Hi!!!!
Dedication… What is
dedication and how do you measure it? I
think about this a lot. Sometimes I
wonder if I am as dedicated as I should be.
Do I put in the correct effort, at work, as a dad, as a husband, as a
son, as a friend?
Do I earn the money that I ask you to donate to the PMC each
year?
This year our family made our biggest commitment to the PMC
so far. Jordan rode in the PMC kids ride
and raised $120. Annie was a coordinator
for said Kids Ride and helped to raise over $17K at that event. Annie and Jordan volunteered on PMC
weekend….. not one shift but
two!!!! On Friday, they fought the
traffic to go to the PMC start in Sturbridge to register riders. For those who know Annie and how much she
hates driving in traffic, you realize how amazing this was. They also drove all the way to Wareham on
Saturday to man a rest stop. This
included, cutting fruit, preparing food for 5000 riders and then standing in a
cold rain to cheer on these cold, shivering, and tired riders for hours. And let me tell you, there is nothing more
uplifting than to have those people cheering you while you realize that you are
so cold your fingers barely work on the breaks.
The volunteers are the people who make the whole event run and I couldn’t
be prouder of Annie and Jordan for all they do for the PMC and the PMC
riders.
Jordan, getting food ready.
My family of
workers!!!!!!!!!!!!
On to some numbers:
Miles covered: 282
Days: 3
Friday Temps: mid
80’s humid
Saturday Temps: low 60’s 100% rain and “wicked” cold
Sunday Temps: low 70’s cool
Bike issues: too many
to count
Thank you notes displaying my horrible handwriting: 100
Tears: hard to tell
if they were tears or just the salty rain streaming.
Money raised: $11,472
and counting…..
This year 10 of my teammates and I decided to ride “Day 0” which
is a 90 mile jaunt from the New York border (West Stockbridge) to Sturbridge on
the Friday of PMC weekend.
Oh and we
also climb over the Berkshires.
The
original PMC covered this route.
I have
done this 4 of the last 5 years and it is a great kick off to the weekend.
A couple of things to note for this
ride.
First is that I woke up with a
little cold.
Nothing major but a throat
tickle and some runny nose.
Also, the
first 20 miles go up and over the Berkshires and every year we ride the
beginning too fast and I wonder if I was dedicated enough in my training and
will be able to hold the pace.
Well this
year was no different and I was barely holding on to the wheel in front of
me.
Finally we got into a nice little
rhythm and then the problems began. Here is a profile of the course
Big Hill
and as you can see at 35 miles the road goes straight up.
This has never happened to me but I had to
get off and push my bike for a couple hundred yards to get to a flatter
section.
I got to a flat section and
jumped (crawled) back on my bike and with my ego firmly bruised continued to
ride.
Then I started to feel
better.
The sun came out, the temps
rose, the miles start ticking off, and my chain falls off……. three times!!!
Another thing that has never happened.
Every time it fell off, I had to dismount,
get the chain unjammed, remount, and then wipe the chain grease on something.
Before I knew it we rolled into Sturbridge,
tired, happy and ready to tell the story about being a wimp and walking my bike
up that hill.
The best part of the ride was that Annie and Jordan were
already in Sturbridge and I could share the experience with them. After a family dinner, Landry’s Cycles fixing
my bike, and some storytelling it was off to the motel for some zzzz’s and an
early wake up.
The hardest part of the PMC isn’t the riding.. yes 192 miles is a long way but the hardest
part is the 3:15 wake up on Saturday morning.
You go to bed early on Friday but toss and turn most of the night
thinking about the weekend. Do I have
socks? Where are my water bottles? Is my bike computer in my pocket? Did I
charge my phone? This year we added; Is
it going to rain? How much is it going to rain?? How cold will it be??? Will the roads be slick?? Am I going to crash? So when I got up (before the alarm) at 3:15,
I was working on a solid couple of hours of sleep which did not help my cold
any. I checked weather.com and yep it
was going to rain. 100% chance. The only question was how far we’d make it
before it got dicey.
The answer was lunch.
It was misting and wet most of the way but by the time we got to Dighton
about 65 miles into our 109 mile day
PMC DAY 1
it was raining, not like cats and dogs but more like a steady drenching.
Some interesting things happened while riding
in the rain (and I am stealing some of these thoughts from my riding buddy
(Annie says boyfriend) TC.
1.
In the beginning
you are super careful. Don’t want to
fall, is it slippery here? Should I ride slower? Isn’t that guy/girl riding too
fast? Are they going to fall and take me out?? Worry, worry, worry.
2.
Things get wet.
Pretty obvious but not pleasant.
Wet gloves, wet shoes, wet socks, and worst of all wet shorts, very wet
shorts..
3.
Then you start having fun and making jokes… it could be snow!
4.
Then you embrace the moment… I can’t wait for a shower, I hope they heat
the Harpoon IPA a bit before serving, do you think they have tea at the finish,
but most importantly this will be a great story and a great experience to share
with 5000 of your spandex covered friends.
P.S. Note to some of those riders… if there is a
100% chance of rain, the white bike shorts might not be such a good idea.
So it rained and rained and the rain got harder and harder
and colder and colder. A couple of other tid-bits from the
ride. More bike problems by way of a
flat tire. Lucky for me it was a quick
change and then we were on our way.
Also, TC latched on to my bruised ego from the day before.. We would be riding along and I would hear,
“do we need to walk this section?”, “there is a hill here, do you want to get
off” etc. I must have heard those jokes
at least 20 times and I was definitely re-thinking my idea to tell the
story.
Did I mention the rain? The Ways
showing their yearly support!!!!!!
So after about 100 miles TC and I rolled into Wareham (the
last rest stop of the day) for a wet hug with Annie and Jordan. Jordan made an awesome sign for Team
Lick! They were as happy to see us as we
were to see them. I think for both of us
there was some relief that the cold day was getting closer to an end.
Around 2:00 we finally finished. It was straight to a hot shower, a long hot
shower. A couple of drinks and in bed at
6:30!!!!! Earliest ever, I am not even
sure that Annie and Jordan had made it home from Wareham by then.
This is what I look like under full
power. The poor bike, no wonder it had
so many issues. (with Chris Hobson)
Sunday was a better day.
We woke (4:00!!!) to no rain and a damp mist. Much better than the night before. Quick breakfast of bagels, juice, and yogurt
and we were on our bikes, 5am sharp and headed for Provincetown. Sunday is typically an easier day. People are more relaxed, the ride is (only)
83 miles. And everyone is excited to be done and hit the party ferry to
celebrate their accomplishments. This
year was a little different for me. I
was still fighting the cold and surprisingly it appeared that Saturday’s 109
miles in a cold rain did not help. The
first twenty miles were a bit of a struggle.
I just kinda kept my head down and counted off the miles. I was chilled and really just wanted to be
finished. I had a couple of advil at the
first rest stop and that seemed to help.
By the second stop I was feeling much better and looking forward to the
last 40 miles riding with the team, laughing, joking and celebrating. Then bike problem number three hit. Coming down a little hill and slowing down to
merge onto rte 6 and my shifting cable snapped.
Just my luck…. But wait, actually
it was bad luck with a little good karma thrown in. There was a bike shop. Twenty yards away. And even though it was 9 in the morning they
were open.
If you ever need a bike on the Cape,
check out these guys at Idle Times!!
TC IV and TC III (yes that is
Jordan’s
‘raffie in my vest)
So I limp over to Idle Times bike shop and sheepishly ask if
they can fix my bike, oh yeah and by the way I have no money on me. Of course they took care of me. Great guys.
Unfortunately it took 30 minutes to swap out the cable and get
everything set. By then my team was gone
and I was determined to catch them to finish together. I spent the next 20 miles riding as hard and
fast as I could and luckily with about 10 miles to go I saw some familiar red,
white, and blue Team Lick jerseys ahead.
I settled in and cruised to the finish surrounded by 40-50 friends who
all dedicated their spring/summer and this weekend to riding a bike to raise
money to fund cancer research. They survived
rain, wet and even some hypothermia to get a little closer to finding a
cure.
Thanks for over $525,000 raised this
year! Yep, ½ Million dollars!
A picture of me toasting you. Thanks!
This is what $46,000 worth of cancer
research fundraising looks like
celebrating
after 282 miles.
I started this note off speaking of dedication. I want to thank you for your dedication to
this cause. I told you in July that I
would think of you during this ride and I promise you that I did. Every year you surprise and humble me by your support and
your generosity. I am well aware that
there are many causes asking for your help and I can never say thank you enough
that you choose to ride with me and hope that you will join me again next year
and every year after until WE find a cure.
Steve
