Fundraising Update

The contributions to our 2007 PMC ride are still coming in, and we are now up to $7,359.86

Many thanks to those of you who have contributed. The deadline for us to get the all of the funds to the PMC folks is October 1, 2007. We have about a month and a half left to raise the remainder of our $8,000 fundraising goal. $640 left to go!

We are delighted to have so many generous friends, family members, neighbors and coworkers, and we sincerely thank each and every one of you for your support before, during, and after the ride. Thank you so much - this years PMC has truly been a life changing experience, and we are so pleased that we were able to participate. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

Final stats

Got an email about the final stats for the ride from the PMC folks. Here is the interesting part:

Male/Female: 65/35
States: 36
Countries: 10
Average age: 43 (15-84)
Average years of Participation: 4.8
Goal: $27 million
Fundraising Deadline: October 1st

we're 13 years below the average age, and this year was our 2nd year...

Thank you SO much!

Thanks to all of you who have supported our fundraising efforts and who have supported us in other ways throughout training & the ride. Many of you have shown your support in so many little ways - by asking us about our training progress, and our fundraising progress. Just knowing that we aren't just some cause that people write a check for and forget is touching. To know that people are watching to see how we're doing, and are rooting for us, is priceless. I don't know what else to say, other than thank you.

We received many comments along with your donations, and some of them we're really touching. We appreciate what you all have chosen to share with us, and we are honored that you had faith in us to finish the ride.

The support of our family & friends has meant so much to us, so from the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

In peace & health,

Ken & Karen

NECN coverage online

For those of you who live outside of the New England area, and don't get NECN, you can view their coverage of the event online. NECN does a great job in showing what the PMC is all about, and shows many different stories from many different people. Its a great way to see for yourself the atmosphere of the PMC.

So that was it...

So that was our ride. Many people have mentioned that they appreciate the insight into what goes into training, so I figured you'd all be interested in what we saw & felt (sorry if it went on & on). But I don't think I've ever really mentioned why, or who we ride for. For some reason, it's hard for us to broadcast such a personal matter. However, we are torn between honoring those we know & love, and not invading their privacy. We may take a different direction next year. We may have names attached to us somehow (I'm soliciting ideas, for you creative folks I know). If we carry these names around with us in our heads & hearts, perhaps we should share them with the world, since these are the people that have caused us to seek out the PMC. I know that reading the names on road signs, on the back of people's jerseys, or seeing their pictures provides a lot of motivation during the tougher parts of the ride. It helps keep us focused on the big picture. And maybe its our turn to help other people out in that regard.

My ma had cancer when I was in elementary school. For some reason, this is a deeply personal matter for me, and I don't discuss it much. She's a survivor, and has been in remission for way more than 10 years - so she is considered to be 'cancer free'. Ken's uncle Richard passed away in 2005 just around PMC time, and due to the timing its hard not to think of him almost constantly throughout the ride. And Papa lost his battle in the fall of 2004, and I cannot forget the conversation we had with Papa's son about Papa's last moments, nor do I want to forget. We have countless other friends and family members who have fought their own battle - some, like my mother's best friend (my surrogate aunt) Ruth, didn't make it. Others did, and are now living proof. Regardless, the older we get, the list gets longer. And it needs to stop.

But then there is the future. Cancer seems to run in families - what will happen to Ken & I, or our sisters, or our nieces, or our future kids, as our stories play out? Genetics play a huge factor in your chances of developing cancer. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is one way of possibly preventing the development of some cancers, or will create strong base from which to fight. So we ride to stay in shape & keep healthy. We ride for the people yet to be diagnosed. At some point during their lives, 1 out of 2 men and 1 out of 3 women will be diagnosed with some form of cancer. The chances are not good- it will keep happening to people we know, although we don't know who. It's just not acceptable. Ken & I figure that we can do two things: we can live in fear, or we can try to do something & ride in hope. We choose to ride. And we'll keep riding as long as we can. Ken even mentioned that he saw 2 pregnant women on the ride.

So while we ride in memory of those who have lost their battles, or in honor of those who are now living strong, we are also riding for our future, and for that of the next generation. Our kids. Our future selves, our loved ones. Or someone that we don't even know - people yet to be born, people we'll never even meet. We ride because we can. It's the only thing we can do.

Bourne to Provincetown

Sunday was beautiful day. Sunny, highs in the 70s to 80s. A bit breezy, but I bet it always is on the cape. Seems we had a head wind most of the day. I was pretty uncomfortable with the shoulder thing in the morning. Poor Ken pulled most of the day, but he seemed happy enough to do it. We had a blast on Sunday. The cape is NOT flat for the record, but is a series of rolling hills that just go on and on. It was a lot of fun, even with the shoulder issue. If we had been able to ride at the rate we were riding without me having to stop and get patched up every 20 miles or so, we would have been done WAY earlier - I feel a little bad about that. But as it was, we did OK & didn't miss our bus home or anything.

After we got over the Bourne Bridge, we worked our way down to the Canal Bike Path, which is lovely stretch of bike path that follows - you guessed it - the canal. Along the canal were several older gentleman fishing along its banks at 6 in the morning that Sunday. It was very peaceful to ride by, and to just watch them fish. Just beautiful. And fast. We then worked our way over to "Service Rd" in Sandwich was a GREAT road. It had this huge hill as soon as you turned onto it. It was sudden, and sharp, and had several turns. It was just a lot of fun going up it. We may have been the only ones enjoying ourselves then from the looks of it, but it was really a fun road. The rest of the day seemed to be a mix of quiet rolling hills on back roads, and traffic plagued near-gridlock on Route 6 (which was our fault, I am sure). Lot of people were out cheering, although I heard that when compared to other years there weren't that many out. But we were very thankful for the ones that did make it out to cheer us on. Its so touching to read all the signs saying "thank you" or to read the names of those people the PMC has helped. It pulled my focus away from any pain I might be feeling, thats for sure. What's a little shoulder pain compared to loosing a child, or a parent, sibling or spouse to cancer? I often don't want to think about how hard that is to watch. To not be able to keep that suffering away from your child. To not be able to step in an take over for your spouse while they fight a battle for their life. A little shoulder pain is nothing. Sore legs heal. Saddle sores heal, as do sunburns and achy knees.

In Brewster, we picked up the bike trail again at Nickerson State Park, which is one of the bigger water stops. Here you can see the general confusion the ensues at a waterstop:There are bikes & people everywhere. It's loud. People are all largely dressed the same & wearing helmets. You can get lost there if you aren't careful (people were misplacing their bikes). BUT they are usually full of helpful volunteers handing out good food, refilling water bottles, mixing gatorade or patching people up. This water stop had washcloths in tubs of ice water - a very nice treat.

The Nickerson State Park is also where Jack stands with his sign - you've probably seen Jack on TV, if you saw either the opening ceremonies on NECN or the wrap up (I'm not sure about the rest of the coverage during the weekend - I didn't record it, and I was busy riding so I didn't see it). Jack is the boy who stands with a sign every saying "I'm 11 now, thanks to you" (or however old he is that year) - He started doing this when he was a toddler, because Dana-Farber saved his life, and he & his family credit the PMC riders for raising the money to do it. Jack has become somewhat of a PMC celebrity, an icon. Jack is getting taller by the year, and this year he was wearing a volunteer T-shirt. I believe last year he rode a portion of the PMC as well. I didn't take his picture & I didn't shake his hand. I'm too shy. Hopefully next year he'll be there and I'll get over my shyness to thank him for giving back so much.

We convinced a nice man to take our picture while he waited for the rider of the other half of his tandem bicycle:
Those are last years jersey's. I like them because they are brightly colored (good visibility) and nice & lightweight.

After we left Nickerson SP, we hopped on the Cape Cod Rail Trail (CCRT) which was absolutely beautiful. Smoothly paved, no potholes, no seams...just smooth & fast. Thats Ken, looking back & trying to figure out why I'm not on his rear tire... We didn't stay on the CCRT for too long, although it was memorable in its slickness. We bailed off in Orleans (I seem to remember the CCRT just ending there) and enjoyed some really nice back roads with more rolling hills (although much gentler than earlier in the day).

When we got to Wellfleet, there was a huge arch of balloons over the street. We had met a guy "Dennis" at dinner Friday night & again a couple of times on Saturday - and these, apparently, were the people from his neighborhood. This is where he lived. He must be a lucky man to have such a supportive and outgoing neighborhood. Seems like a nice place to live. Anyway, here is Ken approaching the Wellfleet Welcome:Our last water stop was not long after that photo was taken. Just before we got to the water stop, we were on this beautiful rolling hill road called either Long Pond or Lawrence - it was like a roller coaster. And we had our first and only equipment malfunction. Ken's chain fell off (chain suck). But he got it only quickly & we were able to catch up to the group we were riding with before we got to the water stop.

The waterstop is where I had the most painful massage I've ever had. I think that massage is what made me go get some xrays taken on Monday. A very well meaning volunteer decided she was going to get that knot out of my shoulder (which may or may not be associated with what may or may not be a muscle tear). And you know what? It hurt. A lot. BUT my shoulder was good for the next 20 miles, and I finished the ride fairly comfortably (although it more or less ceased to work shortly after I got off the bike). I'm paying for it now, but it was worth it. Muscle relaxants are helpful.

After the water stop, we worked our way through backroads to Rt 6/ Mid Cape Highway. Its a busy highway, and there was a headwind. But luckily for us, a nice man named Alfred came along and asked if he could pull for a while. Who is going to turn THAT down? Sure, we said, and he pulled us a long way down that stretch of windy open road. Ken, who had been pulling, said his heart rate dropped by 40 beats per minute as soon as Alfred took over. He never asked for a break, although we would have gladly given him one. It was along this stretch that the NECN camera crew came along & started filming (which caused some traffic back up). I don't think we made it into any of the broadcast stuff, though.

When we got onto Provinceland Road we got very excited. We just spun & spun. We were averaging about 20 MPH for the last portion of the ride. Adrenaline, maybe, I dunno. But after 180-something odd miles, we were able to sustain that pace for the last few miles and it felt great. It was beautiful out, and we were finishing, finally. I couldn't believe it.

Here is Ken as he starts approaching the finish line:
And here is Ken more or less at the finish line. Its a bit blurry, but I was trying to keep up...
The Bourne to Provincetown route took us just under 5 hours, and about 2900 calories. Over the 2 day event, we rode the entire 192-mile route and spent approximately 12 hours in the saddle. We burned a weekend total of 7,384 calories just while riding. Our highest speed was 39 MPH (down one of those hills on Saturday). Our average speed on both days was about 15.5 MPH.

So that's it. That's our ride. It was long. It was hot & it hurt. It was great & we cannot WAIT to do it again next year. The riding was fun and the people were great (you'll never ride with a better group of people than the PMC riders). What's a little pain when so much is at stake?

Overnight at Mass Maritime Academy (MMA)

So when we got to MMA, we had no idea what was going on. We didn't know where to find our bags, where to pitch our tent (answer: apparently anywhere you wanted). We didn't know where the showers were. As a result the whole 'setting up camp' and basic personal hygiene was a very slow process. But it was OK - we got everything figured out. And now we know for next year.

We camped where we found all the other tents, which was right below a giant wind turbine. I've decided that I officially love wind turbines. I know, I know, they're awfully bulky. But they are sleek, and fairly mesmerizing. And I like listening to the wind whistling through it. This was the view from our "front porch" so to speak:


For the record, I did not hear a single person say "gee, thats ugly" nor did I see a single bird get hit by any of the blades. They don't move THAT fast - or so it appears from the ground. I guess maybe if I was up there I might feel differently.

Behind the small tents is a big tent - the massage tent. While we were fumbling around trying to figure out where to get our stuff, etc, we blew our chances for a massage. But now we know. you go over and make that appointment before you do anything else - like pee, eat, drink, shower, set up a tent or even find your bags (maybe even before you find your spouse...). You get the appointment FIRST. Otherwise, they run out. You can wait standby, but you'll be waiting in a line a hundred people long. Even with my shoulder pain, there was no way I was waiting in that line.

The weather was great - not a cloud in the sky. Well, that isn't quite true. There was this one that we saw on our way to bed:
But other than THAT, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was beautiful. Windy when we arrived, but that died down as the sea breeze died as the sun set. It was maybe 70-75 degrees.

There was a lot of food to be had. I made Ken accompany me to eat at least one of everything I could find. Except the Legal Seafood chowder. I had 2 of those. I even had a baked potato covered in vegetarian chili, sour cream & cheese. It was very tasty, as was everything else, and it all kept hitting the spot. We ate and ate and ate until we were ready for bed - and by the time I was actually falling asleep, I was hungry again. And of course, free beer. The problem with this is that after riding 110 miles in a 95 degree day, you don't really need any beer at all. We settled on one free beer, simply because it was there. Thanks Harpoon! Seems like plenty of other people were not worried about dehydration or anything like that, though.

There was musical entertainment at MMA as well, although for me it was too loud. But I am a giant stick-in-the-mud who doesn't like loud music. So we went off toward the part of the campus that lies along the Cape Cod Canal & found our little niche. We sat on a 'sea wall' (if you can call it that) and admired the view.
As you can tell, so were many other people. On that wall behind Ken, the photographer was trying to do some big team photographs - but he was getting angry that people were carrying their free beer & plates of food into the photo. Apparently, thats not what they want in their photos :-)

This is the view we had while we finished our beer...
It was still a little hazy out, but you can just make out 2 bridges in the photo. The bridge in the foreground is a railroad bridge, which was actually lowered after I took the shot to allow a train to cross. The bridge in the background, which you can just barely make out, is the Bourne Bridge. That's the bridge we rode over. It was very high, and was nice & quite at 6 in the morning. We had a lane, or part of a lane I should say, coned off for us. I had read that if we didn't stay within the cones, the Army Corps of Engineers was going to take away that lane next year, so I got stuck behind someone who was going very slow over the bridge (it was a little steep). But it was OK - gave me a little bit of time to admire the view. But I had to be careful not to hit the person in front of me. My tendency on a hill is just to spin spin spin until its done - its the easiest way for me to get over it. Apparently, not many people do that. Instead, they slow way down, and use a bigger gear than they probably should and struggle through it.

Berkley, MA

Later during the day on Saturday, we got to the town of Berkley, MA. Now, I know that we were probably toward the rear of the group, and maybe the town had had some issues with some of the earlier riders blocking traffic or something like that (if they didn't, well, then that town must just be plain evil). But as we were pedaling along, suddenly there was a motorcycle cop standing on the side of the road about a foot and a half out from the edge of the pavement. His feet were spread, hands pointing to the LITTLE space between him & the edge of the road, and we was yelling at every rider that passed him - "THIS IS WHERE YOU BELONG - ANYONE CAUGHT RIDING DOUBLE WILL BE ISSUED A CITATION". I can actually understand why he would do this, as I get really upset at cyclists who lollygag along riding double - it isn't safe. And it makes passing them even more dangerous, whether you are a cyclist or a automobile driver. AND when you are a cyclist behind the guys riding double, all the cars that can't pass them are stuck next to you, putting you in danger - you never know when a pothole will pop up and you'll be stuck between, say, a moving vehicle and a giant tree trunk or stone wall.

However, the manner in which this officer chose to issue his direction was a) offensive and b) dangerous. This was not a tall guy, and you could not see him standing there above the helmet of the rider in front of you. I saw several cyclists who were forced to swerve out into the road to avoid hitting him because he came up so suddenly. It was completely unsafe - in his, uh, eagerness to show us who was boss in HIS town, he was creating a very unsafe situation both for us and for him. The final straw: it was all for naught - I didn't see a SINGLE car on that nice, wide, empty road before we crossed into Freetown. The only thing that I took out of that portion of the ride is that everyone should stay the **** out of Berkley, MA. Judging from the reaction and comments I heard from other riders, they heard the same message as me: "your kind isn't welcome here." Otherwise, it looked like a nice town. Which is too bad, because the name of the town now conjures up the image of a petty motorcycle cop on a power trip.

And, for the record, I thanked every single police officer helping to direct traffic along the route. Every single solitary one, even when there were more than one at an intersection, even if they had us waiting for several minutes while they let traffic through (as they should, periodically), and even if I didn't hear them reply to anyone else who thanked them. But I did not thank the motorcycle cop in Berkley. I wont thank anyone for threatening me (or my spouse) or putting me in a potentially dangerous position. Especially not while doing a charity ride. I still can't figure out whether he volunteered to detail the ride, or was there of his own volition while on duty. I didn't dare take his photo either...

Saturday: Sturbridge to Bourne

After the massive storms we had on Friday night (and the resulting mere 2 hours of sleep that I got because of said storms), we were running a teeny bit late on Saturday morning. We missed the national anthem. By the time we got over to the assembly area, people were lined up all over the place, and ducking under the ropes that were set up to separate the different paced groups. So we did what we did last year: just kind of waited until the almost the very end before we left. It wasn't a race - what was the point of fighting through throngs of people? The grouping had become irrelevant anyway. I'd guess maybe 100 people started after us.

The much-feared hills in the beginning of the PMC were no where near as bad as I thought they would be, or remembered them being last year. In fact, I kept waiting for the bad hills to start, and they never actually arrived. The hills were basically a non-event. We had been concerned that we didn't include enough hills during our training rides, but apparently that was not an issue for us, and in the future, I don't think we'll bother worrying about it. My max heart rate did get up to 196, which is 92% of my max. But there was never a point where I thought "I can't do this."

It was a hot day. A very hot day. There seemed to be a lot fewer supporters on the side of the road throughout the ride, and I overheard a few discussions saying exactly the same thing. Who can blame them, though? It was such a hot day out - and to stand there for hours and hours must be awful. There were a lot of signs & posters up though, so I get the impression that it was just too hot for people to stay out for very long.

Most of the ride I spent managing some shoulder pain - I learned early on that if I ride without my right arm, my right shoulder doesn't hurt. [For those of you who missed my whining over the past few weeks, we thought that I had torn through some scar tissue & then that was revised the Thursday before the ride to 'I had torn a muscle' in my shoulder - both opinions was that of my chiropractor. My assessment was that regardless of what you want to call it, I had been riding in that condition for a while, so what was one more weekend?] I also learned that the medical tents at each water stop have a ready supply of ice packs, advil, and some really good muscle rub (think: super "icy hot"). So by alternating all of these solutions every 20 miles or so, I hopscotched my way through the entire 192-miles. I spent a lot of time riding with my right arm tucked up near my waist, with my elbow close to my ribs. I'm sure I looked like a complete idiot. Some concerned people asked me if I was OK, and of course I said yes. I felt like a complete moron.

The good news, though, was that the shoulder issue was the limiting factor (instead of something else, like being lazy, or being out of shape). We both had the legs to go & go & go. We could have ridden much faster if I wasn't sitting up stretch and riding one handed all the time. I wouldn't say we over trained, but we had trained adequately.

At the Franklin Water stop (43 miles into the ride), we met up with my folks, who were kind enough to come & cheer us on. My mom even made a sign!

After that we peddled and peddled... In fact, Ken calculated that over the 2-day ride, I completed 1,482 pedal strokes more than he did. Apparently, I pedal at a higher cadence than he does.

Other than one minor incident (read the Berkley, MA post), it was a great ride. It was hot, and it was long. But it was great. It was really inspiring to read the back of everyone's jersey. There were names on ribbons cascading down from helmets, there were names written on jerseys, names every where. There were pictures everywhere as well. It was both heartbreaking and heart warming. Here are all these individual stories of suffering - and all these people willingly giving up so much of their time & effort to try and stop more of these tragic stories from becoming tragic. And then there is the thought that each one of these people has their own list of sponsors cheering them on, just like all of you guys, and the imaginary web that links all these people to cancer & the PMC becomes mind boggling large and intertwined. There were riders who rode up from Florida. I saw name labels from London. Apparently, there were riders from 7 different countries. I'm trying to imagine where, across the world, all the funding comes from, and I would really like to see that mapped out. And it's all done for the Jimmy Fund & Dana-Farber. And it all started because of one man who wanted to make a difference. It just amazes me.

For the record, we burned 4,520 calories on the 110-miles (approx.) from Sturbridge to Bourne. Our average heart rates were around 161 beats per minute, even with all those hills (pretty good for me). It took us 7 hours and 4 minutes to complete that portion of the ride (actual ride time, not including icing, massages, eating & waiting in line for the port-o-potty). Our average speed was 15.4 MPH - not fast by cycling standards, but seeing how that was the furthest I've ever ridden, I'll take it. Maybe next year we can go faster. Maybe not. We'll see. Luckily it isn't a race. Although it is kind of fun to see how much you can take...

What a great weekend!

Well, we're home. We made it & had a really great weekend. We're sore, we're tired and I am REALLY looking forward to our now-weekly monday-morning trip to the hot tub before work tomorrow morning.

We'll upload photos tomorrow & give all the details.

Weather forecast

So the weather forecast for tomorrow calls for upper 80s & low 90s (depending on where you are in Mass.). Our start in Sturbridge (6 am) should be in the mid-to-upper 60s. There is a chance of thunderstorms between noon and 3 pm. We hope to be done before any storms develop. We hope.

The weather forecast for the overnight in Bourne calls for a 20% chance of t-storms, with a low in the mid-60s. Not too bad.

Sunday on the cape looks beautiful! Sunny & 80 in Bourne, with a high of 77 in Provincetown. 9 MPH wind, though, which is to be expected - seems like it is always windy on the cape.

NECN coverage

For those of you in New England, NECN (comcast channel 6, at least where we are) has live coverage of the opening ceremonies tomorrow (Friday 8/3) night. Coverage begins at 8 p.m.

I'm sure they will have ongoing updates & footage throughout the weekend, and I think they have a wrap-up show Sunday evening.

We are DVRing the opening ceremonies - as we are getting up around 3 a.m. on Saturday to get to the starting line on time, we plan to be in bed for most of the ceremony.

Fundraising Update 8/2/07

We're up to $3,591.86 Thank you all for your support!

In light of, uh, recent market downturns, Ken & I have decided to donate stock early (just in case prices continue to plummet) to cover a majority of the remainder of our fundraising. We're waiting for the paperwork to go through, and we're not sure exactly just how long it will take. But for those of you who were considering donating stock this year, we'll be happy to talk you through the process & let you know whether it was really as easy as the PMC made it out to be. So far, so good, but like I said, we're still waiting for it to fully "go through".

When the stock donation is fully completed, we'll have an exact number for what our donation was worth- but at the moment, we'll still be about $400 - $500 short of required minimum fundraising. So if you haven't contributed, and would like to, we will be gladly accepting donations until the end of September.