes from  Melinda Gates.  (No disrespect to Bill -- he had quite a lot of good things to say also.)    But I just couldn't help but see everything that Melinda said through the prism of cancer: what a horror it is and how important it is that we NOT look away from the suffering it brings:

"In the course of your lives, you'll come to see suffering that will break your heart. When it happens, and it will, don't turn away from it. Turn toward it. That is the moment that change is born." 

...

"No matter how much suffering we see -- no matter how bad it is --  we can help people if we don't lose hope, and if we don't look away."

It's our responsibility as adult humans to not look away; to not turn away, and most importantly to not just wish someone's suffering away.  It's our responsibility to take action; to try our best to be optimistic --  and be optimistic because we can take action.

You and I know people who are suffering; I know that I certainly don't have to look too hard.  And maybe I can't fix their suffering -- but then perhaps that's not the entire point.  To be seen and heard by someone; to have someone at least recognize your pain instead of pretending it's not there; to have someone do a small kindness for you -- none these things are a cure, but they are powerful medicine -- that any of us can administer.

OK. So I can't cure cancer myself.  But I will be optimistic because I know that there are so many things I can still do that will help someone who may be suffering.
I can raise money to help them.
I could share a joke with them
I could buy them a fancy coffee drink from Dunkin Donuts.
I could mow their yard.
Something. Anything.  Any of these trivial things serves a purpose: to remind each of us that we are all human and deserve to be seen, heard and treated with dignity and kindness.

Just please, don't look away.

/doug

Father's Day Ride: First Century of the Season!

"Here endeth the ride."

Just back from a beautiful long bike ride out to Peterborough NH and back!   I decided to extend the last  route I biked out that way to  make it a "century" (100mi) ride.  

My route came up a couple miles short, so when I got back to Littleton I ended up taking a more roundabout way back to the house -- and still ended up having to do a couple of "victory laps" around the block to push my trip computer over 100mi.

Below is a snapshot of today's route, as recorded by an app on my phone (Strava).   I think it's "off" a little bit -- my average speed couldn't be THAT slow.  ;-)

Click here to see more route data on Strava

It felt like I didn't do anything but climb for the first 3 hours of the ride, but it's such a lovely route out to Mount Monadnock that it's hard to complain.   Clearly I had picked the wrong day for a ride with most of the climb headed North and West: the prevailing wind today was out of the North and West....   Once I heard that on the weather report, I figured that at least it'd be at my back once all the climbing was done (after about the first 55 miles).   Funny thing though: even though I was headed pretty much East and South for the last half of the ride, every single flag I noticed on the way home was blowing toward me.  Lesson here: never plan for a tail wind.

Only had one minor mechanical issue this ride: a spoke worked loose on my front wheel at around mile 64 in Milford, NH.  I was a little irate, since that exact thing has happened to me at least 4 times previously. (Always on a long ride, too.)   I was able to remove the spoke cleanly, but the nut that holds it to the wheel rattled around inside my front wheel for the remaining 34 miles.  That, and the fact that missing a spoke caused my front wheel come out of true and get a little wobbly added to my resolve that I will be getting a new front wheel ASAP, even after I fix this one. Again.

I did  make it a point stop to take some pictures this time out.   Below are a couple of quick snapshots of 2 of our Benevolent Robot Overlords hanging out in Townsend MA, off route 119.     One of them was mowing the grass, the other was holding the mailbox (out of frame in that picture. Sorry)

Robot Overlord #1 Mows Yard

Robot Overlord #2 Holds Mailbox

I'm feeling pretty good about conditioning for this year's PMC. I say this not because I'm any faster, or have managed to drop that 20lbs -- but because I'm finally not cramping up on my long rides this season.  Until now it's only ever been a question of when I would cramp up during  -- or immediately following --  any ride over 40 miles.    But since I adjusted my workouts a couple months ago, I think I've finally got the problem muscles conditioned.  Knock wood.  Not a sign of any twitches as I type this.

Anyway, like I said, it was a glorious day to be out on a bike today and I count myself extremely lucky to be able to do this.   I'm looking forward to more rides like this one, and especially the PMC ride on Aug 2nd and 3rd.

Please help us fight cancer and sponsor a rider (like me) on this year's PMC.   100% of your donation goes directly to Dana-Farber for cancer research and treatment.   (That's not a typo. One hundred percent of every rider-raised dollar goes directly to fight cancer.)

More to come.  Thanks for stopping by.
/doug

PMC Training Update - Only 52 More Days Left

PMC 2014 is only 52 days away.

I feel like I need to check in and report some training progress here -- especially since there's really only 7 more weekends available for "big rides" between now and the PMC.   In addition to riding my bike to/from work (when it's not raining) and hitting the gym at lunch, I've finally managed to get in a couple of respectable rides this month (mileage-wise anyway -- let's just agree to not discuss speed, OK?)

Mid-May I managed to get in a "split" 53-miler, with an AM jaunt to NH on the rail trail, and a PM ride from Northboro to Littleton.

On June 1, I got in a really nice 58-mile ride out to Wachusett Reservoir, down to Northboro and back.

June 1, 2014 Ride (click here for Strava page)

Then last weekend I was able to pick up a completely-unplanned 73-mile ride up through Ashby State Park, into NH and then back East and down to home.

June 7, 2014 Ride (click here for the Strava page)

I feel like I'll be ready physically for the PMC, if I can keep up the pace.  But then again, I think the ride is really not the most difficult part of all this.

It's not about the ride; it's about raising money for cancer research and treatment. My goal this year is to personally raise $8,000.   So please remember to donate to the PMC, soon.  You can sponsor me on this year's ride with your tax-deductible donation by clicking here.  

Thanks
/doug

Push That Button

"Everyone has a success mechanism and a failure mechanism. The failure mechanism goes off by itself.  The success mechanism only goes off with a goal. Every time we write down and talk about a goal, we push the button to start the success mechanism." 

-- Charles 'Tremendous' Jones

The 2014 Pan Mass Challenge  fundraising goal has been set at $40 million. I'm signed up and committed for my 11th year to ride and help meet that goal.  My personal goal this year is to raise $8,000.

It's been a miserable, protracted winter here in New England and I'm more than ready for a little more "bike-friendly" weather. But right now seems like a good time to post this note -- and to provide all my friends and family "fair warning" that I'll be training and hitting you up for donations to fund our fight against cancer.

These are the goals:  Ride a bike. Fund cancer research/treatment. Kill cancer.

So let's push that start button and fire up that success mechanism!

You can donate online by following this link: http://www.pmc.org/profile/DM0192  
100 percent of your donation will go directly to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute -- the same for every other rider. So short of you personally handing cash to a doctor, nurse or researcher in person, there is no more efficient use of your donation.

Thanks for reading.
/doug