1700 riders participated in this years event (a new record). About 100 did the one day ride, and the rest did the two day ride. About 1450 of the riders were from New England; another 150 or so were from Connecticut and New York, leaving about 100 from the other 20 states represented (there are at least 2 riders from California). There were nearly 1400 volunteers (also a new record).
At the close of the PMC, I had done 5 rides of close to 100 miles: 108, 105, 94, 107, and 82. And, if the 82 doesn't count, I'll probably do the Mt. Hamilton century in October!
Three of the 4 legs of my journey were on-time, although I had to run through Boston's Logan airport in order to catch my flight back. Flying back, I had a short stopover in Minneapolis, and I was able to meet with my college friend mentioned earlier. More on that later. Somewhere over Nebraska, I saw some of the strangest clouds I've ever seen. The sky below was a key-lime color, and there were many lightening strikes visible from up there.
So, all in all, travel was not a problem this year.
After registering, we picked up our official riding jersey and water bottle, and after poking around the exhibits, had a great dinner, complete with Pete's Wicked Ale and cheesecake (hey - it's all carbohydrates!). This year's opening ceremony included several speakers from the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, a doctor from San Francisco who is also an ex-patient of DFCI, and of course, Billy Starr, head-honcho of the PMC. Billy informed us that we had broken a record of money raised prior to the event - $1.5M. In the past, between $250K and $500K shows up on Friday night. This year, an unprecedented $1M was brought in, bringing the sum-total to $2.5M. Recall that our goal is $3M. We're nearly there, and we have until November to collect! Everyone seems to think that we will slaughter the goal.
Friday night is also a good time to catch up with people that you see once a year - at the PMC. I did a lot of that, then headed back to the hotel for a good night's sleep, as 3:45 AM Saturday was not far away...
Billy gave us the "GO" at 6:02. I basically jumped at the start and tried to get out of traffic as soon as possible. Once on route 20, I joined up with the front group, trailing the police escort (which leads (governs) us at about 20 mph for 4 miles). Sort of an enforced warm-up. At the 1 mile mark, I somehow found myself leading the PMC! It was very strange to be out in front. Another rider came up on my left and said, "I've always wanted to lead the PMC". I answered, "By all means - do it!", and slowed down to give him a moment in the lead. When the police escort left, the pace picked up. The front group was about 50 riders. By about 10 miles, I realized, along with about half the pack, that I couldn't keep up this pace for 107 miles, so the pack split, and I stayed with the second group.
The weather had changed almost immediately after the start. It was foggy and overcast, and it remained cloudy throughout the ride. By the 20 mile waterstop, I had averaged 21.5 mph, and I would have turned in, but I missed the turn, so I kept going. Of course, I had slowed to make the turn, so now I had to work pretty hard to catch up with the pack. Successful, we cranked up to the 40 mile stop and quite a few of us decided to stop for a pit-stop, refill water bottles, and then we were off - maybe a 2 minute stop. I looked around for Chris and John, but didn't see them. The group had planned to stop at the 60 mile "lunch" stop, which we did. It was 9:00 - right on schedule. We waited for everyone in the pack before leaving the stop at 9:20. As I was leaving, Chris was coming in. He had made a wrong turn early on and lost about 10 minutes. But, I couldn't stay any longer and risk cramping up, so I left with the pack.
Somewhere around 85 miles I had an energy lull, and fell about a minute behind the pack (now down to about 12 riders). I caught one of them (Sam) at the 96 mile stop, and asked him to wait 1 minute, which he did. It was about my fastest stop ever. The volunteers here were great - one teenager held my bike while another filled the water bottle, while I ran to the bathroom. What teamwork! I ate a packet of "Gu", which is an energy... er... substance. They could have called it PowerPudding. It's basically gross, but it does work. And it was a great finish. We had 11 miles to go. And two of us traded off drafting keeping a consistent 20mph until we were caught by 3 others. We picked up the pace to join them, and were cranking along at about 24 mph when we passed a non-PMC cyclist. She stayed with us to Onset, about 4 miles before the finish. She thought we were a racing team (same jerseys). I told her about the PMC, and I may have convinced her to do it next year!
Making the final turn into the Mass Maritime Academy is always exciting, but seeing as it was 11:40 AM, it was REALLY exciting. This was the first time I had finished in under 6 hours, cutting 10% off last years time. It was a great morning. Chris rolled in about 12:05, and John at about 12:15 - both great times.
One great thing about getting to MMA early is that there are no lines: no lines for the bathroom, no lines for the shower, no lines for the food, no lines for the MASSAGE TABLES! I proceeded in just about that order, and by 1:30, I had had a great lunch and a great massage, and had the whole afternoon to bum around. There was some entertainment (some bands, and a troop of trick-cyclists). As is traditional, we cheered as some later riders arrived at MMA. Dinner (as if I needed more food) started at about 4PM. There were some guest speakers, including Senator Paul Tsongas, who was once a patient at DFCI, and who rode the 1995 PMC! Bob Villa, of "This Old House" and Sears fame, was also seen walking around. Bob has been riding for about 4 years.
By about 8, I'd had it. It looked like rain, and it had been a long day, so I turned in, thrilled at having had such an exhilarating day.
The Sunday route takes us across the Bourne bridge. This is a pretty tough climb when it's dry, but certainly a challenge when wet. At least they close off a lane for us. We then parallel the Cape Cod Canal on a service road. Usually, about this time, I'm writing about the picturesque sunrise. Not this year. No sun for us. Just rain. Even so, the ride was pretty uneventful early on. One rider ahead of me swerved to avoid a large puddle. I asked him if he was afraid of getting WET or something. Meanwhile, I had planned to ride with friends at a more reasonable pace rather than fast, anyway. The rain certainly helped keep the pace down.
Chris and I pulled over just after the 20 mile stop to see if John was in view; he was not, so we moved on. The rain continued. Just for fun, I decided to hit every large puddle along the route, looking for temperature variations! They did vary somewhat. By the 40 mile stop at Nickerson State Park, I expect that I was carrying an extra 5 pounds of water, most of it in my shoes. The park was pretty muddy, but they had tents up over the food. I grabbed a PB&J sandwich and some water, and we waited for John, who showed up soon after. Somewhere around here, my computer gave up. It had had enough of the rain, and it just stopped working.
The 3rd leg of this ride takes us up into Wellfleet. A small pack of riders, including Billy Starr, passed us and Chris took off with them. When they were about 1/4 mile ahead, John urged me to catch them. This was about the biggest effort of the day. Following a flat section, which I used to catch them, is a reasonably steep hill. I carried the sprint into the hill, passing the pack, and reaching the top of the hill where some serious spectators had gathered, umbrellas and all, to cheer the riders up this hill. These people are really great. Chris and I pulled over and waited for John. After the 60 mile stop, Chris found a fast group and stuck with them, and John and I found our own pack. I did a second sprint up Route 6 with about 5 people in line behind me. Why these people were drafting, I don't know - drafting in the rain is not much fun. You get a constant spray of sand, road grime, and water in your face. Anyway, that done, John and I alternated leads for the last 10 miles, and we sprinted the last 1/2 mile together. About as many people as usual lined the last 100 yds, which is great, especially considering the weather. So, another new first for me: an entire PMC day, 82 miles, in the rain.
A few things were different at Provincetown this year. The National Guard was not there with their trusty shower tents. Instead, we had some sort of garden-hose-sprayer setup which could accommodate 15 people. This was outdoors, and co-ed. You basically showered either in your cycling clothes or in a bathing suit. Plus, it was ironic to shower in the rain. There were tents set up for changing. As usual, there was lots of food. Chris went off to meet his wife and kids, as they were staying on the cape. Donna was there to take John and I back to the mainland.
On the ride back, I noticed that Donna had the Boston Sunday globe in the car. The front page had a picture of a PMC senior citizen - he's about 70 years old. Not the oldest, but one of the 4. So, I'm looking closely at this picture, and I pass it to John, saying, "Hey, John, you're famous. You're on page 1!". Sure enough, John was stage-right of the main focus. John passes it back. "Yep. And who do you think is next to me?" I hadn't even noticed. But, it's true - I was on the front page of the Sunday globe. Well, a piece of me anyway. A profile: the helmet, the glasses, and the telltale nose.
And that is what the PMC is all about. Not about riding fast, but about riding a long way to raise funds in support of a great organization. The money we raise goes towards continuing and expanding both basic and clinical research at DFCI so that the odds of successful treatment continue to improve, and the fundamental knowledge base of the disease and how it spreads is increased. Fundraising is going pretty well - at this writing, I'm somewhere in the $3200 range. And, I'm working closely with DFCI and Synopsys to try to get some DFCI projects funded directly - we should know if that is approved later this month.
Although I do the riding, I like to think that we all participate in the PMC: my wife, Beth; my family; my sponsors; the people who helped shuttle me around PMC weekend; the people that just wished me "good luck". I sincerely thank you all for your support, and I hope you will all continue to support me as I continue to ride to end cancer.